Season’s of Spam 2024: Advent’s Galore Day 17

This has been a quiet year for the site… for some documented reasons for some that will probably be documented later on in this whole thing. But we’ve all been looking forward to doing the Advents, our yearly tradition that still happens to be a thing despite the fact that the internet is dead and it’s just bots talking to bots now. Beep boop.

Originally, we were going to mix it up this year but… things didn’t work out. Scalpers went hard in Dallas and the Star Wars Advent disappeared within a few days and never came back in stock, so Nick’s plan to do the Star Wars calendar fell through. We’re going to go with it just being the universe punishing him by making him do the Marvel Advent yet again. Something that just might finish him off this time.

We’re also going to do the newer tradition of going with non-LEGO calendars, because Advents are the new socks are the new ugly sweaters are the new yearly ornaments. Okay, that joke got away, but the point is that everything has an advent now.

Even Rocks.

That’s a hint, LEGO… bring back Rock Raiders. The world needs them now more than ever.

The scores so far:

• Star Wars: 13 Hits / 3 Misses
• Disney: 13 Hits / 3 Misses
• Marvel: 4 Hits / 12 Misses

Ace: Star Wars Day 17 (and Disney)

Let me start off today by saying this: Oops! I must have had a major brainfart, confusingly pulling today’s build, Day 17, yesterday. I didn’t realize my mistake until I went to go look for today’s little compartment and discovered it had already been pulled. And then seeing yesterday’s door still sealed shut. Oops, and I’m sorry. And with that out of the way, let’s review yesterday’s build of The Ghost:

This just doesn’t work. The idea is there, but the micro scale makes it nearly impossible to create the gently sloped panels. The colored jumper tiles feel completely out of place and the two exposed studs along the top makes the model seem like it is unfinished. Not a fan and it’s an unfortunate miss.

The good news is that I didn’t mix up the Disney advent days. The bad news is that we get this tree build. It’s not great. The way the tree topper is built makes it really only viewable from one side but I guess that’s how every tree in every home is. There’s only one good side and then there’s the other side that gets completely neglected. What a disappointing pair of builds for today.

Eric: Disney Day 17 (and Hot Sauces)

I am also doing the LEGO Disney Advent Calendar this year. I am not in the target demographic for this advent calendar, and that is okay. I am also eating a hot wing every day, tossed in one of 24 random hot sauces. Enjoy my pain.

WATCH ME EAT AND BUILD THIS ON TIKTOK

(I opened the wrong day here. Oops.)

I have not seen Encanto but even I, uneducated I, know what the Encanto house looks like. It’s a decently complicated build for this little advent calendar, what with the individual roofing tiles and the leaves everywhere. But you get a really solid build out of it. I’m a fan.

I am not a fan of today’s hot sauce – WASABI HOT SAUCE. It sure doesn’t taste like Wasabi, and it sure doesn’t taste like hot sauce. All it really did was make my chicken wing wet and worse.

LEGO Day 17: 5/5

HOT SAUCE Day 17: 0/5

Nick: Marvel Day 17 (and Rocks and Dice)

Wait, is the Marvel calendar giving us two good builds in a row? Did they fire the original guy and remind someones that kids are supposed to like this calendar? If I have a knock on this, it’s that there are two stockings when there should be three. Gwen gets left out, which feels kind of par for the course with LEGO stuff. It’s still a solid little build, especially given how terrible these little fireplaces usually are.

This has got to be the last in this set, right? Someone go and look at all the old ones and see if it adds up to seven because I can’t be bothered. Okay, I suppose I could go look at the images… and no, looks like we haven’t gotten the d8 yet.

We’re into our wisened old hero rock, turquoise… wait, no, according to the legend this is Turquenite. Which is a crappy knock off that’s just dyed howlite. Turns out that almost all of the “turquoise” on the market is fake junk. That being said, I would have expected an advent calendar for stones to, you know, not give us fake junk. Then again, this is a Nat Geo calendar, and if you know much about the modern NatGeo… fake is sort of par for the course.

So this isn’t even a Rock Raider. This is the MEGO line that will show up after the TV show gets big and Boulder Bros. hits the market.