Star Wars Advent Calendar Review: Day 23
Posted by CapnRex101,
The penultimate day of the Star Wars Advent Calendar produces a sled just like the 2013 calendar, although the design has been significantly altered for this year. Unfortunately I think it looks worse than the earlier model as the runners do not touch the surface and the model is rather bland in both design and colour scheme. Brown, grey and black are unappealing colours in my opinion and the trans-light blue lightsaber blades do not improve its appearance.
While the model may be lacking the parts selection is superb. Two tan inverted tiles are included along with a pair of black ice cream cones. Both elements are very useful and fairly rare so it is nice to see them appear here but they do not excuse the rather poor model. Nevertheless, those tiles are used to good effect as the sled slides around very easily so there is some play value even if the gift does not look great.
Overall - 3.5 - The uncommon pieces are appealing but I think the model is fairly dull on the whole. However, the play value yields a reasonable score.
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13 comments on this article
The best sleigh from a Star Wars AC yet IMO. (there was one in the 2013 one, and one that was a sort of speeder-sleigh in the 2014 one)
Also, for an AC build, I thought it was quite complex.
I think the runners are just there for decoration, and the sled is floating on repulsorlifts.
Runners i think is the beams to connect through lasers to who ever move it around.
Look at the Picture at the front of the AC. Its R2D2 dragging this sledge.
This was my first SW Sledge so i have not any opinion of the old one. But it looks like something that could exist in a star wars world.
I take it from the box art that it's supposed to be some type of podracer with those being electrical beams hooked to R2 (not that they have any way to connect to him). But at least you get two lightsabers out of the deal.
I did modify last year's mini-speeder, and I have to say it looks a helluva lot better with handlebars. Last year's sled was ALMOST perfect but for the lack of handles. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=106450
I thought the runners were just supposed to look like actual lightsabers. You know, as a joke. In that case, having them in a less conspicuous color would have spoiled it by making it just look like a weird, sci-fi sleigh.
I don't collect the advent calendars but I'm a SW fan so I really enjoy these reviews, especially the mini vehicles. One request that, I think, would strengthen the reviews is showing comparison images when they revisit a subject, such as the sleigh from 2013 mentioned above.
Just my opinion...otherwise keep up the good work and I'm disappointed that tomorrow is the end until 2016. Happy holidays!
I think this is a great model. Instead of using the lightsabers as runners, I put R2-D2 on the back as an astromech droid. Can't wait for Santa C-3PO to pilot it.
I like the idea that the sled is akin to a podracer. Sure, the color is not the best. The pieces are nice like the lightsaber handles, ice cream cones, and especially the inverted tiles. As already mentioned, it would be nice to include an image of a previous model if you're making comparisons.
Not the best build in the calender, but I like it anyway and indeed, it fits nicely into the SW world somewhere. Not bad at all in my opinion!
Well, one day to go and it's not really that big of a guess what will the last gift in this calender...
I don't think the sled is comparable to past models, like comparing this year's Millennium Falcon to the 2011 version. It's a generalized Star Wars/Christmas mashup which isn't supposed to represent a specific thing. What we've gotten in the past:
- A cheesy little tree (2011)
- An R2 snowman (2012)
- A rocket-powered sled (2013)
- A Death Star-looking fireplace (2014)
- A chibi-looking Speeder Bike carrying presents (2014)
- This year's podracer sled (2015)
I don't think this is meant to be a podracer. It's just Santa-3po's sleigh, and the lightsabers represent the ropes to attach Rudolph2 to. It shows it like this on the front of the box, but I see where you're coming from with the podracer idea :)
I actually rather like it (as much as one can like a strange star wars sleigh). Every year it's lackluster, but I don't think this one is any worse. As someone else said, it's probably a repulsorlift vehicle, and the runners are only for show (and to look like lightsabers), so they aren't meant to touch the ground. The box does indeed suggest it is like a podracer, as someone said, with R2 pulling it.
Three light bley lightsaber hilts are perfect to arm my ever growing collection of 2005-2008 era Jedi with appropriate weapons. But otherwise the model is pretty uninteresting, in comparison with some other minifigure-scale AC builds.