HufflepuffMom
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- 4Average Rating
- 3Helpfulness Votes
- 0Featured Reviews
- 2Review Count
- December 26, 2020First Review
- December 27, 2020Last Review
HufflepuffMom's Reviews
LEGO® Star Wars™ Advent Calendar
LEGO® Star Wars™ Advent Calendar
Posted:December 27, 2020
HufflepuffMom
Age:
45-54
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Overall:
4
/
5
2020 Star Wars Advent Caledar
" The Force is pretty OK with this calendar.
The Star Wars Advent calendar is usually chock full of minifigures, scenes and ships. This year is no exception.
There is an additional tie in with the Lego Star Wars Holiday special - which provides several Christmas themed nods. This adds to the playability and moved it from a 3 to a 4 along with the GNK snowman and Rudy the red nosed Tauntaun.
Minifigures and figure builds: Holiday themed Poe and Vadar are great and lots of fun! And the Tauntaun microbuild is outstanding. It is great to get a D-0 without having to buy a bigger set. Rey and Luke aren't new, but always nice to get. I did like the pit droid, which can be paired with the Razorcrest as well as Anakin's podracer. There are always battle droids, and some kind of troopers. Army building.
The outstanding build is the GNK snowman! So holiday and so Star Wars. Can't wait to make one of these out of real snow.
The ships are ok. Not my favorite part, but they are playable and I can see where they would be favorite parts. There is usually an x-wing so kind of repetitive, but if this is your first SW advent calendar, that's great. Loved the Razorcrest build and look forward to expanded universe in future editions.
One of the best parts of the Star Wars version of the LEGO advent calendar is that there are usually related pairs of gifts. For example, we get the homestead paired with Luke, Vadar and his castle, etc. That always ups the playability and you don't have to drag out the big sets to get the essence.
This year, we had origial trilogy, prequel trilogy, sequel trilogy, the Mandalorian, and the holiday special.
Suggestion: some of your ships were difficult builds and I can see where some of the reviewers had issues. It is hard to get the entire picture on the door. You may want to indicate when a build is duplicated on the other side. Start with the outside builds and then what is left over is the middle.
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From:
United States
State:
Illinois
Age:
45-54
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Play Experience (Optional):
4
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
4
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Average
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+1point
2of 3found this review helpful.
LEGO® Harry Potter™ Advent Calendar
Posted:December 26, 2020
HufflepuffMom
Age:
45-54
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Overall:
4
/
5
Theme and Suggestions
" Loved the Goblet of Fire theme and it pairs nicely with the Clock Tower build (75948). That is a plus and a minus.
First, let's review as a standalone
Minifigures: a lot of figures. You have the main three: Harry, Hermione and Ron. Good to get them here in their Yule Ball outfits - so you don't have to purchase a more expensive set to get them. However, we always get Harry, Ron and Hermione and these are duplicate figures. So two sides of the coin.
The Patel Twins were Harry and Ron's dates, so great to get them here and in their complementary outfits reversed from each other. Always great when you get a new minifigure. Cho Chang is a nice addition in her Yule Ball outfit. Wish the printing on her gown went to the back around the bottom.
Unfortunately, if this is the only HP set someone gets, it is incomplete for minifigures. It has the Yule Ball, but missing the champions. They are found in the aforementioned Clock Tower set. Cho may have been Harry's wish date, but she pairs with Cedric, who is missing here. Hermione is missing Viktor. And, of course Fleur only appears in the other set. Her escort, Roger Davies never gets a mention and is absent from both. So to have an almost complete play, you must get the much more expensive Clock Tower set. Yes, I have it and yes, will be pairing, but not everyone has that option.
The minifigures moved ithe advent from a 3 to a 4 for me. I've noticed that a lot of reviewers did not understand the differences in the twins. I did appreciate the reversal of their outfits, but wish there was printing all the way around as well on all of the gowns.
Sets
Tri-Wizard: having been a Star Wars Advent calendar fan for many years, the little builds are always fun to get. The Hogwarts castle, Durmstrang ship, Beauxbaton ship, Goblet of Fire and Tri-Wizard Cup are fun builds. The only one I really didn't like was the Tri-Wizard cup. Wish it could have been 3 sided somehow. And then the Gryffindor couch was kind of strange, but Harry did sit on it with the egg. Getting the Tri-Wizard cup as the final day was kind of a let down - maybe because it didn't quite translate to the mini build.
Yule Ball: the program that came with Harry was beautifully printed and such a unique piece. Liked the piano, music stand and microphone (although there is a microphone piece that could have been used), the gramophone (it is a dance after all), and the winter decorations. The two-sided table build was great as well. The Christmas trees were meh, but are usually part of a LEGO advent calendar (a la Friends and City). They at least match the theme.
Christmas decorations: the house colored presents were a throwback to last year's advent calendar and there are usually presents in a LEGO advent calendar. The wrapped Firebolt was great, although the wrong movie tie in. It can certainly be playable on its own with the bigger sets.
The fireplace and attachments are strange and seem out of place. Are they supposed to go with the couch and be part of the Gryffindor common room? They are nice, festive builds, but the illustrations on the calendar doors show them as lying down.
That leads me to a suggestion:
Usually on your webiste there is a listing by day of what you get. I think that would tremendously help out with the explanation. For example, the gramophone goes on the table - that's a 2 day build. The fireplace and attachments could benefit from a named/description list.
Usually on your webiste there is a listing by day of what you get. I think that would tremendously help out with the explanation. For example, the gramophone goes on the table - that's a 2 day build. The fireplace and attachments could benefit from a named/description list.
Playability
This certainly has a lot of elements along specific themes. However, as a standalone, there is not a complete scene that can be done other than when Harry and Ron are sitting by the table with the twins. For people who get just this, I can understand a level of disappointment - it is like an accessory pack to the other sets that have come out.
Overall, I am very happy with what we have and it will pair nicely with my other sets.
Hope there is a calendar next year. Interested to see what it will be.
Final note on the price: almost immediately after I bought this at the LEGO store (LOVE the staff at my local store!), I found this for $10 less at Wal-Mart.
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From:
United States
Age:
45-54
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Play Experience (Optional):
4
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
4
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Very Easy
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+1point
1of 1found this review helpful.