“Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” Make Magic with “LEGO Dimensions”
Harry Potter fans are not the kind of Muggles who live in just one fantasy world. Many have an impressive range of eclectic tastes in franchises. From fan fiction that connects distant fandoms to new theories being endlessly shared across Tumblr, Potter fans are some of the best at breaking the boundaries between worlds and finding creative ways to mash-up their favorite characters and worlds. So it may surprise these fans to know that, for the last year, LEGO and Traveller’s Tales (or TT) Games have been producing an enormous and constantly evolving video game that caters perfectly to the Potter community’s boundless creativity.
If you’ve ever dipped your toes into a LEGO video game, it’s 99.9% likely that it was the LEGO Harry Potter series (which has recently been remastered and rereleased in HD for the PlayStation 4). But that wasn’t quite the end for Harry and his friends in the LEGO multiverse. Harry, Voldemort, and a handful of other famous Potter characters have recently made their way into LEGO Dimensions, a massive toys-to-life video game where an impressive range of popular and beloved characters collide. MuggleNet recently had the privilege to chat with the game’s head of design, Arthur Parsons, who provided a brief explanation of just what this game is about:
With LEGO Dimensions moving into Year 2, a new crop of highly anticipated characters have joined the game. Looking through the latest wave’s roster, which includes such eccentric additions as Adventure Time’s Jake, Finn and LSP, Mission Impossible’s Ethan Hunt, and The A Team’s B.A. Baracus, Potter fans may have noticed some familiar faces: a new Team Pack includes minfigures of Harry and Voldemort, along with buildable models of the flying Ford Anglia and the Hogwarts Express (all of which can be removed from their toy tags and played with as regular LEGOs). While these figures and models mark the long-awaited reunion of Potter and LEGO, the Harry Potter Team Pack unlocks an added perk in LEGO Dimensions: access to Harrys’ expansive wizarding world. Arthur explained in-depth what Potter brings to the game:
In Harry’s expansive free-play world, players will be able to wander through and interact with iconic moments from the Potter films and books, with each Potter story referenced at least once within the area. At the whim of the player, characters from both within Harry’s world and outside of it (yes, you can finally make that Harry Potter/Doctor Who crossover happen) can collide in strategy-based challenges at the Quidditch pitch (Capture the Flag, Base Bash, Tic-Tac-Boom, and Objective Mode) or in other familiar wizarding world locations (such as the Ministry of Magic and Godric’s Hollow), and Harry and Voldemort can even go beyond their familiar confines and visit other universes (maybe Voldemort can start a band with Marty McFly and Marceline the Vampire Queen in Middle Earth?).
Introducing Harry’s expansive, character-laden wizarding world to LEGO Dimensions naturally invites curiosity from fans about fidelity to the original source material. In all of Harry’s previous LEGO outings, Harry and his friends have expressed themselves with non-verbal exclamations, but in a game like LEGO Dimensions (which brought in major stars to provide new voiceover work, including Back to the Future’s Michael J. Fox, Jurassic World’s Chris Pratt, and Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi), one would have high expectations for this next visit to the LEGO wizarding world. Arthur confirmed the return of multiple Potter actors for LEGO Dimensions, dropping such major cast names as Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, and more.
Harry’s wizarding world isn’t the only Potter-related addition to LEGO Dimensions to get excited about. Releasing concurrently with the film in November, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them comes to LEGO Dimensions in a brand new type of set for the game, a Story Pack, which covers the entire story of the film in six content-heavy levels, practically becoming a game of its own (though still with LEGO’s trademark humor).
As a Story Pack, the Fantastic Beasts set is larger than the average LEGO Dimensions package, with more figures and models to accompany its increased digital content. In Newt’s pack, players will find a Newt Scamander minifigure, a model of Newt’s trusty Niffler companion, and an entirely new gateway for the LEGO Dimensions portal, inspired by the film’s depiction of the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Tina Goldstein will also be sold separately as a Fun Pack, with a buildable Swooping Evil to accompany her. As with Harry, Voldemort, and all of the characters featured in LEGO Dimensions, Newt and Tina will be free to travel anywhere in the game and interact with anyone they come into contact with, marking the only instance in any Potter media where Harry, Voldemort, Newt, and Tina will be able to interact and join forces (no Time-Turner required!).
In a series that features such powerful and talented characters as Portal’s reality-bending Chell and The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, one wonders what more Harry, Newt, and their friends could add to an already packed game like LEGO Dimensions. As Arthur made clear, the crew at TT Games carefully selected abilities for Harry, Newt, Voldemort, and Tina that highlight their unique talents, ensuring them as must-have characters for the game:
With more packs for Year 2 on the way through next year (including diverse characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, and the Powerpuff Girls), the question of whether or not more Potter characters will make their way into LEGO Dimensions has already been raised. Arthur provided the answer at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, revealing that Hermione will be joining the crew in the final wave of Year 2, scheduled for release in 2017. In a MuggleNet exclusive, Arthur revealed what Hermione’s accessory will be, what forms it will morph into, and a few hints about her abilities:
With exciting wizarding world additions already available for the game, along with more packs in the coming months, it’s tempting to rush into LEGO Dimensions with little regard for which packs to buy, but the game’s large scope (and large cost, depending on how you decide to approach purchasing the multiple packs) can be overwhelming to newcomers. Arthur put forth his suggestions for Potter fans who want to give the game a try but aren’t sure where to start:
The LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack is now available for Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo WiiU, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 (the last of which comes with an exclusive Supergirl minifigure for a limited time). The Harry Potter Team Pack, featuring Harry and Voldemort, is now available. The Fantastic Beasts Story Pack and the Tina Goldstein Fun Pack will be on shelves November 18, with the Hermione Granger Fun Pack following in 2017. Potter gamers can also pick up the original LEGO Harry Potter games, now remastered in HD for the PlayStation 4.
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