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acciobrickHa! Pictures! Famous last words about when we'd see the pictures from the set, huh? Photos beneath the fold.
The 2025 autumn wave lego Harry Potter D2C (direct to customer) exclusive set:
76457 Hogsmeade Village
Release date: Sept 1, 2025
12 minifigures | 18+ set
3228 pieces | $380-430 USD
(US prices unfortunately subject to fluctuations due to tariffs)
Minifigures included:
Harry Potter
Hermione Granger
Ron Weasley
Draco Malfoy
Katie Bell
Cornelius Fudge
Professor McGonagall
Horace Slughorn
Aberforth Dumbledore
Mrs. Flume
Madam Rosmerta
Zonko's employee / proprietorOR Carriage Driver
Diversity notes: 6 males, 5 females, and I can't tell how the Zonko's proprietor is coded. As the last isn't canonical, it's this set's injection of diversity and a PoC. It's a pity they didn't include Katie's friend Leanne, as that would have been another PoC and female, but there's an obvious upper limit and the selection is pretty good to allow a variety of scenes to be enacted. I also like the mix of robe pieces to legs, three of the twelve characters us the skirt piece. They really add to the Wizarding feeling, but as the minifigs then can't walk properly or sit, this is a good compromise.
Shops included:
1) Owl Post, Dervish and Banges, Honeydukes
2) Three Broomsticks
3) Hogs Head 'Inn', NEW: Papergoods / Quill shop ðŠķ (Tomes and Scrolls or maybe Scrivenshafts?), Zonko's Joke Shop
Misc extras:
Horse and Carriage
Water pump and trough
Street lamps
Postbox
Direction Signage
Town Notification Board
There's a thick outer wall to the Owl Post that suggests the town wall, which is nice. It would have been nice to have the arch to the town that's been part of a number of MOCs, and doesn't require many bricks to build. There's a gate beside the Broomsticks, possibly that's meant to represent it instead?
There are at least three books / films represented:
Prisoner of Azkaban (PoA) - Fudge, McGonagall, Rosmerta, the horse drawn carriage, and the Three Broomsticks Inn; the discussion of Sirius Black's escape that Harry listens in on
Order of the Phoenix (OotP) - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Aberforth, Katie Bell, and the Hog's Head; the Formation of Dumbledore's Army
(this video is cute; there are clips included at the end of this scene from 2 video games, including the lego HP game, and I always thought that was adorable)
Half-Blood Prince (HBP) - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Slughorn, Katie Bell, Draco, the Three Broomsticks; Butterbeers with Professor Slughorn and Draco slipping Katie the cursed necklace
My reaction is mixed.
Hogsmeade is above the snow line, the buildings and walkways are covered in snow, and that requires a fair amount of pieces to do reasonably well, as they've done here. So that's nice.
However, I've spent long enough looking at and building MOCs of Hogsmeade to be disappointed by the size, detail and contents of some of these builds. On the one hand, the Three Broomsticks is massive, but unfortunately not a building I needed larger than what we already had in the Hogsmeade set. I appreciate that it does keep things in scale, but I just don't care about its architecture. Heck, I'm not even sure I like it, to be honest. I like the canonical whitewashed interior, wood panelling around the seating areas, the outsized fireplace, and bizarre antler wall (heavens know, my grandfather dragged us into enough establishments like that), but none of that looks like it's made it into the build. [Correction! Wait, no, if you zoom in on the back of the box (and it's too small to see clearly), in the landing otherwise obscured by Professor McGonagall in other pix, you can see what will almost definitely be a white fireplace and antlers. So the location is odd, but at least it's facing you and better noticeable. Uh, when not obscured by McGonagall, that is. It is very small, and we don't have larger pictures yet of the Three Broomsticks from the front or interior.] And to make the building as large as it is, the other builds were compromised, and they're the ones I'd have rather seen more of. At the other end of the spectrum there's Honeydukes, which doesn't seem substantially improved, and between them, that's just under half the set leaving me underwhelmed.
Overall I'd expect the buildings to be a little higher. Too many are about a window too short on the upper floors (Dervish and Banges, the quill shop, Zonko's). But changing that would have increased those builds by at least two courses of bricks (which: $$$ ðŽ), and this adds to the nice higgledy piggledy look we expect. It's easy to retrofit adjusting the height, so there's that, plus they don't have canonical contents for the stores, so that's always an issue. There's also something to be said for a whole bunch of shop fronts. It does succeed in giving a town feel. I also like that the shopkeepers' apartments have a variety of contents, a bedroom, a lounge, table with a bowl, a bathroom... That said, the upper floor of Honeydukes feels odd.
The colour seems off, too. As you can see in the clips above, Hogsmeade is lovely grey stone and wonky. This set is dominated by medium nougat and dark tan, neither of which are personal faves. It does make it easier to MOC in the pieces from the previous Hogsmeade set, though, but I'd have rather put them to new builds. Also the 'painted' windows visually weigh heavily on the storefronts, again shifting the colour balance.
I'd have expected some removable counters or sales racks or registers to expand the footprint for playing. They don't have to require a lot of pieces, and it livens up and extends the store area for little extra. The approach in the Hogsmeade Advent Calendar had led me to hope that would be the direction they'd take to flesh things out some, especially when some of the buildings are just so darn small. (Or maybe this helps keep the AC relevant...) Certainly plenty of real world shops do that daily; roll out the racks in the morning, and roll them in every evening, making things impossibly crowded inside overnight. While I imagine that could detract from the display some, I doubt most folks are displaying this set with the interiors facing outwards. Definitely not as is, anyways.
As for the selection of shops, I remain disappointed that we didn't at least get a Puddifoots for Harry's deathly boring date with Cho. (And I say that despite loathing pink.) There's something fun about a good tea shop. If they were still doing Hogsmeade sets, there might be hope to eventually see it there, but they seem to have given that up. I would have vastly preferred it to Honeydukes, the impact on the budget would have been about the same, and it would make the older Hogsmeade set more worthwhile (in addition to Mr. Flume, Ginny and Dean). The colour scheme is so distinct, the stickered storefront windows just aren't that useful for repurposing in MOCs, and that's most of the shop front right there. It really feels like a missed opportunity.
Oh, and Dervish and Banges, it transpires, does indeed sell 'magical instruments', it's just that they don't take that to mean the same thing I did. ð There's nary a self-playing flute in sight, instead we see a Remembrall in their inventory. Which I suppose is an instrument, now isn't it? Oops. ð Details. ð Fair enough.
Possibly the biggest disappointment, of course, is there doesn't appear to be a goat or Rosmerta's labrador. ð That is indeed a harsh deprivation, but I think we'll survive. Beyond that, I'll reserve judgement for larger photos. I suspect the snow will grow on me significantly and I'll forgive assorted quibbles. I could picture the bridge in a GWP with Leanne, but if they were really going that route, wouldn't they have included her here for added diversity and put Katie in the other set? Then again, Katie's more crucial to the scene than Leanne, so gating her behind a GWP just isn't cool, and that's more important in the end. Either way, I'm not seeing something representing the cursed necklace here (unless it's the blue thing Ron holds, but that wouldn't make lots of sense), which might be an indication of things to come. Or we get a sales cart as a GWP. Who knows. ðĪ Given some of the choices made here, I don't see too much point in speculating. The designers and I really aren't on the same wavelength anymore.
And that's it for now. I'll let you know when we hear about the GWP, likely to be on offer 01 September as part of the now annual Back to Hogwarts special event.
The 2025 autumn wave lego Harry Potter D2C (direct to customer) exclusive set:
76457 Hogsmeade Village
Release date: Sept 1, 2025
12 minifigures | 18+ set
3228 pieces | $380-430 USD
(US prices unfortunately subject to fluctuations due to tariffs)
Minifigures included:
Harry Potter
Hermione Granger
Ron Weasley
Draco Malfoy
Katie Bell
Cornelius Fudge
Professor McGonagall
Horace Slughorn
Aberforth Dumbledore
Mrs. Flume
Madam Rosmerta
Zonko's employee / proprietor
Diversity notes: 6 males, 5 females, and I can't tell how the Zonko's proprietor is coded. As the last isn't canonical, it's this set's injection of diversity and a PoC. It's a pity they didn't include Katie's friend Leanne, as that would have been another PoC and female, but there's an obvious upper limit and the selection is pretty good to allow a variety of scenes to be enacted. I also like the mix of robe pieces to legs, three of the twelve characters us the skirt piece. They really add to the Wizarding feeling, but as the minifigs then can't walk properly or sit, this is a good compromise.
Shops included:
1) Owl Post, Dervish and Banges, Honeydukes
2) Three Broomsticks
3) Hogs Head 'Inn', NEW: Papergoods / Quill shop ðŠķ (Tomes and Scrolls or maybe Scrivenshafts?), Zonko's Joke Shop
Misc extras:
Horse and Carriage
Water pump and trough
Street lamps
Postbox
Direction Signage
Town Notification Board
There's a thick outer wall to the Owl Post that suggests the town wall, which is nice. It would have been nice to have the arch to the town that's been part of a number of MOCs, and doesn't require many bricks to build. There's a gate beside the Broomsticks, possibly that's meant to represent it instead?
There are at least three books / films represented:
Prisoner of Azkaban (PoA) - Fudge, McGonagall, Rosmerta, the horse drawn carriage, and the Three Broomsticks Inn; the discussion of Sirius Black's escape that Harry listens in on
Order of the Phoenix (OotP) - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Aberforth, Katie Bell, and the Hog's Head; the Formation of Dumbledore's Army
(this video is cute; there are clips included at the end of this scene from 2 video games, including the lego HP game, and I always thought that was adorable)
Half-Blood Prince (HBP) - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Slughorn, Katie Bell, Draco, the Three Broomsticks; Butterbeers with Professor Slughorn and Draco slipping Katie the cursed necklace
My reaction is mixed.
Hogsmeade is above the snow line, the buildings and walkways are covered in snow, and that requires a fair amount of pieces to do reasonably well, as they've done here. So that's nice.
However, I've spent long enough looking at and building MOCs of Hogsmeade to be disappointed by the size, detail and contents of some of these builds. On the one hand, the Three Broomsticks is massive, but unfortunately not a building I needed larger than what we already had in the Hogsmeade set. I appreciate that it does keep things in scale, but I just don't care about its architecture. Heck, I'm not even sure I like it, to be honest. I like the canonical whitewashed interior, wood panelling around the seating areas, the outsized fireplace, and bizarre antler wall (heavens know, my grandfather dragged us into enough establishments like that), but none of that looks like it's made it into the build. [Correction! Wait, no, if you zoom in on the back of the box (and it's too small to see clearly), in the landing otherwise obscured by Professor McGonagall in other pix, you can see what will almost definitely be a white fireplace and antlers. So the location is odd, but at least it's facing you and better noticeable. Uh, when not obscured by McGonagall, that is. It is very small, and we don't have larger pictures yet of the Three Broomsticks from the front or interior.] And to make the building as large as it is, the other builds were compromised, and they're the ones I'd have rather seen more of. At the other end of the spectrum there's Honeydukes, which doesn't seem substantially improved, and between them, that's just under half the set leaving me underwhelmed.
Overall I'd expect the buildings to be a little higher. Too many are about a window too short on the upper floors (Dervish and Banges, the quill shop, Zonko's). But changing that would have increased those builds by at least two courses of bricks (which: $$$ ðŽ), and this adds to the nice higgledy piggledy look we expect. It's easy to retrofit adjusting the height, so there's that, plus they don't have canonical contents for the stores, so that's always an issue. There's also something to be said for a whole bunch of shop fronts. It does succeed in giving a town feel. I also like that the shopkeepers' apartments have a variety of contents, a bedroom, a lounge, table with a bowl, a bathroom... That said, the upper floor of Honeydukes feels odd.
The colour seems off, too. As you can see in the clips above, Hogsmeade is lovely grey stone and wonky. This set is dominated by medium nougat and dark tan, neither of which are personal faves. It does make it easier to MOC in the pieces from the previous Hogsmeade set, though, but I'd have rather put them to new builds. Also the 'painted' windows visually weigh heavily on the storefronts, again shifting the colour balance.
I'd have expected some removable counters or sales racks or registers to expand the footprint for playing. They don't have to require a lot of pieces, and it livens up and extends the store area for little extra. The approach in the Hogsmeade Advent Calendar had led me to hope that would be the direction they'd take to flesh things out some, especially when some of the buildings are just so darn small. (Or maybe this helps keep the AC relevant...) Certainly plenty of real world shops do that daily; roll out the racks in the morning, and roll them in every evening, making things impossibly crowded inside overnight. While I imagine that could detract from the display some, I doubt most folks are displaying this set with the interiors facing outwards. Definitely not as is, anyways.
As for the selection of shops, I remain disappointed that we didn't at least get a Puddifoots for Harry's deathly boring date with Cho. (And I say that despite loathing pink.) There's something fun about a good tea shop. If they were still doing Hogsmeade sets, there might be hope to eventually see it there, but they seem to have given that up. I would have vastly preferred it to Honeydukes, the impact on the budget would have been about the same, and it would make the older Hogsmeade set more worthwhile (in addition to Mr. Flume, Ginny and Dean). The colour scheme is so distinct, the stickered storefront windows just aren't that useful for repurposing in MOCs, and that's most of the shop front right there. It really feels like a missed opportunity.
Oh, and Dervish and Banges, it transpires, does indeed sell 'magical instruments', it's just that they don't take that to mean the same thing I did. ð There's nary a self-playing flute in sight, instead we see a Remembrall in their inventory. Which I suppose is an instrument, now isn't it? Oops. ð Details. ð Fair enough.
Possibly the biggest disappointment, of course, is there doesn't appear to be a goat or Rosmerta's labrador. ð That is indeed a harsh deprivation, but I think we'll survive. Beyond that, I'll reserve judgement for larger photos. I suspect the snow will grow on me significantly and I'll forgive assorted quibbles. I could picture the bridge in a GWP with Leanne, but if they were really going that route, wouldn't they have included her here for added diversity and put Katie in the other set? Then again, Katie's more crucial to the scene than Leanne, so gating her behind a GWP just isn't cool, and that's more important in the end. Either way, I'm not seeing something representing the cursed necklace here (unless it's the blue thing Ron holds, but that wouldn't make lots of sense), which might be an indication of things to come. Or we get a sales cart as a GWP. Who knows. ðĪ Given some of the choices made here, I don't see too much point in speculating. The designers and I really aren't on the same wavelength anymore.
And that's it for now. I'll let you know when we hear about the GWP, likely to be on offer 01 September as part of the now annual Back to Hogwarts special event.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-08-31 06:09 pm (UTC)Perversely I am more likely to purchase the small Fawkes / Hedwig etc than the massive ones. This is why I think it's clever of them to offer both and find their audience.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-09-01 12:14 am (UTC)That's a positive way to view the smaller, simpler builds.