Advent 2014

The time has come for my annual tradition of blogging each day of LEGO’s Advent calendars. This year again we have three calendars, for Friends, Star Wars, and City. I selected winners afterwards, rating the best and worst models across all three calendars. As usual, each post was originally a separate blog entry, starting with Day 1, and continuing with a daily post about that day’s advent models. However, to clean up the site, I’ve condensed all those daily posts to a single post per year. Here’s the 2014 edition.

Day 1

Here’s the first entry:

Friends and City give us basic figures, with the City one coming with an extra hair and two printed 1×2 tiles with envelope patterns. Star Wars gives us a micro ship or droid of some kind (I really need to bone up on my Star Wars stuff, sorry). We’ll see what the coming days bring, maybe a storyline or two will emerge?

Day 2

Here’s the second day from the 2014 LEGO Advent Calendars. Our Friends girl gets a sled; the City minifig has a mailbox to put his letter in, and the Star Wars ship gets a droid to play with.

Here you can see the items from Days 1 and 2 together:

Day 1 got away from me; I didn’t get home until after midnight, so Day 2 is where the daily posts actually picked up. (I tried throughout to be honest and only open each day on the day it belongs to.)

Day 3

The third entry in LEGO’s Advent calendars brings us a picnic basket and gift for Friends, a snowman for City, and an artillery gun for Star Wars.

We can take the first three days of Friends and combine them – the girl is delivering a Christmas present (though given the color scheme, Easter seems more apt) on her sled.

I had a bit more fun with the City and Star Wars scenes. First, the boy who sent his letter in Day 2 has gotten back the response, a fun Star Wars model to play with (though I’m still not quite sure why there’s a frog in the snow next to the mailbox…):

And the Super Battle Droid has a new toy as well, a gun to shoot at snowmen with:

Day 4

The fourth day of Advent gives us a fawn with a tree (Friends), a Stormtrooper with a Santa Hat and red mug (Star Wars), and a sideboard offering delicious holiday pie and mugs of eggnog (Town). Oddly the Town comes with an extra yellow mug but the Star Wars only gives us one red mug.

I don’t see any tie-in to earlier days so it looks like we’re starting a new “story” here in each of the themes. Maybe later in the series we can find a way to loop back to the first three days.

Day 5

The fifth day in the calendars builds on Day 4’s entries for City and Star Wars; the Friends one is debateable.

Putting together days 4 and 5, we see the stormtrooper getting ready for battle, putting away his red mug and Santa hat, and taking on his helmet and guns. Grim stuff. For Town we now have a baked goods vendor to go with Day 4’s little display, and for Friends we have a little window of some kind which I’ve placed next to Day 4’s fawn and tree:

Day 6

The 6th day of the LEGO Advent Calendars brings us a fruit stand for City, a Friends figure in a red holiday outfit, and a Star Wars micro spaceship.

The Friends and Star Wars items seem standalone, but for City we can tie it in with the previous two entries to form the beginnings of an outdoor market:

Day 7

Today’s entries in the LEGO Advent Calendars are three little models. The Friends entry is a red and pink striped table, Star Wars has another artillery gun (this time one that actually shoots).

The City one is a little problematic. You build this little window vignette, and behind the window there is a decoration based on a leaf with some lime cherries and a clear and red jewel. But you can’t actually see what’s behind the window!! I took a best guess, but it shouldn’t be so hard to build a LEGO thing. They should have shown the window added in a separate step or build it backwards:

Day 8

Today we get minifigs in City and Star Wars, and two little chairs/stools in Friends.

I’d pose the two figures sitting on the two stools, but the ice skater figure has stubby legs that won’t bend, so all she can do is stand on a stool.

Day 9

Today’s Advent Calendar entries are again mostly unrelated to the previous ones. For Friends, we get a strange little thing which I guess is supposed to be a candle on a wreath. The City one (continuing the farmer’s market theme) is a caisson with a baguette instead of a cannon, and oddly it includes an extra wheels holder and the green handle plate. For Star Wars we have a Naboo mini starfighter.

(Day 9 ran a day late; I posted the photo on Google+ on the morning of the 9th but didn’t get the blogpost written until the next day.)

Day 10

Today again there’s no real connection to previous themes. Friends gives us a set of dishes and silverware, City has a snowball launcher, and Star Wars has a micro TIE Fighter.

We’re into the double digits now! Only 15 more shopping days until Xmas… are you ready?

Day 11

Today Friends continues the cooking theme with a range (I think Brits call this a “hob”?), City has a policeman with a bullhorn and sheet music, and Star Wars has a TIE Fighter Pilot.

(Given all the protests and clashes with police in Oakland and Berkeley lately the timing on this one makes me a little uncomfortable…)

Anyway here’s the image:

Day 12

On the 12th day of the LEGO Advent Calendars we get three cute little models: for Star Wars, the land speeder from Tattooine; for City, a little radio controlled duckie; and for Friends, some food – this goes with the previous day’s oven and requires two of the dishes from earlier as well.

Day 13

Today we get two minifigs – a robber with a flashlight and a knapsack with a jewel, and I presume Anakin Skywalker. For Friends, we continue the kitchen theme with a cabinet with a block of cheese under a glass bell jar and a salt and pepper shaker.

(Day 13 slipped past midnight again.)

Day 14

Day 14’s Friends continues the food theme with an assortment of edibles: carrots, turkey legs, glasses of pink champagne, and some sort of pastry with a green topping? City gives us a sled, I guess for Day 13’s robber to get away on. Star Wars continues the Tatooine thread with a moisture vaporator.

Day 15

For the 15th day of the LEGO Advent Calendars we get a dog with a bone in a bowl for City, the Friends kitchen continues with a sink, and Star Wars has a micro scale snow speeder.

(Day 15 was late again.)

Day 16

The 16th day of the LEGO Advent Calendars is a bit underwhelming. Friends continues the kitchen theme with some baked goods (I think); City gets what appears to be a police snowmobile, and Star Wars has a snowspeeder pilot to go with Day 15’s micro build.

Day 17

Looks like after a long 6-day run the Friends kitchen has come to an end, as Day 17 gives us a hearth. City adds a trailer to Day 16’s snowmobile, and Star Wars adds to the Hoth theme with a snowball gun (ion cannon?)

Here’s a recap of all the kitchen stuff we got over the past several days (Days 10-16) in Friends:

For City, here’s the snowmobile with its trailer:

For Star Wars, here’s the trio of Hoth models:

Day 18

Today we get two new minifigures (a policeman for City and someone I don’t recognize for Star Wars) and a bedside table for Friends. The cop has a coffee mug and handcuffs, which is kind of an odd combination…

Day 19

Today’s entries give us a couch (Friends), a turkey on a table with a wine bottle and two glasses (City), and a speeder bike with a cargo sack containing a Christmas present (Star Wars).

Here’s a close-up look at the back of the speeder bike. The present, made of a jumper plate and a 1×1 plate, fits into the sack securely and is held in place by the rear-facing gun.

Yesterday’s City entry with the policeman goes well with the previous two days’ entries from that theme, so here they are all together with the cop on his snowmobile towing a trailer:

Day 20

Today’s LEGO advent calendars give us a cute kitten (Friends), a barrel with a shovel and an axe and a couple of round things (City), and an Imperial Shuttle (Star Wars). Hard to imagine three more different models. I really don’t get what the City one is supposed to be for, but we get a bonus one of each tool.

Day 21

Happy Solstice! Today is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Today in our LEGO Advent calendars we get a speaker and controls (Friends), a wrapped gift and a stocking (City), and a Y-Wing Fighter (Star Wars). The Star Wars one comes with tons of extra parts!

Day 22

Seriously LEGO Star Wars? A Christmas Tree droid???? Gosh.

City has a more conventional tree, and Friends brings us a gift to put under it.

Day 23

Happy Christmas Eve Eve. Only one more shopping day – are you ready??

Day 23 brings us another Christmas tree (Friends), a trike (City), and a somewhat sinister looking hearth (Star Wars). Along with Day 22’s goofy Christmas Tree droid, I like the way the LEGO Star Wars is approaching the advent calendar with a sense of humor, and I hope Day 24’s is even better…

Just one more left!

Day 24

Last day of our Advent Calendar – December 24th, Christmas Eve.

The final entry for Friends seems a little underwhelming to me – a storage box for a camera and some ice skates? Strange combination.

City gives us a nice traditional Santa Claus, complete with chocolate chip cookie.

Star Wars continues with its wacky take on Christmas with Darth Claus. Okaaaay.

The last three entries from Star Wars make a nice little scene.

Here’s a group shot of the Christmas trees from all three sets.

Merry Christmas!

Recap

Here are some roundup photos of some of the highlights from this year’s LEGO Advent Calendars.

Trees:

Friends Figures:

I included the animals in this because there were so few figures in this year’s Friends set.

City Figures:

I didn’t include the dog in this one.

Star Wars Figures:

Star Wars has the most figures, especially if you count the droids.

Star Wars Micro Ships:

Star Wars Misc Models:

Friends Kitchen:

(As featured previously)

Spare Parts:

Every LEGO set typically comes with a few spare parts – those smaller elements that are easily lost – so that if a kid loses them or for some reason the count was wrong when packing the set (since it’s done by weight), they don’t have irate customers complaining that parts are missing. They’ve done this for decades, but with the Advent Calendars it’s especially notable since there are 24 separate models in each, and they tend to include a lot of small parts. The most spare parts in any model was 7 for the Y-Wing Fighter (as noted in my Advent 2014 Awards posting), but many of them included a few. This photo shows all the spare parts from all three calendars: Friends on the left, City in the middle, and Star Wars on the right:

Awards

3 Advent Calendars.
24 days.
72 models.
14 minifigs.
2 minidolls.
4 animals.
2 droids.
9 mini spaceships.
3 gun emplacements.
2 hearths.
3 Christmas trees (including the droid).

Having built all 72 models, I’ve come up with some winners for the best model in each category.

Best Christmas Tree: Friends Day 21

There were two trees (and one droid that looked like a tree) but I picked this one because of the pyramid piece and heart at the top, and the brown showing through between the layers. The City tree seemed underwhelming, though it had more variety in the colors of ornaments/lights.

Best Holiday Decor: Friends Day 17

Besides the trees, the most festive model in my opinion was this lovely hearth, featuring a sprig of pine topped with a star. The only thing missing is stockings.

Most Original: Christmas Tree Droid (Star Wars Day 22)

Of course this is the silliest thing I’ve seen in a long time from LEGO. They took the R2-D2 body and legs, put a cone-shaped piece on top, and made it in dark green. The custom printing and color are appreciated and the humor value is priceless.

Best Food: Cheese, Salt, and Pepper (Friends Day 13)

There was a lot of food to choose from, with the Friends calendar providing us with a very complete kitchen, but my favorite was this one because of the novel parts usage. The black and white cones, topped with transparent round plates, make perfect salt and pepper shakers, and the cheese wedge under a clear dome is a nice touch as well.

Cutest: Deer (Friends Day 4)

The Friends sets are known for their cute animals, and my favorite was this one. The kitten on Day 20 was a close second, but posing the deer with the little tree in a circle of snow pushed it over the edge. None of the other City or Friends models were anywhere near as cute, though the Star Wars Christmas tree droid is probably a candidate.

Best Minifig: Darth Claus (Star Wars Day 24)

The calendars, all told, included 14 traditional minifigures, 2 minidolls, and 2 droids, but I think the best of all these is the Darth Vader / Santa Claus mashup from the final day of the Star Wars set.

Best Micro Model: Tatooine Land Speeder (Star Wars Day 12)

There were plenty of micro ships to build for Star Wars, and a few cute micro models in the other calendars, but my favorite was the land speeder. It captures the look of the model from the movies perfectly and the engines are just perfect.

Most Extra Parts: Y-Wing Fighter (Star Wars Day 21)

This one is objective – the model that had the most bonus parts was clear, with a total of 7! This was another strong contender for Best Micro Model.

Dumbest Model: Tool Barrel (City Day 20)

What was this supposed to be for? It didn’t tie into the days before or after, didn’t match any of the minifigures, it was just randomly stuck in here. Not even any assembly required. Just plain dumb.

Best Overall Day: Day 23

There were a few good days to choose from for this award, some with trickier builds or better models, but I thought the strongest day overall was this one. The trike is cute, the Christmas tree is great, and the Sith Hearth is some nice dark side humor.

Best Advent Calendar: Star Wars

Overall I felt this was hands down the best of the three. It had the most small parts and clever builds, the best use of humor, and the most consistent from day to day (e.g. we build a micro fighter one day and its pilot the next). Very few of the models had anything to do with the holidays, but the parts assortment and level of build interest was best. Friends really let me down at the end, but some of the kitchen models were pretty good. City seemed kind of all over the map and random, with some good stuff and some really bad stuff. But Star Wars stayed pretty consistent throughout with the level of detail and difficulty.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following along as I build these, and I wish you and yours a happy holiday season, whatever holiday(s) you celebrate, and a happy and prosperous new year!