REVIEW: Advent calendar 9 December 2021

Yesterday, we saw the smallest model to date - and it triggered the lowest score yet in our review of the 2021 advent calendar. Is today any better? Read on to see what we got...

REVIEW: Advent calendar 2 December 2021

The first model wasn't a minifigure as we have been used to. Will that come today instead - or is it something else? And how many house points will today's model get? Read on to see…

Gringotts wizarding bank

It has been a while since I have provide an update on my Diagon Alley. Life has been busy, but I'm pleased to now be able to show my most recent completed building: Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Dominating the skyline, it makes sure wizards and witches can keep their money safe. Read on for further details...

REVIEW: Diagon Alley – Part 4 (Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes)

Here is part four of my review of the new LEGO Harry Potter Diagon Alley set. This concludes my review of what I think is an amazing set. Is it something for you? There are a few issues to keep in mind if you have yet to decide whether to buy or not...

REVIEW: Diagon Alley – Part 3 (Flourish & Blotts and the Ice Cream Parlour)

Here is part three of my four part review of the new LEGO Harry Potter Diagon Alley set. This is in many ways an amazing set, but is it all good? If you are still on the fence, read on to see what you get...

REVIEW: Diagon Alley – part 2 (Quidditch shop and Daily Prophet)

I had to do two weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine after returning to my home country from overseas. I was lucky to have the new Diagon Alley delivered to keep me occupied. This is an amazing set - one of those where you wish you can continue building forever, discovering cool details and impressive building techniques all the time. Here is part 2 of my review of this set...

REVIEW: Diagon Alley – part 1 (Ollivanders and Scribbulus)

Entering two weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine after returning to my home country, I was lucky to have Diagon Alley delivered to keep me occupied. This is an amazing set - one of those where you wish you can continue building forever, discovering cool details and impressive building techniques all the time. Here is part 1 of my review of this LEGO Harry Potter highlight of the year...

Roundtable interview with Diagon Alley designer Marcos Bessa

On Friday, Blockwarts along with five other LEGO Fan Media sites found our virtual seats around Marcos Bessa for a roundtable interview about the 75978 Diagon Alley set he was the lead designer of. With sharpened pencils ready (we'll leave the Quick-Quotes Quill for Rita Skeeter), we started with a few initial words from Marcos followed by a barrage of questions from the Fan Media sites. Here is what we learnt...

Huge Diagon Alley LEGO set officially revealed

One of my favourite LEGO Harry Potter sets is Diagon Alley (Set 10217), which was released back in 2011. Today, LEGO has officially revealed much bigger Diagon Alley (Set 75978) - giving us six of the iconic buildings and no less than 14 minifigures to go with it. It is available for sale from tomorrow. While not cheap, it looks stunning and I'm sure it will be a popular set. Let's see closer at what you get...

Diagon Alley – building the magical street in LEGO

Over the last couple of years, I've been working on a large LEGO model of Diagon Alley. It started with a custom model of the Leaky Cauldron and another of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop. Realising I had two key components of Diagon Alley, I thought, why not build it all (or almost all at least)? So welcome to my Diagon Alley!