City Advent Calendar - Day 1
Posted by MeganL,
We are year 16 of the City advent calendar, and this year Huw has delegated graciously offered me the opportunity to share the City advent calendar with you. I've bought City calendars for several years, but haven't paid as much attention to them as the Friends calendars. I have an impression that there are more figures, better builds and more variety in the City calendar than the Friends, and now we'll figure that out together!
It seems that the calendar will be making several references to LEGO City Adventures and features several of the characters. I haven't seen the series, so we'll see how many of these builds prompt me to actually check out the show.
The front of the box shows a typical winter theme with several of the builds, including what appears to be several of the minifigures. That's not much of a surprise as to what's coming, though I do like the look of those microscale buildings.
The back of the box shows more of the builds as well as the placemat. It appears that some of the builds will be based on recent City sets.
Sure enough, the placemat looks just like the back of the box. This is one of the most orderly placemats I've seen, hopefully everything will fit neatly.
And so, let's look behind door number 1!
We're starting right away with a microscale build - this one is of 60266 Ocean Exploration Ship. This weighs in at 22 pieces (including spares) - I almost felt faint pulling it from the box as there are very few Friends advent builds that bring that heft. Construction was interesting, and I'm glad this build is featured on the front of the box so I could be sure on the correct way to build. The designer has done a good job reproducing a large set with just a few pieces.
It's not particularly Christmassy, but it is a nice little build. We have plenty of time to get into the holiday spirit.
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That micro road layout on the box is such a cute idea! Looking forward to seeing everything on it. :)
Microscale versions of City sets alongside regular minifigures - it looks like the minifigures are playing with there own LEGO sets :) I don't buy the calendars, but I like the look of this one very much.
First time calendar buyer this year! My son and I will open and build after school today. We are both pretty excited!
I've got the City Advent calendar this year, my first LEGO Advent calendar.
I was a bit puzzled about how to build until I spotted the instructions on the inside of the flap.
Can you confirm that the boat does not float?
Can you build it without opening the bag though?
Never quite understood the appeal of those Advent Calendars, especially those entries like this one where it's a mini build... It's essentially pointless, has very little play value, and even collectors won't be paying that price per piece? Wouldn't people rather spend that same money on a set a kid would enjoy more, despite the absence of the advent calendar gimmick? Or get more accessory oriented calendars like the Harry Potter one last year that can complement other bigger sets?
People pay good money for 'advent calendar gimmicks', it seems.
I have a malt whisky calendar on the go this year which costs far more than a decent 750ml bottle of the stuff, yet the novelty of having something new and unknown to try -- or build in this case -- each day, is enticing.
Kids like opening presents and this is a good way to help kids behave too. ;-).
@Phoenixio said:
"Never quite understood the appeal of those Advent Calendars, especially those entries like this one where it's a mini build... It's essentially pointless, has very little play value, and even collectors won't be paying that price per piece? Wouldn't people rather spend that same money on a set a kid would enjoy more, despite the absence of the advent calendar gimmick? Or get more accessory oriented calendars like the Harry Potter one last year that can complement other bigger sets?"
I've opened the window. It's a 25 year old Speyside bottled at 51.6% ABV if you're interested...
@Huw said:
"I've opened the window. It's a 25 year old Speyside bottled at 51.6% ABV if you're interested..."
I am very interested. Can we get a review of these every day too??
@bekuehn said:
" @Huw said:
"I've opened the window. It's a 25 year old Speyside bottled at 51.6% ABV if you're interested..."
I am very interested. Can we get a review of these every day too??"
Seconded!
Thirded! :)
Hey, you got the navigation lights on properly, which is pretty important.
@Paperdaisy:
Every Advent Calendar has rudimentary instructions inside the flap. For minifigs, it's pretty straightforward. For some of the large builds, it can really help to have the model pictured somewhere on the outside of the box.
@BovineBrick:
It's a submarine. A...freight submarine. Actually, whether or not it "floats" depends on how securely you attach each part, and whether or not you trap air bubbles inside. ABS is denser than water, but not by a lot. I built one of the last classic Pirates ships in a fish tank, and in order to keep it stable on the bottom I had to submerge each piece and knock the air bubbles free before I attached it. PE parts always float, though, so the sabers were buoyant enough to carry the skeleton arms to the surface if they got knocked free.
@Phoenixio:
Exclusive minifigs, rare/exclusive parts, theme completionism, and something to do leading up to Christmas.
I went for one of these: https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/that-boutiquey-whisky-company/that-boutiquey-whisky-company-advent-calendar/
which contains whiskies bottled by a independent bottler rather than by the distilleries themselves, so is much cheaper. In my experience, though, they are usually better: not chill filtered, watered down or coloured with caramel as is usually the case with 40% ABV 'high street' brands.
I'll give you my verdict on tomorrow's City article, assuming Megan doesn't mind!
@Huw said:
"People pay good money for 'advent calendar gimmicks', it seems.
I have a malt whisky calendar on the go this year which costs far more than a decent 750ml bottle of the stuff, yet the novelty of having something new and unknown to try -- or build in this case -- each day, is enticing."
See this makes more sense to me because it is a tasting opportunity for new things, and it is not entirely spoiled by just looking at the top of the box... I guess I understand for minifigs, and accessories, as mentioned previously, but it's really those mini builds that make so little sense to me. Make an Advent Calendar out of those Collectable Minifigures series and that'd I'd see interesting kids and AFOL alike!
Hello guys, don‘t take things too seriously! It‘s an Advent Calendar from a toy company!
Enjoy it!
Love the ship build, and it could also easily be lengthened to turn it into a reasonably accurate microscale tanker
Thank you, Megan, for graciously accepting this role! Well done!
I liked that a discussion about Lego has turned into a discussion about exotic alcohol.
Fun for the whole family, then!
My wife and I have five children, all moved out now. But when they lived at home we put numbers in a hat and then took turns drawing them to see who was to open the door on that particular day. So now that my wife and I are the only "kids" left in the house, the tradition continues. Only now, with only two participants, we each get to open 12 doors. YEA! Also, the grown children each get a calendar for their homes so the play goes on. Leg Godt, and Merry Christmas!!!
“ It's not particularly Christmassy, but it is a nice little build.” was my 1st thought too. I specifically got last year’s advent calendar to get Christmas and winter stuff to put in my city and use the parts for MOC building. At least I got 40424 that can chip in some new winter stuff.
@CCC said:
"Nice. I've got a (DIY) beer calendar this year. Probably cost me £60 to put together before randomising the order for a daily surprise. That's what happens when the Star Wars ones go out of stock early."
My local beer store sells brown cardboard boxes of the leftovers when part of a six pack gets smashed. There are 24 mystery beers in a plain box, so last year my parents and I got one and I drew a grid with numbers 1-24 on the top to turn it into a diy advent calendar, and we had our beer tasting every night. There were a good amount of duplicates, but we tried a handful of beers we never would have gone for otherwise.
As for the set, this is my first lego advent cale dar in 20 years. I love the mini model, I didn't realize it was based on a full sized set. I know I still have the poly bags with instructions from the old one, I'll have to fish them out and put it together in parallel with this one.
@Phoenixio:
Kids would love it, if they could get their parents to drop $120 on an Advent Calendar. You know, after they were discharged from the hospital following their heart attacks from seeing the price.
On the booze subject, I was shopping a couple weeks ago, and some pre-teen boys were price-checking a sampler box of beer. Why? One of them had apparently noticed the shelf tag said “$999.99”, and there was some understandable curiosity about why a box of beer would cost a cool grand.
Cool, could LEGO be teasing a new set with this?