The Tasks...

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Instagram user AhoyBrickBoy has made a lovely digital render of his MOC of the tasks from Goblet of Fire.



A couple of nice details from task 2: the way the hair seems to "float" (excellent piece choices!) and the way the chains on Hermione and Ron are drawn taut. (I can't quite see how the latter was achieved, to the extent that I asked myself if it was "photographed" upside down. It might be the same mechanism that keeps Harry suspended, however, and simply not more visible from that angle. Either way, I like the result, as well as the idea that a digital set might not be subject to the same restrictions a physical one might. Why *not* display it upside down?) The blue branch pieces (plant leaves 4x3 medium azure) also work a lot better than I expected. (Live and learn, lol.) But if I should happen across a batch, I now see their usefulness... 😉

Not sure which modelling software he's using, but in a perfect world, the "sleeping" faces from the original second task set 4762 Rescue From the Merpeople lend it an extra something if you're trying to recreate it at home. Hermione's face appeared in two minifigs from a total of three sets in 2005 and 2007. Ron's face appeared on one minifig in the same three sets. Caveat: those figs' waking expressions were a bit of a letdown, and I much prefer the current series of minifigs (they've done some great work with them), but it was definitely good for this scene.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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In honour of the event, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington took the liberty of decorating one of the castle's roomier dungeons (some liberties may have been taken in the depiction) with black candles, which gave off an eerie bluish glow, and a haunting of black hangings to set the mood. He further hired a ghostly orchestra to play the musical saw for the festivities, and - not to be outdone - ordered a variety of food that had been tainted to make it stronger, increasing the likelihood his ghostly guests would be able to taste and thus partake of the meal. The repast included large, rotten fish on handsome silver platters, cakes burned charcoal-black and heaped on salvers, maggoty haggis, mouldy cheese, and, in pride of place, an enormous grey cake in the shape of a tombstone, which quite naturally displayed his name and date of death in tar-like frosting. As though there could have been any other choice... Pfft.

I figure this should suit both those pro- and con- marking the day, depending on which aspects you choose to focus on... 😐 Eurobrick's forum user Micmac created this cute MOC scene representing Nearly Headless Nick's 500th Death Day celebration feast. (I particularly like the ghost with the party hat and his MOC Bloody Baron. lol)

Happy Thanksgiving to those observing. 😊

Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests Announced

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Lego has finally released pictures of the assembled Hogwarts Crest, and it's a good deal more colourful than the individual House crests might have led one to believe.



Ta da! It's made from four of the Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests 31201 (US / DE / UK) sets put together. Alternatively, they can be displayed separately in a more subdued arrangement, like so...



The set will be available from 01 January 2021, and each module will retail for $119.99 / 119.99 EUR / £114.99 making the combined build a pretty serious investment. Out of my budget, for sure, but I do like what lego is doing with their art line. As with the other art sets, all four versions can be built from the same set.

Retiring Sets From the Current HP Series (2018 - present)

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Given the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales and Christmas shopping, this seems a useful list to cobble together. This is an attempt to list all the sets from the current series of Harry Potter lego, by year of release, with notes as to which sets are officially retired already or should retire soon, the books / movies they represent, and the minifigs included in the sets.

As for anything that hasn't been listed as "retired" or "retiring", I'd still prioritise buying the older sets off your wishlists first. Stonewars.de is the source for the information on which sets will be retiring soon or in 2021, as for the ones marked "RETIRING NOW" they are currentlydisappearing from lego stores around the world, and brickset lists them as no longer available in some countries' online lego stores. Don't panic, often you can find a recently retired set in toy stores near you, but if you want one, you need to act soon so you won't find yourself paying exorbitant prices on the resale market.

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