Oh dear, I've just spent £350 on Lego for me!

[HarryPotterNerdAlert]

New Hogwarts castle, the age 16+ version. Available to Lego VIP members now.

I've ordered it! It looks fab!

I had all the original Lego from the first 2 films and sold it all on eBay and have regretted it ever since. So this will make up for it .

Tell me I'm not mad please .

UselessTrees I remember that programme. I would never attempt it in 1 sitting! I couldn't stand the mess in their house either, not even for Lego.

Ha ha, go for it whatsthatbrightlight.

Are the popular sets really guaranteed to double their value in 5 years? Makes me wonder why more people don't get them as an investment?

And have fun, OP, it looks magical and it's great to give yourself pleasure if you can afford it.

TanFrance - I doubt that all sets will double their value. Lego is clocking onto which sets are really popular on the 2nd hand market and re-reading them.

People were upset because Lego re-released the winter village toy shop. And they have done the same with the modular series.

www.gazettelive.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/smyths-toys-giving-shoppers-free-15034277

I got the Ninjago city. It's awesome. So much detail and it was really fun to build. So then I bought the docks too I love Lego. I also have Assembly Square and the Carousel, but running out of room to display much more

The old investment disclaimer always applies: past performance is no guarantee of future gains.

A lot of the big sets released in the noughties didn't sell very much, so after production ended they were somewhat rare. But nowadays Lego seem to keep big sets on sale for longer and they sell a lot more of them. Lego have also been re-releasing old sets, either updated versions (eg Falcon) or exactly the same (eg Taj Mahal), which promptly slashes the resale value of the old model.

Lego nearly always holds its value, even if it's been opened and played with, well but big gains are far from guaranteed.

You're not mad, we're getting it too! it looks absolutely AMAZING.

I so want the castle now. But it’s huge, I’ve checked and I have no room for it.

@DeloresJaneUmbridge May I ask, roughly, how many reviews you did before you were invited to join Amazon Vine? Do you tend to review a specific genre? And do you tend to just get offered certain items?

Hi britnay. Amazon say it’s for “trusted reviewers” but myself and other Vine people suspect it’s a lottery. My DH reviews all the time and has a very high trust rating but has never been invited to join it, some others have only ever done a handful of reviews. I suspect they have a certain number of people on the Vine program and when people leave they just replace them by pulling a name at random. I may be wrong though.

The stuff they offer is supposed to be targeted to what you browse or buy but one other member a professional photographer has never been offered anything remotely photographic. It’s all he buys or browses for so o suspect that it’s alllocated mostly at random.

Generally I get offered books and sometimes make up. I am also reviewing a pencil sharpener at the moment, it’s hugely rare to get anything like Lego but we love it and have bought loads over the years so I was really pleased to get offered the Hogwarts Express to review. Never been offered Lego in the 5-6 yrs I have been on the programme.

I’m not allowed to sell or give any products away although I do cull books and might accidentally leave a bagful at the local charity shop . I think others do the same from what I have gathered.

Ah, thank you so much :)
I already do product trials for (mostly) makeup and skincare. I enjoy trying new things, especially when its something I wouldn't've thought of buying before.

I guess I need to hone my Amazon reviewing skills ;)

Without wanting to detail the thread, what’s different about the current Disney Castle? I’ve been eyeing it up for ages and trying to tune out DH’s —clearly unreasonable questions about where we’d put it, but hadn’t realised there were multiple versions knocking about!

Oh god. I've just checked the measurements and there's literally nowhere we could put it!

Where are you putting yours?

I genuinely don't think we can get it.

I didn't know there were other versions of the Disney castle either.

So far, I haven't got anywhere to put it. But we have a study that will be done up soon so I'm getting a massive shelf for it in there. It would fit on my sideboard in the front room but I'd have to move my frames and my lovely globe and it would block the bottom photos that are on the wall above so I don't really want to put it there.

I knew what it would be when I saw the £350 . I love Lego , it started when my children bought the mixels with their pocket money and went from there . Santa brings me a Christmas set every year now . I have Santa’s workshop and train , the snow globe , gingerbread house and the nutcracker .
We have built the fantastic beasts suitcase and the whomping willow one . I have also bought ( and hidden ) the great hall , the train ,the spider one , the quidditch one, the carriage and the hp brickheads . I haven’t added it all up which is probably wise . My daughter wants to turn our playroom into a Lego room . Ps have you found Percival yet ?

Not feeling the Harry Potter stuff but I do like the cityscapes series. I have got Venice and Berlin so far. I'd love all the cities and the special all white sets for architects. They're on my 'after I win Euromillions' shopping list. As is a new house big enough to accommodate a family Lego room.

And, yes, Lego is very therapeutic (ADD here).

Actually, after having done some pretty extensive googling, I think I was wrong about the big Disney Princess Castle - I think it always came with Micky Mouse, but the first one I saw didn’t have the minifigures on display and I misunderstood. It’s now been overtaken in my heart by Hogwarts anyway.

For anyone on this thread who wants Hogwarts for themselves/their DC but thinks that 350 quid is ludicrous/impossible: the Hogwarts Great Hall looks like a fantastic compromise at 90 quid, and has the advantage of being minifig scale. Lego have really gamed the Overton window on this one: suddenly 90 quid, which is objectively speaking a lot of cash, seems like a very moderately priced Lego set by comparison.

Good! If you can afford it, enjoy it! We only go round once...

That looks amazing! I love Lego too. Incredibly therapeutic.

When DS was younger and into Lego we got him a big Star Wars set one Christmas - the barge I think - and I had a lovely time helping him build it. He then grew out of Lego (shock horror!). I mentioned to DH once a couple of years ago that it was a shame he wasn’t into Lego any more as I would have loved to build the Death Star. Guess what I got for Xmas? I loved it. Was so surprised. There might have been tears.

I’ve bought a few things since. The Simpsons house was nice to build.

I’ve never been into HP but would still love building that castle.

I have indoctrinated one of my DC into loving lego so we can build things together. I bought the big roller coaster for me when it came out earlier this year, I am trying to talk the DC into asking for the Harry Potter Castle for Christmas and I just purchased Newt's Case of Magical Creatures as a "rainy day activity" for them as I got a special deal!

It's 16+ because of the size, some of the complexity and also how they do the instructions. Instructions for younger sets give much more detail and do less in each step. In the younger sets (Especially the ones aimed at girls) the instructions are organized so that you build a section that you can play with before moving on to the next bit, so there are lots of breaks on the journey to the finished product.

I just love lego and the detail in some of the kits is incredible. I particularly like the Creator Expert street buildings and I'm anticipating the HP castle will be very impressive too.

I treated myself to the fishing shop. Its beautiful :D

"I’ve bought a few things since. The Simpsons house was nice to build."

I REALLY want this as well! I've always said it's too expensive though and I can't possibly spend £180 on a Lego set......

"Ps have you found Percival yet ?"

Who's Percival?

We now have Dumbledore and Malfoy minifigures. Just need Cho, Graves and Credence and the set is complete! I lost Dean Thomas' head as I opened it in the car and the head fell from the pack and I can't find it, DS doesn't have a brown head either which I'm surprised at with the amount of Lego he has.

I bought my ex the Simpsons set and it just sat in its box for a year! He moved to Germany for work (I was supposed to join him a few months later) and I was visiting each weekend (cheap Ryanair) and took it over 2 or 3 bags at a time amongst my luggage (he asked me to as he was bored!). Finally got the whole set over there and he ended things! Worse still, he then moved and left loads of stuff in the original place including the lego set! Now I just buy Lego for me!

Is the great hall set suitable for an adult? I'm thinking of getting it as a present for an adult but the box says age 9-14 so I'm unsure whether to go for it. Thanks.