Harry Potter Advent Calendar - Day 24
Posted by CapnRex101,
The last few days of 76418 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar have been fairly mediocre, so hopefully the calendar concludes on a high note today.
Find out after the break...
This snowman is certainly not what I was hoping for. Although a serviceable model, there have been better snowman designs in recent years and this one is extremely blocky. Moreover, there is nothing to associate this snowman with the Wizarding World, as even the attached broom is a normal push broom, rather than a broomstick for flying.
Overall - This is an underwhelming end to the Harry Potter Advent Calendar.
Summary
Even though its final three days have been lacklustre, I have enjoyed 76418 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar on the whole. The minifigures in particular have been excellent, including five exclusive figures, four of whom are appropriately dressed in winter clothing. They have always been a strength of Harry Potter Advent Calendars, which seemingly receive a higher budget for new printed parts than other themes.
Furthermore, focusing on Hogsmeade was a good idea for an Advent Calendar, but I think some items needed clearer identification. The models from Zonko's Joke Shop, for example, are only recognisable because of their colours, which requires a familiarity with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter parks. Nevertheless, most of the models included have been satisfying, which has resulted in a fun calendar.
What do you think of 76418 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar and how does it compare with the previous four? Let us know in the comments.
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20 comments on this article
Terrible. However, there have been some nice other items and it all looks good on the display.
A very meh snowman in its own right, and disappointing that they didn’t try and make it wizard-themed. Give it a pointy hat instead of a top hat, Quidditch robes to make it look like it’s about to fly the broom, something to make it a bit fun and HP themed.
Overall though, as the only one of this year’s advent calendar’s I actually own, quite happy with it. Some of the builds were a bit lacklustre but overall it’s greater than the sum of its parts and you get a nice wintery scene out of it
Awesome calendar. Crappy last two days. This is absolutely mystifying. Why? It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
My wife looked at it, shook her head, and said, "couldn't they at least give him an owl of something?"
The figs have been incredibly good, and it's very difficult to choose my favorite, but I'm going with Aberforth. My two favorite builds were the Zonko trolly and the wanted poster.
A very disjointed set, I hope next year they focus on one location like the burrow or a dorm room Christmas.
@Brickalili said:
"A very meh snowman in its own right, and disappointing that they didn’t try and make it wizard-themed. Give it a pointy hat instead of a top hat, Quidditch robes to make it look like it’s about to fly the broom, something to make it a bit fun and HP themed. "
In addition, why use the regular broom when they can use the Fabuland broom?
I believe that all six minifigs are exclusive here, although there’s not a lot of difference between this Rosmerta and the previous version. I think this might be my favorite of the HPACs, which are generally pretty strong, in my opinion. Pluses: the minifigs and printed pieces, the fact that everything is minifig scale and can be used to decorate the scene on the box. Minuses: could have used more indoor builds, and ending on a lackluster snowman which could have easily been improved with a wizard hat and broom, as mentioned above.
Disappointing last day... I was hoping for a "Santa" Dumbledore. I honestly can't understand why there are Yodas and Darth Vaders and whatnot from a galaxy far far away with Christmas (!!!) jumpers, and for Harry Potter, which happens on our actual planet, TLG doesn't take advantage of that. Not to mention that in the books Harry spends some Christmas at Hogwarts... Go figure.
They have the big ball piece for a proper base for years now... this looks like it is from late 2000s.
Considering LEGO hiked the price of the Advent Calendar to a ridiculous 38€, this was an unbelievably garbage advent calendar for the price.
Of course, it's so obvious the price hike was poorly received or LEGO wouldn't have themselves put a 20%-30% discount on them almost immediately.
But I must evaluate the quality of the calendar in relation to the official price.
Not to mention end the calendar with a crappy snowman build for the 24th is very scummy of LEGO. Imagine you were still a kid and this was the culmination of the advent calendar you had spent 24 days eagerly opening...
Anyway, Merry Christmas.
Preferred this year's Calendar to last year's microscale builds, some brilliant printed tiles and minifigures and a great extension pack to the Hogsmead Set.
Will definitely get next years
@Jorel said:
"Disappointing last day... I was hoping for a "Santa" Dumbledore. I honestly can't understand why there are Yodas and Darth Vaders and whatnot from a galaxy far far away with Christmas (!!!) jumpers, and for Harry Potter, which happens on our actual planet, TLG doesn't take advantage of that. Not to mention that in the books Harry spends some Christmas at Hogwarts... Go figure."
Santa Claus and Dumbledore are so similar-looking to begin with that I think it would be pretty hard to make a cross between them that didn't just look like one or the other, Dumbledore in red or Santa in a fancy coat.
Imagine if it was a snowman Hagrid
What a dud to end on.
Well, the calender was alright I guess. At least everything's useful for if you want to expand interiors and stuff. The figs were clearly the standouts.
@djcbs said:
"Considering LEGO hiked the price of the Advent Calendar to a ridiculous 38€, this was an unbelievably garbage advent calendar for the price."
Wait WHAT
That's... not great.
Figs were great, the rest was….sad
The first two Harry Potter calendars were marvelous, I loved them. The last two were ok, but making them into games didn't really make them enjoyable, at least for me. This one... It just doesn't meet the same quality the first two led me to expect. I don't hate it, it just disappoints me.
@Brickalili:
I don't think they'd ever include a cape when the head is just attached to a regular stud. However, given the design of this weak snowman, there is an element that would work, being essentially a jumper plate with a neck post instead of a stud. Unfortunately, it only comes in white and black, and the mold has probably already been destroyed. But yeah, 2019's Snow-witch was a much better design.
@WilsonPark:
Generally, the HPAC has been a goldmine for unique variants of characters, and this year we even got a unique character (Aberforth). Rosmerta is indeed the only one that has no exclusive parts. 2019 Dumbledore, 2020 Harry/Ron/Hermione, and 2022 Harry/Snape were all straight repeats. 2019 McGonagall only had a single-sided head, and following the release of 76405 the only unique parts in 2021 are Dudley's torso and Griphook's head (though all the minifigs are technically unique).
@Jorel:
The first HPAC did have Harry and Ron in the Christmas sweaters that Molly sent them (since both were staying over that year), and the twins appeared in their Yule Ball dresses the following year. Those are really the closest they've come to doing Christmas-themed minifigs, which have all stayed true to their film appearances. But Santa Yoda kicked off the SWAC, and is based on a very famous Christmas card that was sent out by Lucasfilm in 1981:
https://usm.propstoreauction.com/lot-details/index/catalog/249/lot/58806
@Wobette:
While I think the HPAC does best when it creates a unified scene, I did like how last year's all-films format forced them to make microscale builds of vehicles that had previously been left untouched.
@Randomness:
The two game years had a major issue in that the rules to play the game were not included in the box, nor were they immediately obvious when you realized there was a game involved. You had to go hunting online to find the rules, and that means they could disappear at any moment.
My thought was “???” No. Just, no.
Sure, they build snowmen in the books, but when do you see one in the movies? This was either designed 2 minutes before the deadline or on a Monday morning after a weekend bender. Major disappointment.
The whole calendar is about average for me. Good minifigures but meh mini builds. I was building the Hogsmeade set (76388) alongside the AC, so there were some fun comparisons to make.
When I first opened the cell, I was disappointed since I was expecting a minifigure or something more special.
Even more disappointing, I found inside a copy of the Hogwarts sign! "Oh man, did they mishap the packaging?".
But surprises wouldn't end there: behind the copy there was another plastic sack, squeezed on the other end, that contained the snowman!
Welp, that was an emotional rollercoaster. I basically ended up with having 25 models in my Advent Calendar, which is kinda nice - yet, it is the proof again that the cardboard packaging desperately needs to be improved!
Happy Christmas everybody, and see you next year!
The family had; Marvel, Star Wars and Harry Potter.
Marvel - 9/10
Star Wars - 8/10
Harry Potter 5/10 (and that’s being generous)
One of the worst Lego advent calendars we have had.
@AussieSamurai said:
"The family had; Marvel, Star Wars and Harry Potter.
Marvel - 9/10
Star Wars - 8/10
Harry Potter 5/10 (and that’s being generous)
One of the worst Lego advent calendars we have had."
You really thought this one was worse than the Marvel one?