Star Wars Advent Calendar - Day 22
Posted by CapnRex101,
Six minifigures have emerged from the 2019 Star Wars Advent Calendar. That is slightly fewer than usual and I expect the seventh minifigure behind the next door.
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Advent Calendars provide an excellent opportunity to include unusual minifigures and the Cloud Car Pilot appears especially suitable. This minifigure was introduced in 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City and looks marvellous, wearing a simple white uniform with a red symbol on the chest. The accompanying belt is equally detailed and continues onto the reverse of the torso, as demonstrated below.
However, my favourite aspect of this minifigure is definitely the textured helmet. This component was created for a Rebel Soldier from 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter but it seems appropriate for these pilots too, based upon their design for action figures. The double-sided head also looks great and the Cloud Car Pilot includes a pearl silver blaster pistol.
Overall - 5.0 - Relatively uncommon minifigures are always welcome and this Cloud Car Pilot seems likely to prove exceptionally popular!
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The battle of the licensed Advent Calendars continues today. I am deeply sorry that Mat_Z_ can no longer continue this amazing review and I want to thank Yooha for continuing the tradition yesterday.
The score is now 12 to 9 in Harry Potter’s favor.
Today saw Harry Potter deliver four amazing presents colored for all four houses. Each one is spectacularly designed and the letters on top of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are very much appreciated. Coming in with a score of 4.5 Star Wars needs to deliver something really good to top this offer.
And it did! Today sees the unveiling of another new minifigure, the Cloud Car Pilot. Having only ever appeared in one other set, a $350 one at that, this is a fantastic character to get. I love the head piece and the face and torso have very pleasing prints. Undoubtedly this figure will make many Star Wars fans who were unable to get Betrayal at Cloud City very happy. With a score of 5.0, I think Harry Potter takes home the L for today.
The score is now 12 to 10, with Harry Potter only 2 points ahead. With only two days left, can Star Wars turn this into a tie?
Honestly, SW should be ahead, we've seen alot of overgenerous scoring with the HP calendar, along with a number of builds with a high number of parts giving them another unfair 'complexity' bonus.
Today though you can't deny SW a clear win given the previous rarity of this figure.
I had no idea who this minifig was meant to represent today! Still it's rare(ish) and looks good so I am not complaining.
@GrizBe said:
"Honestly, SW should be ahead, we've seen alot of overgenerous scoring with the HP calendar, along with a number of builds with a high number of parts giving them another unfair 'complexity' bonus.
Today though you can't deny SW a clear win given the previous rarity of this figure. "
You may be right, I’m just picking up where people left off. Opinions are subjective, after all.
The perfect figure to fly my Cloud Car from 17 years ago!
@ Rob42, I have that Cloud Car from 2002 also! It is a perfect addition! I love this minifig and it deserves that 5 rating. One of the reasons I got this calendar instead of the HP one. And to have this from an expensive set that I didn't buy is an absolute reason. A gold statue from HP does not equal a Cloud Car Pilot, Rebel Trooper, Stormtrooper, Imperial Gunner, and Old Man Luke. And there's more to come.
@GrizBe - The scores only reflect my subjective opinion of each item. I think the Harry Potter Advent Calendar has been slightly stronger thus far, although comparing these is not entirely fair because the Harry Potter calendar includes many more exclusive prints and pieces in new colours than the Star Wars calendar.
If the intricacy of models and building techniques were the only factors under consideration, I think Star Wars would be ahead.
Great gift, far better than the Harry Potter one or today.
A rare figure vs some bog standard present builds personally think the score should be
SW - 10
HP - 11
Though that's my opinion.
@backbitter222– thank you for keeping the competition going. An excellent analysis. Your Judicial ruling is sound. Today is a day that will be long remembered as the day the SW advent calendar began its victory march!
@Turplesmith - No, thank you! And as for Star Wars’ victory march, we’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow will bring. I promise you it’s gonna be a tricky one.
I have been expecting this one for so long, to be true since I first saw it in the unaffordable (for me) Cloud city set! This superb minifig, along with Luke's and Rebel fleet trooper, make this edition of the SW Advent calendar worth the price as a collectioner. That also confims that passion cannot rhyme with reason in such a case.
I think the Harry Potter wins overall as it's created a complete festive scene; it all comes together at the end, whereas the Star Wars calendar is pretty much just a collection of individual bits more or less. Feels like a lot more thought has gone into the HP calendar.
I have put him in my Twin Pod Car microfighter from the BYOA Book, so there's that.
This IMO has the same problem of obscurity as the HP statue from yesterday, although both figures are very appealing and won their respective day.
I had a 1980s Palitoy figure ( remember them?) of this minifigure so I am truly indulging in nostalgia here. It is an excellent minifigure and well deserving of its win over the Harry Potter entry today.
Thanks to Backbiter22 for resuming the battle of the Advent Calendars as well.
@Rob42 said:
"The perfect figure to fly my Cloud Car from 17 years ago!"
Now you mention it, LEGO needs to gets it's collective brain shades off and give awesome sets the required update they need as well new untouched sets especially since now people won't be able to download instructions for costume sets based on IP from BrickLink per the new ToS enforcement of a relaxed situation.
Last year I didn't get the SW advent calendar for the first time since they stared. This figure, and day 17's build were the main incentives for me returning to the fold this year. I think it's been a pretty good year all in all.
I am doing the HP calendar this year, but definitely agree that a Star Wars has some excellent minifig selections this year. Not only do I concede SW the win today with a Cloud Car pilot, but I would argue that the Rebel Trooper should have won its respective day. After all, it only appears in either a juniorized set or a really expensive set. Rebel troopers are the first people we also see in all of Star Wars, so you have nostalgia there as well. As for which calendar is best overall, it would be extremely subjective, and both sides have some valid claims. HP does well with printed parts, usable builds, and setting a scene. SW has really nice minifigs. Going by Backbiter222's account, it is going to be close!
Imho, other than the figures, this year's SW calendar has almost nothing interesting to offer. So glad I got the HP calendar instead. Several SW calendars of recent years had far better contents.
@GrizBe said:
"Honestly, SW should be ahead, we've seen alot of overgenerous scoring with the HP calendar, along with a number of builds with a high number of parts giving them another unfair 'complexity' bonus.
Today though you can't deny SW a clear win given the previous rarity of this figure. "
Yeah! Go SW! In my opinion, Star Wars has had better pulls so far.
5/5 all the way! Great fig, especially for those who dont have the MBS Cloud City set.
The silver/gray blaster is a wonderful tribute to the original Kenner figure. The blaster that one came with was gray in color. It also came with a tiny gray communicator accessory as well.
@Backbiter222 said:
"The score is now 12 to 10, with Harry Potter only 2 points ahead. With only two days left, can Star Wars turn this into a tie?"
Thanks for doing this. I agree with your assessment!
@CapnRex101:
The irony here being that the HP calendar was rushed into production, but still largely seems to be considered the best of the four. Part of that may just be that it's the first year, so, other than issues like four days of house banners, there's a fairly fresh feel to the entire calendar. The other three have multiple years of history and therefore a lot of standard inclusions tend to show up regularly. I'm sure that five years from now the HP calendar will be experiencing some of the same issues, but right now it's all new. Six exclusive minifigs (eight, if you count the Architect statue and the snowman) is also unheard of in an advent calendar, and the fact that it can form a cohesive scene is something that even nearly a decade of Star Wars/Disney Wars calendars haven't managed to achieve.