Lego Harry Potter 2024 GWP Borgin & Burkes Floo!
And we now have some great pix of the 2024 lego Harry Potter theme gift with purchase (GWP)! Amusingly enough, it also solves the question of "Just what should Floo powder look like?" that erexen and I were discussing only yesterday. How's that for timing, huh? (It looks like we were right about transparent fluorescent acid green... 😆)
Today has certainly been a busy day for Harry Potter lego news, and as I'm more likely to get this set than the Collectors' Edition Burrow, I'll admit I'm a little biased in my excitement here. Some details: this year's GWP is 40695 Borgin and Burkes: Floo Network | 190 pieces | 1 minifigure | not available for purchase except on the second hand market.
"All he could tell was that he was standing in the stone fireplace of what looked like a large, dimly lit wizard's shop - but nothing in here was ever likely to be on a Hogwarts school list. A glass case nearby held a withered hand on a cushion, a blood-stained pack of cards, and a staring glass eye. Evil-looking masks stared down from the walls, an assortment of human bones lay upon the counter, and rusty, spiked instruments hung from the ceiling. Even worse, the dark, narrow street Harry could see through the dusty shop window was definitely not Diagon Alley."
- Harry's first experience in Borgin and Burkes in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
There are a good collection of things in the display case and on the shelves to provide atmosphere (beyond just the aforementioned Floo powder). I think I might have used the Shrunken Head from the Knight Bus set instead of a third skull, or any of a number of Hidden Side heads, and really it highlights how few spooky things are in the inventory aside from animals (bats, spiders, snakes and scorpions), but bones seem a kind of obvious absence in this set, particularly as they're explicitly mentioned. I have no idea what the arrow thingie is supposed to represent, except maybe that's their version of a rusted, spiked instrument, while keeping with the colour scheme. I've been thinking about the Hand of Glory being one of those wrench pieces instead of a normal hand piece, but I guess this is a better way of demonstrating 'withered'. Given they're working with stickers (I can see at least four), the blood-stained pack of cards was certainly doable, and I feel like we could have found a random eye somewhere in the inventory, even if only by using a BrickHeadz eye instead of anything else. Of course I don't know what's in the little box yet. (I'm kind of loving the lid. I really enjoy picturing the designer go, 🤔 hmmm... I wonder what a B&B gift box would look like? 😃)
Nice extra: another Galleon piece, which I think is crucial to a bunch of shops.
Minifig: Lucius Malfoy. Now that we have a better picture, it looks like it is indeed an exclusive Lucius, but reuses the hair, head and torso we had in hp255 in Diagon Alley (and a number of Ameet books) which means it wouldn't be expensive for the completionists amongst us to MOC him if they missed out on this set.
Sad truth, I am such a fan of pretty fireplace architecture, that I'm not entirely sold on the play feature. Obviously it was necessary to provide the opposite end of Harry's first Floo journey from the Burrow to Borgin & Burkes, but there's no denying it's both bulky and minimalistic. On the other hand, I imagine the play aspect outweighs that drawback rather thoroughly. Fireplaces are a dime a dozen in the various lego themes, but, my preferences aside, where else do you find a magic spiral to whisk someone up up up out of sight? (Answer: the Collectors' Edition Burrow... 😆 Yeah, yeah, but you know what I meant. 😋)
The Floo feature in action, whisking Lucius away.
I'm definitely looking forward to this set. 😃
Today has certainly been a busy day for Harry Potter lego news, and as I'm more likely to get this set than the Collectors' Edition Burrow, I'll admit I'm a little biased in my excitement here. Some details: this year's GWP is 40695 Borgin and Burkes: Floo Network | 190 pieces | 1 minifigure | not available for purchase except on the second hand market.
"All he could tell was that he was standing in the stone fireplace of what looked like a large, dimly lit wizard's shop - but nothing in here was ever likely to be on a Hogwarts school list. A glass case nearby held a withered hand on a cushion, a blood-stained pack of cards, and a staring glass eye. Evil-looking masks stared down from the walls, an assortment of human bones lay upon the counter, and rusty, spiked instruments hung from the ceiling. Even worse, the dark, narrow street Harry could see through the dusty shop window was definitely not Diagon Alley."
- Harry's first experience in Borgin and Burkes in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
There are a good collection of things in the display case and on the shelves to provide atmosphere (beyond just the aforementioned Floo powder). I think I might have used the Shrunken Head from the Knight Bus set instead of a third skull, or any of a number of Hidden Side heads, and really it highlights how few spooky things are in the inventory aside from animals (bats, spiders, snakes and scorpions), but bones seem a kind of obvious absence in this set, particularly as they're explicitly mentioned. I have no idea what the arrow thingie is supposed to represent, except maybe that's their version of a rusted, spiked instrument, while keeping with the colour scheme. I've been thinking about the Hand of Glory being one of those wrench pieces instead of a normal hand piece, but I guess this is a better way of demonstrating 'withered'. Given they're working with stickers (I can see at least four), the blood-stained pack of cards was certainly doable, and I feel like we could have found a random eye somewhere in the inventory, even if only by using a BrickHeadz eye instead of anything else. Of course I don't know what's in the little box yet. (I'm kind of loving the lid. I really enjoy picturing the designer go, 🤔 hmmm... I wonder what a B&B gift box would look like? 😃)
Nice extra: another Galleon piece, which I think is crucial to a bunch of shops.
Minifig: Lucius Malfoy. Now that we have a better picture, it looks like it is indeed an exclusive Lucius, but reuses the hair, head and torso we had in hp255 in Diagon Alley (and a number of Ameet books) which means it wouldn't be expensive for the completionists amongst us to MOC him if they missed out on this set.
Sad truth, I am such a fan of pretty fireplace architecture, that I'm not entirely sold on the play feature. Obviously it was necessary to provide the opposite end of Harry's first Floo journey from the Burrow to Borgin & Burkes, but there's no denying it's both bulky and minimalistic. On the other hand, I imagine the play aspect outweighs that drawback rather thoroughly. Fireplaces are a dime a dozen in the various lego themes, but, my preferences aside, where else do you find a magic spiral to whisk someone up up up out of sight? (Answer: the Collectors' Edition Burrow... 😆 Yeah, yeah, but you know what I meant. 😋)
The Floo feature in action, whisking Lucius away.
I'm definitely looking forward to this set. 😃