By: Matthew Zwicker

Welcome to Part 1 of the LEGO Theme Throwback series, focusing on the Adventurers theme! This will be a four-part series, with each article focusing on a different subtheme from Adventurers. Enjoy!

As a kid growing up in the mid-90’s/early 2000’s, there were several LEGO themes that were important and influential to me- Castle, Pirates, Western, Harry Potter, just to name a few. In 1998, LEGO introduced a new theme- Adventurers– that would quickly become one of my favorite themes of all time.

In a pre-internet world, magazines and catalogs were the main ways in which companies like LEGO would market their products and build hype around certain themes. As a kid, I had a subscription to the LEGO MANIA Magazine, which ran from 1994-2002, before being rebranded. This magazine was essentially a kids club magazine showcasing all things LEGO- products, comics, short stories, games, contests, and more. 

LEGO Mania Magazine, announcing the new Adventurers line (Jan/Feb 1998). Image courtesy miniland.nl.

It was through these magazines where I discovered the new Adventurers theme, making its debut in 1998. The theme was centered around the adventures of its main protagonist, Johnny Thunder (initially known as Sam Grant in the UK), Dr. Charles Lightening (also known as Dr. Kilroy or the Professor), and Miss Gail Storm (also known as Pippen Reed). To date, I never quite figured out why the characters had multiple names. Perhaps it was a regional thing or quick re-brand prior to the theme’s release in North America. Or maybe LEGO didn’t know what they wanted to call the characters yet either.

Being a fan of the Indiana Jones films, it was clear to see where LEGO “borrowed” their inspiration from- Johnny Thunder evoked the iconic hero, both in appearance and setting. It wouldn’t be until much later where LEGO would eventually get the license to produce Indiana Jones LEGO sets. So for most of us kids at the time, Johnny Thunder was our Indy in the world of LEGO.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend- Johnny Thunder. Image via Bricklink.

Four distinct subthemes

The Adventurers line spanned four separate subthemes from 1998-2003- Desert, Jungle, Dino Island, and Orient Expedition. I like to think of these subthemes as the four different “theatres” in which Johnny and his crew played out their adventures. Each had their own storyline and characters, with a range of sets to offer.

One of the main attractions of this theme for me as a kid was the storyline. I really enjoyed how there was a background story which could be loosely followed in the LEGO Mania Magazine comics at the time. It provided just the right amount of spark for imagination and set the stage, allowing us to play out the details after building the sets. I think this did wonders for kids and really brought a depth to the theme. 

Desert (1998)

The Desert subtheme, released in 1998 was critical for launching the Adventurers line. With arguably the most direct connection with the Indy films, the theme centered around Johnny Thunder and the Lost Ruby. It also introduced the theme’s antagonist- Baron Von Barron (also sometimes known as Sam Sinister) and his sidekick Sly Boots (also known as Sam Sinister- don’t worry, LEGO hadn’t made up its mind yet). The Pharaoh Hotep was the “neutral” character protecting and guarding his Ruby.

Ultimately, it was a race against time as Johnny and his mates had to beat Baron Von Barron to the ruby, all the while avoiding the traps and surprises set by Pharoah Hotep himself. Each set contained portions of a tiled map that when put together, led to the location of the ruby, culminating in the themes’ marquee set, 5988 Pharaoh’s Forbidden Ruins (or The Temple of Anubis- LEGO still hadn’t figured out its names and the trend will continue- stay tuned). According to Brickset.com, the subtheme produced 25 sets, although some of these were polybag duplicates.

5988 Pharaoh’s Forbidden Ruins was the “marquee” set in the subtheme. Each subtheme would go on to have a central “big/main set” where the final storyline played out (at least, in my interpretation).

In my opinion, this theme produced some of the most fun and playable LEGO sets I’ve ever owned. It introduced some amazing new pieces that are hard to come by today. A big shoutout goes to 5978 Sphinx Secret Surprise, one of my favorites from my youth and arguably a Top 10 Personal Set of All-Time!

Printed pieces from the Adventurers- Desert subtheme. The minifigure sarcophagus cover in particular still stands the test of time in terms of intricate LEGO pieces. Images via Bricklink.

Conclusion

Although it’s hard to say, I think the inaugural Desert subtheme may be the greatest of the four in the Adventurers line, as it introduced a new story, new characters, and a new theme to LEGO fans in a big way. The climate for an Indy-inspired hero seemed perfect and the atmosphere that these sets evoked was one of mystery, discovery, and wonder- hallmarks that would go on to define the theme.

I would encourage everyone to check out the Desert subtheme sets on sites like Brickset or Bricklink. There’s still a lot to love in these sets, and they’re definitely considered “classics” by today’s standards. If you ever get an opportunity to purchase sets from this era, don’t hesitate- they’re truly awesome on display.

That about does it for Part 1 of my Adventurers Throwback series. Stay tuned for Part 2, where I tackle the next subtheme- Jungle! 

Until next time,

Matt Z.

With the battle now concluded, our reviewers share their final thoughts on this year’s advent calendars:

Stephen Churchill (MCU Reviewer): In the end, the MCU couldn’t keep the momentum it started with. Some odd choices (the BBQ and table) and questionable micro builds (Hovercarrier and Quinjet) hurt the MCU in matchups.

Harry Potter was relentless this year, with EVERY fig being unique, and by including new prints – two things no advent calendar has done before. Additionally, the board game theme really seemed to help Harry Potter, since there were no microbuilds included.

All three calendars suffered from spreading good builds across multiple days, a precedent I could do without for future years.

Patrick Barnes (SW Reviewer): If you had asked me a year ago if a Mandalorian-themed Lego Advent Calendar was a good idea, not only would I have agreed, but I probably would have stockpiled the inevitability amazing advent calendar. However, this year the calendar detailed what happens when you pull your source material too thin, while still trying to check the boxes of a conventional Star Wars advent calendar.

Automatically, the glaring inclusions in the advent this year are the 5 or so days we received weapons racks, as well as the stud-shooter targets and some obscure, mid-scale builds like the Tusken Ballista. Having a fifth of the advent dedicated to these TLG-designed builds really stung, as they took away from other builds potentially way better, or other minifigures.

And on that note, that was another department the calendar was seriously lacking in; figures. Though finishing strong as Star Wars does, the calendar (outside of IG-11, Mando, and Grogu received in the final week) is surprisingly skint on minifigures, and the ones included would arguably have been included regardless of the theming. It really lacked one more solid, pseudo-rare figure that was difficult to find otherwise; it’s probably IG-11 this year, but compared to Bespin Guards and Cloud-Car Pilots received in the past, it seems weak.

To touch on this aforementioned theming again, a huge problem I noticed this year was how many days were Imperial designed. While this qualifies for “Mando themed”, it seems super lazy to spend 10/24 days on designs that, again, would have qualified for most any calendar. The Scout was a great inclusion, but otherwise the Imperial stuff was mixed for me.

Overall, while it was a great trial run this year, I hope next year if Lego decides to release a restricted-theme Star Wars calendar, it can do the theme justice. Otherwise, I would be fine to return to a broad calendar like in the past, or even a game-style calendar like HP received this year.

Matt Zwicker (HP Reviewer): This is the third year for the Harry Potter Advent Calendar, and second year that we’ve run a seasonal “battle” (for fun) on NewfoundLUG.ca. I’m glad MCU entered the battle this year as it made each day a bit more entertaining with more points to be had.

The box art for this year’s HP calendar was a little deceiving. I didn’t expect it to perform as well as it did. I wasn’t a huge fan of last year’s (2020) calendar, as I thought they stuck to the Christmas/Yule ball theme a little too much at the expense of other great offerings from the 4th novel/film.

This year, it was refreshing to see HP not rely heavily on Christmas themes which are pervasive in each of the novels/films at some point. Interestingly, while we had a year one themed calendar in 2019, we went back to year one this time, albeit with a purpose- to build our way to Hogwarts chronologically. I did appreciate this approach and telling the story of the film through each day. That brings me to the game-board- obviously this is a value-add for kids and teens, as it gives them something to do once the calendar is complete. It also allows the builds to survive a little longer before being parted to the bulk bin. Having a designated space on the calendar box for each build was also neat, and I give TLG credit for this new idea.

That said, while the majority of the characteristics of this calendar were a plus (e.g. game board, storyline, unique figs, scale builds) there were a couple drawbacks. I think excluding Hagrid from this calendar is a massive oversight- if we’re gonna talk about the journey to Hogwarts, he is so instrumental in Year 1 especially prior to Harry arriving at Hogwarts. A white bearded, festive trench coat wearing Hagrid on Day 24 would have been the perfect ending to a great calendar. Speaking of which, HP continues its trend of finishing out calendars poorly as they’ve done in the past. The spinner device on Day 24 was a sad ending to an otherwise great calendar. I would have preferred to get this on Day 1, so we had it in our hands and out of the way- not on the “best/last” day of the calendar. Oh well.

All in all, I think I’d rank this year’s HP calendar second all time, just behind 2019 but ahead of 2020. I’ll be really curious to see where they go with next year’s calendar, and if they tackle “year two” with a game board approach. That would have a lot of potential in my opinion.

That’s it folks! I’d like to take this time to thank both Steve and Patrick for their insightful reviews and commitment to the Battle of the Licensed Advent Calendars on NewfoundLUG.ca. I hope that you, the reader, enjoyed following along with our daily matchups for a laugh, and if you have any thoughts or suggestions of your own, we’d love to hear the feedback!

On behalf of my fellow reviewers and the rest of NewfoundLUG, we’d like to wish you and yours a safe, relaxing, and brick filled holidays!

One.Day.Left. With only a single point separating MCU and SW, let’s see how the race for 2^nd plays out as we open THE FINAL DOORS of each Advent Calendar:

Day 24- MCU

Steve: For the last door, the MCU presents us The Infinity Gauntlet!

There’s not much “build” here but it looks great. The Gauntlet comes with a full sprue (4 gems) for each of the 6 colours of Infinity Stones, which is a great find. These extra gems also allow us to finally decorate the tree from day 23.

Day 24- SW

Patrick: Receiving Grogu on the 22nd meant Mando wasn’t far behind, and even better, he’s dressed up for the festive season like Grogu! The final day of the advent gives us our second exclusive, festive figure, featuring The Mandalorian in a festive, red scarf. Unlike Thor from the MCU calendar, Mando actually has this part printed on an existing torso, making it unique to this advent calendar. While this isnt the most impressive day 24 Star Wars figure we’ve received, the fact its our second exclusive figure in 3 days makes up for it. The prints are crisp and clean, and although its a bit shocking were STILL receiving an all-black head underneath the helmet, its excusable for a figure with a helmet so cool, it isn’t being removed anyway.

Day 24- HP

Matt: Well, we’ve somehow made it to the end and I have to say I’m just as surprised as my other reveiwers that HP took the victory by Day 21 this year. More on that later. Let’s see how they finish off the calendar.

Day 24 brings us….a spinner? Man, this is about as anti-climatic as it gets. The spinner is on the box, but  I was hoping to get it yesterday at the latest, setting today up for one more minifigure. But alas, we get it now. It’s too bad that the designers decided to save this for last, but I suppose the logic was now that the entire “game board” is complete, the spinner is the final thing required to “play.” I will say that it does function and I was able to get mine to spin on its top for a good 20 seconds. That said, to me, it’s a really disappointing final gift. Also, my printing on the spinner was WAY off, definitely falling under the category of a misprint.

All in all, HP is lucky it earned enough points for the overall win earlier because the last few days unfortunately lived up to previous calendars, leaving a lot to be desired. I’ll go more in depth about this in our final thoughts article later this evening, but for now, this is a definite flop.

Verdict

It’s an easy win for Mando and SW today- a festive unique minifig should always be the cherry on top of any advent calendar. In 2^nd place, MCU with the Infinity Gauntlet and healthy does of infinity stones. In 3^rd, HP, with an underwhelming gift to cap off the calendar.

As such, we have a tie for 2^nd, with the final scores being:

HP- 28

MCU- 22

SW- 22

Stay tuned for our final thoughts article to wrap things up!

There’s only two days left of this year’s battle (where did December go?) and SW is hot on the heels of MCU. Will there be a tie, or will one calendar finish alone in 2nd? Find out:

Day 23- MCU

Steve: Day 23 from the MCU is a Christmas tree.

It’s ok as far as trees go at this scale – I feel Harry Potter has done this better in previous years (spoiler: they do it better this year too).

Most disappointing is that again, LEGO has given us an incomplete build. We can see on the box this tree decorated with the Infinity Gems, but they are absent – I can only assume they are included with Day 24.

Day 23- SW

Patrick: he second-to-last day of the Star Wars advent calendar features our first official Lego model of Grogu’s bubble/carriage/hoverpram seen in the Mandalorian, until it was destroyed in Season 2. This model is a great size and has effective shaping for the Grogu received yesterday, as well as some festive red highlights to match his Christmas onesie. This isn’t totally accurate to the in-universe design, which was mostly white and tan, but some minor modifying can effectively switch this over. Overall, its a great Tibbs Eve build and will NOT be seeing my bulk bin anytime soon.

Day 23- HP

Matt: While HP took a loss yesterday, let’s see what they conjure up on the second to last day of the calendars. History tells me not to expect much, but this year has been full of neat gifts I’m cautiously optimisitc.

Behind Door #23 is a Christmas tree. Ah yes, it wouldn’t be an HP advent calendar without one, having seen two versions previously (at least we didn’t get any small shrubs/trees this year). This design is pretty neat in that it captures the roundish shaping of a tree nicely. The pearl gold star decorations are welcome, and overall I can’t knock it too much, even if I had hoped for something more on theme on Day 23. I do think it edges out the MCU tree for what it’s worth, simply because MCU is incomplete. All in all, my biggest concern is that I was expecting something else today, as alluded to on the AC box art. That means my greatest Advent Calendar fear my be realized tomorrow on the 24th…we shall see.

Verdict

With its scale and festive-colors, the hover-pram for Grogu and SW captures its second straight two points today, meaning the race with MCU will come down to the wire! In 2nd place, HP takes the single point owing to its taller, more complete tree design. In 3rd, MCU, with an incomplete and smaller tree design.

With only ONE DAY REMAINING, the scores are:

HP- 28

MCU- 21

SW- 20

To be concluded…

With HP sealing the win, the battle for second place is still close! Let’s see how all calendars finish, as we review the final three days:

Day 22- MCU

Steve: Day 22 for the MCU presents – The God of Thunder Himself, Thor Odinson!

This is a really excellent figure with a nice red scarf that gives the him a unique, festive touch. For accessories, he comes with both Mjolnir and a flick-fire snowball blast. No leg printing, although the torso printing is crisp and clean with metallic highlights. The head is dual-sided, with the “Thunder face” shown and a more happy smile as well. Sadly, I don’t think Thor is the god of “defeating Grogu in a Christmas Onesie”.

Day 22- SW

Patrick: Day 22 of the Star Wars advent calendar kicks off the final stretch with a banger; Grogu in a festive jumper and a baby carrier! This is the first festive unique Star Wars minifigure of the advent calendar and, in my opinion, its one of the better ones in recent memory for the theme in advents. Though the head is the same as the version appearing in sets over the last year, the torso and leg joint piece is brand new in red featuring a printed green scarf and a white, spotted sweater pattern. He snugly fits in the baby carrier included which is a welcomed addition, though I don’t think he was ever transported like that in the show? Either way, the carrier allows you the put him over the neck pin of any minifigure, including the IG-11 received a couple days ago. Great figure overall, its a welcomed version as only our 2nd official Grogu Minifig design!

Day 22- HP

Matt: With HP locking up the overall seasonal win, I’m curious to see if they can finish strong or limp out of the 2021 season.

Behind Day 22 is another exclusive minifigure- Draco Malfoy. Little surprised to see this particular character this late in the calendar (was hoping for a Hagrid or Dumbledore) but it’s still welcome. There is a poignant scene between Malfoy and Harry prior to entering the great hall for the sorting ceremony, where Malfoy extends his hand to Harry and offers to show him which wizards are “better” than others. Harry replies that he can tell the wrong sort for himself.

The fig is wearing the same unsorted house robes as Hermione and Ron, however they are welcome as it makes this fig unique and also gives us another set of robes should we want to create an HP moc/scene. Dual sided head and an extra sprue round off this excellent entry. However, up against the god of thunder and festive Grogu, I can’t see Draco getting any points for Slytherin today.

Verdict

Our second major minfigure battle of the season winds up with MCU and HP pleading no contest, as the festive Grogu pretty much represents the top tier gift a calendar can offer- exclusive, unique, and festive. In 2nd place, MCU gets the point as Thor has a festive element to his fig as well. In 3rd, an exclusive Draco Malfoy is still respectable even if this is now the third time the robes are used this season.

As such, the race for 2nd tightens up, and the scores are now:

HP- 27

MCU- 21

SW- 18

To be continued…

With SW out of the race, it’s down to just HP and MCU with just four days remaining. Let’s see what happens today:

Day 21- MCU

Steve: Day 21 in the MCU is another microbuild Tony’s Hall of Armour.

This is exactly what I want from a micro-build. Take just a few pieces, and instantly evoke the image of the original thing in LEGO form. This is essentially a mini-build of the full-size LEGO set, and it looks great. It’s always nice to see the micro-figs, and an extra one in the spare pieces is a nice touch as well.

Solid build, best micro-scale from the MCU yet.

Day 21- SW

Patrick: Unfortunately there’s not much to say about the Star Wars build behind door 21. A weapon rack, containing a blaster rifle for IG-11 and a phase-pulse blaster for the upcoming Mando, is provided, but otherwise there’s a few random clips and slopes that’ll soon be in bulk. While Star Wars is expecting to finish strong, it continues to drop the ball late in the game.

Day 21- HP

Matt: Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that by Day 21, HP would be where it is in the Battle. However, it’s been a pleasant surprise so far. Let’s see if they can finish the job on Day 21.

Behind the door of Day 21 is a classic staple of HP calendars- a feast table from the Great Hall. We’ve now crossed the lake and the students are awaiting the sorting ceremony.

The table works with the short to medium legged figures which dominate this calendar, and it’s a similar build we’ve seen out of past calendars. The big prize today are the great food accessories- a loaf of bread, bowl of cherries, and a rare-ish pumpkin! Anytime you get food items is a great time. All in all, another great scale entry with plenty to offer on Day 21.

Verdict

With another to-scale build plus food accessories, HP takes the top two points AGAIN, and pretty well wraps up the overall 1st place finish in this year’s Battle of the Licensed Advent Calendars! However, the story isn’t over as there is a hotly contested race for 2nd place. Stay tuned for our reviewers final thoughts in the upcoming days and see how it all plays out.

The scores are now:

HP- 27

MCU- 20

SW- 16

To be continued…

Day 20 kicks off the final week before Christmas! Every point is critical this week, as HP attempts to retain its lead. Read on to find out how it all plays out today:

Day 20- MCU

Steve: Day 20 for the MCU Calendar is a wind-up Iron Man Robot!

This is a cute build with some good parts and interesting parts use. It’s non-canon but the idea of a toy fits well with the Christmas theme.

Surprisingly, BrickLink doesn’t give this a minifigure number as it has for numerous other buildable droids (this has been fixed retroactively in the past for other buildable figures, so who knows?).

Nice build, nothing mind-blowing but solid.

Day 20- SW

Patrick: The Final 5 days of the star wars advent has begun, and it needs a miracle to pull ahead of HP and MCU. Its off to a great start, however, with this IG-11 minifigure seen in the first season of Mando! While not exclusive, the figure is rare as it only appeared in the Razor Crest otherwise. This design for Assassin Droids they’ve been using since the Super Star Destroyer is great, and adding on a clip for a backpack gun-mount is a bonus. Unfortunately, the lack of blasters implies theres at least one more weapons rack in the advent.

Day 20- HP

Matt: Entering the final week and five days of the battle, HP is in an envious positon owing to its strong showing over the past week or so. The question now becomes, will they finish with enough points to secure an overall seasonal victory?

Day 20 gives us the final of the “Big 3” and an always welcome presence in calendar and retails set alike-ladies and gentlemen, Hermione Granger! Known as the brains of the three-man operation, it’s hard to fathom where the bys would be without her in the books, films, and advent calendars.

Hermione is depicted here in a new, unique, and exclusive variant with the unsorted school robes (seen previously in this calendar with Ron). She has a dual-sided face and comes with her LEGO-signature dark tan wand (again, an extra sprue today! That’s fantastic). I always enjoyed the “short legs” version of the Hermione character, owing in part to the lovely hairpiece she often gets in the child version of the character. I don’t always feel the more teenage/grown-up versions of the character depict her on screen appearance as accurately, but this version nails it. I can’t really find fault with this fig, and more unsorted robes are key for any Great Hall/HP MOCs down the road. All in all, I can’t see Hermione getting beat today based on the other offerings, and if so, it’s another MASSIVE and timely victory for HP.

Verdict

As she is known to do in both calendar and film, Hermione comes up clutch again this season securing the two points for HP and making the path to victory one step easier for HP, and one step harder for MCU. In 2^nd place, SW gets a point with the IG-11 droid figure, previously only seen in the Razor Crest retail set. In 3^rd place today, MCU, with a really cool entry that falls victim to the presence of minifigures from the other calendars on Day 20.

With that, the overall score is now:

HP- 25

MCU- 19

SW- 16

To be continued…

Capping off the weekend with Day 19, HP has a three-point buffer going into the battle today. Can they extend their lead or will MCU come within striking distance? Let’s find out:

Day 19- MCU

Steve: Day 19 in the MCU – it’s the final run to 24!

Door 19 is a microbuild for Avengers Tower. This is the best micro-scale build so far in this calendar. Great use of just a few pieces to evoke the building from the films, including a printed element (but alas it’s not a new/unique print).

My only complaint is that the build only has one “good side”, with the back having visible anti-studs.

Overall, solid design.

Day 19- SW

Patrick: Day 19 of the Star Wars advent gives us another great micro model, this time of Boba Fett’s Firespray-31 Starship, the Slave 1. Boba’s Slave 1 was received in both 2011 and 2016 advents, though this seems to be the cleanest version with the crispest colours. The green and brown really pops, whereas most previous Slave 1s used dark red and grey, and therefore weren’t as flashy. The shaping is really accurate to the in universe ship, I think due to the use of the newer 1/4 tiles in green to round the studded edges. Overall, I’m really happy with this model, though without some prints it might have a hard time vs HP and MCU…

Day 19- HP

Matt: I’m continually impressed by the mid calendar offerings from HP, despite a few hiccups here and there. As such, they’ve forged ahead to a 3 point lead deep into the season. The question will become, do they have enough to hang on?

Day 19 gives us a Platform 9.75 archway. This is actually an impressive build for a single entry, owing to its SNOT (Studs Not on Top) design technique, not always seen in HP calendars. The build itself is not quite what I’d call “minifigure scale”, but nor is it micro, so that gives it a mid-scale designation, which is about all you’d expect out of an AC entry.

The main event though is clearly the PRINTED 2×4 Hogwarts Express/Platform 9 ¾ tile, exclusive to this calendar. With its Hogwarts crest, dark red, and gold accents, it’s another great get this season. HP continues its amazing trend of offering printed tiles in their calendars, whereas expensive, hard to find retail sets are still getting sticker sheets. That’s been a huge advantage for HP throughout the season, and I suspect it’s more than enough to get them the W here again today. Also, the complete Platform 9.75/Hogwarts Express scene is definitely poly-bag worthy (pictured below).

Verdict

HP continues to shine with a mid-scale build and printed exclusive tile on Day 19, capturing another 2 points for the calendar. The battle of the microbuilds was close, but the edge goes to MCU once again, with its microscale Avengers Tower, complete with its own printed tile. SW brings up the rear yet again, a disappointing trend for that calendar this season. HP has opened another impressive gap, and the scores are now:

HP- 23

MCU- 19

SW- 15

To be continued…

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 2^nd place while the SW “fig” gets 3^rd.

The scores are now:

HP- 21

MCU- 18

SW- 15

To be continued…

We’ve arrived at the weekend once again, and the race is still hotly contested between HP and MCU. If SW wants to stay in the hunt, they’ll need a strong showing today. Let’s see how it all unfolds on Day 17 as we usher in the weekend:

Day 17- MCU

Steve: Day 17 for the MCU sees a return of the microbuild with a micro-scale Quin-Jet.

Having been a long-time collector of the Star Wars Advent calendar, I appreciate a well-designed micro-scale build. I feel that the designers on the Marvel Advent Calendar are not quite up to the same level as the Star Wars designers.

This build has some odd gaps and questionable choices for the design of the entire rear section. It’s identifiable but that’s about all it has going for it. Compare and contrast the EXCELLENT micro-build that Star Wars provides today.

Day 17- SW

Patrick: Sticking with the Imperial faction again, day 17 of the Star Wars advent gives us possibly the best micro from the calendar thus far, Moff Gideon’s Light Cruiser! This vehicle design has existed in Star Wars for a number of years, but this is its first time ever interpreted in micro. The angles achieved with slopes are really nice towards the front and back sections, and the bridge uses an interesting design I would previously have thought was an illegal technique. Its cool, innovative micros like this that makes including them in advents worth it!

Day 18- HP

Matt: After HP’s win yesterday, they’ve changed the narrative a bit in the mid-calendar season, and I’m pleasantly surprised so far. Let’s see they can do on Day 17.

Behind the door is a trolley for carrying school gear to the Hogwarts Express, via platform 9.75. Sadly, there isn’t much of a festive or on-theme element today, as this trolley could slot in for a City advent calendar or retail set for that matter. The build is straight forward. Curiously, there were two 1×4 dark grey plates used for the bed of the trolley, in place of a single 2×4 dark grey plate. Not often will you see this sort of part usage in an official set, especially when a 2×4 would be more efficient/structurally sound. This is more of a note for the LEGO geeks among us, but certainly weird imho.

I guess the redeeming features of today’s build would be the functioning aspect (it does roll, after all) and the scale aspect. I’m only considering this now, but you could reuse the Diagon Alley wall from Day #9 as the entrance to platform 9.75, and run through it with the trolley. Might be fun for a laugh! In any event, we now have a cart to load up with previous days’ offerings, such as the wand box, book, etc. Overall, I’d probably say this falls more on the disappointing side than anything.

Verdict

With its accuracy and unique build design, SW takes a much needed two points today with its microscale Light Cruiser. In 2^nd place, HP salvages a single point due to the function/scale of today’s offering, if lacking in the festive/theme categories. 3^rd place belongs to MCU, with its identifiable, microscale Quinjet.

After the dust has settled on this Friday, all calendars are still in the thick of things, and the scores are now:

HP- 19

MCU- 17

SW- 15

To be continued…