Harry Potter Advent Calendar - Day 18
Posted by CapnRex101,
Half-Blood Prince is one of just two Harry Potter titles describing a particular character, the other being Prisoner of Azkaban, which refers to Sirius Black.
Sirius was our minifigure representative for the third film, perhaps giving a clue for today...
Indeed, the Half-Blood Prince himself, Severus Snape, appears on day eighteen. This version of the character has appeared twice before and looks splendid, emphasising Snape's purple waistcoat and featuring the same accents on his robe. Darker garb would be more accurate, although results in a relatively drab minifigure, like that from 2010.
I like Snape's double-sided head as well, displaying two unpleasant expressions which suit the character. However, the last four minifigures from this Advent Calendar have been in some way exclusive, so receiving a minifigure which has appeared before feels underwhelming. Maybe the designer could have taken this opportunity to try dark blue for Professor Snape's waistcoat.
This minifigure comes with a familiar black wand and is presented on a purple 2x4 plate, which matches his torso. Perhaps this is why purple was chosen as the base colour for all three items from Half-Blood Prince.
Overall - While the design remains good, I wish there was something to differentiate this Snape minifigure from others.
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Ah! I'm pretty sure this Snape was also included in one of the Ameet Studio book with Minifigure sets. Came with a potion. Good show.
Always nice to see some Snape appreciation. Alan Rickman brought him to life so incredibly well!
The torso reminds me of the Snape from 4751 Harry and the Marauder's Map. Yes, from the time Snape and later Voldemort inexplicably had glow in the dark heads. It must have been some potion or something!
By the way, shouldn't we call the Harry Potter theme from 2001-2007 Harry Potter I, the 2010-2011 theme Harry Potter II and the 2018-today theme Harry Potter III? I've seen it done before with Space Police, Blacktron, even Aqua Raiders, so why not Harry Potter?
Yeah between Snape’s attire and Slughorn’s disguise I can see why they went purple for this trio, matches quite well
@Binnekamp said:
"Always nice to see some Snape appreciation. Alan Rickman brought him to life so incredibly well!
The torso reminds me of the Snape from 4751 Harry and the Marauder's Map. Yes, from the time Snape and later Voldemort inexplicably had glow in the dark heads. It must have been some potion or something!
By the way, shouldn't we call the Harry Potter theme from 2001-2007 Harry Potter I, the 2010-2011 theme Harry Potter II and the 2018-today theme Harry Potter III? I've seen it done before with Space Police, Blacktron, even Aqua Raiders, so why not Harry Potter?"
Yeah, when a Snape fig had printed legs. It's amazing how Lego dribbles out lil' bits of minifig advancement. Yet, on the whole acts like printing is some gold star, difficult (color matching- especially white) endeavor, and we should feel so happy over their slightest effort to create cool minifigs. Lego should be giving us excellence with minifigs! They really can't even deliver mediocre.
This figure is ok, at best. Doesn't really look like Alan. I think I would focus accentuating his high forehead and strong chin.
@Binnekamp:
I always considered the 2010-2011 sets to be a late addition to the original run. The color schemes stayed the same, all the students had regular legs, and it was still tied to the movie releases. In 2018, they changed the color scheme of the castle, they gave young students short legs (which didn’t exist when HP launched in 2001), and the original movie run was over. They also rebranded the theme to help tie it in to the Fantastic Beasts movies. None of the original minifig deco carried over into the 2018 relaunch, but I suspect there’s commonality between the previous two batches.
@PurpleDave the reason I personally consider it a 2nd iteration is because the 2010 wave clearly redid old sets with direct remakes. There was a Dobby's Release, a Quidditch set, a Hagrid's Hut, Hogwarts Express and Hogwarts Castle, all re-doing the 2001-2002 era. That Hogwarts Castle also does not focus on one film particularly like the previous ones, but now aimed to be a general representation of the location throughout the films.
All the minifigs did away almost completely with their 2001-2007 trappings except for some parts like Harry's hair. Just compare Lucious Malfoy, Ron and Voldemort to their previous versions! And the overall style was no longer like that of the 2001-2007 era. For one, Hogwarts Castle was no longer full of arch-holes but was smaller and more complete than ever.
There might have been a hiatus in 2006 in the original run, but the years between 2007 and 2010 is enough for it to be considered a new iteration. About as much as the 2018 wave differed from the 2011 wave anyway.
@Binnekamp:
So how many distinct waves does SW have, given how many times they’ve rehashed various vehicles and minifigs? Short run themes that last no more than three years can get away without repeating subject matter, but it gets harder once you pass the five year mark. HP could have done it, except they balked at making any sets based on the sixth and seventh films, and only made a new version of Hogwarts for the fifth. By the time they decided they needed to wrap things up for the eighth movie, there was a substantial gap, they had very little Deathly Hallows material they were willing to reproduce, and putting out one or two tiny sets all by their lonesome wouldn’t be worth the trouble.
I think the 2018 run has proven they could have edited around the darker subject matter and kept making sets for every movie, but what I don’t know is if they had the sales to sustain that. As the audience grew older with each book or movie that was released, the original target market would age out, and younger kids may not have jumped right in because the films were geared towards an older audience. Now, with them all being out on home video, a parent could get a kid started on them and selectively pace them, plus the original fans have grown old enough to experience nostalgia, and have the money to buy a new run of sets.
I hate the purple. I have deliberately never gone out of my way to get a Snape minifigure even though I really want the character. I like the all-black one from 2010 but it's a little bit pricey. His waistcoat is kind of purplish in the film(s) but closer to black than the colour used on this fig. I'm holding out for a nice accurate one.