Oo! Polybag Pictures!
Feb. 24th, 2023 01:51 pm![[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}
acciobrickIn the dead of night (do they never sleep???), JB Spielwaren, a German lego store and one of my local sources for my colorful plastic habit, has posted pictures of the new Harry Potter lego Polybag, and they're far cooler than expected! (And also a cheery thanks to brickmerge.de, my hands down favorite price tracker in Germany, for the heads up that the pictures were out there.)
As we'd heard, it is in fact Quidditch themed polybag, 30651 Quidditch Practice, but contrary to previous rumors, it does not feature Ron (sorry, Ron), no, it's Cho Chang in the long desired Ravenclaw Quidditch robes at what is finally a broadly accessible price! W00t!
And w00t again!
I've never been so happy to see Cho in my life. 😆
Above: the bag! Below: the goods!
It's a little difficult to make out some of the details as they're obscured by her hair and the trans clear antenna she's holding on to, but for comparison here's the Ravenclaw Quidditch robes sporting mannequin (hp 257) from the Quality Quidditch Supplies store in 2020's 75978 Diagon Alley set:
New versions of that minifig generally go for (well) over 20 EUR (very likely about to change 😉), so you can see why a $5 / 5 EUR (ish) polybag is welcome.
But! A few things are interesting about Cho's Quidditch robes, though, and I'm not altogether sure it's the same torso. Getting the readily apparent out of the way first: she's the only one of the Quidditch Robes minifigs to not have a cape. (Frankly that makes some sense to me as Polybags probably aren't great for those.) Note, that's the named minifigs, the mannequins didn't have robes either. Second, her uniform has blue legs instead of the white legs we've seen on all other versions, including the Ravenclaw mannequin.
There may be more significant changes, however.
Cho's hands don't appear to be the same dark brown we saw in the original mannequin's robes, or on the other three House's robes torsos. Gryffindor and Slytherin were in 2018's 75956 Quidditch Match (above, Oliver Wood (hp137) and Marcus Flint (hp136)), Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw robes were introduced in 2020's aforementioned 75978 Diagon Alley. Hufflepuff's robes became more accessible after the Cedric Diggory minifig (hp275) was released with an inexpensive book, so it's definitely in the realm of the possible that the torso could be the same print here.
[EDIT: originally I looked up all the component parts of the minifigs from 75956 Quidditch Match, the first Quidditch related set since the theme's 2018 reboot. Having now looked up all the Quidditch minifigs' parts, I can say that while the 2018 Slytherin and Gryffindor robes had dark brown hands, the mannequins that appeared in DA two years later (and on Cedric's minifig a year after that) had reddish brown hands, so it's conceivable that Cho's hands in the polybag conform to that colour scheme. One quibble potentially satisfactorily resolved! 😊]
Cloaks can be added and legs can be swapped out, obviously, even hands can be replaced (and we can use a few different hand skin tones anyway, thanks to the often clumsy use of "gloves"), but the snag is the printing seems a little different, the colour scheme... off, and that would be a big difference if that's the case. The silver looks to be a darker grey on Cho instead of light grey on the mannequin's jumper or silver on its robes. The jumper's blue also appears different, lighter and less royal. Honestly I'm not sure if that's a function of the render or an indication of things to come, which would be more worrisome. Bear in mind, this summer we're getting a Quidditch Trunk, which sounds like it could follow the pattern we saw with last year's 76399 Hogwarts Magical Trunk (that would be one of those awkward uses of gloves), and give us some uniforms and minifigure parts to make our own teams with. There is also a fairly credible rumour we'll see a Hogwarts Castle & Grounds set then as well, which could conceivably include Quidditch player minifigs in the same way the nanoscale Hogwarts included the Founders. It's entirely possible we're looking at getting new prints / versions of the House Quidditch robes here, which would leave me conflicted. Either way, I'm grateful to have a pathway to completing my Quidditch teams, and expect to purchase multiple Cho's, but if this is an indication of an all-around update, I don't need yet another non-matching version of the robes. If we're going there, what I need is variety. Keep the colour schemes the same and work on bringing the differences within a unified design, in the way cardigans, jumpers and various stages of dishevelment add variety to the House uniforms. We don't need a repeat of the horrible House uniforms of different hues that we saw in the Trunk. Especially as it's a far too expensive way to come by matching minifigs.
Lego's Star Wars theme has seen repeated army building packs. I wish the lego Harry Potter theme would get the same attention and we'd see a good Quidditch Pack with the robes from all four Houses, one set of Keeper's gear, a Snitch, and the necessary Bludgers and Quaffles.
Not everyone is a Gryffindor, and even if all the fans were (they're not), they'd still need teams to play against.
Another bit of oddness - the Slytherin and Ravenclaw silver is now white in the stands? In all fairness, that might just look better in the nanoscale display, but this is after the poor Ravenclaws had their bronze silvered. Will the neglect never end? 😉 (Actually if you're in third, you probably can't complain about the "upgrade" to silver, but white?)
Now, what are the chances Cho's alternative face is sleeping? (Having already disappointed me on this count with 76411 the Ravenclaw House Banner, I'm thinking slim to none. 😆) She's still the only one of the Second Task victims / treasures / rewards we don't have a sleeping face for, and given their preferred choice of darker skin tones for her, that makes it more difficult to find a substitution that's in keeping with the other versions of her minifig. Sleeping Cho! Sleeping Cho! Sleeping Cho! Sleeping Cho! 😴💤💤💤
As we'd heard, it is in fact Quidditch themed polybag, 30651 Quidditch Practice, but contrary to previous rumors, it does not feature Ron (sorry, Ron), no, it's Cho Chang in the long desired Ravenclaw Quidditch robes at what is finally a broadly accessible price! W00t!
And w00t again!
I've never been so happy to see Cho in my life. 😆
Above: the bag! Below: the goods!
It's a little difficult to make out some of the details as they're obscured by her hair and the trans clear antenna she's holding on to, but for comparison here's the Ravenclaw Quidditch robes sporting mannequin (hp 257) from the Quality Quidditch Supplies store in 2020's 75978 Diagon Alley set:
New versions of that minifig generally go for (well) over 20 EUR (very likely about to change 😉), so you can see why a $5 / 5 EUR (ish) polybag is welcome.
But! A few things are interesting about Cho's Quidditch robes, though, and I'm not altogether sure it's the same torso. Getting the readily apparent out of the way first: she's the only one of the Quidditch Robes minifigs to not have a cape. (Frankly that makes some sense to me as Polybags probably aren't great for those.) Note, that's the named minifigs, the mannequins didn't have robes either. Second, her uniform has blue legs instead of the white legs we've seen on all other versions, including the Ravenclaw mannequin.
There may be more significant changes, however.
Cho's hands don't appear to be the same dark brown we saw in the original mannequin's robes, or on the other three House's robes torsos. Gryffindor and Slytherin were in 2018's 75956 Quidditch Match (above, Oliver Wood (hp137) and Marcus Flint (hp136)), Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw robes were introduced in 2020's aforementioned 75978 Diagon Alley. Hufflepuff's robes became more accessible after the Cedric Diggory minifig (hp275) was released with an inexpensive book, so it's definitely in the realm of the possible that the torso could be the same print here.
[EDIT: originally I looked up all the component parts of the minifigs from 75956 Quidditch Match, the first Quidditch related set since the theme's 2018 reboot. Having now looked up all the Quidditch minifigs' parts, I can say that while the 2018 Slytherin and Gryffindor robes had dark brown hands, the mannequins that appeared in DA two years later (and on Cedric's minifig a year after that) had reddish brown hands, so it's conceivable that Cho's hands in the polybag conform to that colour scheme. One quibble potentially satisfactorily resolved! 😊]
Cloaks can be added and legs can be swapped out, obviously, even hands can be replaced (and we can use a few different hand skin tones anyway, thanks to the often clumsy use of "gloves"), but the snag is the printing seems a little different, the colour scheme... off, and that would be a big difference if that's the case. The silver looks to be a darker grey on Cho instead of light grey on the mannequin's jumper or silver on its robes. The jumper's blue also appears different, lighter and less royal. Honestly I'm not sure if that's a function of the render or an indication of things to come, which would be more worrisome. Bear in mind, this summer we're getting a Quidditch Trunk, which sounds like it could follow the pattern we saw with last year's 76399 Hogwarts Magical Trunk (that would be one of those awkward uses of gloves), and give us some uniforms and minifigure parts to make our own teams with. There is also a fairly credible rumour we'll see a Hogwarts Castle & Grounds set then as well, which could conceivably include Quidditch player minifigs in the same way the nanoscale Hogwarts included the Founders. It's entirely possible we're looking at getting new prints / versions of the House Quidditch robes here, which would leave me conflicted. Either way, I'm grateful to have a pathway to completing my Quidditch teams, and expect to purchase multiple Cho's, but if this is an indication of an all-around update, I don't need yet another non-matching version of the robes. If we're going there, what I need is variety. Keep the colour schemes the same and work on bringing the differences within a unified design, in the way cardigans, jumpers and various stages of dishevelment add variety to the House uniforms. We don't need a repeat of the horrible House uniforms of different hues that we saw in the Trunk. Especially as it's a far too expensive way to come by matching minifigs.
Lego's Star Wars theme has seen repeated army building packs. I wish the lego Harry Potter theme would get the same attention and we'd see a good Quidditch Pack with the robes from all four Houses, one set of Keeper's gear, a Snitch, and the necessary Bludgers and Quaffles.
Not everyone is a Gryffindor, and even if all the fans were (they're not), they'd still need teams to play against.
Another bit of oddness - the Slytherin and Ravenclaw silver is now white in the stands? In all fairness, that might just look better in the nanoscale display, but this is after the poor Ravenclaws had their bronze silvered. Will the neglect never end? 😉 (Actually if you're in third, you probably can't complain about the "upgrade" to silver, but white?)
Now, what are the chances Cho's alternative face is sleeping? (Having already disappointed me on this count with 76411 the Ravenclaw House Banner, I'm thinking slim to none. 😆) She's still the only one of the Second Task victims / treasures / rewards we don't have a sleeping face for, and given their preferred choice of darker skin tones for her, that makes it more difficult to find a substitution that's in keeping with the other versions of her minifig. Sleeping Cho! Sleeping Cho! Sleeping Cho! Sleeping Cho! 😴💤💤💤
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-25 12:01 am (UTC)One thing I'd add, hoping they might do a companion set for triwiz tourne, one with Fleur & Cedric... and Sleeping Cho...!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-25 12:57 am (UTC)Did you think Cho's top and the mannequin's are the same?
I still think those missing minifigs might be fodder for a CMF series. Keeper Ron is another gap. Fingers crossed, maybe 2024.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-25 05:16 pm (UTC)And I hear it was very frustrating to actually play, however, which some folks expected to do (from the size alone, I'd have assumed that was a non-starter), and it's fizzling as sets go, which is one of the problems with fan designed sets, they're more prone to that and (logically) not as robustly tested.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-26 10:59 am (UTC)Sorry can't reach on other channels, Mom in ER.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-26 02:35 pm (UTC)Really sorry to hear it, hun. Keeping you both in my thoughts and hope she's better ASAP. ❤️