Shocked & Disappointed (Harry Potter Hogwarts Express)

Super · 2025-03-26T21:25:02+00:00

I am shocked and disappointed that THIS announcement a few days ago from Therealblack64YT (post #68) about a brand new Plarail train, accessories and Station...

chrisjo

Super wrote
Could the same be said about this Hogwarts Express or is that not a British train?

My point is that the Harry Potter thing is still big in Japan and Tomy have calculated that the train will likely sell on the back of that.

Surely Flying Scotsman has no more presence in the Japanese toy buying psyche than any other non-Japanese locomotive, so why are we even speculating that Tomy might make one, except as part of the Thomas line? I just don't get it.

Super

LOL...can we not hope???

Super

Whaaat?
I missed this fact until watching THIS video at the 4:47 minute mark which, as most of you know, plenty of these sweeten the deal for me

chrisjo

I may be a bit slow, though I don't think anyone else has mentioned it here.

In April 2023 Warner Brothers / HBO announced that they are making a Harry Potter TV series.

The live-action series, based on all seven books in the series published between 1997 and 2007, will become a “decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for”.

The show is expected to release in 2026 , so any suggestion that Tomy are a bit late to the party with this Hogwarts Express release is maybe a little misplaced.

Nigels

That will teach me to watch the videos as I definitely didn't know about a damn TV series and hadn't heard about that anywhere else. Mind you with the woes that Warner Brothers are having they may not be around to create it or have to even consider cancelling it or scaling back the production values to save money as their share price was pretty savagely hit in recent days. I'd be curious as to how they can make this as a live action series if it is going to feature the known character cast as they have obviously grown up now so they'll either have to find lookalikes, use CGI or base it on characters that are not familiar to the fans. That is unless they filmed lots of spare footage while making the movies and intend to use that to engineer scenes not in the movies. Regardless it all sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, there's no better way to destroy a franchise than to over exploit it and dilute an originally well received product with mediocre output - look at the damage Disney has done to the Star Wars franchise in recent years. If it wasn't for the Mandalorian series which was an worthwhile, but unexpected hit they would have tanked the whole thing...

Edited by Super

chrisjo

Nigels wrote
Mind you with the woes that Warner Brothers are having they may not be around to create it or have to even consider cancelling it or scaling back the production values to save money as their share price was pretty savagely hit in recent days.

In the last few days they announced the names of the well-known actors who are being cast as some of the major characters in the TV production, which is how I learned about it.

Nigels

chrisjo wrote
Nigels wrote
Mind you with the woes that Warner Brothers are having they may not be around to create it or have to even consider cancelling it or scaling back the production values to save money as their share price was pretty savagely hit in recent days.

In the last few days they announced the names of the well-known actors who are being cast as some of the major characters in the TV production, which is how I learned about it.

Anybody we know?

DalaGStanator

The Golden Trio (and other child characters) haven't been cast yet, but the majority of the adult roles have been revealed.

And yes, Lord Farquaad will be Dumbledore and Snape is now Ghanaian.

Super

Thank you for the Link LaG! ðŸ‘

Super

Video of the Express running the Rails...Rivets, Rivets, Rivets

To be released on July 19th 2025. Pre-orders have started on some sites. 7700yen

[video=youtube]https://youtu.be/b6u37EDK6a8[/video]

Super

Buyer installed stickers which seems to be not what is liked by fans, I especially see that those curved side name plates being particularly hard to place straight especially for the younger purchasers. I am also wondering, maybe those familiar with the series could answer, why the stickers look like an amateur created them on a printer and cut them out. In the films, are all the graphics for the stickers so pixelated like they are in the video?

Donald9Douglas10Oliver11mp

Yeah, I hadn't actually noticed the shoddy quality of the stickers, also it's a shame that the nameplates, number plates, crests and destination plates couldn't have had some chrome borders, that would have surely have lifted the model and maybe even some chrome accents on the chimney cap and safety valve bonnet could have been an even cooler addition, I'm sure it could have been done!

DalaGStanator

Didn't notice that either when I first watched the promo. I can only assume the finished stickers haven't been made yet and these ones are rushed placeholders. Since the films were live action and used an entire real train (as well as filming at King's Cross), all the names, logos etc. were (naturally) on par with authentic liveries in quality.

Whoever designed the placeholders even misspelt Castle as "Catsle" on the nameplates.

Super

Taken into account I had to zoom in on a small image the pixelation here is the sticker sheet but there is hope that LaG is correct and the finished stickers are better in the second image which is pixelated but still looks better. Maybe the Tokyo Plarail Expo YouTube videos coming starting tomorrow will show us better results if its shown there.

sherf 2.jpg

45kB

serf.jpg

79kB

Trainboy90 Productions

I pre ordered two of them, I plan on making one into a real-life Hall Class locomotive. I'm not a fan of the Harry potter Franchise but the locomotive looks really nice. One I may do is Dumbleton Hall in a GWR Green livery.

Like this but with a face:

Super

Sounds interesting T-Boy. Hope we get a chance to see it when finished. ðŸ‘

Trainboy90 Productions

Yeah, I will be going with that green livery with the "GREAT WESTERN" on the tender.

DalaGStanator

What a funny coincidence. On top of the real name that sounds like a certain headmaster, it's ironically the same Hall that's now painted as the Hogwarts Express at the Tokyo version of the Harry Potter Studio Tour (so that the real Olton Hall can stay in the UK).

In other words, you technically plan to "revert" a toy version of another Hall from the current state of the one you're replicating to how it looked when it was operational.

leylandvictory2

Super wrote
Buyer installed stickers which seems to be not what is liked by fans, I especially see that those curved side name plates being particularly hard to place straight especially for the younger purchasers. I am also wondering, maybe those familiar with the series could answer, why the stickers look like an amateur created them on a printer and cut them out. In the films, are all the graphics for the stickers so pixelated like they are in the video?

just like the burger or restaurant commercials, the burgers and the foods looks better in commercials than in real life.

Super

Riveting!
Has there ever been a Plarail Train with this many rivets or any Trackmasters for that matter??

« Previous Page Next Page »