The turkeys have been eaten, gifts are beginning to be purchased and we’re finally entering the holiday season. For many, the lead up to the winter holidays just isn’t enough on its own, with advent calendars being the go-to way for counting down to the Christmas festivities. While we’ve covered our favorite calendars to help you celebrate in the past, LEGO’s annual releases are always one of the most notable and a huge hit with fans.
Day 24: Santa BB-8
Here it it! The day that myself and everyone have been waiting for. On this Christmas Eve, the calendar has gifted us what is sure to be the best micro build or minifigure we’ve seen so far. As the final inclusion, this wonderful Santa BB-8 comes complete with a festive hat and snowboard.
BB-8 wasn’t much of a surprise, as he was prominently featured on the calendar’s packaging. So it wasn’t so much of if we’d see the adorable minifigure, but when. And the calendar has saved the best for last!
Despite being such a relatively new character in the Star Wars universe, BB-8 has already received his fair share of LEGO releases. Aside from donning an adorable Santa hat, this is the same minifigure we’ve seen included in previous Star Wars kits. But that doesn’t make todays inclusion in the calendar any less desirable, as the Santa-clad BB-8 will go down as my favorite of the 24 gifts we’ve unveiled so far.
And that’s a wrap on the 2017 LEGO Star Wars advent calendar! We hope you’ve enjoyed our countdown to the holidays and with Christmas just hours away, hope there’s a few LEGO kits of your own under the tree!
Day 23: Sleigh with presents
Welp. It was bound to happen. After 7 straight Rogue One builds, and pretty awesome ones might I add, day 23 brings us a lackluster sleigh with presents. Comprised of just 12 pieces, today’s addition to the advent calendar is a fairly large let down.
As the first real festive build, the sleigh has no real tie in to the Star Wars universe except for its rear thrusters which give off the appearance it could fly through space. Given how wonderful the last handful of builds were, this is slightly less upsetting. But none-the-less, just about anything else would have been a better inclusion than this.
Day 22: AT-ST
Hitting a full week of Rogue One-inspired builds, today’s advent calendar inclusion brings us a micro scale model of an Imperial AT-ST. These infintry-class walkers have seen their fair share of action throughout the Original Trilogy and beyond.
The All Terrain Scout Transport stacks up to just 14 entirely light and dark grey pieces and joins a strong list of top contenders for my favorite build in the calendar. I’m extremely partial to the AT-ST, so I may be a little biased towards today’s adorable miniature recreation. Despite its lower piece count and small size, the walker manages to pack in its iconic chicken-like appearance, blaster cannon and its overall form-factor.
Articulation takes this micro build to the next level, as you’ll find both its feet move as well as the head. While it is comprised of some more basic elements, the model does put all 14 of its pieces to fantastic use in recreating the Imperial vehicle.
Day 21: Imperial Ground Crew
Today’s mystery build brings us a pretty neat looking Imperial Ground Crew minifigure. While the name wouldn’t suggest it, the fig straight out of Rogue One sports anything but a boring appearance.
With an outfit heavily drawing from other Imperial garb, specifically the Death Star Gunner and its iconic helmet, the minifigure is complete with a nice little officer pistol. The Imperial Ground Crew figure is one of the most detailed we’ve seen in the calendar, with a double-sided torso, full printing on the legs and a sweet helmet to boot.
Following day 17’s Imperial Officer, this is the calendar’s second exclusive minifigure, and a great one it is at that. This stacks up to arguably my favorite minifigure so far, with awesome printing and a slick helmet, this Imperial Ground Crew minifigure is hard to beat.
Day 20: Imperial Assault Hovertank
Day 20 brings us another Rogue One inspired build in the form of an Imperial Hovertank. In the film, the vehicles are seen throughout the city of Jedha and are used to haul stolen Kiber Crystals from the temple. Just as with many of these micro builds, we’ve seen the Hovertank once before in a full-sized kit from last year.
With 18 pieces, today’s inclusion is a little plain compared to other similarly-sized builds in the calendar. It does a fairly solid job accurately recreating the Imperial vehicle, including details like the front grills, cockpit, side-mounted blasters and Kiber Crystal storage unit.
I’m not the biggest fan of the micro Hovertank, but it’s a really solid little build none-the-less. The model does pack some interesting elements like the orange piece on top, which helps make it even more appealing, if for no other reason than just the pieces.
Day 19: TIE Striker
As a follow-up to yesterday’s phenomenal Y-Wing Starfighter, the advent calendar brings us another Rogue One-inspired build with the TIE Striker. These lesser known atmospheric variants of the iconic TIE Fighter are showcased in the film and act as ground battle fighter rather than for space travel and combat.
The Striker has a more aerodynamic design than its older TIE Fighter model and as such sports more angular and streamlined fins. We’ve seen the TIE Striker in LEGO form before in a full-blown kit back in 2016, but this is the first time designers have taken a crack at miniaturizing the model.
Today’s advent calendar inclusion does a wonderful job at recreating the Imperial Starfighter and stacks up to just 14 pieces, noticeably less than other builds we’ve seen. Despite its lower element count, this still is one of my favorites so far.
All-in-all, the TIE Striker is another excellent micro build and a great addition to my collection here. With the final days of the calendar around the corner, it’ll be exciting to see how LEGO tops the past few days
Day 18: Y-Wing Starfighter
The advent calendar has been full of terrific micro starships and builds, but today’s miniature Y-Wing has got to be the most intricate of the lot so far. These bomber-class starfighters have seen combat in the Clone Wars, all the way though the Rebellion’s fight against the empire. The Y-Wing features one of the most iconic vehicle designs in the Star Wars universe, and today’s calendar inclusion has done a wonderful job recreating it.
Comprised of just 18 pieces, this mini build features a perfect mix of gray, yellow and white elements. The included pieces are fairly diverse compared to other builds we’ve seen in the calendar so far, with some nice slopes, poles and more. This all adds up to the Y-Wing and its dual thrusters, rear-gunner turret and transparent cockpit.
Day 18’s Y-Wing stacks up to one of my favorite builds so far. The set’s designer has done a phenomenal job recreating the vehicle and hopefully as we move into the final week, we’ll continue seeing such wonderful builds.
Day 17: Imperial Officer
With what may be the first exclusive figure of the calendar, today’s build features a pretty sweet Imperial Officer minifigure. The officers have been around in the Star Wars universe since the very beginning and have gotten their fair share of screen time across the Original Trilogy and more recently Rogue One.
The officer figure is complete with a double-sided torso that makes its first appearance in the LEGO catalog. Nothing’s special with the pants here, as they’re simply plain gray elements. A fairly rare head rounds out the minifigure, which sports a pretty grumpy looking expression alongside side burns.
My minifigure collection is pretty lacking in Imperial Officers, making today’s inclusion pretty noteworthy. And the fact that the advent calendar has brought us an exclusive fig is all the better.
Day 16: Krennic’s Shuttle
And after over a week of Force Awakens-themed builds, we’re finally moving on to Rogue One with a slick black micro model of Krennic’s Shuttle. In the film, this acts as the means of transportation for the intimidating Imperial Director and supervisor of the menacing Death Star project.
As you’d expect from the shuttle’s actual design, the build is comprised of 19 primarily black pieces. Thanks to its impressive wingspan, the model stacks up to one fo the larger inclusions of the calendar so far. And just as with a large majority of the micro-scale models, Krennic’s Shuttle has also made its LEGO debut in a full set just last year.
I’m a pretty big fan of today’s build, it does a really nice job of capturing the source material’s influence and is a great little LEGO model. The wings can articular, adding an extra noteworthy feature to the little kit along with its transparent cockpit. It may not be the Millennium Falcon, but Krennic’s Shuttle is a big hit in my book.
Day 15: Snow Machine
If yesterday’s Snowtrooper wasn’t enough to get you in the winter spirit, today’s advent calendar inclusion is sure to have you thinking of snow. All in all, the seasonal non-Star Wars build is neat little build that is comprised of 19 pieces. Part-wise, the minifigure-scale snow machine isn’t the most diverse and contains mostly red elements. It complements the First Order Snowtrooper well and is a fun model to end the week.
Day 14: First Order Snowtrooper
In a fitting follow up to yesterday’s snow speeder, today’s advent calendar inclusion unwraps a First Order Snowtrooper. These cold-weather variants of the typical Stormtroopers are featured in The Force Awakens, continuing the theme through an entire week.
Like many of the minifigures included in the calendar, this too has appeared in previous sets, specifically the minifigure-scale version of the snow speeder. That being said, it’s still a really neat figure and an extra Snowtrooper for my collection is always appreciated. Today’s minifigure sports a torso with printing on both sides as well as some fairly intricate leg elements.
As far as the figure’s head goes, it is the same one included what the First Order Stormtrooper from before. In my book that’s pretty cool for consistency, but I could see some not caring for the decision.
Day 13: First Order Snow Speeder
Following what just might have been the best build of the calendar, Day 13’s micro First Order Snow Speeder just wasn’t as impressive in comparison. We’ve seen the First Order vehicle in LEGO form before, appearing in the first round of The Force Awakens kits. But today’s advent calendar inclusion makes the first micro incarnation of the ship.
This isn’t the most eye-catching or instantly recognizable model, and the fact that it only stacks up to 16 pieces doesn’t help its first impressions either. The build is comprised of almost entirely gray elements, with a few darker gray pieces scattered into the mix as well. As far as its inclusion in the Star Wars universe, you may be asking where the snow speeders were in The Force Awakens. Well the vehicle was slated to appear in the film but ultimately didn’t make the cut into its theatrical release.
While this isn’t one of the best build we’ve seen so far, the snow speeder is by no means the worst either. Interestingly enough, this is the 6th straight model from The Force Awakens, making tomorrows build even more likely to be from a different theme.
Day 12: Millennium Falcon
The Millennium Falcon may very well be the most iconic and easily recognizable starfighter in the Star Wars universe, so it was to a wonderful surprise that that’s exactly what Day 12 of the advent calendar brings us.
Han Solo’s transport of choice has most likely seen the most LEGO variants of any other vehicle over the years. There’s been micro models, midi-scale ships, minifigure-sized builds and just recently, a massive one comprised of 7,500 pieces. But despite the ship’s frequently reoccurring nature, its inclusion here in the advent calendar is still warmly welcomed.
This recreation of the Falcon stacks up to 24 elements and boy does it do the ship justice. Even though the build fits right in the palm of your hand, it’s still instantly recognizable and incorporates noteworthy details from a tiny satellite dish on top and the classic cone-shaped cockpit to a hyperdrive engine and two side-mounted escape pods. Most of the included pieces are grey, as you’d expect to find with the Millennium Falcon, but the final build still results in such a great little model.
While I’ve had a few favorite models so far, today’s inclusion sets a new high and is clearly the coolest build yet. This marks the 5th Force Awakens build in a row, meaning that’s a solid chance we’ll see a new theme of builds starting tomorrow.
Day 11: Luggabeast
If the past 6 days of builds from The Force Awakens haven’t been enough for you, today’s unveiling continues the trend with a pretty neat micro Luggabeast. Yup, we’ve return to Jakku one more time. In its debut film, the armored creature assists in BB-8’s capture before being rescued by Rey. We’ve seen the beast recreated with bricks in the past, but today’s advent calendar inclusion is the first time in micro scale.
As far as the build goes, the micro Luggabeast is definitely a standout model compared to the rest of the little kits we’ve assembled. It is comprised of 20 pieces which are all put to great use in order to create the miniature beast. The included LEGO elements here are noticeably more diverse than the other kits and features blue, a dark tan and gray pieces.
Alongside its great design and incorporated elements, the Luggabeast is a pretty posable model, something uncommon for the advent calendar’s sets. With movable head and legs, this has stacked up to be one of my favorite creations so far.
Day 10: Unkar’s Thug
Today’s build takes us back to Jakku and follows up the impressive Rey’s Speeder from yesterday with another Force Awakens minifigure. Appearing in just one set previously, Unkar’s Thug proves to give Rey and Finn quite the bit of trouble as they try to escape the sandy planet at the beginning of the film.
Despite being the exact same minifigure included in Rey’s Speeder kit, today’s inclusion is yet another chance to add the characters to your lot of figures. And just like with Stormtoopers, there are multiple Unkar’s Thug in the Star Wars universe, meaning the more in your collection the merrier!
The minifigure itself is a well-designed one as that, featuring printing on both sides of his torso as well as decals adorning the legs. The printed patterns are very well done, with an awesome sprinkling of sand covering the figure’s rugged outfit. This is all complete with a grey hood encompassing a menacing face and a pearl gold crowbar.
In the grand scheme of Star Wars minifigures, this certainly isn’t the most noteworthy character to ever get a LEGO recreation. But thanks to its detailed printing and a relatively limited release, today’s calendar inclusion is a welcomed one.
Day 9: Rey’s Speeder
With yesterday’s weapon crate build so disappointing, our hopes were high that today’s advent calendar inclusion would be a much cooler model or minifugure. And boy did Day 9 not disappoint! Today we’ve unwrapped a miniature version of Rey’s speeder as seen in The Force Awakens. This marks the second appearance of the vehicle in LEGO form, following 2015’s pretty sweet minifigure-scale kit.
The micro speeder stacks up to just 19 pieces, making it one of the more complex builds we’ve seen so far. In terms of included elements, Rey’s speeder is comprised of some interesting pieces, most notably the brownish-red bricks on its exterior. While not the largest build we’ve seen so far in the calendar, this is definitely my favorite so far and incorporates details like a transparent cockpit, twin turbojet engines.
As one of the most iconic vehicles from The Force Awakens, today’s mini model does the design incredible justice. Even with its lower piece-count, the build still captures the speeder’s eye-catching design and is one of the more instantly recognizable inclusions we’ve seen so far. If the rest of the calendar’s builds haven’t been worthy of your collection, today’s sure should be.
Day 8: Weapon Crate
Following what was a really few solid days of minifigures and micro models, today’s miniature kit stacks up to what is sure to be the least impress build in the calendar. Comprised of just 9 pieces, this is an overall lackluster build that at least arms your new minifigures with some new gear.
The LEGO Star Wars advent calendar has included variations of the weapons crate for some time now. And even though it is expected, that doesn’t make today’s inclusion any better. Hopefully come tomorrow we will see a more enjoyable build.
Day 7: First Order Stormtrooper
Yesterday brought us a pretty cool brick-built First Order transporter as seen in The Force Awakens. And continuing that, today’s surprise is none other than a fearsome Storm Trooper minifigure. While any self-respecting LEGO Star Wars fan will most likely have a variety of Stormtroopers, day 7’s inclusion is still warmly welcomed.
Not much has changed from previous releases of the First Order Trooper, as this is the same design included in the First Order Battle Pack and other recent kits. You’ll find a torso with printing on both the front and back as well as legs with their own set of decals. The minifigure’s helmet is full of detail here too, showcasing the iconic pitch black visor and mouth. Underneath, the Stormtrooper’s head is pretty standard and shows off a pretty aggressive facial expression.
Despite being one of the more frequently-included minifigures in the Star Wars universe, today’s Stormtrooper is a great figure and at the very least, will give someone for your new Resistance Trooper to go head-to-head with.
Day 6: First Order Troop Transporter
The 6th day of builds continues yesterday’s trend of models from The Force Awakens with the introduction of a First Order Transporter. As you probably can guess, the Transporter’s role in the Star Wars universe is to well, transport Stormtroopers. This also marks the first build we’ve seen on the Dark side of the Force, with the first 5 days fitting into the Rebellion or Resistance.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the transporter assemble out of LEGO bricks, as 2015’s line of Force Awakens kits showcased a pretty sweet minifig-scale version. Today’s kit, while tiny in comparison, is the best that the advent calendar has to offer so far and is comprised of 23 (almost entirely grey) pieces. For as scaled down as the Transporter is, the miniature model still manages to nail its defining characteristics.
Unlike the Blaster Cannon from day 4, the Transporter isn’t the most diverse in the elements it’s comprised of. Which is 100% alright in my book, as the micro kit has so much going for elsewhere. Hopefully going forward we’ll get more micro builds this cool!
Day 5: Resistance Trooper Taslin Brance
The 5th day of the calendar has unveiled another minifigure release. And those hoping we’d be moving away from the Rebel’s territory will be thrilled to hear that today’s Resistance Trooper build is straight out of The Force Awakens. Building the minifigure was as straight forward as ever, but finding the identity of this extremely obscure character was a tricky feat in its own right.
The journey lead me to this Reddit thread where the Resistance trooper was identified as Taslin Brance, who has one measly line of dialog in the film: “General, the Republic command—the entire Hosnian system—it’s all-gone.” This marks Major Brance’s first LEGO incarnation, with the minifigure sporting a tan uniform.
While you’ll find printing on both sides of the torso, the legs are a uniform brown. The trooper’s head also features double-sided printing with two expressions; a smirk and an angry face. Some actually may recognize that this is the same element used in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic Park sets.
The minifigure comes complete with a rifle, but you could always use yesterday’s blaster cannon if you wanted to add some extra firepower. While only the most dedicated Star Wars fans may recognize Taslin, today’s minifigure is still a solid one at that and will make a nice addition to anyone’s figure collection or Resistance army.
Day 4: Blaster Cannon
Now that it’s Monday, we’ll be taking a look at what the fourth day of the calendar has to offer. Sadly today’s model isn’t the most exciting, as day 4 packs a fairly generic blaster cannon. It’s a pretty neat build, but lacks any sort of connection to the Star Wars universe other than being a futuristic-looking weapon.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but compared to the previous 3 days of builds, this is the one I’ve been least excited about. Not every model in the event calendar can be must-have addition to your LEGO collection, but today’s it pretty lack-luster, all things considered. The most redeeming quality here is that the blaster is made of some interesting elements, so it has that going for it at least. But if you’ve got a Stormtrooper in your collection missing a blaster, this heavy duty cannon will be the perfect fit.
Day 3: The Phantom
Following yesterday’s Rebel heroine minifigure, day 3 jumps back to a brick-built model with the micro-scale Phantom ship. As a one person starfighter, the Phantom serves as a short-range shuttle craft for the Ghost and is more suited for combat than the larger vehicle. Today’s build isn’t as packed with distinctive features as the Ghost’s micro-model was, but fans of the series will have no problems identifying the starfighter.
Day 2: Sabine
Day 2 continues the Star Wars Rebels theme and introduces the first minifigure of the calendar. Sabine, a former Mandalorian warrior, joins up with the team of the Ghost bringing her weapons experts on board. As such you’ll find a pretty hefty pistol included alongside the brick-brick Sabine.
The minifigure features both printed torso and leg elements as well a double-sided head featuring two facial expressions. For this festive release, there isn’t much variance in comparison to previously assembled versions of Sabine. In the end this is a solid addition to your minifigure collection.
Day 1: The Ghost
The first day of 2017’s advent calendar is kicked off with a micro starfighter staring in the animated Star Wars Rebels series. Serving as the heroic band of rebel’s base of operations and main means of galactic travel, the starship has a fairly uniform white color scheme. This translates over to its miniature brick-built model quite well, as the Ghost stacks up to 23 primarily white and gray pieces.
The kit maintains the ship’s bulkiness and nails a lot of characteristics that make it instantly recognizable as the Ghost. All-in-all, day one’s build is a pretty sweet little model that even includes details like the ships’ signature accent colors, mini engines and a transparent cockpit.
Get your builder ready for festive fun with an out-of-this-world Advent Calendar! Kids can reveal a new mini-build for every day in December leading up to Christmas. Includes 24 separate builds in one set and a play mat to display the Jakku, Starkiller Base and deep space play scenes! Behind each door lie a galaxy of Star Wars minifigures, starships, vehicles and more! A great way to get your Star Wars fan into the holiday spirit! It’s an affordable gift for any holiday or special occasion leading up to Christmas!
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