When I saw that there was a Harry Potter-themed Bicycle deck, I immediately started picturing what it might look like:
First, a no-brainer, was that the four suits could represent the four houses of the school - (Griffindor, Slytherin, HufflePuff, and the fourth one which I can never remember the name of).
I imagined the four Aces showing either the coats-of-arms of the four houses, or perhaps the artifact unique to each (the sword and so on).
The courts could go any number of custom ways:
1. the two boys and one girl from each house most prominent in the books (Griffindor would of course have Ron, Hermione and Harry).
2. the two most prominent male and one female instructor associated with each house. (Snape would be the King of Slytherin's court)
3. The older students (I forget their title) who herd the younger ones in each house.
The two Jokers? Easy - Ron's twin brothers, the pranksters of the school! They could even be depicted astride brooms, a'la traditional Bike Jokers on their Bicycles!
So imagine my disappointment when I got my copy of the deck today:
==========[ Bicycle_HarryPotter ]==========
They did indeed associate the four suits with the four houses, but they only went so far as to put the houses' coats-of-arms on the Aces.
The courts? Standard Bike courts - BOOOOOO!!! What a missed opportunity!
The jokers? There were three of them, simply drawings of Ron, Hermikone and Harry, with nothing Jokerish about them. Oh well, better than standard Bike jokers, anyway...
The additional cards? One was taken up by the third joker. Fair enough, but the other one? A blank-faced card!
They could have gone with the map the kids used, or a diagram of the school, or the cover from one of the books, or a ton of other things, and they came up with a blank-faced card?!? I know they can be used in a number of card tricks and fans/flourishes, but - bleah.
The back? standard Rider Back, in an off-Red. Ho-hum. Why not at least put the cupids on brooms?
All in all, quite a let down.
Sigh...