Friends Advent Calendar - Day 24
Posted by MeganL,
We've made it - the last day of the calendar! Thank you to all of you who have joined me on this journey over the last few weeks. It's been fun though somewhat repetitive. What special surprise awaits us for the last gift of the season?
It's a snowman. It doesn't seem to be an advent calendar without a snowman, but I am surprised that it's the gift for the last day. I'm assuming it was saved to the end because of having the Santa hat, which is a nice touch. I do like that the reddish brown carrot top pieces were used for the arms as opposed to the cone pieces used in the City calendar.
But I'm not quite sure why the snowman's middle is represented in red. Perhaps it's supposed to be a sweater?
There have been several renditions of LEGO snowmen, as chronicled in this excellent article on Brickset a few years ago. I would say that the search for the perfect snowman continues.
Now that we're at the end of the calendar, here are all the builds together on the placemat. It was pretty easy to do considering the builds were along consistent themes.
Considering the builds are small, everything fits quite well on the mat. There's plenty of room for the sled as well as all the animals.
Overall thoughts
The minimalist theme of the Friends Advent Calendar continued this year, especially compared to the Star Wars and City calendars. It struck me that TheBrickPal and CapnRex101 described some of their builds as "minimalist" when they had as little as 10 pieces. That piece count would be considered downright luxurious on most Friends days! Especially disappointing were the days where we only had an animal behind the door.
This year's calendar was an improvement in that at least there was a cohesive theme, but that did come at the cost of the calendar being repetitive at times.
That being said, you also need to consider the target demographic for this calendar. While I found the calendar to be somewhat repetitive and minimalist, I also recommended the calendar to a friend who has two daughters (ages 6 and 8) who have enjoyed Friends animals. The animals were a big hit but the builds were met with varying levels of enthusiasm. Having only one minidoll was a major complaint.
I don't understand why the piece count for the Friends Advent Calendar is so much smaller than the City calendar when they sell for the same price. While the argument can be made that the animals are more expensive, the City calendar generally manages to have several minifigs. I have to believe that LEGO places an upward piece limit on the Friends designers that's less than what the City designers have.
I think the designers of the advent calendar have done a decent job considering the restraints they must be under. I have to give props for the cohesiveness of the finished product. I'm looking forward to what the alternate builds will be that we'll discover online tomorrow. I'm traveling at the moment, so I'll post that update in a few days once I get back home.
Until next advent calendar, where hopefully we will have more minidolls and more substantial builds....
Merry Christmas!
23 likes
12 comments on this article
Worst value EVER - at least since last year.
Summerizing this calendar in one word: MONOTONOUS.
Better luck next year, TLC!
As always with the Friends Advent calendar, it looks like a great scene when all put together even though each individual gift is ho-hum.
My only complaint would be that there’s only one minidoll.
Definitely the poor relation of the City calendar.
The final snowman Santa was a real disappointment.
Although brown sticks are good to have.
TLG could have done so much more, an older minidoll with christmas jumper and Santa hat would have been a better end to the calendar. How about one of the girls having a Grandfather and/or Grandmother?
My daughter really enjoyed the pets, but has been often deceived with repetitive and minimalist buildings in this edition... As we opened our calendar together (SW for me) she has a few times compared all the parts I had to assemble and was a bit disappointed with her gifts. But in the end she's proud and happy to show them all to cousins and family. We now both hope next year will be better. Thanks Megan for everyday review, and Happy Christmas to you all BS users and team!
Too many sleighs and windows for me, otherwise it’s good.
Too many sleighs and windows for me, otherwise it’s good.
One minidoll? One? Worst calendar for Friends yet.
It feels like Friends calendars are always the poor cousins to their City and Star Wars counterparts. Target demographic or not, it's still Lego. There's very little to actually build, yet being charged the same as the City calendar? They could do a lot with the Friends theme, it's just kind of disappointing that they never really do.
Disney, Elves, please step up to the plate and give the Friends a rest for a year or 10.
Well, I suppose it looks nice when put together on the placemat, but definitely another underwhelming year for the Friends calendar. Merry Christmas MeganL, hopefully you can compensate for this calendar by having some substantial building in your near future.
Good analysis.
After last year’s crappy Friends calendar I believed this year would improve significantly. But no, disappointing again...