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: 9 Hits / 7 Misses
Harry Potter: 9 Hits / 7 Misses
City: 11 Hits / 5 Misses
Marvel: 6 Hits / 10 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 9 Hits / 7 Misses

Star Wars Day 17 – Ace

Given the theme of the calendar so far, I’m going to guess this is supposed to be an AT-ST but given the lack of side canons, it looks more like an AT-PT. And it looks like a really good AT-ST. I slammed last year’s AT-ST model but at least that one checked all the boxes. Between the two, I’d hate to say but, I think last year’s model was a better AT-ST than this thing. Despite what the designer was going for, this looks way more like a different vehicle than the intended source material. And if this was indeed supposed to be the PT version, well then shame on whoever greenlit this thing to be included in the middle of our Endor run. This definition of a swing and a miss.

Today’s chocolate offering was a Lindt Mini Milk Chocolate Angel.

It’s only slightly different than yesterday’s snowman and only by name and appearance.

But in spirit, it is exactly the same. I did enjoy the impressions in the chocolate to give the hunk o’ chocolate the appearance of an angel instead of just one smooth slab of brown.

Harry Potter Day 17 – Eric

Now this is a deep pull. This is Madam Rosmerta, who was apparently the landlady of a pub in Hogsmeade. I definitely had to look that up.

Sadly, this is not an exclusive minifig. LEGO released her in 2021, although she had black pants, for some reason. I guess we all change pants.

I’m mostly impressed that LEGO even put this in the calendar at all, instead of, like, Sirius Black.

Today’s tea is a redo, and so I shall reuse last week’s photo. This tea is still totally fine, but I’m going to knock it down a point simply because it’s a repeat.

Give me new teas! 2/5.

City Day 17 – Nick

Okay, other Advent Calendars, are you all here? Good. And you brought your notebooks and pens with you? Great. I want you to sit down and pay attention, and take really good notes, because today, we’re going to go over how the City Advent calendar shows you how it’s * bleep * done in making a brick-built Christmas tree to put in one of these calendars.

This is the bar to clear from now on, for all other calendars. Any other trees will be a miss if they can’t get within sniffing distance of this. Take a look at it, other Advents…

Marvel Day 17 – Nick

We live in a universe that demands balance – though in truth, our universe is fundamentally unbalanced; matter is more abundant than antimatter, which is why we exist. But for the most part, balance wants to exist.

That’s the only explanation I have for the fact that we have the wonderful beauty that is the City calendar tree… and then, we get… this. Your eyes do not deceive you, and no, they didn’t forget to include the minifigure. It’s just a cape. The inside of the little flap shows just a cape. No build, just a cape. That’s it.

The Marvel calendar has been bad, but this is honestly a new low. This is so bad that I’m taking away a previous hit, and this is becoming a double miss. Screw you, Marvel calendar. You’re setting new lows for sucking.

Bonus Star Wars Day 17 – Nick

I’m not going to harp on the lack of the side guns on the AT-ST, since the epic nerd in me knows that they’re optional in the loadout per the Imperial field manual (and Star Wars legion armaments cards). What I will harp on in this thing is that they had to include a 2×3 plate to put it on because it’s just unstable and unbalanced otherwise. The shot there with it off the plate is the only position I could manage with it standing, and if you so much as breathed within ten feet of it when it was like that, it’d fall over. I didn’t mind it, but still a miss, because it just lacks a little something compared to the other micro-builds.

Pokemon Day 17 – Nick & Family

Back to cardboard, and certainly seasonal, but it’s just two parts that fit together. I handed it to my son and he literally just tossed it to the side in order to go back to playing with the figures. So, yeah, less than thrilling thing.

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