Update on the winter line...
Dec. 12th, 2021 08:33 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
gingerwitch.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
acciobrickWe now have pics of all of this winter's Harry Potter lego sets, and unfortunately official word that they won't be available until March. (The disappointment was marked.) Plenty of pics beneath the fold...
Lego themselves have posted the pictures of 76399 Hogwarts Suitcase, 603 pieces retailing at 50 EUR, so we have good quality on that front. This was the set I was most curious about, because it's an outlier in the series and the description wasn't really enough to go off of.
It's a buildable suitcase, customisable via extra tiles and a variety of stickers to the House of your choice. (Shown following in one of the Slytherin configurations for what should be obvious reasons... 😉 Go Snakes! 🐍) The set comes with Harry and Professor McGonagall, the Sorting Hat and a minifig body for each of the four Houses, so you can have up to six minifigs built at any one time. It has ten heads and sixteen hairstyles to choose from for the remaining figs, allowing us to mix and match to create our own Hogwarts students, and as a bonus, the remainder can be used with all those extra Harry, Hermione and Ron minifigs we have to flesh out our student bodies. A word of praise as to inclusivity here: according to their chief designer, lego has apparently used five different skin tones, a couple of heads with eyeglasses that aren't Harry's, and they've include two fairly new skirt pieces to better represent the girls' uniforms. I think that's a very nice touch. (Off the pieces included, we should be able to build a Hermione or Ginny, too, if folks really want.)
In order to simplify the skin colour issue with regards to hands, as I predicted, they've gone for mittens and depicted the students in matching House scarves. Two obvious drawbacks: I find the outdoor variant less useful, and they've brightened the House colours to match the mittens. Hmm. Eh. I get why they did it, anything else would have been fiddly or looked odd, but hopefully they'll return to the regular colours with the rest of this year's sets.
Once open, this set really embraces its lego-ness. Whether that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen, but for the size and price, this isn't a display set so much as a play set. Like the Hogwarts Moment sets, it has a small footprint when built (which is nice, as I for one haven't got limitless space), but unlike the Moment sets, it's meant to be built and rebuilt and rebuilt yet again. Reusing the same pieces in different configurations, it's possible to represent the Sorting Ceremony, a meal in the Great Hall, and your dorm of choice (again by means of swapping out very few parts so the duvet and House banner reflect that choice).
Some details: Harry's original torso is the pre-sorting unspecified uniform from the advent calendar. (And his hand colour seems bizarre, unless it's a misprint.) We're getting a third version of "Advanced Potionmaking", a third Marauder's Map since the reboot, a new owl, a new trunk lid that makes it better useable as a table, a printed Bertie Bott's Beans box, and finally a buildable House points counter.
And a German catalogue seems to have inadvertently leaked the remaining winter sets, also due out in March...
76396 Hogwarts Moment: Divination classroom, 297 pieces, retailing at 30 EUR on the left in purple with Sybill Trelawney, Harry and Parvati Patil. As the books and films weren't consistent as to Padma's House, that choice of twin was something of a given. Lack of House diversity aside, it looks like they've done a good job on this set, and I've enjoyed the Moment sets as a whole rather a lot, small footprint ftw.
It looks like the class text includes the Grim as predicted, which is a nice touch. I'm still hoping they're including a Grim sticker for Harry's teacup. We're getting the midi-legs as expected. No idea if I'm getting the colourful cushions and gold tassels I hoped for... The new Professor Trelawney minifig looks nice and has been updated with legs (instead of the CMF's skirt), so she'll actually be able to use the included armchair.
76397 Hogwarts Moment: (Moody's GoF) DADA classroom, 257 pieces retailing at 30 EUR in black in the upper right of the picture with Professor Moody, Hermione, and we may safely assume a highly traumatised Neville. It does not appear they're going to grace us with a ferret, so Draco (not included) is safe for the moment. The students should be equipped with midi-legs here as well.
76398 the Hogwarts Infirmary, 510 pieces retailing at 50 EUR in the lower right below. This new version of the Infirmary (last released in the 2019 Clock Tower) is a continuation of the 2021 modular Chamber of Secrets Hogwarts system. The setting for this set is third year, and it depicts the Time Turner scene from PoA. The exterior once again features the Clock Tower, and we're finally getting the Madam Pomfrey I've been waiting We're also getting the trio, and Ron comes complete with a broken leg and Hermione seems to have a non-printed Time Turner, which makes for a change. The Infirmary consist of three of those 8x8 segments plus two roofs and one tower, connected by hinges so that they can be displayed at an angle if wished.
No pictures yet of the interiors, but the modules are expected to contain sickbeds, the typical screens, medical equipment (apparently there's some Skele-grow on Pomfrey's cart...), and assorted sweets, because someone clearly watched the films (or wasn't raised by wolves).
Thing to bear in mind: the 2019 Clock Tower goes EOL at the end of this year, and is clearly being replaced with this set. It's interesting that there will be this short of a gap between releases again, much like with the 2018 Great Hall / 2021 Chamber of Secrets sets. Anyway, if you prefer the older style, pick it up while you still can.
Another thing that stands out, the catalogue doesn't include the Potions Moment set. This may mean nothing, it could just be a decision of this individual store. On the other hand, if you liked the set and don't have it yet, just keep an eye out so you don't miss your window of opportunity.
Lego themselves have posted the pictures of 76399 Hogwarts Suitcase, 603 pieces retailing at 50 EUR, so we have good quality on that front. This was the set I was most curious about, because it's an outlier in the series and the description wasn't really enough to go off of.
It's a buildable suitcase, customisable via extra tiles and a variety of stickers to the House of your choice. (Shown following in one of the Slytherin configurations for what should be obvious reasons... 😉 Go Snakes! 🐍) The set comes with Harry and Professor McGonagall, the Sorting Hat and a minifig body for each of the four Houses, so you can have up to six minifigs built at any one time. It has ten heads and sixteen hairstyles to choose from for the remaining figs, allowing us to mix and match to create our own Hogwarts students, and as a bonus, the remainder can be used with all those extra Harry, Hermione and Ron minifigs we have to flesh out our student bodies. A word of praise as to inclusivity here: according to their chief designer, lego has apparently used five different skin tones, a couple of heads with eyeglasses that aren't Harry's, and they've include two fairly new skirt pieces to better represent the girls' uniforms. I think that's a very nice touch. (Off the pieces included, we should be able to build a Hermione or Ginny, too, if folks really want.)
In order to simplify the skin colour issue with regards to hands, as I predicted, they've gone for mittens and depicted the students in matching House scarves. Two obvious drawbacks: I find the outdoor variant less useful, and they've brightened the House colours to match the mittens. Hmm. Eh. I get why they did it, anything else would have been fiddly or looked odd, but hopefully they'll return to the regular colours with the rest of this year's sets.
Once open, this set really embraces its lego-ness. Whether that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen, but for the size and price, this isn't a display set so much as a play set. Like the Hogwarts Moment sets, it has a small footprint when built (which is nice, as I for one haven't got limitless space), but unlike the Moment sets, it's meant to be built and rebuilt and rebuilt yet again. Reusing the same pieces in different configurations, it's possible to represent the Sorting Ceremony, a meal in the Great Hall, and your dorm of choice (again by means of swapping out very few parts so the duvet and House banner reflect that choice).
Some details: Harry's original torso is the pre-sorting unspecified uniform from the advent calendar. (And his hand colour seems bizarre, unless it's a misprint.) We're getting a third version of "Advanced Potionmaking", a third Marauder's Map since the reboot, a new owl, a new trunk lid that makes it better useable as a table, a printed Bertie Bott's Beans box, and finally a buildable House points counter.
And a German catalogue seems to have inadvertently leaked the remaining winter sets, also due out in March...
76396 Hogwarts Moment: Divination classroom, 297 pieces, retailing at 30 EUR on the left in purple with Sybill Trelawney, Harry and Parvati Patil. As the books and films weren't consistent as to Padma's House, that choice of twin was something of a given. Lack of House diversity aside, it looks like they've done a good job on this set, and I've enjoyed the Moment sets as a whole rather a lot, small footprint ftw.
It looks like the class text includes the Grim as predicted, which is a nice touch. I'm still hoping they're including a Grim sticker for Harry's teacup. We're getting the midi-legs as expected. No idea if I'm getting the colourful cushions and gold tassels I hoped for... The new Professor Trelawney minifig looks nice and has been updated with legs (instead of the CMF's skirt), so she'll actually be able to use the included armchair.
76397 Hogwarts Moment: (Moody's GoF) DADA classroom, 257 pieces retailing at 30 EUR in black in the upper right of the picture with Professor Moody, Hermione, and we may safely assume a highly traumatised Neville. It does not appear they're going to grace us with a ferret, so Draco (not included) is safe for the moment. The students should be equipped with midi-legs here as well.
76398 the Hogwarts Infirmary, 510 pieces retailing at 50 EUR in the lower right below. This new version of the Infirmary (last released in the 2019 Clock Tower) is a continuation of the 2021 modular Chamber of Secrets Hogwarts system. The setting for this set is third year, and it depicts the Time Turner scene from PoA. The exterior once again features the Clock Tower, and we're finally getting the Madam Pomfrey I've been waiting We're also getting the trio, and Ron comes complete with a broken leg and Hermione seems to have a non-printed Time Turner, which makes for a change. The Infirmary consist of three of those 8x8 segments plus two roofs and one tower, connected by hinges so that they can be displayed at an angle if wished.
No pictures yet of the interiors, but the modules are expected to contain sickbeds, the typical screens, medical equipment (apparently there's some Skele-grow on Pomfrey's cart...), and assorted sweets, because someone clearly watched the films (or wasn't raised by wolves).
Thing to bear in mind: the 2019 Clock Tower goes EOL at the end of this year, and is clearly being replaced with this set. It's interesting that there will be this short of a gap between releases again, much like with the 2018 Great Hall / 2021 Chamber of Secrets sets. Anyway, if you prefer the older style, pick it up while you still can.
Another thing that stands out, the catalogue doesn't include the Potions Moment set. This may mean nothing, it could just be a decision of this individual store. On the other hand, if you liked the set and don't have it yet, just keep an eye out so you don't miss your window of opportunity.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-13 11:54 am (UTC)It's so strange to me to think they might stop the Potions set this soon. I really think it must be just this store. They couldn't possibly not have a Snape on the shelves for that long (and even Draco is only available in the lego.com exclusive First Flying Lesson). The earliest we can see another is next summer, although there's no word yet on what sets we'll be seeing then. Plus with the release of the new FB movie this April, it's likely a slot or two on the roster will be taken up by those sets.