Star Wars Advent Calendar - Day 13
Posted by CapnRex101,
A whole week of Sequel Trilogy minifigures and models was completed yesterday. I imagine the focus will change shortly since we know Prequel Trilogy items have yet to appears.
Perhaps they will commence today...
Not only are we focusing upon the Prequel Trilogy but we are returning to its very beginning, with an excellent model of the Radiant VII. This diplomatic vessel delivers Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to the Trade Federation blockade around Naboo and appeared on the first day of the first LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar! It seems accordingly appropriate that we should return to this vehicle again within the tenth Advent Calendar.
While the original model was primarily red, this example features several dark red elements that appear more accurate to the source material. The white accents are similarly authentic and I am impressed with the 1x1 round plate with bar that forms the communication array. Dark red would have been more suitable but this component is not currently available in the perfect colour. More light bluish grey remains exposed within the fuselage too, unfortunately.
Overall - 4.5 - While those light bluish grey pieces are incongruous, I am delighted with the return of the original LEGO Star Wars mini model today.
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21 comments on this article
Not that keen on this model
Love the look of SW frigates, glad to get one here
Didn't the 2011 calendar have a better version of this?
Did you notice that both ships in this column on the calendar have the same fate?
This is overdue for a System scale remake.
The first of the three gifts that aren't pictured on the box.
@PjtorXmos said:
"Didn't the 2011 calendar have a better version of this?
"
Yes, that one is the one @CapnRex101 referenced in the article as being the first gift on the first SW advent calendar. Whether it is better is completely opinion based.
Hmm, glad to see a prequel ship finally, and especially this one, but 2-3 extra parts could have completed the front to represent the cockpit area. 4.25 for me... Could have been an easy 5.
Thank you CapnRex for informing me what exactly this vessel is!!!!
This is a very nice and sweet build of that vessel.
It looks like a super soaker on steroids
@PjtorXmos:
The sensor dish is an improvement. The color scheme is a mixed bag, though. They got rid of some of the grey, but added a lot more white than you actually see on the movie screen. The physical build only has four changes that I can identify: the sensor dish, the brick it's plugged into, the entire bridge structure, and the pod beneath it.
I think the brick below the sensor dish changed solely because the dish changed. The headlight brick lets that tap sit a little lower, while the new brick holds the jiffy-pop plate up a little higher. The bridge itself looks more accurate than the original version, but the pod underneath has just enough taper that you could argue either way for cone vs round brick. It's a different take, but I don't think they've really landed this one yet.
*prequel content*
I WAKE
That being said, I don't think they managed to do the vessel justice at this scale. Good concept, bad execution.
@BulbaNerd4000 said:
"Did you notice that both ships in this column on the calendar have the same fate?"
Does that mean we’re getting a quad jumper in that column?
Also, I was just looking at the 2011 calendar, and was reminded of how amazing the gun ship was. I’m going to be making a small army of those.
And this is why I don't buy advent calendars (even if I cared about SW, which I don't anymore), the models are just too ridiculously minimal. I see what they tried to do, but the way every angle and shape is just a bit off makes the whole thing totally unrecognizable. And do they still make that silly grey part used at the core? As someone said, "this could've been the best SNOT piece ever, if it hadn't been for that socket part". Can't you just replace that socket with a stud already? (It may not help this particular "model" much, but would at least make the part far more useful)
@axeleng:
Before they made the first DWAC, I used to buy two SWACs every year. One was to build, and the other was to strip for minifigs and parts. A few years before the first SWAC, I build a giant Christmas tree that I'd always had a hard time fitting into our LUG's holiday season displays. I think it was the second year when I came up with idea for how to work the tree and the SWAC minifigs into our layouts, and I made a 1x2 park called Echo Park. It's a fairly minimal design that focuses more on the various minifig scenes within and the giant tree, but as they came out with new SWAC minifigs, I added them to the display.
I think 2016 is the last year I displayed it, because they stopped giving me new minifigs to add to it. I've already got the Santa Vader minifig in there, so I may try to figure out something else to do with the upcoming Death Star sweater (maybe the Emperor?).
Right now, though, I've been working on creating a counterpart called Hogwarts Park. I don't know that it'll continue to evolve in the same way Echo Park did, though. Last year I bought ten extra copies of the first one because there was so much stuff I wanted to incorporate into this build (in particularly, all 30 trees will be used). This year is doing a great job of recreating the Yule Ball scene, but the only stuff I've seen that I really wanted to add to the mix were the four House presents.
I agree with the Capn’s score. Instantly recognized the ship when I opened the window. Accurate model and size for being little. Man, I love that dark red color. Sorry, but I am keen on this model.
Just assembling this, but then half of it fell behind the shelf my calendar was on! I’ll have to see about that!
This is my favourite model of the calendar so far. Such a cool ship from the prequels and I actually think they did it justice in this small amount of pieces!
@TheWackyWookiee:
Just remember you can't assign it negative points for not being able to fly, since nothing else can either.
@PurpleDave said:
" @TheWackyWookiee:
Just remember you can't assign it negative points for not being able to fly, since nothing else can either."
Fair enough, but I had only dropped it. So, I wasn’t planning to.