Star Wars Advent Calendar Review: Day 1

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View image at Flickr

The Star Wars Advent Calendar is now in its sixth year and my excitement surrounding this annual treat has not abated in the slightest. Each new calendar seems to offer an impressive range of mini models and minifigures which often improve upon previous years.

I look forward to discovering whether my optimism is well founded over the next three and a half weeks and I hope you will join me as we count down towards Christmas and the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with 75146 Star Wars Advent Calendar!

The first door opens to reveal a tremendous little model of Boba Fett's Slave I. The same vehicle has appeared in previous Advent calendars but this offering is entirely different and the shape is far more accurate than ever before, with nicely curved engine cowling and an attractive cockpit design. I like the combination of dark red, dark green, sand green and light bluish grey for the hull of the craft and black is an appropriate colour for the canopy as well.

75146 Star Wars Advent Calendar

You can adjust the wings for flight or landing mode and I think the model looks great in either configuration. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that the 1x4 inverted bow is relatively rare in light bluish grey, appearing in just five other sets. The exposed studs may bother some people but placing a tile over the top would spoil the shape of the Slave I and I am satisfied with the model in its current state.

75146 Star Wars Advent Calendar

Overall - 5.0 - I am always reluctant to give full marks on the first day but I cannot imagine how this brilliant model could be improved and the Star Wars Advent Calendar is therefore off to a perfect start!

20 comments on this article

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By in United States,

Fantastic!

But they're missing the guns on the tip. Not sure how they could have been incorporated in, though...

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By in United Kingdom,

I have to agree that the guns on the tip would have been nice, but as you said - at this scale, it's night impossible. I have to agree that it's a great model.

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By in United States,

just pop one of the mini binoculars on the back stud of the rear wing and viola!! rear guns

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By in United States,

Grumpy44 has a great solution for the rear guns. This is a fantastic model of a famous ship to start off the SW Advent Calendar. My son and I had a little confusion about attaching the middle sand green and light bluish grey pieces for the hull. I love this little model!

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By in United States,

I absolutely love that this year none of the models are shown on the calendar/display side. I can open the cover, set it upright on my desk and not be spoiled finally. Way to go Lego! Also big thanks to Brickset for using the flaps as the image this year. ^5

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By in United States,

This just didn't quite do it for me when I opened it. Better than the 2011 model, a few things still throw it off. 1) The top arch bricks don't round the hull enough. 2) The split in the middle of the ship is awful. It'd be great if Lego would invent a two sided asking brick which might get the sides closer together. 3) no guns on the tail, plus the holes in the arch brick.

It would be nice to see comparison shots between current Advent builds and their earlier versions from calendars past.

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By in United States,

I mean, they've got some variant of Slave I almost every year, why not just go ahead and design a totally accurate Slave I model as a single brick :P

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By in United Kingdom,

Solid 5 right out the gate. Love it. I seem to remember being impressed with the last Slave 1 in a calendar. It'd be interesting to see them side by side.

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By in United Kingdom,

Unfortunately for me and my daughter when we opened door 1 we got the sleigh that should have be behind door 23. Thankfully Slave I is behind door 23 so we'll just have to wait a few weeks to build it.

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By in United Kingdom,

Is the brick pal no longer staff

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By in Norway,

i just added in a 1x1 plate with clip as the guns. it looks good

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By in United States,

^^ I still am, kind of. It's a complicated story, but don't worry!

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By in United Kingdom,

Star Wars advent calendar is by far the best Lego calendar. Can't wait for the Snow Chewwie!

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By in United States,

Guns on tip could have been done with part 15702, I think.

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By in United States,

Glad I decided to get 2 calenders this year. Looks like it's going to be a good calender!

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By in United Kingdom,

The days of advent calendars are numbered
......

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By in Norway,

I think this is way worse then the 2011 model, which is one of my favourite calendar models. I've actually got that one mounted on a fridge magnet. This year's model is rather ugly. 2.0.

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By in Netherlands,

No mention of the hollow top? IMHO those open studs look very unfinished. A tile would have worked wonders. As it is now, it looks pretty unfinshed!

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By in United States,

I bought this set on the first day the Caterham Seven 620R came out, so I won't spoil what the rest of the days are. I do like this Slave 1 version and as you pointed out, the first day is always a good one! :)

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By in Australia,

Beautiful photos.

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