It's Wednesday! (It's actually Thursday, but naturally I'm talking about lego...)
Quelle surprise. 😉
I always keep an eye out for sets I can integrate into my lego Harry Potter builds, and in much the same vein as the Wicked sets, thanks to the Greek lego store and the sharp-eyed folks at Promobricks, we now have an advance peek into two sets from the Netflix hit "Wednesday". Expected release date, 01 October, 2024.
My first impression is that those two properties (Wicked / Wednesday) seem to occupy much the same space, at least visually, which always feels like a mixed bag. It's obviously nice to have more pieces and builds to flesh out a mood or your similarly themed MOCs, but it also makes the actual sets seem even less original than they might without the direct comparison. On the other hand, now is when they're relevant, so waiting or staggering them doesn't really make sense either. My second thought is that both of the Wednesday sets have very robust bases that I rarely enjoy paying for, but they do at least seem to be put to use holding the extra parts included in both sets, so at least there's that.
The first set we'll look at is lego 76780 Wednesday Addams figure (buildable and complete with two outfits and makeup (!) options) - 702 pieces - 10+ - expected retail price 50 EUR. Given that's information from the Greek store, that last might not be true in other countries; we'll know soon enough. The titular Wednesday stands in front of the gates to her school, Nevermore Academy, with a typewriter for Thing and a tombstone for Nero adorned with a scorpion. Small black bird pieces perch atop the gate pillars, which are cute and in black for the first time, but an interesting choice as the Dreamzzz series has now given us a raven, or a black version of the falcon piece could have worked, so as said, they're deliberately going with "cute".
There are lit candles of various sizes, the peonie piece we saw in Wicked appears here as well (I like the black roses), a couple of lanterns and a nice crystal ball. Nice detail: the piece for Thing is printed. (That feeds my hope we might someday see Harry's hand post detention with Umbridge on a minifig, although it's a different scale, and probably too dark for the theme.) When the pin on the front of the base is removed, two drawers can be opened, one to either side. It's a cute set, but again, it really feels like the lion's share of parts are going into a base I don't need. There are a lot of collectible resin figures with similar designs, however, so I have to assume there's a market for that concept out there. And realistically, those base parts are probably more useful for MOCs than the ones for the alternate character build are, so I'm probably not looking at this the right way, even within the framework of considering my own (not exactly theme relevant) priorities. Honestly, I think that's instinctive, starting from a viewpoint of thinking of sets in terms "what percentage of the build is comprised of whatever the motivation is for purchasing the set?", but then in cases like these, promptly forgetting it was all about parts to begin with, and not the theme / property itself.
Next up, we look at the dorms for a sad reveal, and something that just shouldn't come as a surprise anymore... lego 76781 Wednesday & Enid's Dorm Room (which comes complete with two versions of both of the minidolls (!) and the same Thing we saw in the previous set) - 750 pieces - 10+ - 4 minidolls (!) - expected retail price 90 EUR. And again, as that's information from the Greek store, the pricing might not be accurate for other countries; we'll have to wait and see.
I'm constantly on the lookout for things to use to expand my Hogsmeade and Knockturn Alley etc, either just in parts or in design. For something that is essentially all roof, ironically this isn't one of the better roof builds; I'm not sure how much of that was driven by the need to accommodate the two bedroom niches, though. My absolute favourite part of this build: the tiny little gargoyle piece that makes me squeeeee. 🥰 There's a recolour of the corkscrew piece from the Harry Potter Floos, here in light grey. As someone very familiar with Harry Potter and thus far immune to Wednesday's charms (evidently not Wingardium Levi-o-sa), I look at the stickers along the front and think Slytherin and Hufflepuff, although that's more likely a wolf than a badger, extrapolating from the other art. Ravenclaw would be represented by a bat, and Gryffindor would simply be ignored in favour of the Merpeople. Heh. 😏 Here as in Wicked, I really wish they went with minifigs. Wednesday minifigs have long been available on the market from non-lego brands, and were so successful, this erstwhile goth (presently still dressed top to tail entirely in black) actually picked up two of them, despite having no emotional connection to the Wednesday theme and rarely going astray. Also as with the Emerald City set, there are more minidolls here than we usually see, so it again factors negatively into the set's budget, while failing to give me parts I'd really like to have as minifig prints.
Lego, if you're listening, there are females of all ages out there who do not find the Polly Pocket aesthetic more appealing than our beloved minifigs. (Similarly, all the lavender and pinks in this set make me cringe, but I'm pretty sure that was non-negotiable and plot driven, so they get a pass. I had a roommate like that at uni, too, I get it. Doesn't make it less loathsome as a parts pack goes, though, and believe me, I'm calculating.) The inflated base and some dodgy colours aside, the primary source of disappointment here remains that character representation choice. Increasingly lego seems prone to relegating anything that skews "female" to the minidolls segment, and it feels like we're being pushed out of the minifig market more and more. Why??? And that's to say nothing of the colour schemes they typically doom us to, the Friends' colour palette update notwithstanding as it really only continues the problem with a slight shift. I don't for a moment feel every set should appeal to me, that would be absurd, I haven't the space or the budget for it anyway, and I welcome a diverse collection to keep the brand strong, but increasingly I'm not feeling seen. At a minimum I'd like to see them come out with CMFs of the characters in minifig format. We'd still be paying for things twice, which isn't great, and yet another version of the PINK TAX, but at least that would save those of us who just don't like the dread minidolls from having to display the damn things.
Both Wicked and Wednesday have non-conformist, non-"girly" young women at their hearts, and yet given a choice, lego continued propagating their "Princess" nonsense, pigeonholing these individualists into literally extremely conformist moulds. That is some prime bull hockey. If not minfigs for these themes, then which? Particularly in 10+ sets. lego's corporate understanding of "girl"/"woman"/"female" isn't even just low key insulting anymore, it's becoming an affront. This is such a great way to "other" half your potential market. 🎉 More of it, by all means! (That's dripping with sarcasm, in case it's somehow still unclear.)
I always keep an eye out for sets I can integrate into my lego Harry Potter builds, and in much the same vein as the Wicked sets, thanks to the Greek lego store and the sharp-eyed folks at Promobricks, we now have an advance peek into two sets from the Netflix hit "Wednesday". Expected release date, 01 October, 2024.
My first impression is that those two properties (Wicked / Wednesday) seem to occupy much the same space, at least visually, which always feels like a mixed bag. It's obviously nice to have more pieces and builds to flesh out a mood or your similarly themed MOCs, but it also makes the actual sets seem even less original than they might without the direct comparison. On the other hand, now is when they're relevant, so waiting or staggering them doesn't really make sense either. My second thought is that both of the Wednesday sets have very robust bases that I rarely enjoy paying for, but they do at least seem to be put to use holding the extra parts included in both sets, so at least there's that.
The first set we'll look at is lego 76780 Wednesday Addams figure (buildable and complete with two outfits and makeup (!) options) - 702 pieces - 10+ - expected retail price 50 EUR. Given that's information from the Greek store, that last might not be true in other countries; we'll know soon enough. The titular Wednesday stands in front of the gates to her school, Nevermore Academy, with a typewriter for Thing and a tombstone for Nero adorned with a scorpion. Small black bird pieces perch atop the gate pillars, which are cute and in black for the first time, but an interesting choice as the Dreamzzz series has now given us a raven, or a black version of the falcon piece could have worked, so as said, they're deliberately going with "cute".
There are lit candles of various sizes, the peonie piece we saw in Wicked appears here as well (I like the black roses), a couple of lanterns and a nice crystal ball. Nice detail: the piece for Thing is printed. (That feeds my hope we might someday see Harry's hand post detention with Umbridge on a minifig, although it's a different scale, and probably too dark for the theme.) When the pin on the front of the base is removed, two drawers can be opened, one to either side. It's a cute set, but again, it really feels like the lion's share of parts are going into a base I don't need. There are a lot of collectible resin figures with similar designs, however, so I have to assume there's a market for that concept out there. And realistically, those base parts are probably more useful for MOCs than the ones for the alternate character build are, so I'm probably not looking at this the right way, even within the framework of considering my own (not exactly theme relevant) priorities. Honestly, I think that's instinctive, starting from a viewpoint of thinking of sets in terms "what percentage of the build is comprised of whatever the motivation is for purchasing the set?", but then in cases like these, promptly forgetting it was all about parts to begin with, and not the theme / property itself.
Next up, we look at the dorms for a sad reveal, and something that just shouldn't come as a surprise anymore... lego 76781 Wednesday & Enid's Dorm Room (which comes complete with two versions of both of the minidolls (!) and the same Thing we saw in the previous set) - 750 pieces - 10+ - 4 minidolls (!) - expected retail price 90 EUR. And again, as that's information from the Greek store, the pricing might not be accurate for other countries; we'll have to wait and see.
I'm constantly on the lookout for things to use to expand my Hogsmeade and Knockturn Alley etc, either just in parts or in design. For something that is essentially all roof, ironically this isn't one of the better roof builds; I'm not sure how much of that was driven by the need to accommodate the two bedroom niches, though. My absolute favourite part of this build: the tiny little gargoyle piece that makes me squeeeee. 🥰 There's a recolour of the corkscrew piece from the Harry Potter Floos, here in light grey. As someone very familiar with Harry Potter and thus far immune to Wednesday's charms (evidently not Wingardium Levi-o-sa), I look at the stickers along the front and think Slytherin and Hufflepuff, although that's more likely a wolf than a badger, extrapolating from the other art. Ravenclaw would be represented by a bat, and Gryffindor would simply be ignored in favour of the Merpeople. Heh. 😏 Here as in Wicked, I really wish they went with minifigs. Wednesday minifigs have long been available on the market from non-lego brands, and were so successful, this erstwhile goth (presently still dressed top to tail entirely in black) actually picked up two of them, despite having no emotional connection to the Wednesday theme and rarely going astray. Also as with the Emerald City set, there are more minidolls here than we usually see, so it again factors negatively into the set's budget, while failing to give me parts I'd really like to have as minifig prints.
Lego, if you're listening, there are females of all ages out there who do not find the Polly Pocket aesthetic more appealing than our beloved minifigs. (Similarly, all the lavender and pinks in this set make me cringe, but I'm pretty sure that was non-negotiable and plot driven, so they get a pass. I had a roommate like that at uni, too, I get it. Doesn't make it less loathsome as a parts pack goes, though, and believe me, I'm calculating.) The inflated base and some dodgy colours aside, the primary source of disappointment here remains that character representation choice. Increasingly lego seems prone to relegating anything that skews "female" to the minidolls segment, and it feels like we're being pushed out of the minifig market more and more. Why??? And that's to say nothing of the colour schemes they typically doom us to, the Friends' colour palette update notwithstanding as it really only continues the problem with a slight shift. I don't for a moment feel every set should appeal to me, that would be absurd, I haven't the space or the budget for it anyway, and I welcome a diverse collection to keep the brand strong, but increasingly I'm not feeling seen. At a minimum I'd like to see them come out with CMFs of the characters in minifig format. We'd still be paying for things twice, which isn't great, and yet another version of the PINK TAX, but at least that would save those of us who just don't like the dread minidolls from having to display the damn things.
Both Wicked and Wednesday have non-conformist, non-"girly" young women at their hearts, and yet given a choice, lego continued propagating their "Princess" nonsense, pigeonholing these individualists into literally extremely conformist moulds. That is some prime bull hockey. If not minfigs for these themes, then which? Particularly in 10+ sets. lego's corporate understanding of "girl"/"woman"/"female" isn't even just low key insulting anymore, it's becoming an affront. This is such a great way to "other" half your potential market. 🎉 More of it, by all means! (That's dripping with sarcasm, in case it's somehow still unclear.)