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 Nick picked up…

Star Wars: 8 Hits / 7 Misses
Harry Potter: 9 Hits / 6 Misses
City: 10 Hits / 5 Misses
Marvel: 5 Hits / 10 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 9 Hits / 6 Misses

Star Wars Day 16 – Ace

Endor Bunker! I’m sensing a theme here. Three days in and I think the set is focusing on Endor / Return of the Jedi. Instantly recognizable if you’re a big time nerd. The piece efficiency is admirable. A winner for today.

Today’s offering is a Lindt Mini Milk Chocolate Snowman. I’m fairly certain we’ve had one of these before, but I’m too lazy at the moment to look it up.

We’ve had a lot of repeats which is a bit unfortunate but what can you do.

And yes this sucker is hollow. The hollowness makes the chocolate easier to eat as the pieces can be broken up much easier whilst chewing than a solid milk chocolate chunk. The natural aeration with the increased surface area makes it melt faster too. Overall, I complain about hollow chocolates (and I still stand by my reason that they are just a giant let down) but I can understand why they exist if for only those reasons.

Harry Potter Day 16 – Eric

Six pieces. Lamppost. Terrible. A filler day.

But the tea! Last week, matcha blew me away, since I’d never had it before. And now that this is my third matcha – CLEAN MATCHA GREEN – I am not a big fan. I think it might edge out chai as my new favorite tea. I woke up feeling very sleepy, and this perked me right up.

I love it. 5/5

But I’m tired of lampposts.

City Day 16 – Nick

After a couple of misses in the build department, the City calendar comes roaring back with this fantastic grandfather clock. A solid and fun little build that looks fantastic and uses some innovative parts, like the pendulum and staggering the bricks. Big time hit.

Marvel Day 16 – Nick

I honestly don’t know what to make of this thing… is it holiday or is it just all Loki? As a build, it’s a fine build… but the rounded bottom makes it strange and impractical. Why does it rock side to side instead of front and back? Honestly, I’m going to call it a hit because this calendar has been so bad we have to grade it on a curve that basically loops back on itself.

Bonus Star Wars Day 16 – Nick

I’m going to guess that this is supposed to be the Endor Bunker… but honestly this thing looks more like a dam or the opening of the Imperial Base from the heist episode of Andor more than that. Given all of the other huge hits of the micro builds, this one is a miss.

Pokemon Day 16 – Nick & Family

You know, Ditto is so hard to look past the fact that Ditto was one of the “bad guys” in the Detective Pikachu movies (though the Pokemon don’t have a gender and are considered genetically volatile). So… that’s a thing. Technically, in lore, this could be any Pokemon. So that’s fun.

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