We’ve made it to the end. Christmas Eve is here and with it, the final doors of our six advent calendars. LEGO tends to hold a special treat for the final day. Still no sign of Red One… Maybe Moana can ask her friend The Rock to help track him down. Or we could just open the doors and see what we find! We have six calendars to get through: Friends, Disney, City, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spider-Man. Which has been your favorite this year?
As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 24…
Friends ends the year with a handsome snow cat in a hat sitting on a block of ice. Disney concludes the 4-day castle build with a balcony and towers.
City and Harry Potter both bring old men with red robes and white beards. Harry’s jolly fellow is Albus Dumbledore, sporting a new print for his robes and a pair of wands. City’s Santa sticks with tradition.
Spider-Man turns up the voltage for an electrifying Christmas tree. I consider myself pretty well versed in Star Wars lore, but the final micro build stumped me. It turns out it’s the Crimson Firehawk from Young Jedi Adventures, only available as a 4+ set. I’m guessing this will be the only version of the Crimson Firehawk that most of our readers will own, so that’s a nice gift I suppose.
We did it! That’s the last of the gifts. Which calendar ended on the highest note? I’m fond of Spider-Man’s Electro-themed tree. What do the rest of you think?
Theo: Woah, that electric tree is cool! If a bit of a health hazard… Santa DumbleClaus makes perfect sense, and the City one is fine. Nothing new, but nothing wrong with it either. Individually the Disney builds weren’t too special, but recreating the Disneyland Castle is a great idea. Love that they incorporated a balcony, too.
Daniel: Is that x-mas tree on fire? Of all the trees I think the wedge plate is still the best. I consider myself a decently knowledgeable Star Wars fan but I have no idea what that vehicle is from.
Kyle: Best tree of the bunch! Dumbledore in red robes is pretty good, too. But they gave us another animal in a top hat, and I’m duty-bound to fawn over it!
Bre: Overall one of the better days. Interesting offerings all around. Three cheers for the chubby cat in the top hat!
In the spirit of giving, everyone’s a winner today!
Here we see the fully assembled Disney castle.
“Honey, they shrunk my sleigh!”
“Baby Sven with your horns so small, won’t you pull me to the mall?”
Before we close the door on this year’s advent calendar celebration, let’s have a look at each of the six completed lineups and share our final thoughts.
Theo: City and Friends are the strongest ones, I think. The former hits a lot of classic notes, while the latter had some really clever builds. The fun of the Spiderverse makes it a great choice for the MCU one too.
Harry Potter felt very repetitive but I have to admit the figs are pretty great. I can see what Disney was going for with all the habitats for the princesses, but you do need to be familiar with the source material to get it.
Star Wars is the weakest for me. There are a few fun callbacks for the 25th anniversary like the minikit or some of the colourschemes, but it had very few absolute wins. And aside from Luke and Leia’s sweaters there’s almost nothing festive about it!
Daniel: City and Star Wars are my favorites. I always get myself the Star Wars calendar and save the instructions for the best builds and this year’s offerings are great. Some I might improve upon but for the most part I’m happy with it. Especially with the LEGO Star Wars minikit which hits that nostalgia itch pretty hard.
Kyle: With plenty of classics, some new takes on older concepts, and those amazing themed sweaters, LEGO City has got to be my favorite overall. Star Wars came in as quite the disappointment this year, with a ton of flat micro builds. I also feel like the Disney Princesses were a bit rough. Other than the figures, very little of it felt distinctly “Disney.”
Bre: Full disclosure, I’m not a huge fan of LEGO advent calendars. I get antsy and impatient, and one little build or fig is not enough for me. That said, here’s how I rank them:
City – Love the sweaters and toys.
Harry Potter – I’m a fan so I’m partial, and it would rank first, if not for how weird the statues are.
Star Wars – Sigh. This ranking is actually a surprise for me. I want to like it more than I do… Generally things are okay, but it just feels so redundant. I do like those holiday sweaters, but there isn’t anything else festive about it… What moves it up for me is a matter of preference. The builder in me likes the more complex builds versus just getting figs or builds with barely any pieces.
Spider-Man – Collectively decent figs and minibuilds. I debated moving this up a spot.
Disney – On their own, things are kind of random and uninteresting, but admittedly they’re nice enough complete and together. At least, my nieces would be in love with them.
Friends – I’ve never been a fan of minidolls at all, and several of the builds are pretty bland. But a couple of them are nice, so it wasn’t a clear “last place”. These last two were almost interchangeable, and none of them were a total bust
Jake: Calendars fall on a spectrum between daily delight and cohesive experience. I have a bias for the more cohesive builds where different days build on each other in telling a story of the season. By this criteria, I think Friends is the standout this year. Paisley and Olly’s houses were featured in a mainline Friends set earlier this year, and the calendar serves as a prequel of sorts for telling the character’s story – the arrival of her baby sister, references to the passions for music and fashion, a chance to meet the mother who has passed away in the present day timeline. It’s also a good mix of elements for setting up a scene for play.
Spider-Man is my runner up. It felt fresh and delightful and captured the vibes of New York in Winter. I loved Venom in a scarf and a few other twists on villains. Not giving Green Goblin a Santa hat was a mistake though.
Harry Potter was repetitive, but it makes the best display when completed. With 3 new minifig prints and loads of printed tiles, it’s probably the best mix of parts once everything is broken down.
City’s sweaters are great, and it’s a good mix of play accessories, but I wasn’t impressed by the build offerings this year.
Disney has some fun habitat builds, but there’s little play potential with most of them. Elsa’s sled and Moana’s boat were nice. We had Pua, Sven, and the frog prince, so animals for Ariel and Mirabelle would have been welcome too.
Aside from Luke, Leia, and the minikit, there’s a shortage of whimsy this year. The 25th anniversary angle no doubt works for many, but for me it’s a reminder of Star Wars merchandise, not the heart that made me a fan of the franchise or the longstanding LEGO collab. I’d honestly love to see LEGO try something more like what Harry Potter or Friends did with a star wars calendar – a celebration of coming together.
That’s it, we’re all out of opinions. But don’t let that stop you from sharing your own in the comments. Thank you all so much for joining us for another year of advent calendars. Only 341 days until we begin again! I wonder what themes next year will bring? Is it too much to wish for a Lord of the Rings calendar?
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