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Saw some of the new Harry Potter sets at the local Family Toy tonight.
Ok, ok, I saw mockups of the sets. Family Toy is really nutso about having
everything in just the right place. When they do their new stock layout
(which this one had), they like to put holder items on the shelves or pegs
for products that aren't out yet. Some enterprising soul at the store made
color copies from promotional material sent to the store and put them on the
shelves as place holders.
I haven't read HP and wasn't too interested in the sets, but a few of them
look nifty. Here's a few notes of things I noticed:
All the figures are definitely mini-figs.
There's a new hair piece for Harry.
Most of the small sets didn't have pictures.
Most of the sets I did see had some sort of 'environment' as part of the
set.
There was a 'final confrontation' set with Harry, bad guy (I assume), and
some sort of small environment/backdrop (maybe 6-8 studs wide, alter-ish,
was hard to tell
There was a 'magic workshop/lab' with several environment pieces
(workbenches, bookshelf, something like that), and a white owl (single
piece, like the falcon piece)
The largest set was part of a keep. I found a picture of the movie poster,
and the set looks like the left side of the building on it, from the
left-most tower over. It's a nifty looking set, definitely different from
most Lego castles. It has a large tower (using the round pieces used in the
Droid Escape set). The round portion of the tower is two-high, plus it has a
very tall roof (same height as one of the tower segments), and the whole
thing sits on a rock or plain wall structure that is a mini-fig or two high.
The side wall of the castle is done in a sort of 'cathedral' style, with
lots of supporting pillars. It's height looks to match the tower's (except
for the roof), then there is a smaller tower in back. It didn't look like a
complete structure (it looked like you would need 2 of them put together
would make a closed structure), and from looking at the movie poster, this
is only a wing of the whole castle. Looked like there was about 5 or 6
minifigs in this set.
The bearded wizard in the castle has mini-fig legs and a samurai-master long
beard.
For the castle set, Harry was in a boat and with him in the boat was what
looked like a creator figure in a shroud. I couldn't tell if it was a single
big piece, or if it was something like the Lego ghost. It had funny arms
that looked like creator figure arms in size and shape (it was right next to
Harry and DEFINITELY larger), but it was almost all brown, and it was a poor
picture.
That's all I can really remember at the moment. Like I said, the castle
looked really nifty. I'm sure castle lovers will like this set, it looks
huge and is very different from any other Lego castle. I would guess most of
the other sets I saw are perhaps supposed to furnish this set. I think the
way most of it is designed, any castle-lover who wants to add wizard
elements will take an interest.
Oh yeah, I only saw pictures of a few of the sets, but if the rest of the
series holds the trend, you will have plenty of Harry figures just from
buying one of each set (he was in every set I saw).
Oh, if someone in the SW PA area is reading this, check out Robinson Town
Center to have a look. It didn't look like an official store thing, so I
doubt it's at other Family Toys. (although the blank boxes they were pasted
on looked pretty quality, so perhaps that part was official, just not the
pictures). Perhaps someone who knows more about the series can relate these
sets better.
Same Family Toy also had Bionicle mask boxes (also a mockup), the large
Bionicle monsters (mockup), and Jack Stone sets (not a mockup).
Rob
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In lugnet.harrypotter, Robert Brunskill writes:
> Saw some of the new Harry Potter sets at the local Family Toy tonight.
Great find Robert. Thank you.
So, according to our eyewitness account, all of our talk from the Creator
box was correct. WE ROCK!
Matt
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How you going all,
Rob just wondering is there any sign of the red train
or the platform 9 3/4 of which Harry creates up you might know what I mean
if your read the book only asking since you said that some sets have
enviroment or secnces for the book .
cheers.
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in article GEyBA7.H7F@lugnet.com, Matthew Gerber at matthew@digitaliris.com
wrote on 6/14/01 11:06 PM:
> In lugnet.harrypotter, Robert Brunskill writes:
> > Saw some of the new Harry Potter sets at the local Family Toy tonight.
>
> Great find Robert. Thank you.
>
> So, according to our eyewitness account, all of our talk from the Creator
> box was correct. WE ROCK!
>
> Matt
I forgot about the Creator software box art, looking at it in comparison,
the big guy (Hogwart?) Is a big block, mostly. I didn't even notice a face,
I thought it was wearing a hood, but it was a very bad picture. I wasn't
sure if the arms moved, but they looked fully sculpted like a creator-fig,
so I assumed they were movable.
The Harry Potter hair piece isn't quite right on the software box. While I
hesitate to call the actual piece more detailed, I would say that the
texture of it is accentuated. I didn't notice too much about the hair of
other figures. His head also looked taller than normal because of it, but
Lego doesn't seem to have too many qualms with messing around with a
figure's head on the packaging (compare the Ogel figure to the box pictures
of him to see what I mean).
The castle on the SW box is the same concept, but doesn't match the details
of the actual set. The big tower is more uniform and because of the wall
pieces, it doesn't have the window (as far as I saw). It would also be more
accurate to knock a level off the castle in the SW box, I think. And the
middle tower is in the back. Not sure if the kit is modular like old castle
sets were supposed to be, I thought they were hinged.
The castle is made of light gray, dark gray, and black, and the roofing was
green.
I expect to see some nifty Lego cathedrals as a result of the castle set.
Rob
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in article GEyBtJ.IpB@lugnet.com, Eli Donati at ludon@pbq.com.au wrote on
6/14/01 11:17 PM:
>
>
> How you going all,
> Rob just wondering is there any sign of the red train
> or the platform 9 3/4 of which Harry creates up you might know what I mean
> if your read the book only asking since you said that some sets have
> enviroment or secnces for the book .
>
> cheers.
Sorry, I did not see a train set, but I think there was a mid-sized set that
didn't have a picture and could have been such a set, especially if it is
just an engine.
As for 'environments' it might be more accurate to say 'furniture with wall
segments'. It looked like you'd most likely put the stuff inside the castle.
It's an unusual move for Lego, I think. We're accustomed to getting whole
buildings or whole displays. But this is more like getting several important
pieces of a room. It's like they left out the boring bits. The thing that
came with the B-Wing fighter is the closest thing I can think of as an
example, but don't worry, none of it looks like that.
Rob
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In lugnet.harrypotter, Robert Brunskill writes:
> in article GEyBtJ.IpB@lugnet.com, Eli Donati at ludon@pbq.com.au wrote on
> 6/14/01 11:17 PM:
>
> >
> >
> > How you going all,
> > Rob just wondering is there any sign of the red train
> > or the platform 9 3/4 of which Harry creates up you might know what I mean
> > if your read the book only asking since you said that some sets have
> > enviroment or secnces for the book .
> >
> > cheers.
>
> Sorry, I did not see a train set, but I think there was a mid-sized set that
> didn't have a picture and could have been such a set, especially if it is
> just an engine.
I think that would suck big-time if all we got was an engine...what Lego should
do is have a "kit" like MY OWN Train and all you need is the motor...so when
you add the pieces from the "kit" plus the not-included motor, you get,
voila, a Hogwarts Express engine...what you would also need to get is
coach cars for it...
If all there is a "scene" and the engine, that would entirely stink. I heard
the Retail was around $50 to $65 for the set...it will probably end up
getting one coach car....
...unless Lego decides to put a subsequent model (of the coach car) for the
Express Train...and then Lego would have an influx of sales, because My Own
Train people could add the coach to their sets, and have a "classic
passenger train".
and
>
> As for 'environments' it might be more accurate to say 'furniture with wall
> segments'. It looked like you'd most likely put the stuff inside the castle.
> It's an unusual move for Lego, I think. We're accustomed to getting whole
> buildings or whole displays. But this is more like getting several important
> pieces of a room. It's like they left out the boring bits. The thing that
> came with the B-Wing fighter is the closest thing I can think of as an
> example, but don't worry, none of it looks like that.
>
> Rob
It is a fairly "new" concept, but a concept that should be done, if is done
correctly. The concept is called modularization, and it worked well for
Lego Soccer, and so-so with the Leo's castle....(actually Leo's castle looked
so good and so complete why expand it further than it needed)
I think Lego's thinking is why put out $150 plus sets, when you can get
the consumer to buy the same amount of sets, set by set, for $200, and you'll
also get more of them because you can don't have to invest in a model all
at once, you can spread out your purchase of the model over a few months.
Benjamin Medinets
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In lugnet.harrypotter, Benjamin Medinets writes:
> I think Lego's thinking is why put out $150 plus sets, when you can get
> the consumer to buy the same amount of sets, set by set, for $200, and you'll
> also get more of them because you can don't have to invest in a model all
> at once, you can spread out your purchase of the model over a few months.
>
> Benjamin Medinets
Wow, it's like the concept of modular automation systems. ;)
Iain
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