Wicked! ...
As a diehard Potterhead, I still keep an eye out for other fantasy / witchy lines / themes of lego with an eye to populating my Diagon, Knockturn and Horizont Alleys. As such, I was curious what the new theme accompanying the film release of the musical Wicked might bring us. The first disappointment - for me - would have to be the fact it's clearly part of their mini doll princess scheme of things (feh) and doesn't use minifigs, because I know I would have very much liked some of these characters if it had been a minifigure format instead. We'll take a look at two of the sets below.
First up, 75684 Welcome to Emerald City. The costumes and artwork are lovely. Tea and books galore (although an Ozpresso cart might have one suspecting they're consuming a coffee-based beverage, but surely that's uncivilised rubbish... 😉), and a cute stained glass window. The colour scheme is satisfying, and the translucent greens look good here, although considering some of lego's recent arboreal successes, the apple tree seems a little sad. Maybe that's a plot point?
Next up is the dormitory 75683 Glinda & Elphaba's Dormitory. On the one hand, I like that it folds up small. On the other, as with the 76399 Hogwarts Trunk and 76416 Quidditch Pitch, a lot of pieces are used to create the containing builds, making a small set prohibitively expensive for what's included. The Moment sets addressed that problem brilliantly, but just because space might be at a premium, that doesn't mean the budget is as limited as well. It's conceivable you might want to splash out on a pretty build that offers easily (and tidily) tucked away play features. This set would seem to fit the bill on that front.
There's a confronting preponderance of pink and lilac that I'll refrain from commenting upon further. (It would appear Glinda is to blame.) The mini dolls have new costumes here as well, again making me wish they were minifigs instead. I'll point out that Elphaba's brand new hat / hair piece is compatible with minifigs' heads though. The pink container on top of the chest holds extra / alternative pieces from the build, like hairpieces and a Potions orientated text I'm sure we can find use for.
Bottom line, while there are plenty of pieces that can be repurposed for Wizarding World builds here, there are unfortunately not nearly as many as there would have been had they gone the minifig route instead.
First up, 75684 Welcome to Emerald City. The costumes and artwork are lovely. Tea and books galore (although an Ozpresso cart might have one suspecting they're consuming a coffee-based beverage, but surely that's uncivilised rubbish... 😉), and a cute stained glass window. The colour scheme is satisfying, and the translucent greens look good here, although considering some of lego's recent arboreal successes, the apple tree seems a little sad. Maybe that's a plot point?
Next up is the dormitory 75683 Glinda & Elphaba's Dormitory. On the one hand, I like that it folds up small. On the other, as with the 76399 Hogwarts Trunk and 76416 Quidditch Pitch, a lot of pieces are used to create the containing builds, making a small set prohibitively expensive for what's included. The Moment sets addressed that problem brilliantly, but just because space might be at a premium, that doesn't mean the budget is as limited as well. It's conceivable you might want to splash out on a pretty build that offers easily (and tidily) tucked away play features. This set would seem to fit the bill on that front.
There's a confronting preponderance of pink and lilac that I'll refrain from commenting upon further. (It would appear Glinda is to blame.) The mini dolls have new costumes here as well, again making me wish they were minifigs instead. I'll point out that Elphaba's brand new hat / hair piece is compatible with minifigs' heads though. The pink container on top of the chest holds extra / alternative pieces from the build, like hairpieces and a Potions orientated text I'm sure we can find use for.
Bottom line, while there are plenty of pieces that can be repurposed for Wizarding World builds here, there are unfortunately not nearly as many as there would have been had they gone the minifig route instead.