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acciobrickThe rumoured prices below the fold.
76448 Dumbledore’s Phoenix $20
76445 Herbology Class $60
76449 Monster Book of Monsters $60
76451 Aunt Marge‘s Visit $90
76450 Book Nook - Featuring the Hogwarts Express $100
76452 QQS & "Ice Cream" $100
76454 Hogwarts Main Tower $250
First thoughts: oof.
Second thoughts: same.
Those prices are something else.
What is almost assuredly the latest instalment in the smaller playscale Diagon Alley, 76452 QQS & "Ice Cream" comes in at $10 more expensive than the previous two years' sets. That's peanuts compared to this year's large addition to the Hogwarts Castle. 76454 the Main Tower (Staircase Tower) is a whopping $50 more expensive than 2024's 76435 Hogwarts™ Castle: The Great Hall... Yikes. This pricing is straight up D2C territory.
Where are the lower cost sets?
The single ray of hope, at $20, 76448 Dumbledore's Phoenix unfortunately could as easily turn out to be a small buildable creature set like 76425 Hedwig™ at 4 Privet Drive (that no one was clamouring for) as a folding playscale (minifig scale) set like lego Harry Potter Set 76442 Hogwarts Castle: Charms Class (yes, please!), which is also $20. We'll have to wait and see. Other than that, the prices start at $60, which is very steep. They do have two less expensive sets in the winter wave (Charms and the Dueling Cass), but I like to see those in every wave. We're not all minted. It's nice to have a small set you can pick up for fans that they aren't likely to have gotten already even if you aren't rolling in it, and how sad is it to phrase things that way?
On the other hand, at $60 76445 Herbology Class is almost definitely a respectable greenhouse, which is grounds (ha.) for celebration.
I'd be thrilled if 76449 MBoM were a Leaky Cauldron set with Harry escaping the eponymous and highly peckish book, but it's very likely to be next summer's buildable object. In as much as the previous version was a GWP, I think it's nice people will be able to close that gap in their collections. On a more selfish level, though, give me the Leaky.
76451 Aunt Marge seems less likely to be a large buildable entry, although I expect she will be in smaller scale, like Grawp was. At $90, and given we're getting a Knight Bus this winter, I'd imagine we're going to have more of the Dursley's home. With luck it would be largely compatible with and expand upon the last version, but as it's retired, I'm not holding my breath. If they change the colours as they did with the Ford this year, I'd expect a lot of people to boycott, so it's probable we'll see a set we can use to MOC our own expansion.
76450 Book Nook looks like another foray into new ground, and while I'm sorry not to have more sets that appeal to me, it's always good for a theme to expand into areas that might draw in new fans.
So all in all, a mixed bag. While I'm sure the designs will continue to delight, some of our pocketbooks may be seeing things differently.
76448 Dumbledore’s Phoenix $20
76445 Herbology Class $60
76449 Monster Book of Monsters $60
76451 Aunt Marge‘s Visit $90
76450 Book Nook - Featuring the Hogwarts Express $100
76452 QQS & "Ice Cream" $100
76454 Hogwarts Main Tower $250
First thoughts: oof.
Second thoughts: same.
Those prices are something else.
What is almost assuredly the latest instalment in the smaller playscale Diagon Alley, 76452 QQS & "Ice Cream" comes in at $10 more expensive than the previous two years' sets. That's peanuts compared to this year's large addition to the Hogwarts Castle. 76454 the Main Tower (Staircase Tower) is a whopping $50 more expensive than 2024's 76435 Hogwarts™ Castle: The Great Hall... Yikes. This pricing is straight up D2C territory.
Where are the lower cost sets?
The single ray of hope, at $20, 76448 Dumbledore's Phoenix unfortunately could as easily turn out to be a small buildable creature set like 76425 Hedwig™ at 4 Privet Drive (that no one was clamouring for) as a folding playscale (minifig scale) set like lego Harry Potter Set 76442 Hogwarts Castle: Charms Class (yes, please!), which is also $20. We'll have to wait and see. Other than that, the prices start at $60, which is very steep. They do have two less expensive sets in the winter wave (Charms and the Dueling Cass), but I like to see those in every wave. We're not all minted. It's nice to have a small set you can pick up for fans that they aren't likely to have gotten already even if you aren't rolling in it, and how sad is it to phrase things that way?
On the other hand, at $60 76445 Herbology Class is almost definitely a respectable greenhouse, which is grounds (ha.) for celebration.
I'd be thrilled if 76449 MBoM were a Leaky Cauldron set with Harry escaping the eponymous and highly peckish book, but it's very likely to be next summer's buildable object. In as much as the previous version was a GWP, I think it's nice people will be able to close that gap in their collections. On a more selfish level, though, give me the Leaky.
76451 Aunt Marge seems less likely to be a large buildable entry, although I expect she will be in smaller scale, like Grawp was. At $90, and given we're getting a Knight Bus this winter, I'd imagine we're going to have more of the Dursley's home. With luck it would be largely compatible with and expand upon the last version, but as it's retired, I'm not holding my breath. If they change the colours as they did with the Ford this year, I'd expect a lot of people to boycott, so it's probable we'll see a set we can use to MOC our own expansion.
76450 Book Nook looks like another foray into new ground, and while I'm sorry not to have more sets that appeal to me, it's always good for a theme to expand into areas that might draw in new fans.
So all in all, a mixed bag. While I'm sure the designs will continue to delight, some of our pocketbooks may be seeing things differently.