LEGO Advent Calendars 2013, all the gifts.

Most of the web is filled with reviews and daily post of the content of the windows of the LEGO Advent Calendars. And I must confess that I also post one picture a day. I bother only those who are following me on Instagram and for some on Google+ as there is a great LEGO community there.

This year, I tried to post pictures linked to each other following the City calendar. We did the City and Star Wars calendars. Both of them comes with a display. But the Star Wars calendar mixes micro-scale vehicles with characters, so all the items are not consistent to be laid down on the same display. Besides, the City display has a better Christmas Spirit design. So I set the scene on the City display, showing also the Star Wars gift and including it when appropriate.

Those are the pictures of each day of the 24 windows content. This post will be of course updated each day until December 24^th.

Day 1 : Policeman and Astromech droid.

The Droid is supposed to be labelled R5-F7. It is the individual Astromech droid of Lieutenant Lepira who was killed on his Y-Wing  during the assault on the first Death Star. From my point of view, there are so much astromech droids so I don’t really care about their label.

Day 2 : Fireplace and Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer

Every year, there is a fireplace in the City Advent Calendar and this year, it does come early. Well, it suits right with the policeman and his cup of coffee.

The Star Wars gift was unrecognized by many. This is Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer, or at least this is how it is named as we saw it at the end of Episode II after the battle on Geonosis. This is a Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop. I think it was pretty challenging to design this ship at this scale and the designer did a pretty good job.

Day 3 : Dog and FA-4 Pilot Droid

It is usual to see a dog with every police series. But I think that it is the first time that dog is a dalmatian. And that is great to provide some variety.

The FA-4 is a model of pilot-droid and such a droid piloted Count Dooku’s solar sailer. It is a nice follow-up to the starship provided the previous day.

Day 4 : Snowman and Zam Wesell’s airspeeder

Finally, we have a snowman in the City Advent calendar. There wasn’t any last year, nor the previous year and there is always one in the Friends calendar. Even last year’s Star Wars provided a snowdoid… So this is a nice item even if we can criticize the parts chosen and the final design. I would have preferred more curved pieces.

The micro-scale Star Wars vehicle is identified as Zam Wesell’s airspeeder. Even if Zam Wesell owned such a speeder, the model is a Koro-2 Exodrive airspeeder. It may look disproportionate but I think the designers did a good job. As a flying vehicle, the kids love it.

Day 5 : Barrel of stuff and Twin Pod cloud car.

I really didn’t knew how to label the gift from the City calendar. Well, we know that a firefighter and a burglar will come later, and in this cask, we have all the accessories of those main characters in this theme : handcuffs for the policeman, axe for the firefighter and crowbar for the Hobbit. Sorry, for the burglar. Not the best gift from this calendar. We can notice that the design was already used for a similar barrel of stuff in the 2011 Star Wars LEGO calendar.

We all know the Storm IV twin-pod cloud car also known as Bespin’s Cloud Car. The ongoing criticism about this model is the choice of the color. Bespin’s Cloud cars are supposed to be orange, not red. But a from a concept art from Ralph McQuarrie may be interpreted as a red vehicle. My criticism goes on the shape but at this scale, it is difficult to keep the angular shape.

Day 6 : burglar and Rebel Trooper

As we had a policeman in the City calendar, we surely awaited a burglar, robber, thief or whatever you’ll name him. And this one is really good as he comes with 1 extra cup, 1 extra cap and 2 extra scarves. Usually, LEGO provides a crowbar with robbers, just as they do provide handcuffs with policemen. And they are in this calendar, we got them yesterday.

From the Star Wars calendar, here is a Rebel Trooper in his Endor outfit. Those folks are usually named Rebel Commandos. A little surprise comes with this one: he comes with two faces. I don’t remember having a minifig in an Advent Calendar with two faces. This is because the head is a reuse of Boromir from the Lord of the Rings series.

Day 7 : Table and weapons rack

From the City calendar, we got a table. This may be disappointing because this is a really simple design, but face it, that is also why this table is great. This design can fit in any lodge or winter village. Of course, we can expect a bench or stools in the next days.

Every year in the Star Wars calendar, we have a weapons rack, so here it is today. It contains one of every blasters available, all 3 size. This may be a boring gift but I think that this is the best design so far.

Day 8 : Christmas feast appetizers and Republic Gunship

Today, we have something to put on our brand new table. Lets say that this is the Christmas Feast appetizers. I don’t really know how define this otherwise. We had 2 bottles, 2 glasses, 2 of the green cherry that I suppose should be olives, 2 chicken thighs and a pizza. Nothing awesome but great accessories.

From the Star Wars Calendar, the Republic Gunship is a nice micro-vehicle. But some may be disappointed as this model was in the calendar 2 years ago, exactly the same.

Day 9 : bench and Acclamator I-Class Assault Ship

As I said, we should have expected a bench some day. Here it is today. The design is exactly the same as the table and both fit perfectly. But we only got a 4-pieces bench which is really disappointing. I really think that they should have included two of them.

The Acclamator I-Class Assault Ship is another micro-scale vessel looking close to its successor, the Imperial Star Destroyer. We had one Star Destoryer last year and the designs are very similar. Unfortunately, I really think the missed the back if the assault ship.

Overall, I think that this is the most disappointing day so far concerning both calendars.

Day 10 : Firefighter and Clone Trooper

So, we got two minifigures today. The firefighter from the City calendar is the first feamal minifigure from this calendar. She comes with a fire extinguisher and holds a sausage in barbecue thongs. Yesterday, we had only the 4 pieces for the bench, today, we have enough spare parts to build a second fire extinguisher, two extra set of thongs and two extra sausages. Just enough for the policeman and the robber not to be jealous.

On the opposite, the Clone Trooper comes like the Rebel Trooper, all alone. We do have a gun for him on the weapons rack, but I think that having a nice sausage next to the fireplace would be far better.

Day 11 : Barbecue and AT-TE

Of course, sausages need to be cooked and the fireplace is not the proper place for that purpose. So right after the woman comes the kitchen. Sort of… It is funny to see that it is the woman who holds the things to be cooked. So this is the barbecue today. With its flame, we understand why the firefighter brought a fire extinguisher. Oh, and we got another sausage today.

The AT-TE is a new micro-model. This one does have a nice design. I agree it is far better than last year’s AT-AT. There are some extra pieces among which a gun. This is the one that comes with Jango Fett so we can save this one for him as he is coming on the 24^th

Day 12 : Christmas Tree and LAAT/c

I will make an exception today to my usual pictures layout. I’ve tried to be creative and unfortunately, the final image is not at its best as a square image.

So, today, we had the awaited Christmas Tree in the City calendar. Ok, it is not true, we where not waiting for the Christmas tree as there is one every year and now we have plenty of them. But I must admit that not everyone is doing the calendars every year. This tree really looks like last year’s tree with a better top. We have the ornaments except the star at the top. No doubt it will come tomorrow.

The best for today came in the Star Wars calendar with the Low Altitude Assault Trasport/Carrier also known as the Republic Dropship. The micro-scale model is accurate and the shape of the ship is exactly what we may expect. But what makes today a great day is that the AT-TE we got yesterday can be attached to the carrier. So we can easily recreate the assault scene from Episode II. Here is the dropship landing on my picture above the Christmas Tree.

Day 13 : Impossible Astronaut and Battle Droid

There is really something whovian in the design of the City Advent Calendar. Right after the Christmas Tree, last year, we had a magic wand and stairs. The and meant to be put at the top of the Christmas tree. This year, we had another wand (actually 3 of them). But instead of the stairs, we have an… Astronaut. This one is supposed to fly to the top with the wand.

Coming to the Christmas Tree celebration from the Star Wars calendar, a simple Battle Droid. Even if you got 2 extra arms, the droid is unarmed. But he can choose any weapon left from the weapons rack we had several days ago.

Day 14 : Christmas presents and Geonosian Starfighter

Once we have a fully decorated Christmas Tree, it is time to set some presents next to it. In today’s window, we have two big presents. Not the most exciting but still necessary for a LEGO Advent Calendar.

The Star Wars Calendar is much better with the Nantex-class territorial defense Starfighter, simply known as the Geonosian Starfighter. The specific design of this tiny starfighter is nicely captured even if the smooth curves are missing at this scale.

Day 15 : Race pilot and Geonosian Drone

Because he comes with some tools, today’s character is also labelled as a mechanic. As a race car may be expected and we’ll not have another such character, he certainly is both. The object coming with the character is uncertain at this point but soon you will figure out what it is.

The day after the Geonosian Starfighter, here comes the Geonosian Drone. This is the minifigure who acted as a pilot of the Geonosian Starfighter (7959). It is a welcome addition to a Geonosian army, but wait, he is unarmed…

Day 16 : Tires and weapons rack

So, right after the mechanic/pilot, we have some tires and an oil/fuel drum. LEGO did the same setting last year so we will not be surprised to discover a kart or something like that tomorrow.

Our Geonosian Drone would not have stayed unarmed for long. With this second weapons rack, we have a geonosian sonic gun and a blaster.

Day 17 : Go-kart body and Naboo royal cruiser

First, we got the final part of the go-kart, its main body. Of course, yesterday’s wheels are meant to be attached to the kart. We can also confirm that the strange object we got 2 days ago with the pilot is the kart engine and exhaust. Now it is time to assemble all this stuff together.

The Naboo Royal Cruiser is a J-type diplomatic barge. The overall design of the starship leaves no doubts about its nature. But because of its size, it lacks the majesty of the movies.

Day 18 : Kid with remote control and Imperial Biker Scout

Finally, in a Christmas themed LEGO City box, we have a kid. This one does have a cool torso. He comes with a remote control but we still don’t have anything to control. Never mind, we have also plenty of spare antennas so lets make him control the droids 😉

The Imperial Biker Scout could be a boring minifigure in an Advent Calendar. Especially since he is not coming with a bike. But this is the new version only available in the Ewok Village Set (10236), so, it’s cool to get our first one with this design. I guess more of you will get others this Christmas 😉

Day 19 : Toy planes and Separatist shuttle

It is not Christmas yet, but we got our first toys in this calendar. Well, if you don’t count yesterday’s remote controller. From my point of view, those planes are not controlled by the kid. They could, but as there is no other remote controller (even if we nearly have enough spare parts), I prefer to see them as scale models.

We already had a Sheathipede-class transport shuttle last year. The two models are different and we can notice that this year’s design is similar to the LEGO set 8036 Separatists Shuttle. To be honest, this one is a slightly better model than the Lapiz Cutter from last year. Maybe last year is too compact compared to this one, especially concerning the main wing.

Day 20 : Toy fire boat and Jedi Starfighter

We can feel that Christmas is close now as we got another toy in the City Advent calendar. This is a nice fire boat which can nicely fit in the pond on the scenery. We know that LEGO advent calendars are close to their current sets and indeed, the fire boat is really similar to the one in the LEGO City Set 60005. The race boat drivers are the same as our kart pilot.

From the Star Wars calendar, we also got a mini model. I made a mistake on the picture, this starfighter is known as a Jedi Starfighter, not interceptor. I made that mistake because the model is a Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor. Of course, at the first sight, it is a nice model but the color choice also make this model look like a Battlestar Galactica’s Viper Mark II.

Day 21 : Train toy and Jango Fett’s Slave 1

And here comes another toy. My son really expected this one. This train is really nice. It comes with a locomotive and a passenger wagon. The way the used the ice cream piece as the steam is very clever.

Following the Jedi Starfighter, this is Jango Fett’s Slave 1, announcing the Fett focused gifts. Slave 1 design is exactly the same as the one from the 2011 calendar except the color scheme, which was Boba’s green and red. It is an overall great model, even if there is an empty space behind the cockpit canopy and the wings are hard to turn between landing and flying position.

Day 22 : Mini Excavator and kid Boba Fett

Today, we got the build my son was waiting for since he saw the cover, the mini excavator. The is a great mini model and I have to agree with him, certainly the best from this calendar. It is designed to be a remote controlled toy and you can grab a sausage with it. So lets try it out, but under the supervision of the firefighter, always ready with her fire extinguisher.

But beware, another impish kid came today. Jango Fett’s son, who is supposed to be young Boba. Already holding his father’s pistols. Those are the extra from the AT-TE and the excavator.

Day 23 : Sleds

The two last windows from the City and Star Wars calendars are usually not a surprise, we know their content. So, today, in each calendar, we had a sled. From the City calendar, it is a pulling sled as this year, we have nothing to attach it to. From the Star Wars, it may be jetpack powered !

It is a little bit tricky to introduce them in our calendar story. Lets just say that while everybody is enjoying the new toys, those appeared under the watchful eye of the snowoman…

Day 24 : Santa Clause and Santa Fett

This is our last window. Of curse, we knew they will come today. Santa Clause from the City Calendar and our special guest, Jango Fett, from our Star Wars calendar. Here they are with their sleds full of gifts. And of course, poor Santa who have to pull his one while Fett leave it to the thrusters of his jet pack.

Thank you for having followed this opening and have a merry Christmas !

Year 2014 : …

Come back next year for the next calendars 😉