It was bound to happen but LEGO is remaking the Diagon Alley set. The new 75978 Diagon Alley is more than double than the previous version in both price and piece count. The original 10217 Diagon Alley weighed in at 2,205 pieces with a price tag of $149.99. The new 75978 Diagon Alley has 5,544 pieces with the asking price set at $399.99.

Four Hundred Dollars. Despite being targeted at the 16+ age group, Four Hundred Dollar Diagon Alley does not come in the fancy packaging used for the adult market.

The set takes a Modular Buildings style approach where you build 4 distinct buildings each on its own baseplate. In all, the shops you build are Ollivanders Wand Shop, Scribbulus Writing Implements, Quality Quidditch Supplies, the Daily Prophet, Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor, Flourish & Blotts bookseller and Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

You’ll get 14 minifigs included in 75978 Diagon Alley: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Ginny, Molly Weasley, Ollivander, Fred and George, Gilderoy Lockhart, Lucius Malfoy, Hagrid, Florean Fortescue, and the Daily Prophet photographer.

It’s pretty outrageous to see LEGO keep releasing these gigantic, high-dollar sets. Asking someone to buy your Four Hundred Dollar set is quite a big ask. I’m sure it’s great; I’m sure it’s got all of the details you’d expect; I’m sure the end product justifies it all but I doubt that this set will find it’s way into a lot of fans’ hands given the current economic climate. If they had broken up the set as four separate sets priced at $100-$150 each and spread it out over 2-4 years, well that seems way more digestible. I was okay with LEGO’s product release cycle before, a company’s gotta make money and try to stick to a schedule. But this one feels almost tone deaf in the way it was released. LEGO wants all of the money. All of YOUR money. And there’s no end in sight.

After last month’s releases, this year already felt like the most expensive year to date of new LEGO sets. 75978 Diagon Alley is just another set to add to the growing sum. And we still have the last quarter of the year to contend with.

75978 Diagon Alley will be released on September 1, 2020 for $399.99 directly from LEGO.com.

75978 Diagon Alley Pictures

 

 

 

Press Release

THE MAGICAL WORLDS OF LEGO AND HARRY POTTER COME TOGETHER AGAIN WITH NEW LEGO DIAGON ALLEY SET 

1st September 2020: Launching today, the spectacular new LEGO® Harry Potter® set allows fans to be transported to the most magical shopping street in the world, now in brick form!  

Diagon Alley™Â is one of the most iconic locations in the Wizarding World. It’s where Harry Potter gets his first glimpse of the exciting new world he is about to join, as he’s guided through the magical shopping street by Hagrid. And now LEGO and Harry Potter fans alike can build and create the iconic street in their own homes.  

The set brings the two worlds together in a magical hybrid: a rich and versatile display model, with a modularity aspect that allows fans to choose how to display the shops (all in a row, swapping them around, or even placing individual shops on different shelves!).  

Measuring more than a meter wide and made up of over 5,000 pieces, LEGO Diagon Alley features the famed wizarding world shops packed with authentic details from the movies to truly capture the ambience of the street.  

Behind magnificent and detailed storefronts lie intriguing interiors, fascinating features and familiar characters. Fans can recreate some of their favourite moments from the Harry Potter film series including; discovering the wands at Ollivanders™Â from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone dropping in on Gilderoy Lockhart™â€™s book-signing event at Flourish & Blotts™ bookstore from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; or obtaining a love potion from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes™Â from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. 

Marcos  Bessa, LEGO Harry Potter Design Lead commented: “I love how faithful the final design is to the architectural details in the film. You can barely see some of these buildings zooming past your screen, but we tracked down different photographs from the sets – some of them from nearly 20 years ago – to make sure everything is spot on. Diagon Alley is the biggest set I’ve designed to-date and I am really proud of how it has come together.”  

The set also includes 14 minifigures, including new versions of lead characters Harry, Ron, Hermione and of course George and Fred Weasley who have their own joke shop in Diagon Alley.  There are also minifigures of Florean Fortescue and the Daily Prophet photographer, who have never been seen in LEGO form before. 

With Christmas just around the corner, the LEGO Diagon Alley set makes an impressive and inspiring gift for Harry Potter and LEGO enthusiasts alike.  

LEGO® Harry Potter® Diagon Alley™Â set is available directly from LEGO Stores and www.LEGO.com/EnterTheMagic from 1st September, 2020 

 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Holy crud! Yeah, this set is a monster. I am totally with you that they could’ve released these buildings as separate sets. I do get that maybe a single one of these on their own wouldn’t really hold the same appeal, but the twins’ store definitely makes a fine set by itself. Even just splitting it into two sets would be a little more reasonable on people’s wallets (in a sort of, kids might get one half of the alley for their birthday, and another for a holiday like Christmas.) This is a “you’re only getting one LEGO set this year” kinda price, up there with the Death Star or especially the Falcon.

    It’s a good price for the piece count, and in a lot of different colors (even if it’s mostly small pieces like 1×1 cones, but there’s plenty of variety it seems), and for fans of the modular Creator sets, this looks like it would give a similarly satisfying building experience.

    Still, my enthusiasm for Harry Potter these days isn’t quite what it used to be, so justifying this set is kinda tough. While I’d really love to *build* it, if I’m gonna get a giant LEGO Harry Potter set to put on display it would be the Hogwarts Castle (more iconic, but comparatively doesn’t look as fun to build as this new set IMO).

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