Hopefully the HP and marvel ones are good, got early in case sold out, seems not so this year, even reduced in price by others and Lego!

I was gutted I missed out on Marvel last year, it looked ace. But it did prompt me to go and get Daily Bugle! Checked them out this year as I always do, and thought HP looked better and better value. Two more minifigs and for £15 plus delivery.

Hopefully, the price increases on the calendars have led to some improvements, such as Star Wars not having a 2:1 weapons rack to minifigure ratio like last year. We picked up Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and City this year. I have high hopes for GoG, especially with the success of Avengers from last year. It is based on a holiday special, so it definitely seems promising. Hoping Star Wars listened to feedback from last year, and maybe City will have some nice surprises here and there.

I love so much, reading this every year!

yeah doing gotg one.

I don't think any of the calendars sold very this year. They didn't seem to move until they hit 60% off. I can't remember that happening before mid-December.

Not sure exactly why it is. Might be the price increase, might be fatigue after years of less than thrilling calendars, or might just be a general downturn in discretionary spending.

The Star Wars and Harry Potter calendars went quickly enough but there were still piles of the Guardians calendar. Find it strange because it's the only one interesting to us and we considered it at full price.

Grabbed City calendars on discount simply as Parts packs. We've also gotten gotten the friends calendars the last few years but it looked really lackluster this year.

I know it would be tough to push past the marketing department but I really wish they would consider a reviving the straight unbranded creator calendar with mini builds that are actually festive.

I like the Annual Advent Countdown, thanks for the effort!

@GrizBe said:
" @lee1980 said:
"Hopefully the HP and marvel ones are good, got early in case sold out, seems not so this year, even reduced in price by others and Lego! "

Judging by what I've seen on shelves in stores, Marvel one seems to be selling more then the others. Is surprising they've all been discounted already though as its usually into December when they're selling the leftover ones that happens.

Don't think the HP ones are doing as well because of the JK backlash thats been happening this year. "

I too got in early and paid extortionate prices for SW and HP, I subsequently got a City at RRP to boost and order for a deal, Friends at 30% off and GoG at 20% off. Dread to think how much that is. But I started in October and I'll still be opening in January so they will last.

Last years sw advent calendar was so poor, that this year I got myself a bttf playmobil advent calendar instead.

Might see about getting a Star Wars one. I am short on weapons racks.

@ggfile said:
"Last years sw advent calendar was so poor, that this year I got myself a bttf playmobil advent calendar instead."

I've been tempted by the BTTF Playmobil calendars a few times. Not sure how much I would enjoy it, as the majority of the gifts seem to be accessories for the Playmobil DeLorean.

One year, when the Lego Calendars really don't spark any joy, we will pick up a Playmobil Nativity or Farm calender.

Thank you Brickset for making this time of the year extra special.

All I have to say is that there had better be an official Kevin Bacon minifig in the Guardians of the Galaxy Advent Calendar.

I opened my Guardians calendar a while ago and left a review, I wasn't exactly floored by the contents. Additionally, there is a distinct lack of Kevin Bacon.

Easy joke aside, I'm curious to see what the good Capn' thinks of it - especially since he opened last year's Avengers calendar and that was pretty great.

I just can't wait to get sweater Drax and summer Vader!!!

Thank you from me as well. As a die hard HP fan, I love sharing my openings with AFOLs around the world...

... and sneaking a peek at what the other calendars are delivering too

@MLF said:
" @ggfile said:
"Last years sw advent calendar was so poor, that this year I got myself a bttf playmobil advent calendar instead."

I've been tempted by the BTTF Playmobil calendars a few times. Not sure how much I would enjoy it, as the majority of the gifts seem to be accessories for the Playmobil DeLorean.

One year, when the Lego Calendars really don't spark any joy, we will pick up a Playmobil Nativity or Farm calender."

There are two BTTF advent calendars. The BTTF one is excellent and is a diorama of the Hill valley clock. The BTTF III one looks a bit rubbish and does seem to need the Delorean.

I’m on Lego City this year.

There should be a daily mega post with links to each of the reviews so that the five advent posts don’t push all the other articles out of the front page feed

@GrizBe:
The first two HPACs were fantastic, with exclusive minifigs and printed parts, and each (mostly) forming a cohesive scene. Last year they switched to a game format. The mini models covered the first movie up until Harry gets Sorted, but other than filling out the game board they didn’t really work as a single scene. It did have five unique prints, but some repeated things that had already been covered with stickers. This year I think there are only two unique prints, excluding minifigs. There just may not be enough to draw interest, especially at MSRP.

I do (or did) see lots of online chatter about not buying HP products ever again, but I don’t see evidence of this at public shows. People of all ages still get excited about any HP stuff on the layouts, and I’ve not once had someone come up to our layout and discuss that whole controversy. Either the people who were most deeply offended and vowed to boycott her keep silent about it in public spaces, or (as is the case with lots of things), it’s a very small percentage of the populace that’s being incredibly vocal about it online.

@MCLegoboy:
And 11pm, and 1, 3, 5, and 7am Alaskan, or 10pm, and 12, 2, 4, and 6am Hawaii/Aleutian. Because the US spans six time zones, not just four.

@ggfile:
I…would almost be tempted by that. Certainly I’ll have to look up the contents, if only to sate my curiosity.

So, will you be suspending the RPotD during the countdown like last year?

@Desbug said:
"There are two BTTF advent calendars. The BTTF one is excellent and is a diorama of the Hill valley clock. The BTTF III one looks a bit rubbish and does seem to need the Delorean."

I looked up the first BTTF calendar a while ago trying to decide. The diorama looks neat, but the fact that the bulk of the display is made from unfolded cardboard was a turn off. The actual gifts were very small. Without the Delorean it was lacking. I suppose you could drop in 10300 or 21103 but that might be catastrophic to the space-time continuum.

Easy pass on the BTTF III calendar.

The biggest downside is that it's neither festive nor can the parts be reused. Even Lego Calendars struggle with the former.

@PurpleDave

I agree, the first two HPAC were great and gave alot of unique bits to the collectors, and I also I agree alot of the talk online is as you say, 'the vocal minority'. I'm just stating in personal experience that when looking in various stores the HP stuff doesn't seem to be selling as well as it once did.

Perhaps I'm just bias as I prefer various other fantasy worlds, such as the late Sir Terry Pratchetts Discworld, but I do suspect that in HP's case, the lack of sales has to be more then just franchise fatigue or the current cost of living issues when other things seem to be selling more.

@GrizBe;
It's definitely had an impact, because a lot of the boycotters sounded like they were superfans before. But they also changed the castle components from the more accurate 2018 color scheme to the original 2001 version. The Fantastic Beasts movies have been underperforming, and they're the main driver of casual purchases. So, there are other factors involved besides what's going on with the author. And the theme may actually be selling well on paper, even if retailers bought more than they probably should have.