More squeeing took place...
For a variety of reasons the world seems to need more things to smile about, so I thought I'd share something that makes me happy. (Because, yes, I'm five.) So this is me, being completely frivolous. WARNING: (and this should come as no surprise) massive Lego pic spam to follow. (But the pics have all been compressed, so that shouldn't be a data issue.)
Earlier this week Lego released the first wave of the 2020 Harry Potter Lego sets, and I think there were some intriguing choices amongst them.
Attack on the Burrow (HBP) updated version of the 2010 set
Hogwarts Astronomy Tower (HBP)
4 Privet Drive (CoS) updated and much improved version of the 2002 set
Hedwig - a nicely realised buildable moving model
Hogwarts Room of Requirement (OotP)
Forbidden Forest: Umbridge's Encounter (OotP)
Hogwarts Student Accessories Set which includes a student from each house.
Further sets expected this year are a new version of Diagon Alley set presumably in late summer, the new collectible minifig series in autumn, and another advent calendar (squee! 😃).
Including what is presently known about the Collectible Minifigure series slated for release this autumn, there are a handful of new character figs, some only to this series, but also some who have never been released as minifigs before. We're seeing our first ever Lavender Brown, Tonks, Moaning Myrtle, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hannah Abbott, Griphook, centaurs and Practice Dummy figs, the first otter and hare patronuses, the first ever flesh tone version of the Dursleys, and the first rereleases this series of Pomona Sprout (finally! 😃), Fawkes, Ginny, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback. (I think the original Bellatrix from the 2010 Burrow set was the most valuable fig I've owned to date (I'm assuming its resale value just sank terrifically... lol I haven't checked), and I just wanted to say that I like the way Lego keeps things from becoming purely an adult collectors' game and rereleases things from time to time to make them accessible and (somewhat more) affordable once more. They don't do it so often that it isn't worth collecting if you're into that, but toys are supposed to be fun, and I personally think that's an excellent attitude and a happy medium.)
Lego has a policy about not recreating death scenes, but they also like to provide sets for iconic events. (In light of their reticence along these lines, I find it a little odd they've made an 'Umbridge gets dragged off by the centaurs' set. I'm assuming because that flew under most people's radar... clip clop From their advertising: 'There are 2 centaur figures and a posable giant Grawp that kids can use to pick up Umbridge and take her… wherever they want.' Might have gotten a bit of side eye from me.) As such, it's not too surprising to note that we're getting an Astronomy Tower set, but that it includes neither Snape nor Dumbledore, and instead recreates Slughorn's Slug Club Christmas Party from HBP. Likewise the Privet Drive set is an odd throwback to CoS in a series centred on OotP and HBP (and I honestly could have done without yet another Flying Ford Anglia, the second in this series alone). In a perfect world, I think they'd have included Hagrid, Sirius' motorcycle, a baby Harry, and seventh year versions of him and Dudley and made this set playable as both scenes, when Hagrid delivers Harry to the Dursleys in PS and when he escorts him away in DH. Unfortunately, that latter was shortly before [Spoiler (click to open)]Hedwig and Alastor Moody were killed and George was maimed, and they've chosen not to go there. Almost predictably, there are already some nice MOC (My Own Creation) designs for building your own motorcycle with sidecar online. Still, feels like a missed trick, and would have given fans added incentive to purchase 2018's awesome Whomping Willow 75953 set which included the car and 2nd year Harry and Ron if we wanted to build the CoS scene as well.
Tonks sadly isn't in her usual pink haired glory. I'm hoping she'll be amongst the seven as yet unrevealed figs in the collectors' series. Likewise I keep hoping for a Poppy Pomfrey, Lee Jordan and the Patil twins (we've never had any of them as a minifig, and I still don't understand how you release an Infirmary without Poppy), the Weasley twins, and Lockhart (so far he's the only DADA Instructor we haven't seen this series). I'm hopeful the twins will appear in the advent calendar. (Severus will still complain, naturally, but it will be less justified than for last year's calendar. I've made it clear to him he can be thankful he wasn't included with the Astronomy Tower set, all things considered. He's withdrawn to sulk, but I suspect he agrees.) And I hope to see Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in 2021 when they address DH.
Hogwarts Astronomy Tower 75969
Details I like (besides Lav!): Severus' Potions book ❤️, the chocolate fondue fountain, the greenhouse, and the first ever Ravenclaw dormitory.
Attack on the Burrow 75980
Forbidden Forest: Umbridge's Encounter 75967
Hogwarts Room of Requirement 75966
Details I like: the otter 😊 and hare Patronuses, the minifig picture of the original Order on the bulletin board, Umbridge's decrees we can knock off the wall (hee), the Practice Dummy, Luna's Butterbeer cork necklace, the columns that end mid air, and the fact the door disappears from the outside
4 Privet Drive 75968
Details I like: Harry's bedroom in the cupboard under the stairs, the new in flight version of Hedwig, the floating cake, the removable window bars, the slot to push envelopes through the fireplace... lol and the detail of envelopes in the mail slot of the door. (No mail on Sundays!)
Hogwarts Student Accessories Set 40419
Details I like: there's a student from each house, a bookshelf, a book for Cho and an apple for Draco (and can anyone explain how the whole deal with Draco and apples got started? I know it's a thing, but I'm presently having difficulty recalling anything canon that makes it so...) and a Marauder's Map so Harry can stalk Draco (which was never creepy in the least... /s)
Sneak Peek from the (as yet unreleased) Collectible Minifig Packaging
Hedwig 75979
Earlier this week Lego released the first wave of the 2020 Harry Potter Lego sets, and I think there were some intriguing choices amongst them.
Attack on the Burrow (HBP) updated version of the 2010 set
Hogwarts Astronomy Tower (HBP)
4 Privet Drive (CoS) updated and much improved version of the 2002 set
Hedwig - a nicely realised buildable moving model
Hogwarts Room of Requirement (OotP)
Forbidden Forest: Umbridge's Encounter (OotP)
Hogwarts Student Accessories Set which includes a student from each house.
Further sets expected this year are a new version of Diagon Alley set presumably in late summer, the new collectible minifig series in autumn, and another advent calendar (squee! 😃).
Including what is presently known about the Collectible Minifigure series slated for release this autumn, there are a handful of new character figs, some only to this series, but also some who have never been released as minifigs before. We're seeing our first ever Lavender Brown, Tonks, Moaning Myrtle, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hannah Abbott, Griphook, centaurs and Practice Dummy figs, the first otter and hare patronuses, the first ever flesh tone version of the Dursleys, and the first rereleases this series of Pomona Sprout (finally! 😃), Fawkes, Ginny, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback. (I think the original Bellatrix from the 2010 Burrow set was the most valuable fig I've owned to date (I'm assuming its resale value just sank terrifically... lol I haven't checked), and I just wanted to say that I like the way Lego keeps things from becoming purely an adult collectors' game and rereleases things from time to time to make them accessible and (somewhat more) affordable once more. They don't do it so often that it isn't worth collecting if you're into that, but toys are supposed to be fun, and I personally think that's an excellent attitude and a happy medium.)
Lego has a policy about not recreating death scenes, but they also like to provide sets for iconic events. (In light of their reticence along these lines, I find it a little odd they've made an 'Umbridge gets dragged off by the centaurs' set. I'm assuming because that flew under most people's radar... clip clop From their advertising: 'There are 2 centaur figures and a posable giant Grawp that kids can use to pick up Umbridge and take her… wherever they want.' Might have gotten a bit of side eye from me.) As such, it's not too surprising to note that we're getting an Astronomy Tower set, but that it includes neither Snape nor Dumbledore, and instead recreates Slughorn's Slug Club Christmas Party from HBP. Likewise the Privet Drive set is an odd throwback to CoS in a series centred on OotP and HBP (and I honestly could have done without yet another Flying Ford Anglia, the second in this series alone). In a perfect world, I think they'd have included Hagrid, Sirius' motorcycle, a baby Harry, and seventh year versions of him and Dudley and made this set playable as both scenes, when Hagrid delivers Harry to the Dursleys in PS and when he escorts him away in DH. Unfortunately, that latter was shortly before [Spoiler (click to open)]Hedwig and Alastor Moody were killed and George was maimed, and they've chosen not to go there. Almost predictably, there are already some nice MOC (My Own Creation) designs for building your own motorcycle with sidecar online. Still, feels like a missed trick, and would have given fans added incentive to purchase 2018's awesome Whomping Willow 75953 set which included the car and 2nd year Harry and Ron if we wanted to build the CoS scene as well.
Tonks sadly isn't in her usual pink haired glory. I'm hoping she'll be amongst the seven as yet unrevealed figs in the collectors' series. Likewise I keep hoping for a Poppy Pomfrey, Lee Jordan and the Patil twins (we've never had any of them as a minifig, and I still don't understand how you release an Infirmary without Poppy), the Weasley twins, and Lockhart (so far he's the only DADA Instructor we haven't seen this series). I'm hopeful the twins will appear in the advent calendar. (Severus will still complain, naturally, but it will be less justified than for last year's calendar. I've made it clear to him he can be thankful he wasn't included with the Astronomy Tower set, all things considered. He's withdrawn to sulk, but I suspect he agrees.) And I hope to see Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in 2021 when they address DH.
Hogwarts Astronomy Tower 75969
Details I like (besides Lav!): Severus' Potions book ❤️, the chocolate fondue fountain, the greenhouse, and the first ever Ravenclaw dormitory.
Attack on the Burrow 75980
Forbidden Forest: Umbridge's Encounter 75967
Hogwarts Room of Requirement 75966
Details I like: the otter 😊 and hare Patronuses, the minifig picture of the original Order on the bulletin board, Umbridge's decrees we can knock off the wall (hee), the Practice Dummy, Luna's Butterbeer cork necklace, the columns that end mid air, and the fact the door disappears from the outside
4 Privet Drive 75968
Details I like: Harry's bedroom in the cupboard under the stairs, the new in flight version of Hedwig, the floating cake, the removable window bars, the slot to push envelopes through the fireplace... lol and the detail of envelopes in the mail slot of the door. (No mail on Sundays!)
Hogwarts Student Accessories Set 40419
Details I like: there's a student from each house, a bookshelf, a book for Cho and an apple for Draco (and can anyone explain how the whole deal with Draco and apples got started? I know it's a thing, but I'm presently having difficulty recalling anything canon that makes it so...) and a Marauder's Map so Harry can stalk Draco (which was never creepy in the least... /s)
Sneak Peek from the (as yet unreleased) Collectible Minifig Packaging
Hedwig 75979