Advent 2019

I can’t believe it’s already December! As I do every year, I’ve purchased all of the available LEGO Advent Calendar sets and for each day I will be posting photos of that day’s models and discussing them. This year we have four Advent calendars: City, Friends, Harry Potter (new calendar theme), and Star Wars. I was a day late getting started – out of town for the weekend. 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 2019 edition.

Day 1

Day 1 got off to a late start: I was out of town for the weekend and didn’t manage the first post until December 2nd, so I did two days’ worth that evening and backdated this one to the 1st. I could have gotten ahead by building the models before Thanksgiving, but that felt dishonest to me.

Our first model comes from the City calendar, and it’s a small snowplow. It has four studs where a minifigure could sit, and Technic gears for tires (which I haven’t seen before, but for something like this it makes a lot of sense).

Like last year’s Day 1, the Friends calendar gives us a heart-shaped ornament, but this time it’s a better design, using the heart-shaped plate from The LEGO Movie 2. The hook is still off-center, but it should hang close enough to straight.

New this year for the first time is a Harry Potter Advent Calendar. And what better way to start that off with Harry himself, holding one of the new style of wands. He’s in a new print torso with “H” on the front of the sweater.

This year’s Star Wars series starts with a First Order Star Destroyer, from the Sequel Trilogy movies.

Day 2

It’s the 2nd day of the LEGO Advent Calendars, and here are Day 2’s models.

Day 2’s City model continues with the snow redistribution theme, this time with a catapult for snowballs.

Here’s what it might look like mid-shot.

Day 2 gives us another Friends ornament. Last year’s Day 2 entry was a guitar; this year it’s a boombox.

Harry Potter’s entry for Day 2 is a very cute little microscale Hogwart’s Express train.

And we end with another Star Wars First Order microscale spaceship, this time Kylo Ren’s shuttle. It has a red transparent plate for the cockpit, and a roller skate sideways for thrusters, and absurdly large and non-functional wings just like in the movies…

Day 3

Day 3 of this year’s LEGO Advent Calendars give us six models, because Friends and Harry Potter are doubles.

I was kidding in Day 2 when I said they had a snow redistribution theme, but Day 3 gives us a guy with a broom. He’s laughing, and I bet is about to get hit in the face with one of the snowballs from yesterday’s launcher.

The back of the torso has printing as well:

As I mentioned above, Friends gives us a pair of ornaments. I guess these are penguins? Not sure what species has a pink beak. They have winders in the back as though they have a spring loaded waddling mechanism. You get both, one with each type of eye – or you could have them be identical but with each having one eye winking and one not. Your choice; the instructions are not clear.

And here’s what they look like on the back side:

Harry Potter’s entry for Day 3 is also a double set, but this time trees. I guess these are Christmas trees, but why two of them with stars on top? And why white? This doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t remember trees like this in the books or movies…

Rounding out the group, Day 3’s Star Wars model is a stormtrooper with blaster gun.

And another rear view:

Day 4

On the 4th day of this year’s LEGO Advent Calendars we get a snow fort, a hamster on a sled, a much better tree, and a big gun.

The snowball fight theme goes on for Day 4, with a fort to crouch behind to avoid getting hit.

The Friends model is an adorable little woodland critter (BrickLink says it’s a hamster) on a sled.

Here’s a bottom view, so you can see how each of the runners is just a pair of minifig skates:

On Day 3 we got two really awful Christmas trees for the Harry Potter entry, and they make up for it today with a much better one. But just one.

Star Wars gives us this big gun. I don’t know Star Wars stuff that well, so once again this year Jay’s Brick Blog comes to the rescue: it’s a FWMB-10 Repeating Blaster. That gun element is rare in white, though I’m not a fan of weaponry in my LEGO.

Day 5

Day 5 of the LEGO Advent Calendars gives us a stump and axe, a Friends minidoll, a pole with two banners, and Poe’s X-Wing Fighter.

Today we leave behind the snowball fight, and get a tree stump, with the axe that cut it down. I haven’t had one of these axes before – much more realistic than the classic LEGO axe.

Friends has been all Christmas tree ornaments until now, but Day 5 gives us a minidoll.

Here she is from the rear.

Harry Potter’s tree in Day 4 was impressive, but Day 5’s model is less so. It’s just a pole with two banners representing two of the houses of Hogwart’s.

In Star Wars however we get a very intricate model with a lot of parts – Poe’s black and orange X-Wing, with a little 1×1 round white plate representing BB-8’s head.

Here’s a rear view of the fighter.

Day 6

Can you believe we’re 25% of the way through Advent already? Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? It’s day 6, and today’s models are a Christmas tree, a cake, Professor McGonagall, and a Resistance Troop Transporter.

After Day 5’s stump, the rest of the tree appears on Day 6, with a kind of odd choice for a star on top.

Friends returns to the Christmas ornaments with a Christmas cake. (You can put a string through the holes in the upper tier to hang it.)

Today we get our second Harry Potter minifig, Professor Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration professor, Head of Gryffindor House, and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The printing on the rear of the minifig torso is quite nice. Here is a back view.

This is one of the dumbest ships in the Star Wars universe, I think. Day 6 of the Star Wars Advent Calendar is a bit of an odd build – a Resistance Troop Transporter from The Force Awakens, which ferried General Leia to the Battle of Takodana, according to Jay’s Brick Blog

Here is the back
of the transport.

Day 7

At the end of the first week of December, it’s day 7 and we get a boy with a cookie and a propeller beanie, a transistor radio, a Hogwarts dining hall table, and a Wookiee.

Today seems to go in a totally new direction for City. Now we have a boy wearing a propeller beanie holding a cookie. Does anyone under the age of 40 even know what a propeller beanie even is? Still, seems like a potentially cool part to have, and we get 2 extras.

Here’s a rear
so you can see the torso print detail.

Day 7’s Friends model is an odd one – not very festive for the holidays, just a miniature radio of some kind, I think. Maybe a walkie-talkie?

The instructions have us build it lying flat, but I think this angle is more like what you’re meant to see it as:

Harry Potter seems to be doing the arrival at Hogwart’s from the first book/movie. Here we have the long table from the dining hall.

Today’s Star Wars model is a Wookiee. Some might say it’s Chewbacca, but I think it’s his kid Lumpy dressed up has his father. Happy Life Day! (You have seen the Star Wars Holiday Special, haven’t you?)

Day 8

It’s Day 8 of the 2019 LEGO Advent Calendars, and this time we get some Christmas gifts, a cute wobbly snowman, a turkey dinner, and a micro Ahch-To.

The boy from City is looking forward to opening these gifts at Christmas.

From Friends we get an adorable snowman ornament, that has a rounded base so it doesn’t want to sit up straight.

We continue the Hogwart’s feast with a turkey, silver plate, and some kind of orange side dish.

You might not know what this model is from the Star Wars Advent Calendar. Remember at the end of The Force Awakens Rey found Luke on top of the mountain in the middle of the sea? It’s that mountain, which apparently is called Ahch-To. Thanks to Jay’s Brick Blog for helping me figure that out.

Day 9

On the 9th day of the 2019 LEGO Advent Calendars we get another snowman, a festive lamppost, more Hogwarts house flags, and the grizzly old Luke Skywalker minifigure.

After Day 8’s wobbly Friends snowman, this different one from City is an interesting variation. I love the top hat.

Today’s Friends model is a lamppost decorated for the holidays.

On Day 5 we got the red and gold flags of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and today we get the green and blue silver? of Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

Continuing the The Force Awakens theme of Luke on top of the mountain, we got the mountain in Day 8 and Day 9 gives us the man himself.

In case you are curious, yes the back side of the torso is also printed:

Day 10

We’re into the double digits now! Day 10 gives us a photographer, two stockings, Ron Weasley, and a Quadjumper.

Today we get another minifigure, with an awesome new scarf element (and a spare one).

The rear of the torso is also printed:

For Friends we get a pair of socks Christmas stockings.

Today’s Harry Potter is another minifig, this time Ron. I never noticed before that Harry has an H for Hufflepuff and Ron has a R for Ravenclaw.

Here’s a back
– the head and torso are also printed.

Day 10 was a mystery to me until I checked Jay’s Brick Blog to see what it is: a Quadjumper from The Force Awakens, “a ship that Finn and Rey were considering jumping into, before being unceremoniously blown up.”

Here’s a rear view of the Quadjumper.

Day 11

On the 11th day of the LEGO Advent Calendars, we get curling stones, a chocolate bar, another table for the Hogwarts feast, and a Star Wars gun turret.

Curling is a sport that I’ve only ever seen as part of the Winter Olympics, but for Canadians it’s a normal activity I understand. It’s a sort of shuffleboard game, played on ice. Today’s City model gives us four curling stones and the target.

Now I see why we got a guy wtih a broom on Day 3! Two of the City figures are playing a game against Harry and a Stormtrooper.

The Friends ornaments theme continues with a chocolate bar with a ribbon and heart-shaped bow.

For Harry Potter we continue the Hogwarts feast theme, with another table and a candle.

Here I’ve assembled most of the Harry Potter models to make a little diorama.

Even Jay’s Brick Blog isn’t quite sure what this is, but even his guesses are more dependable than mine. So Starkiller Base Turret it is.

Update: After posting this entry, and seeing that Day 12‘s is a Death Star Imperial Gunner, Jay has updated his entry for the 11th to place it on the Death Star rather than Starkiller Base, and I think that’s right.

Day 12

Day 12! Halfway to 24! Are you ready for Christmas? Today’s models are pretty disappointing to me. We get a rocking chair, a roller skate, some food, and an Imperial Gunner.

Today’s city model is a rocking chair and a little table with a lamp. The chair actually rocks, which is nice, using a relatively new part, a 2×2 inverted bowed slope. But I’m not a fan of the lack of armrests, or the exposed hollow studs. This could have been a lot better.

Here one of the minifigures is trying out the rocking chair.

Today we get a Friends ornament of, I think, a roller skate. Or maybe a baby carriage. Either way, it’s pretty uninspiring.

Harry Potter adds some more food to the feast.

Star Wars gives us an Imperial Gunner with one of the weirdest costume choices (and that’s really saying something) in the history of cinema, the underbite helmet. Jay has amended his entry from yesterday to now (correctly, I think) place that model on the Death Star in the original trilogy rather than Starkiller Base, and I’ve also updated yesterday’s entry correspondingly. Here you can see the front view, with more photos to show the printing on his face and on the back of the torso.

Day 13

Lucky Number 13 gives us a woman with a storybook, a Santabot, more Hogwarts house flags, and a Mouse Droid.

Day 13 gives us a woman with a storybook. I guess she could be the one on Day 12‘s rocking chair, but I already took a photo of that chair with a figure on it so I won’t bother you with that again.

The torso has some nice printing on it, which you can see better in these photos. Also, there’s a “Once upon a time…” graphic printed inside the book on a 1×2 tile.

The Friends ornament is something I’d expect to see on a Star Wars calendar, in terms of complexity. It’s a robot with a Santa hat. (The robot is held upright by the antenna “tail” which you can’t see behind it.)

In Harry Potter we get … hey, didn’t we get this before? Not quite–Day 9 was green and grey. Green is the Slytherin color, and blue is for Ravenclaw. But Day 9 was green and silver, and now we get blue and silver…?

Star Wars, meanwhile, gives us a small build but it’s pretty cute – the beloved MSE-6-series repair droid, popularly known as the “mouse droid.”

Day 14

Only ten more shopping days left until Christmas! It’s Day 14, and the Advent calendars give us milk and cookies, a weird little steam engine, Hermione Granger, and a Snail Tank.

We’ve had storytime and now it’s time to put out the milk and cookies for Santa. Though with ten more days to go, the cookie will be stale, the candle will go out, and the milk will curdle. Nice treat for Santa, that.

The Friends model is a charicature of a steam locomotive. The less said about this the better.

We’ve had Harry and Ron, and finally on Day 14 we get Hermione.

Here I’ve taken her hair off and turned her around so you can see the alternate face and the printing on the back of her torso.

While I know I saw Revenge of the Sith I don’t remember it much, and I’ve never played the Star Wars Battlefront games, so I didn’t recognize what we got in the Star Wars Advent Calendar today. Today’s Star Wars model is the “Snail Tank” aka the NR-N99 Persuader-class droid enforcer, at least according to Jay’s Brick Blog. It can be found attacking Chewbacca’s home world of Kashyyyk.

Day 15

On the 15th day of Advent the LEGO Advent Calendars give us a snowmobile, a couple of boughs of holly, a wizard snowman, and a battle droid.

City has moved on from its domestic theme, and Day 15 gives us a snowmobile.

Today’s Friends model is a simple one, but not bad. It’s meant to be a couple boughs of holly, I think. Or it could be any green foliage with red berries or flowers.

Today’s Harry Potter model is a snowman with a black witch/wizard hat.

I’m no fan of the prequels and TV shows that take place before the events of the original Star Wars movie, but even I know a battle droid when I see one. Roger roger!

Day 16

It’s two-thirds through the Advent calendars, and Day 16 gives us a kitchen stove, a mailbox, a chessboard, and a Multi-Troop Transport.

Another day, another City theme. Now we’ve got a cooking scenario with this nice stove and oven with I guess a pizza stone in it?

For Friends we get a mailbox that you can hang on your tree.

I love this mini chess set but of course it would be better if it were the full 8×8 board! Nice to have the extra black and white micro-figures though.

I didn’t recognize what this was when I built it, and should have checked on Jay’s Brick Blog entry before photographing mine. I took the photo with it pointing the wrong way!!! Oops. Anyway, it’s those transport thingys that deploy the racks of battle droids on the invasion of Naboo in Episode I.

Here’s how I should have photographed it (image from Jay’s blog). I guess I should turn up the exposure on my photos, too.

Day 17

Only one shopping week left ’til Xmas! It’s the 17th, and Day 17 gives us a dude with a fire extinguisher, some gifts, more flags, and an escape pod.

So I guess Day 16‘s cooking isn’t going so well, time for grandpa to grab the fire extinguisher?

I love this fisherman sweater print torso. It’s not new, but it’s pretty great. Here’s the back:

In Friends, we get some gifts for the tree that could also be hung on a tree.

If you open them up you’ll find a microphone and a pink tiara.

Another day, another set of flags… Looks like I was wrong about them showing two houses on each pole, and these are Hufflepuff’s colors, apparently. According to J.K. Rowling:

The four Hogwarts houses have a loose association with the four elements, and their colours were chosen accordingly. Gryffindor (red and gold) is connected to fire; Slytherin (green and silver) to water; Hufflepuff (yellow and black, representing wheat and soil) to earth; and Ravenclaw (blue and bronze; sky and eagle feathers) to air.

So now the ones from earlier days make more sense – each house is represented by a pole with two flags showing that house’s two colors. On day 5 we got red and gold for Gryffindor, day 9 was green and silver for Slytherin, and on day 13 we got blue and silver (I guess Ravenclaw’s bronze got an upgrade).

As a reminder, here are the ones from the earlier days:

And finally, Star Wars brings us something I can get behind – the escape pod from the opening scene of the original movie (Episode IV).

Day 18

Day 18 already! Here we get dinner for one, a nutcracker ornament, Professor Filius Flitwick, and a rebel soldier.

After the stove and the fire extinguisher, here’s what’s left – one leg and a leaf, a feast for one?

The Friends ornaments continue, this time with a cute Nutcracker. Though I don’t understand why they are stacking the 2×2 round plates instead of giving us a 2×2 round brick. Also there’s that 2×2 round brick with Technic pin holes, that might have been better for the torso. Anyway it’s pretty cute.

Harry Potter’s model for Day 18 is Professor Filius Flitwick, Charms professor at Hogwarts and head of Ravenclaw house. He has short legs like the children because he’s part goblin. I love the bow tie part, and it came with two extras!

Here’s a rear
so you can see the printing on the back of the head and torso.

Sticking to Episode IV, Day 18’s Star Wars is a Rebel soldier with the weird giant egg-shaped helmet.

And here’s the alternate face and the back of the torso.

Day 19

One of these things is not like the others … we get three living room fixtures and one weird flying creature for Day 19 of the LEGO Advent Calendars.

This lovely grandfather clock comes with the City set.

For Friends, we get a nice little Christmas tree. In the lower portion, the branches are attached to the trunk using 1×1 round plates in transparent pink. The combination of the transparent pink with the lime green of the trunk element (which I think is a new color for the Travis brick) looks sort of brown, which is cool.

For those not familiar with the term, a Travis brick is a 1×1 brick with studs on all sides, named by LEGO fans in honor of Travis Kunce, a LEGO Space builder who had a tattoo of that part on his back, and passed away sadly in 2003.

I learned something today about the creator of Harry Potter that almost made me not want to carry on including those models in this blog series. I don’t usually get political on this blog, but I’m sure there are some people out there who might read this who would be bothered if I didn’t say anything. The news broke today that J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, is apparently a “TERF,” or trans-exclusionary radical feminist and does not support the rights of people to be transgender. For more, see this article from Newsweek: “J.K. Rowling Slammed as a ‘TERF’ for Supporting Researcher Who Tweeted ‘Men Cannot Change Into Women’” or just about any feminist or queer-rights-oriented blog or website today. I support the right of people to live their lives according to whatever gender feels most appropriate to them, and want people who may be transgender, genderqueer, questioning their gender, etc. to feel comfortable here.

All that said, this set was designed and sold by LEGO (and bought by me) long before this news broke, so let’s keep going. Today’s Harry Potter model is a fireplace, presumably from the Hogwarts Great Hall, but could easily go in the same living room as the above two models. The use of the 1×1 brick with the decorative appendage in combination with the 1×1 round tile is a nice look.

Meanwhile, Star Wars is off on a different track entirely. This, in case you were wondering, is a Mynock (thanks Jay for clearing this up), the weird leech-dragon that attacks the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back.

Here are two more views of the Mynock so you can see better how it was built.

Day 20

Happy Solstice Eve, everyone! Day 20 ran past midnight again; it’s hard to get everything done in the holiday season. I’m also behind on sending out Christmas cards.

Today’s City model is an adorable snowboarder. I love that snow hat so much!

And with a back
you can also see the printing on the back of the torso (hoodie).

Friends gives us a Technic candy cane, like they do every year.

Today’s Harry Potter model is the four house flags printed on 2×2 tiles. (And J.K. Rowling is still a transphobe.)

Star Wars, on the other hand, gives us a micro scale installation of a Hoth ion cannon from Empire Strikes Back. When I was a kid I read the novelization of that movie, and though it’s been over 30 years I can still remember the opening line: “Man, this is what I can call cold!”

Day 21

It’s the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, and I heard on the radio that it is expected to be the biggest shopping day of the year as more and more Americans do their shopping the weekend before Christmas. In any case, there’s just 3 more Advent Calendar entries after today’s, which give us a telescope, gingerbread house, statue, and Cloud City flying car.

Day 21’s City model is of all things, a telescope?

The Friends model is a cute little gingerbread house you can put in your tree.

Harry Potter gives us a gold(ish) statue of the Architect of Hogwarts, a statue of whom can be seen in the Hogwarts entrance hall, and according to Jay, a microscale model of Hogwarts itself.

In Star Wars we stick to the Empire movie, with the car from Cloud City.

Day 22

Getting down to the wire now! Day 22 of the LEGO Advent Calendars gives us another fireplace, a left-handed sewing machine, some wrapped presents, and a Cloud Car pilot.

This is a nice little fireplace, with the use of transparent orange tooth plates instead of the usual LEGO flame elements. But I don’t like that the flame is not under the chimney!

For Friends we get a sewing machine…. but it’s backwards! If it was for left-handed sewists it would be this way, but normally the needle should be on the left. Didn’t they do any research? At least, this is how the picture on the instructions had it…

OK, if you turn it around, it makes more sense. I think the model designer meant it to be facing this way, but whoever made the diagram to build it had it built backwards just so you can see how all the parts go. I think this is also why the Star Wars model of the MTT from Day 16 was backwards when I built it.

Harry Potter on Day 22 is pretty straight-up Christmas, with some basic wrapped gifts for under the tree.

The Cloud Car from Day 21 gets a driver – though you’d have a hard time fitting him inside that micro model!

Here you can see the face better, with the helmet removed.

There’s an alternate face and printing on the back of the torso, so here’s a rear view.

Day 23

It’s Christmas Eve Eve, and here are the penultimate entries from the LEGO 2019 Advent Calendars: two robots, a dogsled, and a wizard.

I guess there have been budget cuts at the North Pole, and instead of eight flying reindeer and a fancy sleigh, Santa has a dogsled with one dog.

The Friends model is a baking robot, the same core design as the one we had ten days ago, but that one was Santa Claus themed and this one is a chef (and the right and left arms are reversed). I would have done them in the reverse order, if it were me, since the Advent calendars usually end with Santa in some form.

Here’s a side
so you can see how it stays upright.

The Harry Potter model for Day 23 is everyone’s favorite headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.

Because so much of his face and torso are covered by the beard, here’s a shot that shows you the printing better.

And here’s the back side with the alternate face.

Lastly, the Star Wars model for Day 23 is a gift droid.

(Day 23 didn’t make it out until after midnight on the 24th, but I backdated the post so the permalink would say 12/23.)

Day 24

Merry Christmas! It’s Christmas Eve, and we’re on the final day of the LEGO 2019 Advent Calendars. Today we get Santa Claus and Santa Porg, along with a giant snowflake and a Hogwarts welcome package.

Santa Claus finally appears in the City calendar. He has a bag with a gift that can be worn on his neck.

To better see the printing on his torso, I’ve taken the head and beard off.

And here is the back side. Note the candy cane in his belt.

The Friends model is a snowflake. LEGO already made this snowflake element, but adding six of those 1×1 cylinders with crystal fins makes it even fancier.

Harry arrives at Hogwarts, and here are the things he receives: Hagrid the owl, a piece of chocolate, a welcome letter, a spellbook, and two wands on a plastic sprue.

And our final entry for this year is Santa Porg. Adorable! I hear they taste like chicken.

Recap

The recap came late: I was sick for most of January and only got around to taking the last photo in time to post this on the 20th. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and I wish you all a happy new year! We’ll start the recap with a photo of all the leftover parts you get after building each of the models…

Here’s an overview of all 24 City models.

And a closer look at all the minifigures.

This year’s Friends models are all Christmas tree ornaments (like last year) except for the one mini-doll included.

This was the first year of a Harry Potter Advent Calendar, and here are all the models assembled.

Here are just the minifigs, along with the flags and the statue of the Architect.

And lastly, we revisit all 24 models of Star Wars.

A feature of the Star Wars models that never disappoints is the lovely micro versions of the space ships and land vehicles from the films.

And of course here are the minifigures that you get with the set.

So that does it for the 2019 Advent calendars. I hope you enjoyed following along with the models each day. Here are all the images from Advent 2019: