It’s Saturday and we’re officially one week out from the big day, and beginning the final stretch of the Advent Calendar Battle. All calendars still have a shot at winning the season! Find out how the points got distributed today:
Day 18- MCU
Steve: Day 18 looks good with a surprise figure from the MCU – it’s SHEILD Director Nick Fury!
This is a unique* figure for Fury (but only because of his winter hat). The printing is crisp and clean, and my only confusion is about his accessories – not sure what the remote control he has is supposed to be operating.
It’s always great to get a figure that we don’t see on the box, and Fury is a good one.
Day 18- SW
Patrick: Rounding the final week of the advent calendar, I’m expecting some big things from Star Wars. Thankfully the week is off to a great start with our first Star Wars minifigure* unique to this set, the Imperial Interrogator Droid seen used on Grogu aboard the Light Cruiser received yesterday. Minifigure gets an asterisk here because realistically its not a “figure” per se, but it is a new design used for this in-universe robot, and is effective enough. Similar designs have been seen in both UCS Death Star iterations, but its cool to get one in a set not $499+. A spare grey syringe was also included, which is a bonus. Overall, this is a solid addition to the whole advent, as well as my Star Wars minifigure collection!
Day 18- HP
Matt: This season’s HP calendar has surpassed my expectations, at least up to now. If HP calendars from previous years are any indication, HP has a tendency to finish poorly. But so far so good.
Behind Door 18 is one of our main characters and everyone’s favorite Weasley, Ron! This iteration of the figure is unique and exclusive to this advent calendar, owing to his “not yet sorted” wizarding robe torso. We’re still playing out the Hogwarts Express scene here on the way to school. A dual sided head is included for Ron. In addition, we get a wand, chocolate frog, and collectible wizarding card tile. Today, I got Albus Dumbledore again, however, this version is different than the previous entry, with gold borders and accents! I certainly won’t complain about getting two unique tile versions of Dumbledore in the same calendar. Also, I randomly got an extra brown wand sprue today, so that’s a total of 4 wands for ol Ron. He does eventually break his wand so at least he will have some backup now. In an age where calendars have a tendency to separate fig from accessory, I’m happy HP has avoided this strategy for the most part.
All in all, a really strong figure entry here today for HP, and a solid Saturday gift.
Verdict
Today was technically the first “fig vs fig vs fig” battle we’ve seen this season, but that comes with an asterisk as SW’s entry isn’t a standard minifig. Therefore, the battle for the full two points came down to Nick Fury vs Ron. In the end, the advantage was given to Ron by the slightest of margins, considering that his torso is unique here while Nick Fury can be found in other sets (albeit, without his hat). Therefore, MCU grabs 2nd place while the SW “fig” gets 3rd.
The scores are now:
HP- 21
MCU- 18
SW- 15
To be continued…
NewfoundLUG 