[NEW STUFF] 7952 and 2824 Advent Calendars 2010

[Draykov]

7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar (assembled models)

2824 City Advent Calendar (assembled models)

[RogueJedi007]

Cool stuff! Great new pieces and new colours! Black queen hair, dark red queen minifig, dark red knight minifig! Not too sure about the showering Santa though...

[GIR3691]

Interesting little builds in both, but neither one has enough interesting new parts I don't already have to be worth a purchase. Great way to get those parts if you don't already have them though, and I had a lot of fun with the Castle advent calendar last year. Anyone on the fence about doing this... get one. If you celebrate Christmas, then do the one-a-day thing.

[vynsane]

Yeah, I'm a bit perplexed by Santa in the shower...

The Kingdoms calendar looks to have a nice variety of pieces and figures. I really like how they did the Blacksmith's shop.

[andertoons]

When do these normally go on sale? In the fall?

[TwistedFate]

When do these normally go on sale? In the fall?

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/7952_Kingdom ... t_Calendar

This page says August/September.

[DemoGoblin]

Anyone know if they will be available in North America? Or will I have to get it from bricklink again?

[Solo]

These are supposed to be available in the US as well this year.

[Draykov]

Saw 2824 City Advent Calendar in my local TRU (of all places) today. One copy left. They wanted something like $34.99 for it. I balked hoping that this was not the MSRP for this item.

[JamesBenjamin]

Actually, it is. I got the Kingdoms one from my local lego store and they had it priced at $34.99.

[Draykov]

Well, I'm not shocked, but it seems steep compared to 7687 and previous years for what you get.

[Robzula]

...I'm a little scared by that town one, with the showering Santa and the mom in the box art....

But the Kingdom one looks pretty sweet, I may have to consider getting it.

[Marty]

While I have no doubt that Lego has thought about these two sets,I can't for the life of me understand why there isn't and proper Christmas message theme advent calendar.
A Christmas carol for example, or the story of Christmas, what do knights have to do with this anyway?
If you wanted to send a message, then this clearly was not the way to do it.
I just wish these guys who drum up these ideas would would get the head out of the sand, as there are other ways to sell the message of Christmas.
I know there is a lot of commercialism, and Christmas has mostly got a bad rap for it, but does Lego have to add to it, do something nice this year, sell the message as well as the products.

[Robzula]

Maybe because LEGO isn't a Christian company, not everyone who buys LEGO sets are Christian, and a Christian themed set wouldn't sell nearly as well. Just saying.

[Marty]

I take it you have never read a Christmas Carol?

[Robzula]

How is that book not commercialism? It may have a moral to it, but it's not one dealing with Christmas and it just uses Christmas to help sell it. Unless by "the Christmas message" you mean being neighborly and good, which is another perversion of the true meaning of Christmas, though not in a bad way.

[Blacknight]

I wouldn't say A Christmas Carol has nothing to do with Christmas, after all the redemption of sinful souls (i.e. Scrooge) is the exact reason why Jesus came down to this earth.

[infallible]

For some of us noble souls, Christmas is precisely about commercialism and the principles behind it. What I love about Christmas has nothing to do with religion (in fact, the religious aspects are what I don't like), but involve the social and wholly secular aspects of the holiday. People coming together and celebrating friendship and appreciation is not a religious idea, and I appreciate and applaud LEGO for reinforcing those aspects of the holiday.

Commercialism is about voluntary trade for mutual profit, and I can't think of a better allegory of friendship than that. Trading gifts is a concrete representation of that idea, and I think it's beautiful.

So were LEGO to have a Christian themed calendar, I'd be slightly offended (as I am with Playmobil's nativity set). Christmas has grown beyond it's religious roots to become a fantastic secular holiday, and I love celebrating it. The LEGO Advent calendars are something I look forward to each year, and I don't want that diminished by dogma.

(Sing to "Up on the Rooftop": Down in the thread, click click click, here comes the mod with the modding stick!)

[Draykov]

While I can respect both schools of thought on the subject of religious Christmas, and while I hate to stifle what could be an interesting exchange of ideas, this is getting off topic. Stick to the product - how's that for commercialism?

[Skafte]

I really don't like S@H showing the complete contents of the calendars on the main pic. It should just be a pic of the box - I don't want to get 24 surprises ruined! Not that I jump up and down, giggling excitedly "It's a Policeman!" but still. The thing about advent calendars is that the contents should not be known. Sure, one of the smaller pics could be of all the mini sets if parents want to know what they'll get. But I don't want to see it yet!