A short time ago in a bedroom in Scotland…

This AFOL embarked on a trip to Smyth’s where he picked up all remaining advent calendars he was yet to purchase… Ok bad Star Wars jokes aside, this is the second ever LEGO Advent Calendar I have ever bought! The first was this year’s Harry Potter one, which I loved! Unlike that one, I’ve got pretty much no idea what to expect from this one so let’s see what it has in store.

The box

Like every other calendar, the box acts as a display stand. This one has a rather nice scene which I believe is supposed to represent Ahch-to with a little bit of snow on it and a nice starry sky. This display isn’t that impressive, but the box is not why you are reading this so let’s move on to:

Day 1

The first door has a small representation of a First Order Star Destroyer! A simple little build but a nice representation of it and it’s quite cute. These LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendars feature a lot of these mini ship builds but if they are all as cool as this one, I see no issue with that. This door gets a score of 8/10.

Day 2

A mini-build of Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle. I thought it was grey? It’s not the best representation of the ship and I feel the previous door represented its ship better. Still, it’s a more accurate depiction of it than the first one LEGO released back in 2017. This door gets a score of 5/10.

Day 3

We have a First Order Stormtrooper with a typical blaster. Although not Christmasy and not unique to this set, I do like its inclusion and it feels like an obvious choice for it really. It will be useful for AFOLs like me who like to build armies and will also be nice for kids who maybe don’t have one yet. However it’s a very common figure. A good inclusion. This door gets a score of 7/10.

Day 4

This is basically just a gun on a stand which goes nicely with the Stormtrooper from door 3 and it’s a very simplistic build, but I’m not really very impressed with it. This door gets a score of 3/10.

Day 5

A slightly larger mini-build. I have to say I really like this mini-build of Poe’s X-wing. Yes, I may be a bit biased because I love Poe, but this is a very nice small build of an X-wing. The only real criticism I have is BB-8’s normal-sized head could have easily just been used instead of the single stud, but that’s a very small nitpick. This door gets a score of 9/10.

Day 6

A small representation of a Crait speeder. It is pretty cute and looks like what it represents and it’s a nice wee inclusion. This door gets a score of 6/10.

Day 7

This door has another minifigure in the form of Chewbacca. Like the Stormtrooper, it’s a very common figure! But one does not want an army of Chewbacca’s and believe me I have one! Instead of his usual accessory, the bowcaster, he comes with a chicken leg (or should I say a porg leg) and a small build to represent a fire. As much as I dismay at adding my 10th identical Chewbacca to my collection, I do know that there will be some kids getting this calendar who don’t have this lovable wookie yet. So I will give this door a score of 5/10.

Day 8

I have to admit I sighed audibly when I saw this door. It’s just… meh. I think it’s a small representation of Luke’s island on Ahch-to, but even then this is going straight into one of my spare pieces boxes. This build is just not good enough. I give this door a score of 1/10 only because I won’t give any door a zero.

Day 9

After three doors that were sublime, the calendar redeems itself and gives us this amazing exclusive Luke figure. He comes with a simple stick and a fish, but his torso and legs are exclusive and this figure is just a really great addition! I think I may even have it displayed on my Luke’s Hut set instead of the one that came from that set! The face print is even double sided! Brilliant! Bravo! A great selling point of this set. I give this door a score of 10/10 easily!

 

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Day 10

Another mini ship build. This one nicely represents one of my favorite Star Wars ships, the Quadjumper. You may recognise it as the ship that’s on screen during The Force Awakens for about 5 seconds before it’s blown up and our heroes are forced to take a certain ship that’s described as “garbage”. Anyway this is a nice build so I will give this door a score of 8/10.

Day 11

This mini-build, I believe, is supposed to represent one of the turrets on the Death Star! It’s a good representation and could be used in MOCs as a small gun on an imperial base or something like that. This is another one I will break apart for parts, but I do appreciate this little build. So this score gets a score of 4/10.

Day 12

I believe this is an Imperial Gunner if I’m not mistaken. This figure is fairly rare! I do like getting one of these in here because I like collecting Imperial figures and it definitely adds value to the set. I give this door a score of 9/10.

Day 13

We have a little build for a mouse droid! A nice inclusion and it does represent those cute little droids quite well. Not much to say about it. This door gets a score of 6/10.

Day 14

This is a CIS tank. The memory I have of this is from playing the original Battlefront 2 game and running over clone troopers in it. It’s a nice little mini-build. Not sure on the tan pieces for this build though, as from what I remember the vehicle is all grey. I will be honest, at this stage I’m a bit fed up of these mini-builds. So this door gets a score of 6/10.

Day 15

A standard Battle Droid. Nothing exclusive or festive about it, but like other minifigure entries in this calendar, it will be useful for people who want to build up their army. This door comes with a confession from me! Every single one of these battle droids I’ve had in the past, I’ve put the torso piece the wrong way around! Despite this life changing revelation, this door gets a score of 8/10.

Day 16

I stared at this mini-build for a while before I realised that it was one of those droid troop transports from the Naboo scene! I think… These calendars would be a little bit improved if the doors actually gave us a name for the contents inside. I give this door a score of 4/10.

Day 17

*Yawn* these mini-builds are getting dull now! I believe this is supposed to represent the escape pod that R2-D2 and C-3PO use to escape to Tatooine in A New Hope! It’s a boring inclusion, I don’t like it. This door gets a score of 2/10.

Day 18

Thank goodness we have another minifigure and this one is actually a fairly rare one! It’s a Rebel Trooper from the opening scenes of A New Hope! In recent years, I’ve only seen this in 2 sets so it is a very welcome inclusion! I plan on picking up a few more of this minifigure and purchasing some of the FireStar Toys custom faces to have a little squad of these guys. Although this figure is not exclusive, it’s rare enough to warrant a high rating so this door gets a score of 10/10.

 

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Day 19

This is a Mynock. These were the flying creatures that attached themselves to the Millennium Falcon whilst it was trapped inside a giant slug in The Empire Strikes Back. This build is identical to the one featured in the UCS Millennium Falcon! Which I sit next to as I type this review! The inclusion in this set gives people who don’t have over 600 pounds or the space to have the UCS Falcon a chance to have this creature but it also gives owners of it a chance to have more than one of them! This is a great selling point of this calendar and I’m delighted it’s in this set! Especially since previous doors have made me want to go for a nap! This door gets an easy score of 10/10.

Day 20

This is a mini-build (I know, I know) of the Hoth Echo Base! It looks like what it’s supposed to look like but I’ll be breaking it up for parts! That’s it. That’s all I’ve got to say! This door *yawns* gets a score of 3/10.

Day 21

Ok! This is cute! This is a mini-build of a twin-pod Cloud City car, and in my opinion one of the best in this calendar. This one won’t be broken up and I’m quite pleased with it. So this door gets a score of 6/10.

Day 22

This is another fairly rare figure! This is a pilot of a Cloud City car! I had to admit when I first saw it, I wasn’t sure who the figure was, so I had to Google it further proving my point that they should be labeled in some way. Anyway, it’s nice that they included this even though he’d have trouble fitting in his cloud car that comes with this calendar! I’m gonna give this door a score of 10/10.

Day 23

This is a Christmas Gonk droid that looks like a walking Christmas parcel! It has only taken it 23 doors but this calendar has finally remember that it’s a Christmas advent calendar! This is a very cute well thought-out build, and the sight of it did thaw my ice cold Christmas loafing heart. So because it’s Christmas related and because it’s a unique build for this set and because it’s straight up adorable, I’m going to give this door a score of 10/10.

Day 24

Last but not least we have a Santa porg! It’s cute! It’s not often we get porgs in sets so it’s nice we got one here. Even if it is a Christmas variant of it, if you’re not keen on it being Christmasy, you can always use the head to make a normal porg. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t like how you can see the stud that the Santa hat is sitting on but I know that’s a very nitpicky thing. It does come with a little present with a wee star on it! However I feel like I would have much preferred the porg to be dressed like an elf and if we got two of them instead of just one! Despite all that, I am going to give this door a score of 9/10.

Would I recommend it for kids?

Honestly I’m not sure! The mini-builds that take up the vast majority of this calendar aren’t really what I’d consider display worthy or good for play, but the minifigure selection would be nice for a kid who doesn’t have a lot of Star Wars sets. I can definitely see a kid laughing and enjoying the Christmas Gonk Droid and the Porg, but having to wait 22 days to get even something remotely Christmasy isn’t great.

Would I recommend it to AFOLs?

If you see this set as a big battle pack and get it for the figures alone, it’s worth getting multiples of. But unlike the Harry Potter Advent Calendar, there isn’t really much else of value in terms of spare accessories or pieces.

Final thoughts

I have glanced at the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendars over my years of being an AFOL and I’ve never bought a single one of them! The minifigures alone easily give this it’s value, but if I used this advent calendar properly and opened it day by day, I’d get pretty frustrated at its lack of substance and lack of anything Christmasy.

There are two Christmas related figures in this set: the porg and the gonk droid. Both of them you could easily make yourself, so don’t buy this advent calendar just for that! The only exclusive thing about this advent calendar is the Luke figure and that’s it! Star Wars Advent Calendars of previous years have had Christmas Chewbacca, Christmas Darth Maul, Christmas Darth Vader, and this year there’s no exclusive Christmas figure which is disappointing to see.

I really hope that next year we get a better Star Wars Advent Calendar that has more Christmas related things! All I’m asking for is maybe a snowman or old man Luke dressed as Santa! Anyway I’ve bought two of these and may buy more purely to collect the figures but that is it.

If you’ve read this to the end thank you very much! I hope you liked the review that turned into a rant! I do hope you get some enjoyment out of this calendar however you choose to use it and have a great Christmas when it comes.

 

All the images are taken from Bricklink.

 

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