The site hasn’t been the most active lately… 2023 has been a sledgehammer to the face of a few of us and it’s hard to get the time to keep up with everything. I can’t speak for everyone here, but the annual tradition of us opening all the calendars and being shocked at the iffy builds is something that we look forward to.

We’re doing it a bit different this year, or more specifically, Nick just couldn’t find all that much joy in just doing the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. So he’s decided to do more than that one and compare them all a bit. Ace is going to do his normal review of it as well, and Eric will be covering Harry Potter yet again, for whatever the wizarding version of Groundhog Day is. And double the Star Wars!

We’re also bringing back our “random advent” calendar tradition, because it was fun last year. So tune in to see we go through and talk about. Maybe I’ll even bring in a special guest expert to talk about the one that I picked up…

Star Wars: 6 Hits / 6 Misses
Harry Potter: 7 Hits / 5 Misses
City: 8 Hits / 4 Misses
Marvel: 5 Hits / 7 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 7 Hits / 5 Misses

Star Wars Day 13 – Ace

Shuttle Tydirium! I really dig this model but it has somewhat of a big flaw. It can’t really stand on its wingtips else it’ll tip forward. I shot the above photo with it leaning back against the cloth backdrop.

Best you can do is the puppy-sprawled-out-on-a-cool-tile-floor-on-a-hot-summer-day pose.

Otherwise you can go wings up. The angle isn’t quite right but given the size, scope, and limited parts selection, I don’t know if the angled wings could have been achieved. Despite that, it’s pretty swooshable and a great model. I love the chonky nose.

Lindt’s day 13 chocolate offering is another pair of balls, a repeat of day 5. At least they’re solid unlike yesterday’s hollowass elf. One thing about Lindt’s solid milk chocolate offerings that stand out is that it doesn’t end up being gritty. There is a smoothness from the milk that really give it a silky texture once the temperature hits that melting point in your mouth.

Harry Potter Day 13 – Eric

Dumbledore!

Wait a second.

So I just looked at Bricklink to see if this is a new figure, and it turns out this isn’t Dumbledore at all. At least, not Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts guy. This is apparently his brother, Aberforth.

They look literally identical, so I have no idea who figured this one out. Cool if true, though.

Today’s tea is called RADIANCE. Pretty good. Although, I will say, having had 13 different teas in 13 days, I am genuinely unable to tell the difference between most of them at this point.

Still, it tastes nice. So a 4/5. Why not?

Onto tomorrow!

City Day 13 – Nick

Today’s calendar is brought to you by our sponsor, SecretLab! Discover multi-award winning Secretlab gaming chairs, engineered for comfort and ergonomics during long hours of work or gaming. If you’ve watched a YouTube video or listened to a podcast in the last five years or so, their sponsorships are unavoidable… their expensive and slick chairs are all over the place.

I may or may not be sitting in a Titan XL right now, only confirming the fact that these are being made at me. I didn’t opt for green, I’m a muted sort of guy, so mine is just black cloth (my desk is also by them). It was a great experience opening and building, and they have replaceable armrests, one of the things I’ve always been bugged about in cheaper chairs.

Normally, spanning builds across multiple days bothers me, but we get a decent little thematic thing here that would be a polybag in its own right. Is it a holiday theme? No, not really, but it was a fun thing that just works and was very fun to build. That’s also something in these calendars.

Marvel Day 13 – Nick

Okoye, with a spear. Nothing done to really make her holiday. Though on the box she’s pictured with stuff from other days. I have nothing against the figure, but I’ve dinged the other days for just dropping in a minifig and calling it good. Also, vaguely colonialist vibes going on here and just assuming that Wakanda celebrates some western holiday… but that feels like a very Avengers thing to do. Miss based on the very flexible and made up “standards” I’ve been applying.

Bonus Star Wars Day 13 – Nick

The venerable Imperial Shuttle. A solid little microbuild… that is impossible to balance or stand up. It looks fine, but my complaint is that you can’t do much with it.

Also, folding up the wings doesn’t really work, since they don’t have the almost iconic little dip that the shuttle usually had. It’s still a good representation, so I’d call it a hit, but it’s not perfect like the Hailfire was.

Pokemon Day 13 – Nick & Family

My daughter, who as I’ve mentioned, is a little bit obsessed with Pokemon, says this is the salted creme version of Alcremie, or the Salted Creme holding a strawberry swirl version of said Pokemon, because there are apparently several dozen, or hundred, evolutions of this particular Pokemon. I’m gonna be honest, even though I enjoy Pokemon, I don’t enjoy anything as much as this eleven year old enjoys it and I just sort of go to the white room when she starts going on about it.

And if you get that reference, you know one of the shows that’s on my year in review list that’s coming up 😉

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