Harry Potter Advent Calendar - Day 14

Agreed. It's a nice structure as a whole, but some small variations in the window builds would have been nice, like 4475 and 4476 flanking the symmetrical main structure in the original Jabba's Palace.

I’d love to know what scene or section of Hogwarts architecture inspired them when they designed this section.
I am starting to feel like these have been wasted days and could’ve been improved easily.

At least those three days yielded quite a few useful pieces and not just tiny 1x1s.

So I’m getting the feeling that there will be a few common elements in every HPAC:
1. Every year will include Harry, Ron, and Hermione, though they obviously won’t always be unique.
2. Every year will include at least one unique minifig, though they won’t necessarily be overtly Christmas-themed.
3. Every year will include a set of presents in each of the four House color schemes.
4. Every year will work at least one chocolate frog into the mix.
5. And every year will include at least one tree and some form of fireplace.

All of these hold true for last year’s HPAC, and so far the only bits we’re missing this year are Hermione and the presents.

Whenever I see the phrase "Chocolate Frog," I'm reminded of the Monty Python Crunchy Frog sketch.

I'm disappointed as this scene could have appeared in either of the City or Friends calendars. I agree with PurpleDave, the repetition is ruining the appeal of the HP calendar. It just feels lazy on behalf of the designers. A missed opportunity to envisage Christmas in different locations across the excellent Harry Potter source material (Hogsmeade from the Prisoner of Azkaban, Godric's Hollow from the Deathly Hallows, Christmas at the Weasley's from the Order of the Phoenix to name but a few). I live in hope that in the years to come, Lego will venture beyond Hogwarts to explore Christmas in these excellent locations that would otherwise never get a stand alone set.

It is definitely better than getting four banners in four different days. The parts are useful, and it does help make a nice scene. The formula worked well last year, and it appears we are on pace to help continue to build a scene where most of the builds can be displayable during this time of year.

@twodoors:
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who said I felt this was "ruined"? Look, when we saw the first images of last year's HPAC, I blew it off, as that was exactly my first take. Four banners, two tables, two plates of food...that's 1/3 of your calendar right there. But I was checking out the reveals every day, and two weeks in I realized it was doing something I'd never seen in any LEGO Advent Calendar, which was producing a single unified scene over the course of 24 days. I immediately chased down an HPAC to build over the last eight days. Then I bought _ten_more_copies_ because I liked some of the models enough that I wanted to use them in a build that I'm working on. I also bought two copies of the new HPAC as soon as they came out, because I could see that they were going to be making another cohesive scene.

Compare this to the SWAC. I used to buy two of those every year, to build one copy each year and to get spares of the special minifigs. But I skipped 2017 completely when they made the first DWAC, and I've only bought one copy each for the last three years just to get the PT/OT stuff (but still haven't opened any of them).

Look, you're just going to have to be okay with getting the trio each year, or not buy them. That's a given. If they're making a single scene each year, those three are so integral to the plot that I don't see how they could skip any of them. Nobody is going to complain about getting unique minifigs, but Christmas-themed minifigs don't make as much sense as they do for the SWAC/DWAC that exists outside of canon. The chocolate frog? It's _one_ piece, and it's something that they can easily slip into a different build each year (and I guarantee kids will get a kick out of it, especially if they catch on to the fact that there's always going to be one to hunt for in each HPAC). The presents, tree, and fireplace might get a bit repetitive, but they're all staples of Christmas that are pretty much required as long as they're going for a single scene each eyar. If they can avoid spreading them out over too many days, and try to come up with unique ideas each year (like the broomstick present), that's really all you can ask for.

^ Plus every year is potentially the first year for someone to receive their very first HPAC, and those people probably wouldn't perceive there to be any repetition.

@PurpleDave said:
" @twodoors:
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who said I felt this was "ruined"? Look, when we saw the first images of last year's HPAC, I blew it off, as that was exactly my first take. Four banners, two tables, two plates of food...that's 1/3 of your calendar right there. But I was checking out the reveals every day, and two weeks in I realized it was doing something I'd never seen in any LEGO Advent Calendar, which was producing a single unified scene over the course of 24 days. I immediately chased down an HPAC to build over the last eight days. Then I bought _ten_more_copies_ because I liked some of the models enough that I wanted to use them in a build that I'm working on. I also bought two copies of the new HPAC as soon as they came out, because I could see that they were going to be making another cohesive scene.

Compare this to the SWAC. I used to buy two of those every year, to build one copy each year and to get spares of the special minifigs. But I skipped 2017 completely when they made the first DWAC, and I've only bought one copy each for the last three years just to get the PT/OT stuff (but still haven't opened any of them).

Look, you're just going to have to be okay with getting the trio each year, or not buy them. That's a given. If they're making a single scene each year, those three are so integral to the plot that I don't see how they could skip any of them. Nobody is going to complain about getting unique minifigs, but Christmas-themed minifigs don't make as much sense as they do for the SWAC/DWAC that exists outside of canon. The chocolate frog? It's _one_ piece, and it's something that they can easily slip into a different build each year (and I guarantee kids will get a kick out of it, especially if they catch on to the fact that there's always going to be one to hunt for in each HPAC). The presents, tree, and fireplace might get a bit repetitive, but they're all staples of Christmas that are pretty much required as long as they're going for a single scene each eyar. If they can avoid spreading them out over too many days, and try to come up with unique ideas each year (like the broomstick present), that's really all you can ask for."

G'day PurpleDave, very happy to accept your criticism and amend my comment. You most definitely not say that repetition was ruining the HP calendar - those are my words. I also accept darkstonegrey's comment that, for many people, this may be their first HP calendar, however, I stand by my comments that it will likely be their last if the repetition continues. Surely we can agree that there is an opportunity to expand advent HP calendars beyond the walls of Hogwarts and as such provide more diverse and appealing calendars to repeat buyers like ourselves?

@ForestUnicorn :
I think so? There’s a scene later in the series where the boys are all eating candy that causes them to make animal noises, and I think someone is sitting in one of the window alcoves...though I think that was in the boys dorm, not the common room. Anyways, the Gryffindor area in the movies had a lot of dark woodwork, I think, while these look more like what you’d find in one of the main corridors.

@twodoors:
I don’t really collect HP, so I’m less concerned about the repetition. However, while the scene-building is what drew me in initially, I do see a rapidly dwindling list of options for future HPACs. In fact, I expect they’re already knee deep in a Slug Club party scene for next year, and after that I don’t really know what to expect going forward. I’ve never read the books, and the movies don’t always make it obvious when a scene is Christmas-related. Book-readers will, of course, be able to pick them out due to having been fleshed out more in print.

It’s possible that they could go the SWAC/DWAC route and just switch to mini models, but there are more options available in a single SW movie than the entire HP film series. Now, we could sit here and debate it until the comments are shut down tomorrow (and even continue on until the last day’s comments close), but it won’t mean anything. In about two months, we might see the 2021 advent calendars revealed at NYTF, and anyone who doesn’t mind spoilers can pore over the contents then.

Personally, I would not at all mind seeing a Fantastic Beasts calendar at some point, though I expect it would be a lot harder to work one of those movies into this format, especially since the first two don’t even occur during winter.

@PurpleDave said:
"Compare this to the SWAC. I used to buy two of those every year, to build one copy each year and to get spares of the special minifigs. But I skipped 2017 completely when they made the first DWAC, and I've only bought one copy each for the last three years just to get the PT/OT stuff (but still haven't opened any of them)."

DWAC? I keep scratching my head on this. :( They have HP, SW, City, and Friends...is there a 5th?

Note today's chocolate frog - if you position it like the instructions state, it's not a very legal connection - it stresses the parts and makes them not fit well [you can zoom in on my shot on instagram to see what I mean - brickthirst]. I noticed that in the photos here, the frog is at a 90 degree angle, unlike the build drawing.

I don't understand the DWAC abbreviation either.

@vjl:
Disney Wars. And the frog appears to be positioned exactly as shown in the instructions for my calendar. It’s sitting on the left stud and facing directly to the right, which is the only position that is a legal connection. The perspective shot makes it a little tricky to tell if it’s looking to the right or out the window, given how dark the part is. Black lines don’t show up well on reddish-brown, but with good lighting you can see enough of the line depicting the outline of the frog’s head to sort it out.

Well, however good the builds, people will be able to get quite a bit of tannage out of this calendar!

I quite like the small builds in this year's HPAC. I get the impression they were designed to go with the Clock Tower set. At least that is where mine will live, post Christmas.