Remember Potter?

[Daz Hoo]

I think it was inevitable. With the return of purely Castle sets (with Knights Kingdom and now Castle lines) and the fact that buying yet another version of Hogwart's might not be very interesting for HP fans, there was a big chance that new HP sets might collect dust on the shelves of stores. Better drop the liscence then and concentrate on what sells well.

I'm just glad I now have a few HP minifigs in my collection, as their prices will only go higher on Bricklink from now on.

[infallible]

Man, I loved LEGO's Harry Potter sets. They came up with some really inventive playsets and play features for that line. They made up some of the more fun building experiences that I've had with sets, and I was especially looking forward to some stuff from the later movies/books.

I really wish they had done some generic figures with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff outfits, and I'll be sad that we never got official figures of Cho, Luna, or Neville.

[Jettbacca]

We got Neville in one set of Prisoner of Azkaban, Lupin's Classroom, which now is hard to find I think. I got it when it came out.

[Zekk]

I have that one. It's pretty cool, but I think Neville's face looks a little creepy. I do wish we'd gotten figs of Luna, Cho, and Tonks. I saw some cool custom Tonks and Luna figs a couple of times, but I don't remember where...

[infallible]

Oh, man, that was supposed to be Neville? Ha ha. I had no idea...

[Masta' Bo]

It was really weird how Huffelpuff and Ravenclaw figs were never produced, but there's always Kaminoan's excellent decals for custom figs. The only bad thing about the HP line was the bley and fleshie crossover. Don't get me wrong, I love SW fleshies, and don't mind bley, but it annoys me in the HP sets. There were only few sets worth getting after the initial 2 movie sets. (i.e. Castle 3+5, Knight Bus, Sirius Black Escape...) The Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets sets, although a bit rough around the edges, were classic.

[Yoda 56]

The last Harry Potter set I saw was in 2007. Harry Potter has been gone for 2 years now... I think it never happened that a theme was released again. We can still hope!

[The Brain]

The Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets sets, although a bit rough around the edges, were classic.

I'm sorry, I just had to point out this mistake. It's not the Philospoher's Stone, it's the Sorcerer's Stone.

[onions]

not a mistake. philosopher's stone was the title for the U.K. edition of the book. Sorcerer's stone was the title used in the U.S. version.

[The Brain]

Hmm, I was not aware of this at all. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

[buriedbybricks]

I agree that the lack new HP sets would hinder the cross promotion they've had success with so far with their games. However, I thought I had read that Warner Bros bought Tt Games which would open up a lot of lisencing opportunities. Not the least of which would be Harry Potter. If they wait until next year they could make two games similar to Star Wars with four movies each, the first four in 2010 then the last in 2011. I believe another developer has exclusive release rights for a HP game this year.

I enjoyed the HP sets too, though I did get them all at clearance prices. I bought the OotP Hogwarts for $40 and have put it away for my son in anticipation of no new lisencing.

[GrayMattR]

I wasn't into HP when it first came out and didn't get interested until I was forced to watch the movie at a family gathering. Until that point, I thought the Lego HP sets were just taking up shelf space in the Lego aisle but once I took a minute to look at the sets, I was really impressed with the details and the hidden features. I wound up getting a bunch of sets because of how good they are. The figs were always really great. Too bad the line is dead but I understand the reasons.

Now I've read all the books and seen the movies and think they're spectacular. Better than that franchise called Star Wars.

[Tohst]

Well,

I've got to say I loved it as a line and I loved the book. But I can understand then shying away from the darker tone of the final books.

I do think they could do various versions of Hogwarts every couple of years and it would still sell well. But outside of that you could see where the designs were getting stale. The Durmstang ship which could have been one of the gems of the line was hindered by the available parts at the time. Tons of 4+ pirate bits instead of what they could do now with the return of mini-fig Pirates.

And Mini-fig selection was always bad for collectors as opposed to kids. I can see the focus group now. Would you like this set better if it had Harry Potter in it or if it had Luna Lovegood? Eight year old (or younger) kid says Harry Potter so he is included and Luna isn't. Repeat for every single set in the line.

My first thought after reading Order of the Phoenix for the first time was how the heck were they going to make sets. And the answer was they only made 1. Sure, I would've liked a trial set from the beginning. Or a torture of Umbridge by centaurs set (and we never got centaurs...what a shame) but it probably wouldn't sold.

Its death also means higher prices for tan and sand green bricks ;-)

-Tohst

[Jettbacca]

Makes sense that they would stop when Harry becomes emo. Too bad though.

[Masta' Bo]

Emo? Seriously?

Frankly, I think everything is becoming "darker", at least, that's what Yahoo and other news sources want one to think. It's not "dark" at all, I think the themes are a little more bleak and Harry is a bit more mature, but calling it "dark" is what I would think as the equivalent to, I dunno, Tim Burton directing it, or evil being the victor. No, the Potter series is not dark at all--it just becomes more gripping from book 3 on.

GrayMattR, I do agree with you. HP is better written than SW by a long shot, but I'm not sure if I like it more. They both rox0rx.

[brick kid]

I do love the Harry Potter Lego. Our family has all the sts built on a work top. I think they could make a harry potter lego game which could bring back harry potter to the lego world

[brick kid]

Its dead. But at least there are still people who can make MOCs of it

[Jettbacca]

Since there's the new game, maybe it's reviving and we regot the lisence. I hope so

[Azaghal]

It would, I suppose, be nice to see some of the earlier films revisited - one of my biggest beefs with the switch to fleshy figs was that it more or less split the Potter line. What if one wants, for example, Ginny and Sirius in the same scene?

It's not very high on my list of priorities, though.

[Jedd the Jedi]

The license is well and truly done I think. I've never been a Harry Potter fan but I've always admired how Lego's sets were fairly accurate to the scenes in the film and chocked in some very neat play features too. I liked the look and feel of the Screaming Shack, even the gimmicky "transforming chamber". The second Hogwarts looked pretty awesome as well, and I like the simple but accurate cell of Sirius Black.