Harry Potter Advent Calendar - Day 24
Posted by CapnRex101,
An enormous turkey was delivered to the High Table yesterday, where Hogwarts staff eat. The turkey looks much too big for Professor Flitwick alone, so I expect another teacher today.
There can be only one choice...
Professor Dumbledore is an excellent way to finish the Advent Calendar, dressed in red and bearing a close resemblance to Santa! I think this robe takes inspiration from The Chamber of Secrets, albeit with a brighter shade of red than usual, presumably to emphasise its similarities to Father Christmas' traditional garb.
Regardless of its source, the metallic gold details on the robe look great and I love the patterns continued on the back. This hair piece is not quite as suited for Dumbledore as the specialised element introduced with his Collectable Minifigure a few years ago, but it still looks nice on the whole, paired with the headmaster's standard beard.
Removing the beard reveals a lovely double-sided head underneath, with cheerful expressions on both sides and Dumbledore's classic half-moon spectacles, again reminiscent of Santa. You could even borrow the hat from day eighteen's Christmas tree to complete Dumbledore's festive ensemble if you wish!
Overall - This is another lovely minifigure in the Harry Potter Advent Calendar and a clever way to finish, given Dumbledore's resemblance to Santa in this attire.
Summary
I have mentioned before that Harry Potter Advent Calendars have an inherent advantage over others, as Christmas often plays a prominent role in the movies, providing plenty of material to draw upon. The designer has seized upon that for this Advent Calendar, focusing mainly on the scene of Hermione's departure before Christmas in The Philosopher's Stone, which shows the Great Hall decked out for the season.
Speaking of which, this set is designed to complement 76435 Hogwarts Castle: The Great Hall and this is a brilliant idea. There will doubtless be plenty of children receiving the Great Hall for Christmas and having all these festive furnishings ready to customise the set, as an alternative to furniture already provided with the Great Hall, is a lot of fun.
There is not actually space for everything from the calendar in the Great Hall alone, but I have tried to squeeze my favourite items into this scene. Notable among them are the seven unique minifigures, which is a generous selection and includes maybe my favourite minifigure from any Harry Potter Advent Calendar: the Choir Ghost!
I must acknowledge that not everything has been well-received, especially the animal statues. Their execution is certainly inconsistent, but I quite like seeing something more obscure in the calendar, albeit still based on the films. Otherwise, the standard of models has been high, but I think most would agree that the minifigures steal the show.
Have you been impressed with the Harry Potter Advent Calendar this year? Let us know in the comments.
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14 comments on this article
Tying in the advent calendar builds and figures with another HP LEGO set is a smart move, I think, and adds some extra value, while other advent calendars offer mostly stuff you can't really use with existing sets in those themes. I'd love future City advent calendars, for example, to compliment a new City or Winter Village set. Of course, it's LEGO, so you can always sort of modify builds to make them work in any setting, but having the option to do so right out of the box, like add-ons or accessory packs, would make these extra appealing.
Looking at the full rangd of stuff you get this one looks quite succesful. But I must say that it was a bit repetitive as about half of the calender was three kinds of builds: a table, a statue and a minifig with pedestal.
That said, overall a great one!
You can tell the HP ones always get more budget than marvel though.
Easily the best AC this year. The builds were definitely repetitive. However, that is a small pricebto pay for the great overall scene, the fantastic figs, and the assortment of good accessories.
Winner!!
Edit: the SW AC really sticks us with some Grinchy coal! Blech!
This has been my favourite HP Lego Advent Calendar for a couple of years. There are some great little builds in it and it does integrate well with the wider HP Lego builds.
My favourite it definitely the minifigures
Solid choice for the last door, with the Santa resemblance. And it’s definitely nice seeing everything draped over the Great Hall, given that’s a setup not everyone will be able to do themselves
I used the extra beard from Flitwick on my custom Father Christmas.
@ToysFromTheAttic said:
"I'd love future City advent calendars, for example, to compliment a new City or Winter Village set."
…
Seriously? I’ve complained for a few years now that I miss the Holiday GWPs that worked as WV accessory packs, and never even considered the possibility of a full-on WVAC?
Thanks @CapnRex101 for your reviews, always on point. Your articles are a tradition for me since many years now. See you next year. Happy holidays!!
Thanks CapnRex. Happy Christmas everyone!
@PurpleDave said:
" @ToysFromTheAttic said:
"I'd love future City advent calendars, for example, to compliment a new City or Winter Village set."
…
Seriously? I’ve complained for a few years now that I miss the Holiday GWPs that worked as WV accessory packs, and never even considered the possibility of a full-on WVAC?"
While it seems so obvious, doesn't it? Then again, the Winter Village sets are aimed at an older audience than these advent calendars are -- even though I seriously question how many kids get excited about Luke Skywalker in a Christmas jumper.
It would also be nice if LEGO would try an advent calendar once that would give you sub-assemblies each day, which would combine into a larger build. They've already sort of done that, for instance in the current Marvel and Disney calendar, but imagine you could build something more substantial and also have half a dozen unique minifigs to go with it. The non-LEGO Star Wars Droids advent calendar is doing something like that, and that seems to be popular, so I don't know why LEGO sticks with dull micro builds.
@ToysFromTheAttic:
21330 qualifies as an advent calendar. Bags are numbered 1-24. It has five minifigs, all unique.
@PurpleDave said:
" @ToysFromTheAttic said:
"I'd love future City advent calendars, for example, to compliment a new City or Winter Village set."
…
Seriously? I’ve complained for a few years now that I miss the Holiday GWPs that worked as WV accessory packs, and never even considered the possibility of a full-on WVAC?"
I'd go for that
I have to say I found this year's AC distinctly underwhelming with the exception of the minifigures. Parts are always useful though.
Well another year of Advent Calandars has come to an end. This year I only got 3, Harry Potter, City & Star Wars. Harry Potter is once again my favorite. While the statues were a bit odd looking I much preferred them over most of the Star Wars micro builds. While I saw some interesting builds in the other three calendars that I didn’t buy I'm glad I passed on them.