Harry Potter Advent Calendar - Day 1

Looks like a nice minifig but that poster certainly is sweet, they could've put it with a few brown bricks to make a "wall" and spread out the advent specials but they couple it with a minifig, which is cool.

Can someone with a better memory than mine remind me why The Weird Sisters deviates from the source material, and if so, then what is it a reference to instead? Edit: as others responded below the deviation is only that the poster in the movie didn't include the band name, not that there was a different band in the movie.

4.5 waaaay too high for this re-release, notwithstanding the fair to so-so accessories.

I think 4.5 is fair as the Yule poster really bumps this up IMO.

Commenting the Friends item I mentioned that a single hair brush was a bit weak to come with the minidoll of day 1. I didn't want to spoil it, but it was in comparison with HP minifig which is today delivered with a beautiful printed tile and a minibuild. Good start compared to Friends IMO.

@Huw said:
"A minifigure and an exclusive printed tile is well deserving of 4.5 if you ask me..."

Agreed.
I would argue the minifigures are the most attractive elements of any Lego advent calendar. Besides, not everyone will have the clock tower set.

This will be the only Yule Ball set a lot of fans, both young and old, get, so I think including the trio makes perfect sense. With the addition of a splendid printed tile AND a side build with useful, not too common parts, I would think this was a 5/5. If you already have this fig you can still use the torso to make other attendees to the ball, like Fleur's partner Roger Davies, or Neville. The value included is unprecedented; just think of Star Wars were you get almost nothing but repeat figs and none to one accessories.

@CCC:
People use the wands, and the wands on their sprues, for all kinds of things in MOCs. These, more than the original design, are prone to breaking loose, so a steady supply of fresh wand sprues is probably welcome by some people. They also get chewed up really badly when you're trying to put them in a minifig's hand. They're PE, so considerably softer than ABS. PE gear, like rowboat handles, are already more likely to get cut marks as it is, but the knob at the bottom has an odd shape to it. If you don't orient it properly, it resists being pushed into a minifig hand even more than normal. So, again, a steady supply isn't a bad thing if you want to keep them looking good.

What they really need to do is redesign the minifig hand to incorporate a hint of the geometry they used in those awesome C-clips. U-clips had the same problem, where sometimes a PE bar would insert cleanly, and other times it was like trying to push it through a brick wall, only to find two little dents in the material when you turned it around.

As for the score, remember, it's not just scoring the minifig. You have to consider the mini model that they packed in extra. SWACs for several years didn't even give you any accessories with the minifigs, instead making you build a weapons rack (or a lightsaber hearth) before you had anything for the minifig to hold. Last year's HPAC gave all six of the regular minifigs wands, but that's it. What other Advent Calendar minifig has included a multi-piece model on the same day? Sure, it's not much of a model on its own, but it came with a minifig. As I said, this isn't the only non-unique minifig in HPAC 2020, so scores may reflect that more with a repeat minifig that comes with nothing but a quartet of wands.

@J0rgen:
Unless they delve into Fantastic Beasts at some point, I expect every HPAC, and every HP CMF wave, will include some version of those three characters. And polybags will skew heavily towards Harry. It's like a sampler platter at a restaurant. You don't skip the basic stuff just because most people have already tried it before. If they want something different, there are stand-alone meals aplenty to choose from. But for someone who has never been there before, a sampler platter is a great way to get a sense of the greater menu without having to commit to anything specific.

And yes, since this is only the second Yule Ball set from this run, it likely will be the only version many people get. I only got it because last year's HPAC was the first Advent Calendar I've seen that formed a cohesive scene, where my first impression of it was that the whole thing seemed incredibly repetitive with lots of models that had low piece counts.

A Harry figure and side build? I’m kinda jealous after opening day one of last year’s Harry Potter calendar and only getting Harry.

The side build was a nice surprise, as were the two wand sprues! I love that printed Yule Ball tile and considering that the minifigure only appears elsewhere in a $90 set, I think we're off to a fantastic start.

Sorry to hear there will not be a "Battle of the Licensed Advent Calendars" That was the daily comment I most looked forward to. Sure it is subjective and opinions will vary, but it was fun. Besides, we got both this and Star Wars this year, so we can't lose! A 4.5 sounds appropriate. The extra wands will eventually get used somewhere. A printed tile is always welcome, and the parts to the small table are useful. Harry's torso and pants can be used to create another minifig in a formal outfit if you already have this one. This is a very good start.

@AgentR2:
HPAC 2019 has a shocking number of unique minifigs, including that version of Harry Potter. The only problem is, one of the trio wasn't in that scene, so they appear to have picked the outfit she'd been wearing in the scene immediately prior.

That said, they might not all stay unique. There was at least one SWAC that got a unique minifig which ended up in another set later on. Only the Christmas-themed minifigs seem to have any guarantee of exclusivity.

@stevesheriw:
Indeed, Harry's torso would work for a white tie event, and another torso from this year would work equally well for a pirate.

Harry's legs should be regular, not short! I could understand it with the sets from the first two parts, but with the Goblet of Fire it bothers me.

@MusiMus said:
"Harry's legs should be regular, not short! I could understand it with the sets from the first two parts, but with the Goblet of Fire it bothers me."

They're not short, they're the new medium ones ^^ In the current HP theme, the main kids all have short legs for movies 1 and 2, medium legs for movies 3 and 4, and normal legs for everything after that. And since Harry's still just fourteen here (or the character is, at least; due to an extra year's gap between CoS and PoA in real life, the actor would likely have been slightly older), it makes sense to me that he's not as tall as an adult yet.

Which, I guess, means that your average Lego minifigures tend to grow into regular legs once they hit fifteen years of age!

@BionicleJedi said:
" @MusiMus said:
"Harry's legs should be regular, not short! I could understand it with the sets from the first two parts, but with the Goblet of Fire it bothers me."

They're not short, they're the new medium ones ^^ In the current HP theme, the main kids all have short legs for movies 1 and 2, medium legs for movies 3 and 4, and normal legs for everything after that. And since Harry's still just fourteen here (or the character is, at least; due to an extra year's gap between CoS and PoA in real life, the actor would likely have been slightly older), it makes sense to me that he's not as tall as an adult yet.

Which, I guess, means that your average Lego minifigures tend to grow into regular legs once they hit fifteen years of age!"

Ok, my mistake, legs are medium. Nevertheless, I think that Harry Potter was already an older teenager in "The Goblet of Fire", while his minifigure looks for 8-10 years old in my opinion. In my opinion, a better solution would be to use these medium legs for sets based only on the first two parts.