Harry Potter Advent Calendar - Day 24
Posted by CapnRex101,
After starting at Privet Drive, shopping in Diagon Alley and travelling through Kings Cross Station, we have finally arrived at Hogwarts! I therefore wonder what might emerge today.
Let's find out and look back across the complete Advent Calendar...
Harry Potter's journey to Hogwarts culminates in the sorting ceremony and this creation nicely acknowledges that occasion, while also serving the board game which has developed on the packaging across the last 23 days! This spinner is designed to direct movement around the board and features colours representing Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, so denotes the sorting process too.
The distribution of numbers around the spinner is somewhat surprising, as Gryffindor and Hufflepuff represent steps back, while Ravenclaw and Slytherin denote forward progress. Regardless, this printed dish looks superb and the metallic silver numbers could be easily ignored, if you prefer using the spinner for selecting students' houses. Perhaps the Sorting Hat could have been included too, for complete coverage of the ceremony.
Overall - 4.5 - Combining the sorting ceremony with the gaming aspect of this Advent Calendar is ingenious and the spinner looks brilliant, but I miss the Sorting Hat.
Summary
Harry Potter arguably possesses an advantage over other licensed Advent Calendars, since Christmas is featured prominently in each book and almost every Harry Potter film. The 2021 calendar is therefore surprising, avoiding Christmas entirely and instead focusing upon Harry's first journey to Hogwarts! That decision seems strange, but has proven remarkably effective.
The coverage of Harry's journey has been excellent, providing splendid variety by shifting the focus every few days. I think expanding upon Kings Cross Station and the Hogwarts Express would have been beneficial, perhaps at the cost of Gringotts, but the selection is superb. The generous selection of nine unique printed elements is beneficial too, although these exclusive minifigures seem less appealing than those from past Advent Calendars. Also, I think Hagrid should have been included, guiding Harry on his journey.
The presence of dedicated spaces for placing each item is clever and I like the simple gaming component, which offers additional play value without significantly affecting the content. I think this collection of models and minifigures therefore looks the best when placed together, among the three licensed Advent Calendars released this year.
How do you think this Harry Potter Advent Calendar compares with its predecessors and what have been your favourite items? Let us know in the comments.
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25 comments on this article
The penultimate picture looks really impressive. I haven't got a Lego advent calendar in years but this has looked like a vast improvement over previous ones through the whole month. Really impressed, and I can see the (slightly ridiculous) gaming component being reused a lot in future to make the whole thing feel a bit more cohesive. The City one in particular lacked that.
A dreidel on Christmas Eve? It seems like it is about 18 days too late.
For each character there should be at least one book, and at least 3 wizard cards with their 3 chocolate frogs. There are days that have been a total disappointment of how poor it was and others, however, of good quality. They must balance that, one more fact, the box is usable for the board and for a poster in the room.
Whoops. I built my Sorting Dreidel wrong. I was going by the big picture on the outer box art, and figured the second Mixel stick was a spare, since the top one blends in so well with the 13+14 space.
As for the numbering, I figure it works this way:
+4: Slytherin cheats
+3: Ravenclaw is smarter than the others.
-1: Hufflepuff will let their friends go ahead
-2: Gryffindor will bite off more than they can chew.
I feel like this should've been day 1
I thought this year's advent calendar was a little weak, so was the Star Wars one. The mini builds aren't bad but I think it's a little bit lacking in the minifigure department. Getting 3 of them with the exact same body is a little lazy, so was giving Ollivander's torso to the goblin.
The first calendar had 4 exclusive minifigs, all with new prints. This one only has 2 new torso prints and they're not even that desirable imo.
I initially thought this may be one of the weaker calendars, but having opened everything in order it’s become one of my favourites this year.
Yeah I wasn't convinced about this one either but I wish I'd bought it instead of the Star Wars one
Loved this year, so much to enjoy which adds to the overall HP lego collections.
How long until Advent 2022?
Scores for the 2021 HP calendar:
2.5 / 4.5 / 4 / 4 / 4.5 / 4.5 / 4.5 / 3 / 4.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 3.5 / 3.5 / 4 / 4 / 4 / 2.5 / 4 / 4 / 4 / 4 /4 / 4.5 / 4.5
Final score: 95.5 points
76390 finished 2nd place, just a little behind the MCU calendar. The set had the lead for most of the time, thanks to its regular 4~4.5 scoring, but a 2.5 near the end and the lack of a 5 made the MCU calendar take the lead towards the last days.
@PurpleDave said:
"Whoops. I built my Sorting Dreidel wrong. I was going by the big picture on the outer box art, and figured the second Mixel stick was a spare, since the top one blends in so well with the 13+14 space.
As for the numbering, I figure it works this way:
+4: Slytherin cheats
+3: Ravenclaw is smarter than the others.
-1: Hufflepuff will let their friends go ahead
-2: Gryffindor will bite off more than they can chew."
That seems fair - the issue with the calendar then is that Dumbledore wasn't included to make sure Gryffindor are ultimately victorious.
I almost didn't buy it either, but couldn't resist not getting hp, especially on a discount. Been loving the journey element and storytelling! The game is just an extra bonus :)
@MisterBrickster said:
"Yeah I wasn't convinced about this one either but I wish I'd bought it instead of the Star Wars one
"
Agreed. I hope I can still pick this up on discount after the holidays like last year’s HP calendar...!
I barely decided against HP this year mainly due to the minifig options. Other than Griphook and the pajama boy, there was not really anything new for me. I do commend this calendar for the wealth of printed parts and the storytelling. It certainly has some strengths. I would have probably made the spinner be the day 1 build and maybe finished with a festive minifig.
@The_Toniboeh:
The calendar is arranged (mostly) in film order, and ends when they’re about to get sorted into their Houses. This is the most appropriate placement for the Sorting Dreidel. It represents the moment Harry officially became a Hogwarts student.
@Elrond:
Nearly every HPAC minifig has been exclusive at time of release. For 2019, 75964 had obviously original versions of Harry and Ron in their Christmas “letter sweaters”, and the Hogwarts Architect minifig was something that had never been done before. Hermione got a new scarf torso that remains exclusive to that set. Year 4 Flitwick was a MCF, but with his tux jacket, while this Year 1 HPAC had a Year 4 Flitwick with a vested torso that is also still exclusive to the set. McGonagall was sort of an exclusive, as she was basically the 75954 version with one less face, while Dumbledore was an exact repeat from the same set.
For 2020, the Patil twins had never been produced as characters before, and Cho Chang’s three previous appearances have all been in a Ravenclaw sweater. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all repeats last year, having appeared once each in 75948.
This year, Ron, Hermione, and Draco all have an exclusive Unsorted torso that I expect will prove very popular (especially if it remains exclusive). Dudley has only appeared once before, in regular clothes. Griphook has also only appeared once before, in his Year 7 look. Finally, Harry is another technically-exclusive minifig, on the basis that he got a regular head.
So between three years and 19 minifigs, there have been
3x exclusive characters with exclusive print
1x exclusive character with exclusive parts but no print
2x rare characters with exclusive print
1x rare character with rare print
3x common characters with exclusive prints
2x common and 1x uncommon characters with a shared exclusive print
1x common character with minor variation
1x uncommon character with minor variation
3x common and 1x uncommon characters that are straight repeats of previously-exclusive minifigs
Compared to even Star Wars, which is 11 years in, three years of HPAC have cranked out nearly the same number of exclusive minifigs (some SWACs came with two, but most only had one). Even those few that aren’t exclusive are limited to one other set. I’ve said it before, but one of the major draws for the HPAC has been the minifigs and printed tiles. The other major draw is how cohesive they’ve been. The first two were designed to form a single theme, and this one walks through the opening scenes of the first movie in order. I don’t know how long they’ll be able to keep up the quality, given the limited range of material (much of which is not Christmas-appropriate), but so far it’s been a good ride.
So was anyone else reminded of 4701? I could see a modified version of that print being used in an update of that set.
I would love to see future calendars have a gaming aspect.
@TheOtherMike:
That was a terrible set. I get that there were limits to what they could pull off at the time, but the sculpted Sorting Hat was a much needed improvement. There’s nothing about the set that really feels like that scene. Even the minifigs were all wrong back then, with occasional capes but no black robes. And people complain about current prints all the time, but that dial tile just looks bad.
A very enjoyable AC and a delightful series of reviews--this is always my favorite time of year at Brickset. Thank you very much, CapnRex!
Anyone notice there are exactly 24 spaces on the game board path?
I always enjoy LEGO games' open-ended-ness to tweak the rules and come up with your own variations for play, like should players need to always stop their movement when encountering the leaky cauldron wall?
Nine unique printed elements?! Star Wars didn't include any.
Last day was a little anti-climactic. The game dreidel should've been on Day 1-3 and would've been a nice nod to Hanukkah while also allowing play during the whole of Advent.
Yet, on the whole, it was a great AC- cool, useful builds, great pieces, wonderful unique prints, and minifigs that are updates on rare versions (albeit not as outwardly cool for the casual HP Lego fan as past ACs).
@darkstonegrey:
Counting off the days shows a slight problem in that you don’t get a minifig to walk the path until Day 2, and you don’t get places to display four of the other five minifigs. It’s nearly a week before you get a second minifig to compete with on the game, and you don’t get the Sorting Dreidel until the very last day, but it’s worth noting that the average roll will move you forward at a pace of one space per day.
For the brick wall, they don’t offer any game mechanic for how to open it, so you’d have to establish house rules on that one. A few of the other models could also lend themselves to house rules, like the minecart.
@MrClassic:
Harry Potter:
1. Privet Drive sign
2. Happee Birthdae Harry cake
3. Dudley Torso
4. Leaky Cauldron sign
5. Griphook head
6. Hogwarts ticket
7. Platform 9-3/4 sign
8. Houseless torso
9. Sorting Dreidel
I wasn’t sure about that count because I forgot about Griphook’s head, and then I wasn’t sure if any of the other minifigs had unique head prints. Interestingly, no other parts are unique to this calendar, but I’m wondering if the need to solidify these calendars so far in advance leads to any unique parts being coopted for sets that release much sooner, like the silver mugs that also showed up in _five_ other 2021 sets, most of which released prior to the Advent Calendars.
Star Wars:
1. Punt-Yoda body
2. Mandalorian torso
Again, no other first-time elements, but you did miss two unique prints. They are, of course, seasonally-locked, where eight of the HP prints can be used in everyday displays, and the dreidel top can be used in an interactive function (or to keep playing the game).
But that’s been the case all three years for the HPAC. The big draw has been minifigs and printed elements. SW has tons of vehicles that lend themselves to mini models quite easily, but I can only think of nine vehicles total from all eight HP movies, and one of those is a broomstick. And they already knocked out four of those vehicles in the first two years. Still waiting on the flying motorcycle, flying car, and Knight Bus, but they could have swapped out this year’s table for one of the rowboats and it would have fixed the awkward timing of the last few days. I’m not holding my breath on the Thestral carriages, though.
@StyleCounselor:
You’d need one or more minifigs to start playing the game, and the dreidel represents the point in the story when Harry is Sorted into his House. Putting it first would jumble the sequential order of things. They already did that by switching the last few days around, as the Great Hall table should have come on either Day 23 or Day 24, but definitely not before Draco.
@PurpleDave said:
"you did miss two unique prints."
I somehow didn't think minifig prints were included among the nine, so I didn't count the two from Star Wars either. 9 vs 2 still is a huge difference.
@MrClassic:
Yup, it is, but again, minifigs and prints has been a major selling point for the HPAC. I don’t think any other Advent Calendar has been able to match them in that regard, though Friends did have five microdoll bodies with exclusive prints this year.
The various calendars tend to focus on different things. SW had a rich array of vehicles to draw from, and plenty of opportunity for army-builders to pad out the calendar. HP barely has any vehicles, and army-building would probably be limited to centaurs and merfolk, without making new molds. SW didn’t need to pack the box with printed elements to attract buyers.
However, many of the SW vehicles have been repeated, with little to no changes, and the designers are probably growing tired of trying to pull something original out of their hats. For HP, there’s a limit to how many new printed elements they can produce before they start to repeat themselves as well. They’ve already featured two of the three big Christmas scenes, and shoehorned a tree into this year’s HPAC to give it a hint of Christmas. Three years in, they’ve already started to reinvent the HPAC, so who knows how sustainable it is in the long term? SW is into its second decade, but there’s no guarantee that HP will finish its first.
My first thought: dreidel?