Goodbye Pottermore
Pottermore is no more. I guess having the name \u201cPotter\u201d in the title was too limiting, since now the website is called \u201cWizarding World\u201d and encompasses the “Fantastic Beasts” films as well as the Potter books and films. My reaction? Whatever.
\nI loved Pottermore for Rowling\u2019s writing. I loved the story artwork from the Potter series, since those illustrations actually matched descriptions in the books and were reported to be verified by Rowling herself. For me, Pottermore was a worthy successor to Rowling\u2019s very creative original website which felt like the author was personally communicating with us fans.
\nWhen Pottermore changed to become just another fan site, I was very disappointed. The content was trite and uninteresting to anyone over the age of 18. Often the writers demonstrated less understanding of Rowling\u2019s created world than we normal fans did, even with their supposed connection to the author. Quite frankly, I stopped visiting the site.
\nNow it\u2019s the Wizarding World. I\u2019ve spend some time poking around and I am just as unimpressed as I was with the second iteration of Pottermore. The site seems to have even less content than it used to, and a lot of things are either broken — when I click the button to \u201cjoin\u201d the new fan club, I\u2019m just taken to my profile — or listed as \u201ccoming soon,\u201d which is very bad website design. If it wasn\u2019t ready you shouldn\u2019t have switched it on for public viewing.
\nSo again. Whatever.
\nBut about the fan club. I do want to join, if for no other reason than I\u2019ve been a massive Potter fan since 1998 and I figure if anyone should be in a Harry Potter fan club, it\u2019s me. Maybe I\u2019m already signed up, since I do have the Wizarding World app installed on my phone. I have yet to discover any of the \u201cspellbinding new content\u201d which was promised, however. I did find some short bits of writing which rehash facts and content which any fan will already know. I also saw a film clip or two, but those are hardly new content.
\nStill stuck with \u2026 whatever.
\nThat is, until I saw this whole subscription thing. It\u2019s called Wizarding World Gold and I will say, I\u2019m intrigued. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m sold — I could get two Wizarding World Loot Crates for about the same price and those have a lot cooler stuff in them. But the Gold subscription does offer some interesting things. Just not for me.
\nYou see, I don\u2019t collect much Potter memorabilia myself, so I\u2019m not going to be particularly interested in the pins. I already have all the ebooks so I don\u2019t get added value from access to the series through the club. The special events won\u2019t be happening anywhere near me here in Texas and I don\u2019t expect to be flying to New York or San Francisco to see Cursed Child anytime soon, special access or discounts on tickets for those things don\u2019t do me any good. As I said, I don\u2019t collect Potter memorabilia so discounts at the Wizarding World shops won\u2019t do me much good either.
\nSo what has me intrigued?
\nFIrst of all, the video series called Wizarding World Originals. I\u2019ve been on the set of the films and I was blown away by the craft of filmmaking at the vast scale of a Potter film. I love learning more about that process. I am pretty sure I would enjoy that video series.
\nBut most of all, I want that journal.