Tag: Seasons of Spam 2023

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: 13 Hits / 10 Misses
Harry Potter: 11 Hits / 12 Misses
City: 17 Hits / 6 Misses
Marvel: 6 Hits / 17 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 11 Hits / 12 Misses

Star Wars Day 24 – Ace

I get it. I get what they’re trying to go for. Winter = snow = white stuff on the ground, so maybe this Ewok was out all morning shoveling the walkways of the village. And that’s why he’s white? I assume this is supposed to be Wicket. But it begs the question why isn’t he just brown with white highlights? I guess it was cheaper to do it this way? I don’t know. It just seems so off but it keeps up with the theme that all hairy aliens are white for the winter. They did the same treatment for Chewbacca. Seems a bit weird to only target those characters and not anyone else. Darth Vader didn’t come in a white winter suit now did he? I would have preferred just a regular brown Wicket with the green festive ugly sweater-esque hood instead. It’s a miss for me.

Now, remember yesterday’s epic fail? I think this is what it’s supposed to look like when you put them together.

Wicket + glider doesn’t stand very well given that the contraption is way behind the the minifigs feet. On a LEGO plate it’s not an issue obviously, but it just didn’t stand very well.

Wicket doing his best.

This is it. This is the big one. Day 24 of the Lindt Chocolate Calendar and we get a big ol’ hollow Santa.

The molded details are pretty top tier if you ask me.

I thought I took a pic of the hollow figure with its head chomped off but I couldn’t find it in my camera roll. No matter. It’s just like the other hollow chocolates but bigger! The sheer volume of the thing is almost enough to make you forget that there are no insides. Still, every last bite was enjoyable if even a bit crumbly. I ate this over a plate and there were tiny chocolate particles. Yes I licked them up like a dog. I have no shame.

 

Harry Potter Day 24 – Eric

It’s been a disappointing few days, and right now this calendar is sitting at 11 hits and 12 misses. So the best we can hope for is something to break even.

Will it be a minifig? Or a cool build?

Or a…snowman? What? I feel like this should be in the City calendar. In fact, wasn’t Day 1 a snowman for the City calendar? And it was way cooler!

I am disappointed.

At least today’s tea – JOY – was really good. There’s a whole bunch of spices in here that leave a wonderfully sweet aftertaste. Glad this calendar ended on a high note. A solid 5/5.

City Day 24 – Nick

There was never going to be another figure in the final day of the City calendar. The downside, of course, is that if you’ve gotten a City Calendar before, you have a Santa Claus minifigure. There’s no real change between them, but it’s a great minifigure. I can’t knock it for that though, it’s the cap off for a Christmas calendar, and it had to be there. So, clearly, going to give it a hit, even if I wished it was something more.

Marvel Day 24 – Nick

Oh, what a wet turd of a way to end the Marvel Advent. Part of a Christmas tree… not even a full thing.

The shield from yesterday is a “stand” and a tree skirt, I guess. We can go back to the second worst day until the cape came along, and add a topper. Of course, the only way you’d know to do that is by looking at the box that you’ve likely already torn apart by punching out the various days. Seriously, hard miss, which has been the this whole calendar.

Bonus Star Wars Day 24 – Nick

I don’t understand why Palpatine was the mid-calendar figure and a nameless Ewok was the Christmas Eve figure, but here we are. Overall, a weak figure, but the holiday theme is still… fine, I guess. I’ll call it a marginal hit, but they could have done so much more with this. Like putting a life-day tree on the hood instead of a Christmas tree, or giving us a globe with the little murder bear.

You can add them to the glider, and it’s as awkward as ever, doesn’t stand up, and barely works. So, yeah, that’s a thing.

Pokemon Day 24 – Nick & Family

Pikachu is, for better or worse, the face of Pokemon to multiple generations at this point. I’d argue for better, because he’s adorable and fun, and you know he’d be extra mischievous throwing snowballs. Be careful if he’s on your team in any given fight, because he’s just as likely to throw it at you as the other team.

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 16
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 17
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 18
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 19
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 20
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 21
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 22
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 23

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: 13 Hits / 9 Misses
Harry Potter: 11 Hits / 11 Misses
City: 16 Hits / 6 Misses
Marvel: 6 Hits / 16 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 11 Hits / 11 Misses

Star Wars Day 23 – Ace

When I popped the cover open and saw the picture on the other side of the flap, the first thing I said to myself was “WTF is this thing?” The handle bar threw me off and I thought maybe the whole thing was from Solo, that ship during the train heist segment that could lift away a container, and that the handlebars is what hooked onto them. I was really confused considering we’ve had such a long streak of builds centering around Return of the Jedi, why would they all of a sudden throw in a build from the worst Star Wars movie ever made? I was mulling over how I was going to write this when I cheated and read ahead on this draft and saw what Nick wrote. It is not the container lifter ship from Solo, but in fact, it is an Ewok glider. That makes so much more sense, right? But how bad does the model have to be to be completely mistaken for an entirely different ship, from an entirely different movie, and breaks from an established pattern of build? THIS bad. This is how bad this model is. This is, without a doubt, the absolute worst day of builds ever.

Ahhhh. In a calendar full of doubles and repeats, we finally get a second helping of a Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Nougat Praline.

Haven’t had one of these since Day 8

Still as nutty and delicious as ever. It was so good I almost forgot about the terrible Star Wars build. Almost. Unfortunately, no amount of chocolate will ever let me forget about that build.

Harry Potter Day 23 – Eric

I cannot believe this. Another Christmas tree. This one is taller than the one a few days ago, but that only means I had to spend more time building it. What a total waste of everyone’s time.

And let me be honest. I had this tea over 24 hours ago, and since then I drove through the night, slept restlessly, and have already been inundated with family drama and anxiety, so…my impression of NIGHT TIME was kinda lost in all of that.

I didn’t hate it, at least. So I’ll give it an optimistic 3/5.

One last day!

City Day 23 – Nick

It’s odd that the cart is better than the sleigh, usually works the other way around, but this is a solid little build that will eventually take the trash gift sack.

I’ll split the difference, and call the cart a hit, but the sleigh is still ugly, so it’s half good. There’s probably a decent way to build this thing without adding a whole lot of extra parts, but here we are. Mixed bag for the penultimate build combo.

Marvel Day 23 – Nick

Captain America’s shield as a… micro build for one of those ugly action figures? A larger than minifigure size version? Some kind of stand? It’s a mystery… a miss of a mystery.

Bonus Star Wars Day 23 – Nick

An Ewok glider… which you know, this isn’t a great build, but given that the original LEGO Ewok glider is legendarily awful, it’s at least interesting. It’s also got some utility for the figure we know is coming, because they’re on the box art. The issue is that the whole thing is just awkward, and the figure that goes on it isn’t going to be able stand upright. Since we don’t have a stand… that means you’re going to need to swoosh it or lay it down. Hate to say it, but a miss for me.

Pokemon Day 23 – Nick & Family

Finally back to a holiday figure, and it’s a winking Bulbasaur, or a Bulbasaur that’s sighting in a snowball throw. There is nothing not to love about this figure, and once these are all done, he’s going on the shelf up by my bulbasaur plush (I’m a big Bulbasaur fan). He’s the last of our original starters from the Red/Blue days, who made up the holiday themes… but I think everyone can guess who is coming tomorrow…

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 16
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 17
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 18
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 19
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 20
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 21
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 22

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: 12 Hits / 9 Misses
Harry Potter: 11 Hits / 10 Misses
City: 16 Hits / 5 Misses
Marvel: 6 Hits / 15 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 11 Hits / 10 Misses

Star Wars Day 22 – Ace

Not sure when that wedge plate came into existence or if its been used in a larger scale model but they are what makes this the most screen accurate Star Destroyer to ever be built. I’d take this over that $700 UCS model any day of the week. I guess LEGO isn’t afraid of kids accidentally stabbing themselves with the pointy end.

I first thought today’s chocolate advent were the solid milk chocolate balls but once I bit into the first one, I knew by the texture I was wrong. These are in fact “Lindt Mini Milk Chocolate Double Milk Balls” according to the back of the box. And yep, just like the other “double milk” offerings, it’s white chocolate on the inside.

Not sure which is worse, hollow chocolate or white chocolate filling.

Harry Potter Day 22 – Eric

Bench.

The range of quality between these builds is truly shocking. We’ve had some really good stuff, and then they hit us with the six-piece bench.

Getting to the end of the teas, and today’s is LEMONGRASS & GINGER. At the beginning of the month, I complained about how a lot of these teas taste like hot grass water but, strangely, this one does not. The ginger is doing enough work to offset the lemongrass, and the combo is one of my favorite teas of the calendar.

4/5. Solid stuff.

City Day 22 – Nick

Continuing our extreme theme, we get a Sleigh that’s been… kind of tricked out? There’s plenty of parts, and we can see where all the unsorted Chima stuff is going… but honestly, this thing is just ugly. Going to call it a miss, but we’ll see how it looks when we get the inevitable other part, given the clip on the back.

Marvel Day 22 – Nick

Okay, so, getting Wong in a set is cool. He’s not holiday, though, so that’s not cool. Given the character, he would lean pretty hard into Holiday stuff, and they could have gone the phone-in route and just put a Santa hat on his head and it would have been fun.

This is the version of the fig, with the Tesseract, that comes in the Avengers Tower and Sanctum Sanctorum sets – both of which are much more expensive sets. So this is by far the cheapest way to get him. But… it’s still just some random figure thrown into the calendar, that has nothing to do with the holidays. So a miss.

Bonus Star Wars Day 22 – Nick

Is there a term for a chibi micro build? I want to love this Imperial Star Destroyer, I really do… but it just doesn’t look right. It’s too stubby, the bridge is too big, and there’s no color where the engines are (famously made bright in the special edition back in the 90s). Hate to call another micro a miss, but this one looks off. These started so strong and so hot, but have fallen off at the end.

Pokemon Day 22 – Nick & Family

The cardboard stuff hasn’t been all that great, but this one in particular is just junk. The tab to put it into the side was too flimsy, and we couldn’t ever get it pushed in. Which is a shame, because it would have been a great backdrop for pictures. But sadly, it just went into the trash.

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 16
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 17
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 18
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 19
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 20
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 21

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: 12 Hits / 8 Misses
Harry Potter: 10 Hits / 10 Misses
City: 15 Hits / 5 Misses
Marvel: 6 Hits / 14 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 10 Hits / 10 Misses

Star Wars Day 21 – Ace

I don’t like this chair. I want to like it I do but I don’t. I’m not a fan of builds that are split up where a single day’s offering really is nothing to write home about without another day putting it into context in some way. Day 7’s Snowball Sentry Post is a prime example of this. By itself is meaningless and borderline worthless. It’s not until you pair it with the Clone from the day before where it finally comes together. Today’s chair is slightly better because even without Palpatine sitting in it, it still looks ilke a chair pulled from a scene in Star Wars. It’s when you couple it with yesterday’s Palpatine that it really shines:

See look at that! It looks great. But by itself, again, it is nearly acceptable except that it is unbalanced. The chair back is attached to the seat by way of a clip and bar putting the center of gravity so far back that the entire chair will fall back. It’s not an issue once you seat the good Emperor since the weight of the minifig is entirely over the seat. And because of that, I poo-poo on today’s offering.

Thankfully, I got another Hazelnut Elf to wash away the bad taste left behind by that chair. Mmmmm.

Harry Potter Day 21 – Eric

Final four builds!

And what is probably the last minifig of the calendar: Draco Malfoy. Honestly, every minifig this year has been great. I love the winter gear.

Especially this hat. What a great piece.

I want to give a shout-out to today’s tea LOVE. I put the teabag in at 10:20, and was going to drink it during a job interview. BUT – I forgot about the tea. The interview lasted 45 minutes, and the whole time the tea was sitting on my counter, which is usually way too long. But, honestly, the taste wasn’t bad. Not, you know, great, but that’s more of a me problem.

I give the tea a 4/5 just for being a good sport.

And I give myself a 1/5.

City Day 21 – Nick

Okay, we opened this calendar with me talking about SSX and that weird time in the early 00s when the whole world cared about winter sports for about seven months. Here, we get the most extreme version of that, in what would have been an unlockable character in one of those games – and sadly, turned into a $25 DLC in modern video games that also cost you $70 and run ads inside it, because capitalism is the worst – Mrs. Claus on a snowboard.

She’s fine, but the snowboard could have been better. I would have loved to see something with printing or more interesting than just… green. Still, I’m not going to give a Mrs. Claus. I’m not a monster.

Marvel Day 21 – Nick

Six parts. They couldn’t even give us a base for the table leg to sit on, or raise it up. You get a wine bottle, I guess. You know, this calendar has included a lot of things that feel vaguely Asgardian, except, you know… any Asgardians.

Miss. For the six reasons/parts I listed above.

Bonus Star Wars Day 21 – Nick

It feels like Secret Labs is really missing out in not offering a branded Imperial Chair that looks like Palpatine’s throne. I’d seriously consider buying new armrests for mine that had Imperial or Rebel logos on them, TBH, even at their absurd prices.

Side note, the engineering of the chairs is impressive if you’re in to that sort of thing, and the armrest pads are held on by magnets. So you can swap them freely if you have more than one set. I’ve got regular and memory foam pads for my chair.

The build is absolutely fine and goes well with our fantastic figure from yesterday, so solid hit. Like I said with the City tree, I don’t mind at all combining days across builds, so long as they can stand alone in some way, or have some substance to them.

Pokemon Day 21 – Nick & Family

This is not specifically a holiday Eevee, but it is adorable, so that counts for something. Eevee is a favorite of this family, so we’re always happy to see one. I suppose this one is destined to become a Glaceon, but only if we find her an ice stone.

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 16
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 17
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 18
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 19
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 20

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: 11 Hits / 8 Misses
Harry Potter: 10 Hits / 9 Misses
City: 14 Hits / 5 Misses
Marvel: 5 Hits / 14 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 9 Hits / 10 Misses

Star Wars Day 20 – Ace

You know, I’m starting to dig these ugly christmas sweater clad minifigs. Emperor Palpatine here, sporting one with the Death Star II on it, you know, to keep the Endor theme going, is looking quite dapper. It softens him up a bit, making him looking like the grandpa at your holiday gathering who spikes his hot cocoa with a bit of Kahlua or Bailey’s. He’s just casually walking around zapping little kids as he walks by, chuckling to himself. A bit Grinch-y, a bit loveable, all awesome.

You know, I’m starting to forget about the long streak of hollow chocolate rip offs we had last week. Another truffle ball today went down so, so smoothly down my gullet. I’m not a fan of repeats, but if they’re good repeats, like today’s ball, I won’t complain.

Harry Potter Day 20 – Eric

Okay, here’s the best thing I can say about this table: if this was in the Marvel calendar, it would be split up over two days. There’s not a whole lot going on with this. It looks cheap, feels cheap, and I’ve already forgotten about it.

But I will never forget today’s tea: PEPPERMINT & LICORICE. I thought: “hey, this’ll probably taste pretty good! Very Christmas-y!” How wrong I was. For some reason, I get 0 peppermit OR licorice. It just has this nasty warm taste. Never drink this tea. 1/5.

 

City Day 20 – Nick

I didn’t like the earlier animal and stand, but this is an absolute hit, given the thematic touch of milk and cookies for Santa, and the addition of a food and water bowl for the Taco Bell chihuahua.

Marvel Day 20 – Nick

Have I slipped into some parallel dimension where the Marvel Calendar suddenly started to do good things, like making this banger of a micro build of Captain America on the Hydra train from the wonderful First Avenger? The only knock on this is that it uses a plain blue “state” figure, instead of the printed Captain America one that has been out there. That one is more of the modern take, but still. This is a huge hit, and one of the best of the calendar.

Bonus Star Wars Day 20 – Nick

It’s been a shaky couple of days, but wow, we get Sheev in a Star Wars sweater that I legit want (I have one that’s close, but it has Vader on it, not a Death Star). Also, the idea that he’s just hanging around, drinking coffee… sorry, caf, makes me laugh. Especially since you know he’s likely to electrocute more peons before he’s had his morning cup.

Okay, so, ever since I first saw this figure, I’ve wished I had the skill to make a stop-motion animation of the Emperor walking up the Darth Vader, sitting in a cubicle. Heeey Anakin, “What’s Happening.”

Pokemon Day 20 – Nick & Family

Nice to be back with a Vanillite after yesterdays nothingburger of a day. Interesting to see a little flying stand for it, something that makes the Warhammer 40k player in me twitch in revulsion. It works here, and this is a cute representation. Both my kids and I are kind of getting bummed at the lack of seasonal Pokemon over the last several days, though.

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 16
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 17
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 18
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 19

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 / 8 Misses
Harry Potter: 9 Hits / 8 Misses
City: 12 Hits / 5 Misses
Marvel: 5 6 Hits / 12 11 Misses
Bonus Star Wars: 9 Hits / 8 Misses

Star Wars Day 18 – Ace

Man, I was ready to declare Day 10’s Hailfire Driod as the top model for the calendar, but this one is right up there. Continuing the Endor theme, we get a micro scale Speeder Bike. Some sacrifices had to be made, namely the front stabilizers, but it more than makes up for it when looking at the seat. The saddle bags was a nice touch. I am over the moon with today’s model.

As if the excellent LEGO model wasn’t enough, we get the bread and butter of Lindor chocolates, another truffle ball. Usually when I use “another” in these chocolate advents, it’s out of exasperation. We’ve gotten far too many repeats of hollow treats, but in this case “another” out of the pure delight. I didn’t bother with the the out-of-wrapper photo or the half bitten one. You’ve seen them before, and I popped this thing in my mouth before I even considered taking those pics. So good.

Harry Potter Day 18 – Eric

This table is simple. Five pieces. Usually, I would say it sucks and move on. But…

I really, really like this piece. I don’t think I’ve seen it before. Adding the transparent plastic adds so much more life to the cup than when it’s empty. It elevates the whole table.

Today’s tea is not so good. Because it’s FEEL NEW. Again. And again, it doesn’t taste great. Just like warm plant water. I know that’s all that tea is, but something about this flavor really throws back the curtain.

1/5. Again.

I hope the rest aren’t repeats. I’d be disappointed.

City Day 18 – Nick

Following up on the perfect tree yesterday, we have some simple and colorful little gifts. I have no issue at all with these. They’re basic and straight forward, and I like the nice use of the bow studs. The coordinating colors is nice, and they look especially good when matched with the trees.

Splitting builds like this across multiple days is the only acceptable use of that tactic in the calendars, because it’s building up and adding on, while each day is still it’s own little thing.

Marvel Day 18 – Nick

Oh, hey, it’s this jerk. Honestly, whatever. Not a seasonal figure, not an interesting character (at least in the MCU, he’s far more interesting in the comics).

You can add the waste of our time from yesterday to him and make him look like a complete thing, but he still isn’t seasonal, so I’m still going to call it a miss. But hey, at least he’s ready to play some air hockey at Singles Night down at Bowl-o-Rama. I hear the ladies are really impressed when you show up with your own custom glow-in-the-dark air hockey paddles, Stephen.

Bonus Star Wars Day 18 – Nick

This one is so weird… is it a micro-build or technically a midi-build? It’s not bad, I guess, it’s just that the scale is so different from all the other micros. The lack of vanes on the front bugs me more than anything else, and makes it feel incomplete. Unlike the STAP, it can’t be used by a minifig, but it’s still too big compared to the others, and that makes it a miss for me.

Pokemon Day 18 – Nick & Family

Back to Pokemon with Snorunt, that little jerk I remember farming up for some reason in Pokemon Sword. Honestly can’t remember why I was trying to do it… likely he was in a slot with something else, but I know that I have a lot of them sitting in my boxes for that game.

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 16
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 17

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.

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 16

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.

Previous Days

• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 3
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 4
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 5
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 6
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 7
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 8
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 9
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 10
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 11
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 12
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 13
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 14
• Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 15