accio brick - the lego harry potter comm

In light of recent developments, I figured you could use a bit of positivity, so... Lego has announced a Harry Potter In-store Build for the Harry Potter theme during the Back to Hogwarts week. At participating Lego Stores (for clarification, that's actual brick and mortar Lego Stores and not just a store selling lego or even the online shop), while supplies last, you can build a Butterbeer sales cart, and frankly it's pretty cute. ( Read more... )

Again, check your local store's page to see if they're participating or making changes.

Worth considering:
The Back to Hogwarts Event begins tomorrow 01 September.
(US link above or Canadian link)

- Purchases at or above $40 get this year's Harry Potter lego Polybag: 30706 Quidditch Lesson as a GWP. (While supplies last.)



- Purchases at or above $130 additionally get 40770 Hogwarts™ Castle: Room of Requirement GWP. (While supplies last.)



- Lego Insiders (what the VIP program is now called) can order 76457 Hogsmeade™ Village – Collectors' Edition early as of 01 September (everyone else needs to wait until 04 September).
- While supplies last, those doing so will also receive the metal Hogsmeade™ Sign GWP.



So be aware, waiting to make your Harry Potter purchases until the Butterbeer truck build event may cost you the GWPs if they run out of them by then. As the Make and Take event doesn't seem tied to purchases, it might be safer to order what you want on the first and attend the in-store event the following weekend if it works for you.

Heads up! The Back to Hogwarts sales go live right after midnight on the 1st of September (so in the night from 31 August to 1 September). The Gifts with Purchase are only available as long as supplies last, and the Harry Potter GWPs tend to go very quickly, so if you're interested, be prepared to act quickly. Really nice: the GWPs are stackable, so you could conceivably get three of them. 😃 As previously reported, the Draco in the Forbidden Forest Polybag is available with qualifying purchases upwards of $40 / 40 EUR; with qualifying purchases upwards of $130 / 130 EUR, you'll receive the Borgin & Burkes Floo Network set as well; and you'll get the collectible Weasley Clock, too, if you order the Collectors' Edition of the Burrow.

As an added bonus, as part of what's shaping up to be a yearly B2H celebration, many Harry Potter lego sets and accessories are eligible for double VIP (Insiders) points, which equates to a discount off a future purchase of roughly 10% of the current purchase's price. I know that's a complicated way to put it, but it basically boils down to this: if you purchase $100 worth of qualifying items during the 2x event, you could redeem your points to get a $10 discount off a future purchase. Or the points can be redeemed for a variety of exclusive lego sets and collectibles for that matter. In fact... there just so happens to be a special lego Harry Potter reward available only for Insiders via the rewards section...( Read more... )

Since they did away with the monthly calendars... 😭 Massive shame that. Now it helps to get a "heads up" when something is coming. So! Something is coming!

The lego S@H (Shop at Home) and the official lego stores in most regions will have LEGO VIP Days 2023 from Tuesday, July 11 to Saturday, July 15, 2023. (US / UK / DE) There aren't a lot of details yet as to what we can concretely expect, but it looks like there'll be a small parts pack, and some GWPs (Gift With Purchases) that sold out too quickly in the past will make another appearance. No idea if that includes any of the Lego Harry Potter GWPs, though. (The Grand Staircase would make for an excellent candidate, but I'm not holding my breath. It's a real pity as they re-released the Monster Book of Monsters GWP at a later point. Why not the iconic Staircase?) Also a few themes, including the HP theme, will receive double VIP points for the duration, which is nice. Basically it means getting a rebate off your next purchase worth (roughly) 10% instead of 5% of what you spent during the special. If you rarely buy things from the lego store, that's not much of a pull, but for addicts (of whom you know at least one), those extra 5% add up.

I've also seen a re-appearance of limited edition sets in the VIP rewards that you can purchase by redeeming points. Sometimes those are of direct interest, but their re-sale prices can also make them well worthwhile, even when they aren't quite to your taste in and of themselves. (lego arbitrage ftw...) There are also some nice digital downloads, like the Lord of the Rings Rivendell Blueprint, for only 50 points (roughly 33 cents), or the Retro Jazz Club Poster pack for 30 (ca. 20 cents).

Rumoured GWPs:
* Fun and Funky VIP Add-On Pack (40512)
* Icons Blacktron Cruiser (40580)
* BIONICLE® Tahu and Takua (40581)
and there may be more...

Do note that GWPs tend to go quickly, so if there's anything you're keen on, acting earlier as opposed to later is generally wise.

Themes in which double VIP points should be awarded: LEGO® City, LEGO Friends, LEGO Technic and LEGO Harry Potter


That said, some things to consider: we know Gringotts is due out some time in the next 2 months, and we can expect it to remain largely exclusive to Lego stores / S@H. There's also a HP GWP in the pipeline (rumour has it it'll be a Gringotts Vault build). That is almost definitely going to require a qualifying purchase of HP lego, so if you buy everything off your wishlist now... We don't know what the threshold for that GWP will be either. Caveat, it's conceivable, although not super likely, that they might bind it to purchases of Gringotts only. We just don't know. But think of it this way, if it isn't limited to Gringotts, and there's a purchase you make now to get the double points (I believe the highest thresholds we've seen are around $220) even at that high threshold, that's a difference of maybe an $11 rebate that might keep you from getting the GWP you want in the not too distant future. Plan accordingly, just bear in mind, sometimes it's worth giving a special a pass.