News on this year's D2C has dropped...

[gingerwitch.livejournal.com]

We interrupt the Jane Austen MOC coverage to bring you some (admittedly scant) news about this year's D2C. We knew it was going to be Hogsmeade and had speculated that it would be minifig / playscale as we just had the nanoscale Diagon Alley set, and now we have confirmation on both counts, plus the name, price, and piece count. The 2025 lego Harry Potter theme D2C (Direct to Customer) set 76457 Hogsmeade Village will cost $380 USD (tariffs may yet affect that) and will have contain 3228 bricks. Release date, as we've come to expect, is timed for a 01 September "Back to Hogwarts" event.



Here's hoping it's as good as 75978 the Diagon Alley D2C was. That set has really stood up to the test of time.

Comments

[erexen.livejournal.com]

[erexen.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, I sincerely hope it's well worth it.

[gingerwitch.livejournal.com]

😘

[gingerwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm curious to see what they produce without Marcos Bessa involved. He's the one who made the 2020 75978 Diagon Alley ($450) such a success, and we haven't seen anything like it, before *or* since.

2018 there was the nanoscale 71043 Hogwarts Castle ($470),

nothing in 2019 (they were still wrapping their heads around the theme and its success),

2021 we had the 76391 Icons ($300) art set with the massive Hedwig,

2022 we had the super-sized 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors' Edition ($500 — retired),

2023 it was 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collectors' Edition ($430) with a building and half if we're generous (plus the large dungeons), and nanoscale 76419 Hogwarts Castle and Grounds ($170),

2024 we got 76437 the Burrow Collectors' Edition ($260),

and 2025 we've already had a nanoscale 76444 Diagon Alley Wizarding Shops ($200).

And now 76457 Hogsmeade Village ($380)... That should (hopefully) be a lot of set for the price, and let us really expand the village. I'm a little nervous because they discontinued the regular Hogsmeade sets — we had the 2021 Hogsmeade Village Visit set ($90), 2022's 76407 Shrieking Shack ($90) and 2023 76423 Hogsmeade Station (and Hogwarts Express $130), and that very excellent 76418 2023 Harry Potter Advent Calendar ($45). They could have kept going and given us more shops, especially as the Hog's Head featured in the Fantastic Beasts films, but they stopped. I don't own a single one of the "collectors' edition" sets, I don't even have Icons, so I'm worried now we either get too much of a retread of covered ground (sort of like how the smaller Diagon Alley shops sets feel), or one of those massive things where we're getting a too large build of the Three Broomsticks, say, instead of lots of play and detail for your buck like the 2020 DA offered.

(side note: em dash is apparently a function of autocorrect and I am not a bot, cheers)

[erexen.livejournal.com]

I have 2020 Diagon Alley, 2018 nano castle, and 2021 Hedwig. No CE's train, bank or Burrow. No nano D. Alley. Have huge decision... have huge amount of Lego credit stored up, so CE bank or IF new Hogsmeade is good, then that. Yeah, surprisingly Not a bot either.