Tag Archives: harry potter

LEGO’s Harry Potter Advent Calendar Adds a Wizarding Twist to Holidays

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I mean, the holidays are supposed to feel magical, but LEGO’s Harry Potter Advent Calendar makes them feel a little extra magical in the most literal sense! The calendar, designed to count down the days till Christmas from the 1st of December, is a creative twist on a classic tradition. Advent calendars have long been a way to make the countdown to Christmas extra special, with each day offering a new little treat. But rather than the usual chocolates or tiny trinkets, this set brings a daily building adventure that captures the charm of the Wizarding World, offering a delightful surprise behind every door.

Designer: LEGO

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Inside the advent calendar, you’ll find a mix of 8 mini-figures, including key characters like Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and Professor Dumbledore. Each figure comes with their holiday twist, adding a festive touch to these iconic personalities. Alongside these figures, there are 16 mini-builds featuring familiar Hogwarts items, each designed to evoke scenes from the wizarding world. The builds include everything from festive decorations to miniaturized magical objects, all crafted in Lego’s signature blocky yet detailed style. For fans of the series, it’s a nostalgic nod to Harry’s first Christmas at Hogwarts, capturing the warmth and whimsy of the holiday season within the halls of the magical school. Every day, a new piece is unveiled, building anticipation for what’s behind the next door—a perfect way to keep the holiday spirit alive throughout December.

The beauty of this advent calendar is that it’s as much about the journey as it is about the destination. Each morning, fans can open a door and find a new surprise to add to their growing collection, whether it’s a miniature version of the Hogwarts Express or a whimsical little holiday scene from the wizarding world. It’s a charming way to relive the excitement of those first glimpses of Christmas at Hogwarts—the decorated Great Hall, the warm fires, and snow-covered grounds that are so vividly brought to life in the stories. And for anyone who’s ever dreamed of being part of that world, it’s like opening a window into it, one piece at a time.

This set is also perfect for expanding an existing Lego Harry Potter collection. It’s designed to integrate seamlessly with other sets, such as the 76435 Lego Harry Potter Great Hall, allowing you to create a larger and more detailed magical world. Whether you’re a collector looking to add new elements to your display or a newcomer who’s just starting their Lego journey, this advent calendar offers a versatile and engaging way to build. With clear instructions included behind each door and additional guidance available through the Lego Builder app, even young wizards can easily join in the fun. It makes for a wonderful family activity during the countdown to Christmas, where everyone can contribute to creating a little piece of Hogwarts magic at home.

Currently, it’s available for $36, down from its usual price of $45—a great deal for fans looking to bring home a bit of holiday magic without breaking the bank. It’s a gift that keeps giving long after the holidays, too, as the pieces can be played with and displayed throughout the year. Unlike other advent calendars that might be consumed or discarded, this one offers a more lasting way to celebrate the season, one that can be revisited year after year.

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LEGO version of Harry Potter’s Talking Sorting Hat with a sound box is for brick-lovers and Potterheads

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Harry Potter fans will have their mouths wide open for the next big set revealed by the LEGO Group. Yes, the Sorting Hat for choosing out of the four Hogwarts Houses (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff) that each of the students will go to, now gets a dedicated LEGO version.

This detailed set slated for a March 1, 2024 release consists of 561 pieces in total, each one coming together to create the intricate build. It’s going to be the first time in more than a decade that LEGO has incorporated a sound box in one of its Harry Potter sets. The Talking Sorting Hat will carry a price tag of $100 when it is finally available to pick off the shelf. Eager Harry Potter fans can also pre-book it right away!

Designer: LEGO Group

The hidden sound box says out loud randomized phrases in English, that we all are familiar with. Of course, these are from among one of the magical verses that assign the person (holding the tip or placing it on top of the head) to one of the four Hogwarts houses. When the 9.5 inches tall and 7.5 diameter LEGO set is fully assembled it can be adorned on a stand that has the Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw house symbols all around. The tip of the hat and the eyebrows are both movable – in fact, pressing the hat’s tip opens the mouth, sways the eyebrows and plays the random phrase from the 31 available options.

As a generous bonus, the Talking Sorting Hat comes with an exclusive Harry Potter minifigure wearing the Sorting Hat miniature version and looking ever so cute. As already mentioned the set consists of printed bricks depicting each of the houses, the other patches are realized with the stickers.

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LEGO’s latest Harry Potter Set lets you ACTUALLY play a game of Quidditch

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While you won’t be able to fly around on brooms and catch snitches, LEGO’s new retail set lets you score and block quaffles and even win a Quidditch cup!

Although the Quidditch Trunk isn’t LEGO’s most complex Harry Potter build, it’s definitely the most entertaining. The 599-brick trunk comes with a comprehensive Quidditch setup inside, including hoops, players, brooms, and a launcher that lets you shoot disc-shaped quaffles through the hoops, or play catch with bludgers and snitches.

Designer: LEGO

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Designed to fit entirely within a trunk, this Quidditch pitch is as detailed as it gets. You’ve got players, house banners, hoops, brooms, quaffles, bludgers, snitches, and all the fanfare associated with the popular fictional sport, contained within a tiny trunk that opens up into a playable Quidditch pitch.

LEGO mentions that there are multiple game styles you can play, with a PvP format that involves one person using the launcher and another person defending. Working on almost a foosball-style principle, the defending player has a moving LEGO minifigure that allows them to play their half of the game, while the opponent uses a launching mechanism to shoot discs. Assemble the hoops and you can launch quaffles into them, or give a defending minifigure a bat and you can launch bludgers at them, or just have them try to catch a golden snitch. The style of the game is entirely up to the players, complete with adjustable minifigures featuring swappable uniforms, heads, and hairstyles.

The $67.99 LEGO set also includes other memorabilia including 2 brooms, 2 bats, a house cup, and a trunk containing the golden snitch minifigure as well as quaffle, bludger, and snitch discs for gameplay.

The set comes with 4 iconic characters – Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Cedric Diggory, and Cho Chang, with extra heads and hairstyles for added customization.

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Harry Potter’s Most Lovable Character Gets Their Own LEGO Build

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I didn’t cry when Dumbledore died. Heck, I was hurt when Hedwig died but I didn’t shed a tear… However, I bawled my eyes out when Dobby died. It came as such a sudden shock, and it seemed like Dobby deserved so much more than he got, that his death felt like a cruel stab in the back more than anything. Dobby was easily the most lovable character in the entire series, and it only made sense that the beloved house elf should get his own LEGO kit. The LEGO Harry Potter “Dobby™ the House-Elf” build is designed for kids upwards of 8 years old, utilizing a mere 403 bricks (making it one of the easier builds in the LEGOverse).

Designer: LEGO

The lovable house elf comes with a few distinct design details that make it even more heartwarming. For starters, the elf has moving limbs, a rotating head, adjustable ears, and repositionable fingers that make Dobby look around, point at objects, snap his fingers, or even grip items like the sock that helped Dobby become a free elf. The elf figurine comes along with three distinct objects that define his role in the Chamber of Secrets… starting with the cake that Dobby levitates and drops on the guests at the Dursley household, followed by Tom Riddle’s diary which Harry gifts to Dobby at the end of the movie, with a sock in it that helps set Dobby free.

The Dobby figurine stands at 19cm (7.5 inches) in height, on a LEGO platform with Dobby’s nameplate on it. The LEGO Harry Potter Dobby™ the House-Elf kit will start at $34.99 when it officially launches in stores and online, although LEGO hasn’t announced a launch date yet.

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Redmi teases ‘Harry Potter’ edition of the Note 12 Turbo phone with a Hogwarts box and a Marauders Map

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Not to be outdone by Realme’s Coca-Cola Phone, Redmi is upping the ante with a special Harry Potter edition of its Note 12 Turbo phone. The phone comes with a built-in custom launcher as well as the Hogwarts insignia on the back, and ships in a rather eye-catching Hogwarts-themed box too, along with a branded case, an ‘Acceptance Letter’, a Marauders Map, and even Platform 9¾ SIM ejector pin. The special-edition phone’s launch aims at promoting Warner Brothers’ latest multi-platform AAA game, Wizarding World.

Designer: Redmi

Each phone ships in an incredibly decked-out box that looks like something right out of the Potterverse. Open the lid and you’ve got an acceptance letter on the left, and your smartphone on the right, underneath an ornate card. The phone ships with its own charger, packed within a lightning bolt-marked paper box, along with a faux leather case, a copy of the Marauder’s Map, a few HP-themed stickers, and an adorable SIM ejector tool with the iconic 9¾ symbol.

Quite like other themed smartphones, this wizardly Redmi device is merely an aesthetic overhaul, with the same performance specs on the inside. The phone comes with a 6.67-inch display with a 12-bit flexible OLED panel with an FHD+ resolution as well as 120Hz refresh rate, and is powered by a powerful Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 processor under the hood, along with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage. To keep things cool, it features a 3725mm vapor cooling chamber. The special-edition Note 12 Turbo is fueled by a 5,000mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging, although I wonder if it has an HP-themed fast-charging animation that uses the signature lightning-bolt scar design.

The cameras on the phone are cleverly Potter-themed too, with the two main lenses designed to look like Harry’s circular glasses and the scar right above it. The two main shooters are a 64MP main lens (with OIS support) and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens respectively, with the third lens being a 2MP macro shooter. Flip the phone over and you’ve got a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies.

The Harry Potter-themed Redmi Note 12 Turbo is now available in Mainland China for 2399 Yuan ($348) for the 12GB+256GB variant, and we’re waiting to know whether Redmi plans on making this available globally too.

The post Redmi teases ‘Harry Potter’ edition of the Note 12 Turbo phone with a Hogwarts box and a Marauders Map first appeared on Yanko Design.

Redmi teases a ‘Harry Potter’ edition of its Note 12 Turbo phone with a Hogwarts box and a Marauders Map

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Not to be outdone by Realme’s Coca-Cola Phone, Redmi is upping the ante with a special Harry Potter edition of its Note 12 Turbo phone. The phone comes with a built-in custom launcher as well as the Hogwarts insignia on the back, and ships in a rather eye-catching Hogwarts-themed box too, along with a branded case, an ‘Acceptance Letter’, a Marauders Map, and even Platform 9¾ SIM ejector pin. The special-edition phone’s launch aims at promoting Warner Brothers’ latest multi-platform AAA game, Wizarding World.

Designer: Redmi

Each phone ships in an incredibly decked-out box that looks like something right out of the Potterverse. Open the lid and you’ve got an acceptance letter on the left, and your smartphone on the right, underneath an ornate card. The phone ships with its own charger, packed within a lightning bolt-marked paper box, along with a faux leather case, a copy of the Marauder’s Map, a few HP-themed stickers, and an adorable SIM ejector tool with the iconic 9¾ symbol.

Quite like other themed smartphones, this wizardly Redmi device is merely an aesthetic overhaul, with the same performance specs on the inside. The phone comes with a 6.67-inch display with a 12-bit flexible OLED panel with an FHD+ resolution as well as 120Hz refresh rate, and is powered by a powerful Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 processor under the hood, along with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage. To keep things cool, it features a 3725mm vapor cooling chamber. The special-edition Note 12 Turbo is fueled by a 5,000mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging, although I wonder if it has an HP-themed fast-charging animation that uses the signature lightning-bolt scar design.

The cameras on the phone are cleverly Potter-themed too, with the two main lenses designed to look like Harry’s circular glasses and the scar right above it. The two main shooters are a 64MP main lens (with OIS support) and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens respectively, with the third lens being a 2MP macro shooter. Flip the phone over and you’ve got a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies.

The Harry Potter-themed Redmi Note 12 Turbo is now available in Mainland China for 2399 Yuan ($348) for the 12GB+256GB variant, and we’re waiting to know whether Redmi plans on making this available globally too.

The post Redmi teases a ‘Harry Potter’ edition of its Note 12 Turbo phone with a Hogwarts box and a Marauders Map first appeared on Yanko Design.

Harry Potter Wands That Shoot Actual Fireballs: Incendio!

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Because housefires aren’t going to just start themselves, manufacturer Wejioin is selling these Harry Potter inspired (but by no means officially licensed) wands on Amazon (affiliate link) that actually shoot fireballs. To operate one, you just pack a small piece of flash paper in the business end of the wand, then push the button at its base to heat the coil inside, igniting the flash paper and causing it to shoot from the end like a fireball. They’re fiery fun for all ages!

Per the official product instructions: “Put the flame paper in, turn on the switch, recite the spell, shoot the flame, restore the movie magic scene, and make you a different magician.” Awesome, because I’ve always wanted to be a different magician. Mostly one who can perform actual magic and doesn’t have to rely on smoke and mirrors to impress an audience. I’m tired of getting booed.

Of course, it’s imperative that you ONLY use flash paper in the wand. Just because you ran out of flash paper shooting fireballs all Saturday morning long doesn’t mean you should try to use a piece of paper towel. Just… trust me. To my credit though, I did think we had fire insurance.

[via DudeIWantThat]

Harry Potter Nimbus 2022 concept takes the classic broomstick to new heights

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If you’re going to ride a broomstick anyway, you might as well make sure you look good on it.

Although it eventually ended up being a tale that could give younger kids some nightmares, Harry Potter possessed the classic elements of children’s fairy tales when it came to witches and wizards. You hand long-flowing robes, pointy hats, wands, and, of course, flying broomsticks. The wizarding world of Harry Potter hasn’t exactly been receptive to technological advances, and it can be clearly seen even the most mundane of these magical tools. Naturally, someone just had to give Harry Potter a modern makeover, resulting in a broomstick no wizard or witch would want to pass up.

Designer: Simone Caronni/3L Design

Harry Potter tried to stay true to the tropes of witches and wizards, even as it grew into adulthood, from kids’ books to YA novels. The broomstick, for example, strayed little from the traditional designs of medieval broomsticks, complete with crooked shafts and unmanageable brushes. There’s plenty of room for design exploration and experimentation, of course, and the Nimbus 2022 concept sticks out as one that is the most believable, especially to one that has seen electric scooters of this non-fictional age.

Designer Simone Caronni didn’t have to go far and took inspiration from the things that are already in Harry Potter’s world as well as ours. The basic bent profile is still present, almost a nod to the natural shapes of wands that wizards use. The concept does give the vehicle, if one could call it that, a brush-up, almost literally. The aluminum material of the shaft plus the nearly uniform strands of the brush make it look more like an artist’s paintbrush or even a makeup brush.

The most critical upgrades, however, are the addition of a proper seat and some semblance of modern electronics. Witches and wizards have been bearing the pain of riding on a stick for centuries, so it’s high time that comfort becomes a priority in the design of a broomstick. The handle also shows the equivalent of an instrumentation panel, but we’ll presume it’s magic-driven instead of electricity-powered. Of course, the design has room for customization, or rather for proudly showing off our House colors.

The Nimbus 2022 is an interesting take on what was one of Harry Potter’s most iconic props, though it’s also easy to see how this new design probably won’t sit well with the Ministry of Magic. The modern design and features definitely bring the rather uncomfortable mode of transportation to the present age, but it reeks too much of Muggle technology to pass without comment among the wizarding population.

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Marble meets stainless steel in this chessboard for a minimalist and artful take on the timeless chess game!

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Tarek Elkassouf’s chess set is comprised of a Carrara marble board and sixteen brushed stainless steel pieces capped with gunmetal reflective tops.

Some of the most artistic designs are born out of the timeless and elusive charm of chessboards. From chessboards inspired by ‘Queen’s Gambit’ to chess pieces that form architectural city maps, designers have the opportunity to get their most creative when creating new chess boards.

Speaking to that, designer Tarek Elkassouf explains, “They say that all artists are not chess players but all chess players are artists.” Citing the chessboard as “an altar of concentration,” Elkassouf hopes his chessboard will help players focus on the game, their strategy, and most importantly, the moment.

Giving the traditional wooden chessboard a modern, artistic upgrade, Elkassouf designed a stylistic chessboard that takes on notes of midcentury design and with a sleek futuristic edge. Stripping the chessboard down to its bare essentials, Elkassouf’s chessboard found refinement in minimalism and artful craftwork.

Finding beauty in the changeability of chess, Elkassouf hoped to create a chessboard that speaks for itself, with a sophisticated heavy-duty board carved from marble and sleek, minimalist chess pieces.

Mounted atop a polished Carrara marble board, the rectangular chess pieces are made from brushed stainless steel with gunmetal reflective tops. Sticking to his minimalist approach, Elkassouf etched small icons of each piece on the top of each rectangular piece for players to decipher between the sixteen pieces.

In designing his chessboard, Elkassouf embraced the accessibility and intersectionality of chess, going on to describe how the game “transcends language, age, race, religion, politics, gender, and socioeconomic background. Whatever your circumstances, anyone can enjoy a good fight over the chessboard.” And it’s true, the game of chess is for everyone so long as you know the rules.

Designer: Tarek Elkassouf

With a simplistic, velvet case, Elkassouf’s chessboard is minimalist by design and refined by effect.

The Carrara marble chess board comes with alternating diagonal etches that delineate all of the available squares.

Coming in an array of different-colored marble, each chessboard from Elkassouf’s collection is unique in its own design.

From the side, Elkassouf’s chessboard maintains clean, geometric lines and silhouettes. 

 

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‘Hogwarts Legacy’ may allow players to create transgender characters

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Hogwarts Legacy, the upcoming game set in the Harry Potter universe, will reportedly enable players to create a transgender character. According to Bloomberg, they'll be able to select a body type and voice (masculine or feminine) that aren't...