It’s that time of the year again! Welcome to the annual Jay’s Brick Blog Advent Calendar countdown! If you’re new to this, I will be counting down the 2016 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar on this very post here.
Update: Click the link if you’re looking for the 2017 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar countdown post!
I’ll be updating this post every day with the contents of each window, as we count the days to Christmas! I don’t really fancy putting up a new post each day and clog up my entire blog feed (and the inbox of my subscribers), so be sure to check in everyday to see what we get!
I’m opening each window up as I go, and have (mostly) been able to stay spoiler-free so this is hopefully as exciting for you as it is for me!
Update: I’m also doing a countdown for the 2016 LEGO Friends Advent Calendar in a separate post if you would like to follow that one too!
Spoiler warning! I live in Australia, and we’re generally ahead of most of the world, so if you don’t want each day’s surprise to be spoiled, look away or come back when you’ve opened your window!
This is a look at the front and back of the Star Wars Advent Calendar box. There are plenty of spoilers on what you can expect, which I had hoped that the design team would tone down. Eh, maybe next year.
To make it easier for you to check out each day’s section, as this post is going to grow longer with every new window, all you have to do is click on the Day you want, and you will instantly jump to the corresponding section.
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Day 1 – Slave 1
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Day 2 – Bespin Guard
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Day 3 – Tie Interceptor
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Day 4 – Imperial Navy Trooper
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Day 5 – Hoth Turret
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Day 6 – Snowtrooper
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Day 7 – Snowtrooper Snowman
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Day 8 – P-Tower
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Day 9 – Hoth Rebel Trooper
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Day 10 – Venator-class Star Destroyer
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Day 11 – Armoured Assault Tank (AAT)
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Day 12 – Droid Gunship
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Day 13 – Battle Droid
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Day 14 – Obi wan’s Jedi Starfighter
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Day 15 – Tantive IV
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Day 16 –
E-3POU-3PO -
Day 17 – Gonk Droid
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Day 18 – Jabba’s Palace
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Day 19 – Luke Skywalker
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Day 20 – Desert Skiff
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Day 21 – Stormtrooper
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Day 22 – Imperial Landing Craft
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Day 23 – Ice Hockey Sleigh
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Day 24 – Snow Chewbacca
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Final Thoughts on the 2016 Star Wars Advent Calendar
I recommend bookmarking this post to check back each day, as I will be continuing to post other things throughout December. Alternatively, you can also access it from the home page by clicking this link on the navigation bar. If you’re on mobile, you have to expand the burger menu (the button with the 3 lines) to find it.
Don’t forget to also subscribe if you’d like to be notified of other posts & reviews. You can also follow the Jay’s Brick Blog Facebook page, where I’ll be updating it daily at the end of the day to avoid accidentally spoiling people!
If you’re new here and in the mood for all things Christmas, why not check out my review of this year’s Winter Village set – the Winter Holiday Train!
Like previous years, the front flap can be folded out to create a nice little playmat where you can arrange each of the day’s build under a backdrop of Tattooine, Naboo and Hoth.
If you’re new to Advent Calendars, be very, very careful when opening each door. They’re made of cardboard and can easily tear if you force them open too strongly.
The instructions for the Star Wars Advent Calendar LEGO models are printed on each door. Some of them are easy to follow, but sometimes they can be pretty tricky and you’ll have to study the diagram quite hard to ensure that you’re building the models correctly.
The instructions for the Star Wars Advent Calendar LEGO models are printed on each door. They’re fairly easy to follow as most builds are only made up of a small number of pieces.
Without further ado, let’s kick off the 2016 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar!
Day 1
Day 1 of the 2016 Star Wars Advent Calendar gets off on a flying start with a model of Boba Fett’s Slave 1, one of the most beloved ships in the Star Wars universe. Slave 1 made its first appearance in Empire Strikes Back and is known for its unique “clothes iron” shape.
The Slave 1 model is designed quite well and captures the general shape of the ship. The use of dark green elements and dark red slopes are also right on the money and I love that they’ve gotten the curved bottom of the ship mostly right. The gap in the front is a little distracting but it doesn’t detract from the overall look.
Here’s how the actual Slave 1 actually looks like.
Here’s how Slave 1 looks in its upright “flying position”.
The instructions were rather tricky to figure out, and I think younger builders might get stumped trying to figure out where everything goes so I took this photo above which should help highlight how all the pieces come together.
Lastly, here are the spare parts!
Looks like we’re off to a fantastic start – it’s always nice to get an Original Trilogy ship, especially one that’s so loved by Star Wars fans! Check in tomorrow for Day 2!
Day 2
Day 2 of the Star Wars Advent Calendar brings us a really cool minifigure – a Bespin Guard from Cloud City! Together with yesterday’s Slave 1, it seems like we’re getting started with a whole series of Cloud City models and builds. Think of Bespin Guards as Cloud City police.
As the first minifigure of this year’s Advent Calendar, I’m quite happy with the Bespin Guard, although I think he will appeal more to hardcore Star Wars fans as it’s an unnamed character. That said, the Bespin Guard is rather rare – he’s made an appearance in the UCS Slave 1 (albeit with a different face) so it’s awesome to be able to get him in such an affordable set.
I like the printing on the Bespin Guard’s torso, both back and front – it’s quite subtle and not too loud. I also really like his cool blue hat.
I’m not a fan of his choice of weaponry. He comes with a gun (and a spare) which don’t feel particularly Star Wars-y since they’re not traditional blasters. LEGO sometimes use them as fuel nozzles.
I guess that comes in handy when the Bespin Guard is called upon to refuel the Slave 1! Anyway, that’s all for Day 2! Check back in tomorrow to see if we get another Cloud City build!
Day 3
The good guys are nowhere in sight in this year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar! Day 3 brings us a TIE Interceptor, a speedy and maneuverable starfighter that was employed by the Galactic Empire to hunt down pesky Rebel ships.
The TIE Interceptor is instantly recognizable by its sharp, arrow-shaped profile, which sets it apart from the blockier and more hexagonical TIE Fighters.
After building it, I really liked the overall look. The wings can be adjusted slightly to alter the TIE Interceptor’s shape, and I was very pleased to get a printed cockpit glass dome! It’s been awhile since we’ve gotten a printed piece in a Star Wars Advent Calendar, and this one just manages to enhance the Interceptor’s look so much more.
What I didn’t like was the colour inconsistencies on the wing clips. No idea why LEGO couldn’t standardise the clips and use dark grey instead of a distracting mix of dark and light grey. Also, the model doesn’t really stand up on its own well, so you may need to build some sort of stand to display it properly.
Here’s a look at the actual model of the TIE Interceptor (via Wookiepedia).
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened Day 3’s window and saw the instructions as it was pretty complex – I don’t recall any other Star Wars Advent Calendar builds being this complex! If you thought Day 1 was tricky, this takes it to a whole new level. Here’s hoping younger builders don’t struggle too much with it.
My tip on getting the TIE Interceptor build right is to focus on the wings. Here’s a photo of all 4 wings, and their corresponding bars/clips that attach to the underside. If you can match this image above, that’s almost half of the work done.
Also, here’s a look at how the clips and bars come together when you’re assembling the wing.
Here are the spare parts that you get! I was quite happy to get another neck brace piece (the one on the far right) which is a really useful piece for building or minifigures. 
So that’s it for Day 3 so far! The TIE Interceptor is a neat little build, but I’m hankering for some good guys or Rebels! Check in tomorrow to see if we manage to even the scales or if the Galactic Empire continues its dominance in the 2016 Star Wars Advent Calendar.
Day 4
Day 4 of the Star Wars Advent Calendar brings us yet another nameless minifigure – an Imperial Navy Trooper. They’re usually found working on Star Destroyers or the Death Star and are quite easily recognised thanks distinctive black helmets.
Like Day 2’s Bespin Guard, the Imperial Navy Trooper minifigure is quite rare, having only made an appearance in 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer making this yet another great addition for Star Wars collectors. The downside, is that for most casual Star Wars fans, he may not be as appealing as a named character.
I really like the Imperial Navy Trooper’s highly detailed torso, which also has back printing. It’s a really cool, rather neutral black uniform that can be used for all sorts of other applications and the printing is nice and sharp too.
He comes equipped with a proper blaster, yay!
All in all, I’m very happy with the Imperial Navy Trooper – he’s an excellent minifigure with a really cool hat. The fact that he’s also a rare minifigure makes it all the better. But really, his hat is just dope.
C’mon, we really need some Rebels in Day 5!
Day 5
Yay something Rebel-related! Too bad, it looks kinda lame. Day 5 has us building a micro-scale DF.9 Turret that you may recognise defending Echo Base in Empire Strikes Back.
Remember these?
The build is a little too simple for my tastes, although I did enjoy the fact that you build the base of the turret upside down. The rest of the “snow” details are achieved with white cheese slopes and a solitary triple slope. You can swivel the Turret around, but that’s the extent of what it does.
It’s a little boring and in my opinion, way too small to be interesting. I would’ve really liked a micro-model of the Echo Base doors like the ones in the Assault on Hoth set.
Looks like Day 5 is our first real dud, so I had to make the group photo a little more fun by turning the TIE Interceptor and Slave 1 into balloons. Here’s hoping that we get an AT-ST or AT-AT in Day 6’s build, so the Turret has something to shoot at and isn’t all on its own!
Day 6
What’s this, another minifigure? Hurrah! Day 6 gives us a Snowtrooper, further bolstering the Galactic Empire’s presence in the Advent Calendar. Day 5’s turret has something to shoot at, which is nice.
The Snowtrooper has been a staple in Hoth sets, most recently being seen in 2016’s stinker of a “UCS” set, the Assault on Hoth. The only difference is that this version doesn’t come with the fabric “skirt” seen in those other versions.
It’s not a bad minifigure, in fact the printing is rather detailed and I’m glad that he comes with a blaster rifle. Not a fan of his grey g-string being visible on his pants though…
Here’s a look at the Snowtrooper’s back. He has back print, but it’s mostly obscured by his backpack, which has a printed tile.
We even get a spare printed tile AND another neck piece!
I’m really loving the Star Wars Advent Calendar so far, we’re a quarter of the way into it and there hasn’t been any particularly shabby builds. Check back tomorrow to see what Day 7 brings!
Day 7
Today, we get a build which contains some nice little surprises – a Snowtrooper snowman! Brick-built Snowpeople are a bit of a fixture in City Advent Calendars, so it’s nice to see that we’re getting a Star Wars-flavoured one.
The Snowman is pretty cute and is made out of some rare-ish parts. I like the white “pot” piece that’s used as the base, and the deal breaker here is the Imperial Pilot Helmet, which makes its first ever appearance in White!
I was pretty surprised to get it, as I’ve only ever seen this in grey. Super cool of LEGO to unexpectedly drop a rare (for now) colour variant into the Advent Calendar! The model also comes with a stud-blaster which fires off snowballs. It adds a little bit of playability, but it’s quite flimsy especially if you want to fire it.
Not too bad for Day 7, although I’m starting to miss some vehicles! Check in tomorrow to see if we get another Hoth-inspired ship or vehicle!
Day 8
Day 8 gives us a bit of a head scratcher! It took me a while to figure out what this was, but I’m fairly sure that it’s a P-Tower! One of the laser cannons employed by the Rebels outside Echo Base to defend against the Imperial onslaught of AT-ATs and AT-STs.
The build is nothing to shout about, but it captures the look of the P-Tower really well. It’s just a little boring. There is a handlebar at the back of the P-Tower, possibly for some Rebel to grasp. But we don’t have a single Rebel minifigure. Perhaps this is a sign of what’s to come on Day 9!
That’s all for Day 8! Check in tomorrow to see if we finally get a Rebel character to slow down the Imperial offensive!
Day 9
As I predicted, Day 9 brings us a Hoth Rebel Trooper! He’s a familiar face, making an appearance in this year’s Assault on Hoth set. He’s got a really nice face, with a healthy crop of facial hair, including a very impressive ‘stache. He’s outfitted in typical Hoth Rebel Trooper attire, and the printing is nice and sharp.
It’s not the most exciting minifigure, but for Star Wars army builders (especially those of you who are working on Hoth scenes), generic troops are always a good thing.
Here’s a look at his back printing. I also like the Rebel Trooper’s helmet, which allows you to affix the eye goggles in two different positions. As you receive a spare, you can also put both on at the same time for maximum dorkiness.
Combined with Day 8’s P-Tower, the Hoth Rebel Trooper is able to threaten the Snowtrooper!
So that’s it for Day 9 so far. I’m getting tired of these structures and generic minifigures and am hankering for another ship build!
Day 10
Wish granted! Day 10 delivers a micro Venator-class Star Destroyer and it is a thing of beauty. I believe that this is the first time that the Venator has appeared in any Star Wars Advent Calendar, and the designers have absolutely nailed the ship.
The dagger-shaped ship is a precursor to the Star Destroyer and featured in Star Wars Episode III. As soon as I built it, I immediately knew what it was, a testament to the overall design of the micro-scale ship. The use of grey slopes to recreate the Venator’s unique shape was a brilliant one and the dark red tile helps make it instantly recognizable as well.
The only thing I really dislike are the thrusters at the back, which in my opinion are a little too long and large, throwing the delicate balance of the ship off ever so slightly. If they were half as short, I think they’d be perfect.
Day 10 is my favourite day so far out of this year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar, and I am really loving nearly everything about it this year. Check in tomorrow to see if Day 11 manages to keep up the momentum of what seems like the best Star Wars Advent Calendar yet!
Day 11
LEGO are really killing it with the micro-models in the 2016 Star Wars Advent Calendar. Day 11 has us building an Armoured Assault Tank which you may remember being employed against the Gungans in the Battle of Naboo in Ep I: The Phantom Menace.
These tan-coloured hulking tanks were manned by droids, and have a distinctively organic look thanks to all the curves on the tank. As a kid watching The Phantom Menace, I always thought these were very inspired by the Protoss from Starcraft.
Anyway, the AAT is a great model, and just like yesterday’s Venator, the micro-scale tank is instantly recognizable. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of elements contained in this model. It’s not as challenging as some of the previous builds, but I’ve added a photo of the top part of the tank above to help younger builders get a sense of how it all comes together. The orientation of the brown brick might take awhile to get.
One of my favourite things about the AAT build is that the design allows for the top half to swivel, very much like the actual vehicle! Combined with the ability to adjust the grey “nozzle” guns at each side, it gives this small but very well designed model a lot of extra playability that you wouldn’t normally expect from something this tiny.
We’re almost at the middle point of the Star Wars Advent Calendar, and at the rate that this calendar is going, I really don’t want it to stop!
Day 12
We’re at the halfway point of the Star Wars Advent Calendar, and I feel like we’ve hit our first real speed bump on Day 12. I’m generally not that big a hater of the prequel trilogy (except for Episode 2 and Jar Jar), but I just can’t make myself like Day 12’s Droid Gunship.
I’ve never been a fan of the original model, as it looks like a weird flattened snail with wings. The colour scheme is also drab and it just really looks like a bug that just got squashed.
In a sense, it’s rather accurate to its ugly source material, but it just doesn’t do it for me.
Sorry, but Day 12 is just not doing it for me. Here’s hoping tomorrow brings a better model.
Day 13
Here on Day 13, we get yet another Droid-related content with a Battle Droid minifigure! I kinda like these guys as I think they look kinda goofy. They’re pretty well designed, and because I don’t have the largest LEGO Star Wars collection, I don’t have too many of them – so this one gets a warm welcome into my collection.
The Battle Droid comes with a blaster rifle and some spare arms as well, which allow you to have some variety of the orientation of their hands.
So we’ve got a Trade Federation AAT, a Droid Gunship and now a Battle Droid all hanging out together. While I don’t hate any of them, I am getting weary of Droid and prequel-themed builds and am more than ready for a change of scene!
Check in tomorrow to see if Day 14 delivers something new!
Day 14
We’re still in prequel territory in day 14 with Obi Wan’s Jedi Starfighter or if you prefer its full name, the Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor. When I was first assembling the model, I had initially thought that it was an A-Wing, but as the shape came together, it started to resemble the Jedi Starfighter.
You could call it a regular Jedi Starfighter, but I’d like to think that this one specifically belongs to Obi Wan.
The model’s design is pretty true to the original starship, and I like how sleek it looks. The dark red slopes on the side also looks nice, but I’m not a fan of the exposed studs on top of the model.
It’s pretty basic, but it’s nice to see LEGO pay homage to what is probably the most unforgettable UCS Star Wars sets ever – 10215 Obi Wan’s Jedi Starfighter. Also, I’m really glad that we seem to have progressed from Droid-related builds!
I’m a big fan of the micro models of the Star Wars Advent Calendar, so I’m still pleased with today’s model, despite it being tainted by the prequel’s legacy. Looking forward to see what we get tomorrow – today’s build has me feeling optimistic again!
Day 15
Day 15 brings yet another excellent micro-build with the Tantive IV, a really iconic Star Wars ship and also a fan-favourite LEGO set. I really like the build as it’s instantly recognizable and it’s very cleverly designed. It’s a little rough around the edges, with a lot of exposed studs but it’s pretty charming in a way that only a Tantive IV can be.
The ship holds a special place in Star Wars lore as the ship in which Princess Leia was on when Darth Invader infamously boards it.
The Tantive IV’s most defining feature are the massive array of thrusters powering it. We get a set of 6 on the micro Tantive, and the design is executed very, very well.
The Tantive IV is a great addition to the Advent Calendar and purist Star Wars fans are definitely going to love the fact that we’ve left the prequels for A New Hope. It looks like the Star Wars Advent Calendar is picking up steam again! Looking forward to seeing what the next few days brings!
Day 16
Update: Looks like I was wrong with this one – it appears that this minifigure is actually U-3PO and not E-3PO as I had initally thought! Thanks to Kim & G who pointed it out!
It’s Day 16 and we get our very first exclusive minifigure from the 2016 Star Wars Advent Calendar – E-3PO U-3PO! He’s a silver protocol droid, and is within the same model series as the gold standard for protocol droids – C-3PO, which explains their similar look.
We’ve never had a silver protocol droid, so this is an amazing minifigure for those that collect them. The design is nearly identical to the newest C-3PO in terms of the torso design, but he sadly lacks arm and side-leg printing, which is a bit of a disappointment but not a complete deal breaker.
We do get back printing!
I really like the pearl silver colour of E-3PO – I think it works very well with the protocol droid. Chrome silver would’ve been sweet, but that’s a little too much o ask, in my opinion. Also, LEGO seems to have been steering clear of chromed parts. Also, We’ve had a Chrome Protocol Droid in TC-14.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate my C-3PO minifigure to photograph them side by side, so here’s a photo from Empire Strikes Back! U-3PO actually appears in A New Hope, on board the Tantive IV, yesterday’s build!
Overall, I’m very pleased with with U-3PO! Only 8 days remain in the Star Wars Advent Calendar! At the rate that we’re going, I don’t want this to end!
Day 17
More Original Prequel goodness with Day 17’s GNK Power Droid, or more affectionately known as the Gonk Droid! Making its first appearance in A New Hope, the simple, fairly junky looking droid that looks like a walking rubbish bin has quite a large fan following in the Star Wars Universe.
The Gonk Droid looks delightful, and I like the mix of brown, nougat and flesh coloured elements to give it a very rusty and weathered look. I also love that they got its cute little legs right with the ribbed texture.
It’s not a particularly challenging build (not as challenging as some of the previous ones) but I took this photo because part of the build is obstructed from view in the instructions.
All in all, I’m quite happy with two droids in a row. These were the droids I was looking for – no offence, Battle Droid.
Check in tomorrow for Day 18! Only a week’s worth of Star Wars Advent Calendar to go!
Day 18
One of the things that the 2015 Star Wars Advent Calendar did really well was to introduce micro-scale buildings and locations into the mix. I was afraid that they removed them altogether this year, so imagine my delight when I opened the Day 18 window and was greeted by this micro-sized Jabba’s Palace!
The home of Jabba the Hutt is quite apparent with the large circular dome, and the Minarets that tower up it alongside it. The tan base, and slopes are as Tatooine as they get and I’m overall quite happy with it.
Here’s a bit of LEGO Trivia: Did you know that the most recent Jabba’s Palace set generated quite a bit of controversy in 2013 when some crazy parties accused LEGO of making it so that it resembled a Muslim Mosque?
All in all, I am super happy to see the return of Micro-scale buildings! With only less than a week remaining, I’m hoping for at least one more micro-scale location before we arrive at the grand finale!
Day 19
Now we’re talking! In Day 19 of the 2016 Star Wars Advent Calendar, we get the man himself, Luke Skywalker in his Jedi Master outfit from Return of the Jedi. Return of the Jedi was a massive movie for me growing up, and when we get introduced to Luke who has undergone his Jedi training in his new black outfit and green lightsaber, my mind was just blown away by how bad-ass he was.
This is a pretty uncommon minifigure, having only made an appearance in the recent Death Star Set and the Death Star Final Duel, both of which are pretty pricey sets. The fact that you get the best and most updated version of ROTJ Luke in the Advent Calendar is an awesome present in itself.
The printing on his torso, front and back is great and he has a double-sided face too. His right arm is black instead flesh-coloured, as he has a robot hand as a result of daddy slicing off his hand at the end of Empire Strikes Back.
You can’t not love the Jedi Master version of Luke Skywalker. I’m thoroughly delighted with the contents of Day 19 – now that we have a Jedi and a lightsaber, it really feels like a Star Wars Advent Calendar!
Day 20
We continue our foray into Return of the Jedi with a Desert Skiff on Day 20, the vehicle employed in the dramatic rescue of Princess Leia aboard Jabba’s Sail Barge, and also the demise (?) of Boba Fett.
I had initially thought that it was some sort Speeder Bike (if you position it backwards), but after giving it a closer look and following the theme so far, a Desert Skiff makes much more sense.
Here’s the movie version for comparison. The model is not much to shout about. I mean, I know what it is and the shape is accurate-ish – it’s just not the most exciting build since it’s so bland.
Only 4 days remain till the grand finale!
Day 21
Day 21 of this year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar gives us a Stormtrooper! It’s the equivalent of receiving a LEGO set for Christmas. Even if you’ve already got the set, you’re still mostly happy to get LEGO and you’ll find a way to fit it into your collection.
One can never have enough LEGO or Stormtroopers.
This Stormtrooper minifigure is the exact same one as the one we got in last year’s Advent Calendar and outside of Advent Calendars, this variant is fairly rare, found only in large sets like 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer, 75060 Slave 1 and 75159 Death Star.
Still the same old angry Stromtrooper face underneath and the back printing is excellent.
Want to hear a really bad Stormtrooper Christmas joke?
What’s a Stormtrooper’s favourite thing about Christmas?
… The Miss-tletoe.
Because they keep missing their targets.
Oh, God, that was really bad. Please forgive me.
Is it me or is this year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar not particularly Christmasy?
Day 22
Update: Edited this part thanks to Karl and Chris for pointing out that it’s a Sentinel Class Landing Craft instead of an Imperial Shuttle!
So my bad, I had initially thought that this was an Imperial Shuttle, but it looks like Day 22 is an Imperial Landing Craft. Now that it’s out of the way, I think my words can be kinder since it looks quite close to the original model.
It also makes sense with Day 21’s Stormtrooper since these Landing Crafts were used to transport the troopers. I’m still not sure if these ever featured in the movies, Wookieepedia says that it made an appearance in a Special Edition of A New Hope, but I can’t for the life of me remember it!
Anyway, the Imperial Landing Craft looks quite good. I like the cockpit and the wing flaps which can be used to alter the shape of the ship. I’m still not a fan of the tan plate, and I feel that it would’ve been better if it were grey to give it a more uniform look.
The back of the Imperial Landing Craft does look quite nice with the transparent blue tile!
That’s it for Day 22! Not too bad, but for what seems to be quite an obscure ship, I did expect a bit more from the 3rd last day of the Advent Calendar. It’s not a bad model by any means, but I would’ve liked something a bit more iconic.
Day 23
On the second last day of the Star Wars Advent Calender, we get a bit more of a seasonal build, an Ice Hockey Sleigh! I’m struggling to think of what Star Wars vehicle or ship this could be! My best guess is that it’s loosely based off the Imperial Troop Transport set or one of those trolleys from Echo Base, like the one we got in the Assault on Hoth set.
Either way, I’m not too hung up on the accuracy of this model, as this is meant to be a fun festive build to celebrate the Winter months, since it comes equipped with two hockey sticks, a puck and a bag to hold a pair of ice skates!
Here’s a look at the back, where we get a sack containing two pairs of ice skates.
I was also very tickled by the face on the sleigh!
Despite it being light on the “Star Wars” factor, I quite like the Ice Hockey Sleigh, mostly because it gives me the chance to set up an impromptu game of ice of ice hockey to finally settle the feud between the Rebels and the Galactic Empire.
Only one day left in the Advent Calendar… we all know what’s coming tomorrow, but let’s try to act surprised anyway!
Day 24
So here we are, the grand finale of the 2016 Star Wars Advent Calendar with one of the worst kept secrets ever – the Snow Chewbacca minifigure! The Snow Chewbacca is a special edition Christmas-themed Star Wars minifigure that ends every Advent Calendar.
Also known as the White Chocolate Chewbacca (I made this up), the Snow Chewbacca is probably an homage to the Abominable Snowman/Yeti and is the perfect way to cap off this year’s fantastic calendar.
The Albino Chewbacca is decked with festive decoration, where his bandolier (ammo strap) is painted in red and green. He comes with a snazzy new bowcaster which fires off snowballs (1×1 studs) which is always a great weapon to have. He also comes with two miniature pine trees which I thought was a very nice wintery touch and some spare snowballs.
The all-white Chewbacca also has back printing, which sees the Christmas-coloured bandolier run all the way down his back.
It’s a really fun and outlandish variant to add to other festive Star Wars characters from previous years. Snow Chewbacca would’ve been one of the main reasons that most people picked up this year’s Advent Calendar and he certainly doesn’t disappoint.
Here’s a comparison between the Snow Chewbacca and the regular Chewbacca.
Looks like everyone is pretty pleased to welcome Snow Chewbacca to the group. Just in time for Christmas Eve!
Final Thoughts
In the micro-ship department, let’s start with the Original Trilogy ships. My favourites out of this bunch is Slave 1, followed by the Tantive IV. I wasn’t a big fan of the Imperial Landing Craft, and the Desert Skiff was a pretty bad addition.
Probably not the strongest showing for Original Trilogy fans, but I kinda expected it seeing since last year’s calendar was absolutely stacked in the OT department.
For all the hate that the Prequel Trilogy gets, I think the selection of prequel ships in this year’s calendar was a lot better than the Original Trilogy. They’re all strong showings, except for the Droid Gunship. With great designs that are accurate to their on-screen counterparts, it was a nice surprise to see the Prequels get their chance to shine.
Also, my favourite ship in this calendar goes to the Venator-class Star Destroyer from Day 10.
One of the best things about this year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar is the lack of any sort of Weapons Rack or Catapults, which for years have been the bane of Star wars fans. That alone should rank this as one of the best Star Wars Advent Calendars ever.
I was kinda disappointed that we didn’t get more location-based micro-models in this year’s calendar. Jabba’s Palace was really nice, but I would’ve loved to see more especially after last year when they were first introduced. A micro-Echo Base, or even Cloud City would’ve been fantastic additions.
Special shout-out to the Gonk Droid for being as cute as ever.
This year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar really shined in the minifigure department. We got a whopping NINE minifigures in the Advent Calendar, a pretty massive jump from 2015’s 7 minifigures and I love all of them.
From exclusives like U-3PO and Snow Chewbacca, to popular named characters like Luke Skywalker, to army-builder fodder like Stormtroopers, Battle Droids and Snowtroopers, this year’s minifigure lineup is nothing short of spectacular.
The value of all these minifigures alone, more than covers (in fact, exceeds!) the cost of the Advent Calendar.
I have to say that this is LEGO’s best Star Wars Advent Calendar yet. From the very first window, the pace was almost perfect and each day managed to build on top of the previous. Apart from some blips like the Desert Skiff and Droid Gunship which I disliked, nearly every build was fun in its own way.
The best thing that LEGO did this year was remove any sort of Weapons Racks, which shows that they’ve listened to our rants in previous years about how little value they provide to the overall experience.
So yeah, very pleased with this year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar and I’m really excited to see how they top this next year. I would really like to see next year’s be Force Awakens-themed to incorporate some of the newer ships and characters from Episode 7.
Thanks to everyone that has been following this year’s Star Wars Advent Calendar countdown! It’s been an absolute pleasure documenting each day with all of you!
I really enjoyed chatting in the comments section, and to hear about your own experiences with the Advent Calendar! It’s been the best Christmas present ever and yes, you can definitely count on me doing this again next year, so I hope to see you again! I might even do the City one next year as I got quite a few requests, so stay tuned!
If you’ve enjoyed following, please feel free to stick around and read some of my other reviews or musings about LEGO as we head into 2017. It’s shaping up to be yet another exciting year for LEGO and I’ll be writing as much as humanly possible.
Do check out some of my other LEGO Reviews if you want some light reading material. To stay up to date with the latest posts, you can subscribe with your email address in the right sidebar to receive notifications. You can also follow my page on Facebook where I update on a much more regular basis with news about LEGO. I’m also on Instagram as @jayong28 if you like photos!
Thank you once again to everyone that has been following and commenting. I hope you have an excellent holiday season and that you score plenty of LEGO as presents!
Merry Christmas!
Came across this review by accident, when I was looking up for something Lego or Star Wars related earlier (which I forgot what it was..haha!). And I’m happy to report that.. I really enjoyed reading it! And those little scenes you set up with the builds and minifigs made me smile a lot 🙂 Also, for someone who haven’t bought Lego star wars Advent Calendar in a long while (and one or two at that–can’t recall what year it was that I bought one, but it had Clone Wars clone pilot and Millennium Falcon mini build… Oh–and a crappy weapon rack and a trash bin.. so probably before this one), it was pretty informative. Looking at the number and the selection of minifigures that came with this set, I’m now more interested in what they’ve done with the Star Wars advent calendars over the years, especially in recent years. Maybe I’ll even get one for this year!.. assuming they will, and I’m not completely broke somehow. lol!
Anyway, it was really fun to read, thanks for the review Jay! 😉
Going through your Star Wars advent calendars has become a tradition on our house, though uncoupled from Christmas, December, or the current year. We did 2019, 2018, 2017, and now 2016.
Yesterday we got to Day 22 on the 2016 calendar and then had to watch the remastered New Hope to find the ship. We found it! It is in the background when troopers on dewbacks are searching the Tatooine desert for the droids. Fun to go searching for it!
By the way, these daily toy reveals have been a great daily reward to get my 6 year old to read a little every day as schools are closed with COVID-19.
Thanks for your great blog series and opinionated posts, we love to read them day by day and try to guess your reactions. :).
Thanks Jay for your continued excellent work. It’s an invaluable resource for my girlfriend who uses it to plan which one to buy next! Best so far2016! We’ll be back next year.
You’re so welcome! Can’t wait to see you next year!
yeah right
Excellent resource for this set. Great review and you are very knowledgeable. We missed getting this last year and are currently opening it each night this month!
I thought that the silver protocol droid was TC-14 from Phantom Menace.
It’s a great calendar! Hope you were happy with the Snow Chewbacca! Yeah, a lot of people thought it was TC-14 but he has a slightly different colour.
I got this advent calendar set for 2017, but it still is awesome! My favorite so far is the snowman from day 7! Nothing is spoiled even though all of the days are opened on the brickblog. I look at the next days flap when I can, but while sleeping I am so lost in my head that I forget what the next unopened flap is! Felix got the 2017 and are building each others builds! That way it’s like sharing both advent calendars!
Oh cool! 2016 was an excellent year! So great that you’re doing two years at once! That’s twice the number of models and minifigs a day!
I added the green and sloped black bit to the forward front bit to give it a finished look and now it stands up nicely. love your blog. i managed to get a 2016 and 2017 calendar, and im opening both this year ?
Oh cool! Two years at the same time, that’s a brilliant idea! Hope you have double the fun this year!
Same with me and my brother
Except I have this year’s and Teklo/KittyDiamond got last year’s advent calendar
HEY!
Thanks a lot man! I built these last year, lost the pieces and now found them! Thanks so much!,???
Very great set! I LOVE Snowy Chewbacca!
He reminds me of white chocolate!
Did you build anything with all the extra pieces like we did?
No I didn’t! I just chucked all the spare parts in my spares bin.
What did you make?
I have not finished my advent calendar yet!
Thank you again for this great blog post. I just wanted to add one suggestion to anyone wishing for an easy way to get a Vader minifigure: look for the Lego Star Wars Vader wristwatch! I found it on sale in Ontario at Shoppers’ Drug Mart, so now my 4yo has someone worthy of duelling with ROTJ Luke. 🙂
An online search led me to see that there are several other minifigure/wristwatch choices though, so if it’s some other Star Wars minifigure you’re yearning to have, try searching for the wristwatch! The watches are rather nice too, with nice clear hands and bright white numbers that look especially good on the darker background that some of them have… and the ability to size the watch “just right” is great.
So, cheers Jay and everyone else reading, and Happy (hopefully Lego-y!) New Year to one and all!
Thanks for the suggestion! Another tip is to just buy the minifigure outright from Bricklink, which is a massive LEGO marketplace that allows you to but loose minifigures.
Happy new year to you too!
Thank you for teaching me about all these wonderful things. It is so amazing how you know all these things about Star Wars. My name is Jarrod and I am 5 years old. I hope you had a great Christmas.
Hi Jarrod, you’re very welcome! I mostly just watch the movies and I’ve played a few computer games. Google also helps when I get stuck! Happy new year to you!
Thanks a million for your blog. It was great being able to enlarge the pic to see details when helping my 8 yr old son. We got busy and didn’t complete the calendar until today. Will be following you as he received Lego sets for Christmas – 75093 & 75150.
You’re welcome! I’m really happy that I could help!
Jay, well done! We have thoroughly enjoyed following you on this advent calendar journey. Thank you for taking such care each day in your postings. Looking forward to following along with you next year.
Warmly
Shannon and Max
Thanks so much for the kind words, Shannon and Max! I hope to see you back again next year! Happy new year!
Thanks for doing the blog again. It has been a good read! Agree with the droid gunship and skiff being the bottom two!
Will be checking in next year again
Thanks jay
Thanks Chris! Am glad that I could help be a part of your advent Calendar journey. Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
Thanks Jay
Once again your blog has been a great addition to the calendar.
Merry Xmas
You’re most welcome! Hope you had a fantastic Christmas!
Snowbacca and Santa Vader will have to have it out… Thanks, Jay, for doing this again. Makes me hope the next eleven months go by quickly to get your comments on next year’s offering. Quite a great service you provide.
You’re welcome! Hope to see you again sooner rather than later!
Thanks so much! I only found this blog on Day 17 (when I couldn’t figure out what the Gonk Droid was) but we’ve enjoyed it every day since.
I’m with you in hoping next year there are Force Awakens pieces – my 4yr old was disappointed that today’s wasn’t BB-8 (I knew but didn’t want to spoil it for him) and I really want Rey (female characters seem to be absent from the LSW Advent Calendars so far??)
I agree. I’ve been doing them for the last three years and there hasn’t been a single female character.
I had no idea it was that bad – I was dismayed at not finding a single female character this year, but I assumed there had been at least some on other years.
There used to be a time when Lego was the perfect non-gendered gift…
I suspect they will next year as there are more main female characters. Will write them a letter suggesting it.
A BB-8 in Christmas colours would’ve been perfect! And yes, I’d love to see more female characters, not just in the SW Calendar, but in sets as a whole. LEGO are making some headway in balancing the gender scales, but they’ve still got a long way more to go.
Hi Jay!
My wife and I made checking this blog part of the daily advent opening ritual. It was especially helpful when we weren’t sure what exactly we had just built (starting with the mysterious Blue Guard from Cloud City). Thanks for adding a layer of fun to what I’m sure will become a holiday tradition! xoxoxo, Dan & Jen
Aww, thank you so much. I’m so glad that I could be a part of your Advent Calendar experience. Hope you had an awesome Xmas!
There is white Wookie in the Star Wars universe. Tojjevvuk, son of Tvrrdko, was an albino Wookiee who was a master at freeing his fellow Wookiees from slavery.
Tojjevvuk sounds like a really bad-ass name. Thanks for sharing that, I didn’t know!
Hi Jay
Many thanks again this year for an excellent blog. I particularly like your group shots after each day. Nice touch. I agree with your summary. It has been a great calendar.
I like to think of the last one as being a white wookiee ?
Phil
Glad you enjoyed it! The group shots are my favourite part!
Hi Jay! Thanks for keeping up such a great running commentary on this year’s advent calendar. I bought the set for the sole reason that it came with ROTJ Luke, a figure I have always wanted (but no sets offered at the time). I’ve gotten back into Lego after 25+ years away, and I have several big bins of it in my Grade 1-2 classroom that all my students love.
I just bought the K-2S0 model as an after-Xmas treat for myself (my family doesn’t buy Lego for Xmas, their loss!) so I’m hoping you will take a look at it (or I can provide you with some content!)
I checked your page after posting my Instagram pics of the advent calendar every morning, in case you are looking at stats… 7:00am EDT Ontario hit every day for 24 days!
Thanks man, it’s been a blast!
Jen aka missbuster on IG if you are looking.
Hey Jen, that’s awesome! I really love writing daily and it’s a good challenge maintaining the discipline writing each day.
I’m looking to get the K2S0 model too, especially after his stunning performance in Rogue One and yes, I’ll definitely review him soon!
I just built the K2S0 figure and he’s fantastic and huge!!! Love it.
I really wish they’d do a C3PO version as well – he’d make a really awesome buildable figure.
Thank u so much jay me and my 5yo Liam really loved following your blog each day. loved it loved the advent calendar. Wishing you a merry Christmas from Ireland x
You’re welcome! Hope you had an awesome Christmas!
Thanks for the great blog! I read it almost every day after we opened our calendar doors to find out what you had commented on the surprises.
One thing that I want to point out, though, is that there was not a single female minifigure in this set. I was kind of disappointed with that, given how strongly Disney has been pushing strong female leads. And, of course, I have a daughter and would like her to see strong female characters in Lego Star Wars context as well.
Ah yes, the female representation is extremely lacking, but this is a more widespread issue that plagues not only the Advent Calendar. Hopefully next year, we’ll get Rey 🙂
Thank you for the great reviews. Loved following this each day and finding out what some of the models are!! It’s been very enjoyable calander to do. Wife did the City alongside it and it was also good especially the hockey players and equipment. Will continue to follow.
Thanks again.
You’re most welcome, Gary! I’m looking forward to see how they top this year’s. I might also do the City one next year!
Thanks Jay, my son and I have really enjoyed the advent calendar and your blog really adds to the experience. Hope you have a lovely Christmas!
You’re welcome! Hope you had a fantastic Christmas too!
Thanks for another great blog this year Jay! I think I enjoy reading your thoughts each day almost as much as the actual calender…it really wouldn’t be the same without you.
Have a great christmas! See you next year!
You’re welcome, Ryan! It adds to my overall experience too and it’s been great hearing you (and everyone else’s) thoughts on the calendar through the entire journey!
Merry Christmas!
As ever, loving your work Jay, great review! I personally love getting the minifigures and getting nine was a nice surprise. My favourite was the U3PO, the detail on the front with the coloured wires looks really cool. Have a great Christmas with your little addition and I’ll look forward to your Batman minifigure review that you teased us with on Facebook yesterday!
Thanks, Thomas! I kinda have to agree with you there, I personally liked U-3PO more than Snow Chewbacca!
Merry Christmas to you too! Hopefully it won’t take me too long to write it!
Wow. This year’s calendar flew by! We absolutely love this blog during our calendar opening, it really adds so much to it. Everyday my son face times me at work so we can open it and I read him the blog. We always disagree with you when you dislike a build, we love them all and my son just modifies them to make them better anyway lol.
Thanks Jay. Happy holidays.
Steve & Ryu.
This entire year flew by! Glad to hear that your son loved all the builds, I’m a pretty person to please, but hey, I consider this the best Star Wars Advent Calendar yet!
Happy holidays to you too! Hope Ryu got plenty of LEGO under the tree!
Thanks for everything you put into this Jay. I know its a labour of love, but its labourious nonetheless, especially with increased family commitments! Fantastic as always. My favourite this year is the Rebel Blockade Runner, for no other reason than to light a beacon of hope for Carrie Fisher. Merry Christmas to you and your family and stay safe.
You’re most welcome, Mark! Happy holidays to you and your family too!
Day 22: The Sentinel Shuttle is featured often in Star Wars Rebels. Please see a different page at the Star Wars Wikia 🙂
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sentinel-class_landing_craft
I’m new to the site but I like it – keep up the good work!
/ Regards 37 yrs old LEGO and Sci-Fi nerd 🙂
Cool! I don’t watch Rebels – the last Star Wars cartoon I watched religiously was the Clone Wars. Is it as good?
Glad you like the site! Hope you hang around!
MERRY CHRYSLER
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!
Thank you for this blog! I bought this for my 5 year old twins. Not only did it help me build some of the Legos, but you also gave the name of each one! My boys had to know the names of each one and I never would have known the names of many of these pieces. Thanks! Merry Christmas!
You’re more than welcome! Merry Xmas to you too!
Wow! What an amazing experience to read through this blog with you! You have given us a great month with your detail and pictures. My six year old and I will be back year after year. We are in the US, so I do have to keep my son from checking for tomorrow’s post the night before! Fun, fun.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Only 12 months remain till next year’s Advent Calendar! I’d love to see you back again!
I think Lego missed a trick today, with the addition of just one more skate people could have a rebel v empire 1 on 1 ice hockey game.
We’re lucky as we got hockey players in the city set
I hid the lack of extra skate with a bent leg. It turned out fine and the game was a draw. Then they went off to the rest of the gang for some Gluhwein.
https://www.facebook.com/celticon/photos/pb.268446560062.-2207520000.1482498567./10157865196045063/?type=3&theater
Brilliant
I would show mine playing, but don’t know how to post pictures
Good point! I still created a scene anyway – the Hoth Rebel Trooper has to play without skates!
Great blog on this again Jay. Thanks. My fifth or sixth year doing these advent calendars. Not especially enjoyed this one. Agree with an earlier comment that it has not been very Christmassy. Couple of the builds have been really bad – what is that skiff all about? But OTOH pretty good mini figs. I’ve just built the ice hockey “thing”. Hopefully last day will be extra cool! BTW, I think you should do a City one next year 😉 Happy Christmas everyone.
The Skiff is a bit of a blip. I think the challenge with this year’s Advent Calendar is that they’ve tried to introduce ships or models that haven’t featured in previous advent calendars. Sometimes it works (Venator) but sometimes it kinda falls flat (Skiff). That said, it’s still a big improvement over last year’s.
I will definitely consider doing the City one next year! I got burned by Friends this year, so I might just do City!
The instructions aren’t very clear, but I think that, based on the picture on the box, you’ve got the lower part of the sleigh too far forward – I think the 3×2 is supposed to be placed at the rear of the 4×2, not the front, making the hockey sticks match the length of the sleigh rather than sticking (oh dear!) out the front so much. Just reading through the comments I’ve realised I did yesterday’s wings wrong, so we all make mistakes ?
Yes. Check the rear picture on the box. Mendip, is right. 🙂
Ah right! My bad! I took a gamble with the positioning as like you said, they were quite unclear. Still looks good tho!
Thank you so much! This has been a HUGE help! My 7year old son and I have been referring to your blog everyday since I found it. Your photos and explanations of what things are is fantastic! He is so excited each day to see what surprise is next! At first I was completely lost on what some things were supposed to be. Your hard work is very much appreciated by this mommy!
You’re welcome! I’m really glad I could help with your Advent Calendar journey! At the end, both of you should know so much more about the Star Wars universe!
I’ve been make little custom bases and swapping out bricks on some of the models. It has kept me sane.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOVDLKuB4fQ/
Whoa, very cool! Thanks for sharing that photo!
Last two days ruined!! We know we are getting the sled, but snow chewbacca should help kick it up a notch for our grand finale!
I know and I really wanted more variants on storm troopers!
They should of done a bigger build over the last 3/4 days that piece together with the 24th giving you the final pieces to complete it.
Some of the single day items have been a little poor but on the whole I have really enjoyed it.
Great blog jay
Thanks! Hey, at least this year, we didn’t get any Weapons Racks… which is some sort of Christmas miracle!
Yeah, it’s a huge shame that there’s so much spoiled on the packaging! I really hope that next year, LEGO make it a bit more mysterious!
The Sentinel Class Landing Craft is in a New Hope. When the Stormtroopers find the escape pod on Tatooine I think it takes off in the backtround.
I need to rewatch it and keep an eye out for it!
Hi Jay,
My son has really enjoyed reading your reviews of this years Lego SW advent calendar. I always ask him to form his opinion before I let him look at yours though!
He just wanted to let you know that the wings on your images of todays build need to be rotated by 180 so that the vertical edge is at the back! I certainly didn’t notice and can’t believe he did!
Looking forward to tomorrow.
Nadolig Llawen from South Wales (not the ‘new’ one!)
Actually Jay has the orientation of the wings correct. If you go to
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sentinel-class_landing_craft/Legends
you will see in the schematics that the angled part of the wing is at the back. I had the same thought as your son and mounted them flipped around. It wasn’t until I saw the schematics that I realized Jay was doing it right.
When building this, I remember looking extra hard to ensure I didn’t muck it up as it looked pretty confusing. I kinda panicked when I saw Rhiannon’s comment and edited it on the go as I couldn’t check my box. After seeing the other LEGO blogs, I’m much more assured that I didn’t get it wrong. Phew!
I could’ve swore I did it correctly! Unfortunately, I’m away for the holidays and I left my box at home… but I’m pretty sure that I did it correctly. ask your son to check again!
Hi Jay – I stumbled upon your blog a few days ago and it has been very entertaining, thank you!
I thought I might offer a suggestion, if I may, regarding today’s build. I do not believe that it is supposed to be the Imperial shuttle most of us are familiar with from the film (the lambda class) but instead a larger, more elongated sentinel class shuttle which is used more as a troop transporter. LEGO made a version of this type a few years ago. Search ‘sentinel class imperial shuttle’ in Google images and see what you think.
Thanks so much for all your work!
Ah, you could be on to something. Did the Sentinel Class Imperial Shuttle ever make an appearance in the movies? That’s kinda why I was hesitant to think it was it.
That said, I checked the official description of the Advent Calendar, and you’re definitely right – it’s the Landing Craft. That makes sense since we got a Stromtrooper the day before!
Thanks for pointing that out!
You’re welcome – I don’t recall seeing it in any movie but having read your modified comment above I’ll have to watch every movie yet again (darn it!) these holidays to see if I can spot it.
There’s so many obscure creatures, characters, vehicles etc in the Star Wars universe I don’t think anyone can ever get everything right! Keep up the good work though. This is a pretty cool advent calendar, my first – but certainly not last – LEGO one 🙂 And I’m sure I’ll enjoy it even more next year now I know your blog is here, although as I live in NZ I’ll probably be a couple of hours ahead of you in finding out what is behnd each window!
Merry Christmas!
Haha, sounds like the perfect way to end the year. I had to rewatch A New Hope after Rogue One, and it was such an enjoyable watch!
Thanks for your support! You certainly picked a great time to get into SW Advent Calendars as this year’s has been the best so far in my opinion. Hopefully we get a Rogue One/Force Awakens one next year! Merry Christmas to you too!
Hi! Following your blog from China. So sad that this advent calendar is almost over! About the day 22 shuttle, I think it might actually not be the same one from Return of the Jedi – or at least not the same one you mentioned. My knowledge of Star Wars ships isn’t the strongest, but if memory serves I believe there are several variants of the same design, one having a more elongated body like today’s model. I may be wrong here, but I seem to recall seeing something that looks very similar to what’s in the calendar.
I agree with Michael. The micro model to me looked like a “sentinel-class landing craft” here is the wookie-link http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sentinel-class_landing_craft/Legends.
Yup, you’re definitely right that it isn’t the Imperial Shuttle. I’m not the most learned when it comes to Star Wars ships as well! I just had trouble remembering if we ever saw the Imperial Landing Craft in any of the movies, but apparently it makes an appearance in a Special Edition version of A New Hope!
Also, glad my blog isn’t blocked from China’s firewall!
Thou is forgiven, mortal.
Hello, there. I’ve been enjoying your daily write ups almost as much as the calendar — which has been pretty darn amazing. This is my first Star Wars Lego Advent set and I am beyond impressed. Heck, I was excited about just the minifigs that were revealed on the box (U-3P0, Snowtrooper, Bespin Guard…) I had no idea that we would be getting several surprise figs (Stormtrooper! Imperial Navy!!) as well. Dang! This set sure is A LOT of bang for the buck. So much Imperial Love! Fantastic!
One thing that nobody has talked about in the comments is how there actually are a fair number of sly Rogue One toys slipped in here. Well, ones that do double duty it would seem.
The TANTIVE IV has been discussed. But the IMPERIAL NAVAL SOLDIER and today’s STORMTROOPER both appear in ROGUE ONE. The GONK DROID is also much closer in color to the ones roving the Yavin Base, than the one on the Death Star.
Hey Mark! This year’s is definitely one of the best in terms of value. The minifigs are a LEGO Star Wars fan’s dream – if they’re not named characters, they’re perfect army builders.
I agree with the Rogue One references, but I guess that was always inevitable given its close proximity to A New Hope. It has also made me yearn for a Y-Wing (Gold Leader!) in this year’s calendar. That would’ve made the perfect tie-in!
“One can never have enough LEGO or Stormtroopers” well said.?
https://media.giphy.com/media/l41lURhUd1UZc9z0s/giphy.gif
Thought the desert skiff was a little weak, especially so close to the end. Goes well with Jabba’s barge and the sarlaac from last year, though.
Yeah, a bit of a speed bump but I mostly think that it felt weak because of how great nearly all the previous days have been. We’ve been thoroughly spoiled this year with nearly each model or minifig!
Hey Jay!
My name is also Jay commenting from Vermont! I have four little boys ages 2-7 and we have been using your blog on those confusing days when we had a hard time indentifying the advent builds. Now, here we are, four days out from the end, (grand finale?) and we are playing the guessing game. What’s left? I agree with many other posters here that there are way too many spoliers pictured on the box. That being said, it’s pretty easy to see from the box that we are still awaiting the arrival of snow Chewbacca and the small snow speeder. So,,by my math,,,, that leaves us two unknowns. My question is if any one else is curious about the black lego hand sticking up through the ice depicted on the box? Is it a real teaser? Are we the only ones hopng against hope that that black hand belongs to the evil lord Vadar himself?!!? Is that too much to hope for on an advent calendar? Regardless, this thing has just been the best thing so far this holiday season, we will year after year buy these calendars for our boys! So. Much. Fun!
I’d be real interested to hear other guesses about the last four days, my money is obviously on the easy guesses of snow Chewbecca, and a mini snow speeder. Then, I am guessing another vehicle like a ROTJ speeder bike, and lastly,,, The black hand belonging to Lord Vadar.
We are following along from Vermont as well! Happy Holidays neighbor!
I think the black hand belongs to the Imperial Navy figure…
Hey fellow Jay! It looks like the Black Hand ended up being a Stormtrooper! These are really fun and that’s why I enjoy chronicling each day. Too many spoilers, but I’ve tried really hard to avoid them throughout the year to make it more enjoyable.
I really do hope that we get some Force Awakens builds next year. We sorely need some sort of festive Kylo Ren or BB-8!
With the build today I found if you use the extra pieces you can make it more accurate, use the second short brown slope at the front and the extra grey smooth tile in the middle and then flip the brown L piece se it is at the front (Under the grey smooth) and aloth the platform is on the wrong side to me it is much closer resemblances than how Lego suggest.
With the build today I found if you use the extra pieces you can make it more accurate, use the second short brown slope (instead of the slit 2×1 Brown slope) at the front and the extra grey smooth tile in the middle and then flip the brown L piece so it is at the front (Under the front grey smooth) and all though the platform is on the sticking out on the wrong side to me it is much closer resemblance than how Lego suggest to build.
**corrected my terrible spelling**
Good fix! I just think that it’s a challenging vehicle to shrink down to such a small scale. They probably did the best they could with the limitations they had!
If you compare it to the Lego skiff rather than the actual one from the movie then it makes more sense.
Good point! The movie skiff is a little too tan to easily make that connection.
This is the second year we have followed your blog from day one. I, like you, am a little underwhelmed by day 20, and disappointed that the packaging gives away so many surprises.
I just want to say thank you, as the calander is a special gift from relatives in Germany (we are in the UK) your blog is used to inform, as we show them what we get each day, as well as giving us a pleasant read and help with the more difficult builds.
Thanks for your support! Yeah, the packaging definitely needs to be improved. The Friends Advent Calendar (while underwhelming this year), does it quite well as it doesn’t reveal too much on the box.
I’d really like LEGO to have a bit more mystery on the box, but have all the contents just be viewable on the website for those that want to see what’s inside before purchasing!
I know everyone thinks Day 20 (today for me) is the Desert Skiff but I believe it is a STAP (starwars.com) and it is on its back in the photo,
I also thought Day 14 the Delta 7 fighter was an A Wing but the picture that you have supports it being a Delta 7.
I love this set got it for my birthday but unfortunately for me my 5 year old daughter insists I only open the box and she has to make the models as that is “her job”.
The Lego.com description lists a skiff but no STAP amongst the calendar’s vehicles. I agree that upright it does look like an STAP, which would go with the earlier Battle Droid, and it’s a poor (in my opinion) attempt at a skiff, but I do think a skiff is what it is.
Yup, it’s definitely a Skiff as stated on LEGO.com. Your 5 year old sounds like she runs the house! That’s so adorable!
My son and me are loving the Day 19 RotJ Luke Skywalker figure. Especially with the black robotic right hand. It’s fantastic! and a really exciting addition. We thought this would be much later in the calendar (despite being at Day 19 now!)
Also really loving the Gonk (Power) Droid. This is even more authentic than the 2012 day 13 droid at an extra block long. Love the rusted and brown colour of it as well.
Yeah! ROTJ Luke is the best Luke! That said, anyone with lightsabers is instantly cool.
i love following your blog with my kids for the details on the pieces and your comments. thank you so much!
You’re welcome! Hope you guys are enjoying the Advent Calendar as much as I am!
Jay you put the Driods legs on back to front! on Day 13.
I changed the original photo but I left the group one as I didn’t want to reposition everything again! I just learned that I’ve been doing it wrong all these years!
Thanks so much! My boys are 4.5 (Star Wars) and 2.5 (city) and they LOVE their calendars this year! We’ve done Star Wars for the past three years, so we are building up a nice collection! Wish I had googled and found your site for the past two years because I did NOT know what quite a few things were, but this year? Thank you so much! My sons LOVE seeing what you write each day, even when they already know the character/build! Keep it up!
You’re welcome! Well now you know where to find me for next year!
My Son Liam and I use your page daily with his advent calendar. He is 8 and loves to hear what you think of each day when he is building it and sometimes it helps us know what we are actually building!! Hahaha. Thanks sooooooo much.
Awesome! Very happy I could help!
Thank you for this! We had no idea what some of these things were!
You’re welcome!
I was thinking we were still in A New Hope territory for Day 18 and figured it was the Lars Homestead. Glad you & the blog set me right.
We thought the same thing at first!!! Until we came to Jay’s blog, of course – haha!
I would LOVE a micro Lars Homestead. Or even a full-sized Lars Homestead set. Can you believe that they’ve never done one in LEGO?
hey, you said this is the 1 one lego protocol droid by day 16, there was a silver c-3po (of attack of the clones) previsously.
https://www.google.nl/search?q=silver+c3po+lego&espv=2&biw=1517&bih=777&tbm=isch&imgil=oCymHx1KMVsrIM%253A%253BsaHr1HNIuzmTBM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.pinterest.com%25252Fpin%25252F400679698070966838%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=oCymHx1KMVsrIM%253A%252CsaHr1HNIuzmTBM%252C_&usg=__5EuWud8HpuIjoJVL-rqNbbSECWc%3D&ved=0ahUKEwi9orzK8_3QAhVGM1AKHXgLDmcQyjcIKQ&ei=dZZWWP2TEcbmwAL4lri4Bg#imgrc=oCymHx1KMVsrIM%3A
Yeah, that TC-14 was a promotional polybag
PS…Lego.com has him listed as U3PO as well.
Google “U3PO Lego”….look for Lego.com link
How accurate is Brickipedia? They have him listed as U3PO and him being in the 2016 Advent Calendar 75146.
Yup, it’s definitely U3PO!
Just like to say thanks and how much fun my 5 year old son and I have had using your blog together to build each day – it’s a great gift to give to everyone ?
You’re welcome! This is one of my favourite things to do each year 🙂
Hey, I’m doing one of these for the first time with my son. He’s honestly a bit young (still a few months until his 4th birthday), but we’ve really enjoyed doing this and we look at your blog each night so he can see the “real” versions of the pieces. I admit that some of them have been challenging, but I can say with pride that I’ve figured them out on my own. I’m a Star Wars fan, but I can’t name every single character or, usually vehicle (did identify Jabba’s palace though…didn’t know they did structures too). Anyway, just saying ‘thanks.’ See you tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! You’re very welcome – I’m so happy to be able to add to your Advent Calendar experience 🙂
I have 3 kids ages 8,6,4 – boy, girl, boy. So my sister got them one advent calendar of each. We followed you last year and this year also. I know the Lego City didn’t appeal to you, but it would be nice to get all the advent knowledge on one page! Thanks for all you do.
You’re welcome! I was planning on doing the City one, but this year’s one was pretty boring and felt like a rehash of previous years. I hope LEGO up their game next year for the City calendar – I’ll definitely include the City one if they freshen it up 🙂
We are having a killer time with calender. ROGUE1 SPOILER. We opened day 15 and sAw rogue 1 tantive 4 figured heavily in movie? Coincencidence?
I just saw Rogue One yesterday and now your comment finally made sense!
Definitely feels like it was planned!
Jay,
I feel I have to correct you on a few points. You talk about exclusive minifigs, we have had 4 so far.
Bespin Guard (with this head).
Snowtrooper (without Kama).
Hoth Trooper (without backpack).
E-3PO
None of these figures can be found in any officially Lego set, so in theory exclusive.
Hope this helps.
Alex.
I see where you’re coming from, and yes, technically they are exclusives but to me, these are just very minor changes that don’t make them “exclusive” from my perspective. It’s not like U-3PO, where he’s never shown up in a LEGO set ever.
Star Wars is an odd one, just because there are so many variants. For hardcore collectors, I can see how they can be classified as exclusive & unique minifigures.
I’ve articulated my thoughts on a similar case which I hope will let you see where I come from.
That said, I think I can be flexible with the Bespin Guard one 🙂
All cool!! 🙂
?
Hi Jay! Ive been reading your blog since day one of this advent calendar, I currently work in a toy store so im exposed to lego all day (not that i mind!) And i had the exact same thoughts about this years lego advent calendar. But even though I’m enjoying my first star wars calendar i think it could be kicked up a notch for the last few days! P.S. not only am i enjoying this blog post but i have discovered your others (now i know what im doing during my breaks at work!)
Hey Ollie, I’m really glad you’ve been enjoying it so far! Sounds like you have a really fun job! Hope the Christmas gift-buying frenzy isn’t too much to handle! You probably already know this, but most of my other reviews can be found in the Review Hub section. Hope I can keep you coming back for more!
The frenzy is mad, but knowing i get to come home to lego is great! Also (just because im a bit of a bragger) i need to tell you that for christmas ive got the lego creator tower bridge (the biggest build ive ever had), sometime after Christmas i could send you pics of the full build, if you want.
Whoa, very nice! yeah, feel free to share some photos!
Feel free to share photos and your thoughts!
Booo just opened the 16th no C3po just another hoth rebel fighter anyone else or just me ?
Oh no! That doesn’t sound right at all. I think you should get in touch with LEGO’s customer service to request a replacement.
Is it E-3PO and not TC-14? That would fit in with the prequel theme – including Tantive IV which was in the prequels.
I did think of TC-14, but I believe he was a Chrome Silver Protocol Droid, so I deduced that it was E-3PO!
TC-14 is indeed chrome – I actually have the minifig of that one, and it was made shiny.
I was thinking that today’s one might actually be U-3PO – there isn’t any discernible design difference between U and E, but U serves on the Tantive IV which would make sense with yesterday’s build.
I think you’re right on this one! Good spot! I had no idea that U-3PO was even a thing! When I opened the window, the first thing I thought of was the silver protocol droid from Cloud City (which is what I googled!) purely because of the “How rude!” scene from Empire.
Thanks for the input! I’ve corrected my post! But yeah, for all intents and purposes, they seem to be indistinguishable!
Hey Jay –
My first year doing a LEGO advent calendar and your blog has been helpful and insightful. I’m glad I found it. Thanks for putting in the time and effort to keep this updated every day!
A sorta off topic question. What are you using, and what is your setup (backgrounds, lighting, etc) for the photos you post? They look great and I would like to try taking photos of my models. So far, my attempts have looked pretty miserable.
Don’t know how this year’s collection of LEGO models compares to previous year, but I’m loving the number of ships that have shown up so far (prequel or not).
-wayne-
Hi, always look on this blog each year for info on the SW calender. But could you please turn around the legs on the battle droid, as they are on the wrong way around. I have SW collectors OCD, sorry.
Thanks from Bonnie Scotland.
Alex
GAH! I can’t believe I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.
The Droid has been fixed, please forgive me!
Thanks for the “fix”. The experts do it wrong too. I went to Star Wars Celebration Europe this year and R0-GR’s legs too where the wrong way round in official Lego display. Until I pointed it out to them, and they were shocked they put them in that way.
Anyway, an exclusive minifig today (16th). Very happy!!
I am quite absent-minded so these things happen to me very frequently! Yay for Protocol Droids!
Thanks for sharing Jay. I love reading this blog daily and have been building my own Advent Calendar as well. I am pleased to say I agree with a lot of what you state about the sets as they are revealed; I too was not thrilled about the droid gunship.
I must admit after last year and 2014s calendars i was a little dubious about buying this years thinking “how can Lego top the last couple of years efforts?” I must say though I have been pleasently surprised at the effort they have put in with this years. And I have been sharing a storyline on Facebook with my friends each day (or so) about the Great Galactic Christmas party. They aren’t overly interesting but my friends look forward to it every year. If you want to check it out, email me and I’ll add you to the list of people who can see them.
Cheers
Oh neat! Yeah, they’ve really tightened up the designs although, I do miss the micro-location builds from last year! The Sarlacc + Jabba’s Sail Barge combo was one of my favourites!
Sure, I’d love to check it out! I’ll shoot you an email in a bit!
Been following this blog for a few years now,thanks for your thoughts and all the great pictures! Its been excellent so far this year. And not a single weapons rack yet!
“And not a single weapons rack yet!” – LOL!!!
Don’t jinx it, guys!!!
I haven’t mentioned them because I didn’t want to jinx it!!!
The builds have been pretty cool but good grief, enough prequels!
Enough Droids* Not even cool Droids too!
I hope we get some force awakens content
I don’t think we’re getting any this year. Hopefully next year will have some!
whats been your favorite build so far
mines the droid gunship because i have the regular version of the set
Probably the Venator!
Appreciate the blog. As someone who collects original trilogy stuff only (I will have nothing to do with the prequels, and just find the postquels, so far, derivative) , your blog is key to me figuring out just what some of this stuff is. Armored Assault Tank? Droid Gunship? Ok, whatever. Wouldn’t have known without you…
Happy to help! Yeah… outside of a few cool ships like the Naboo Starfighter, the prequels really left much to be desired. Wasn’t a fan of all the Droid vehicles and ships!
I think you’ve got the droid’s legs on backwards mate. 🙂 Or maybe I do!
Gah, you’re right! Just learned that I’ve been doing it wrong all this years. The shame!
I’m very pleased with this years calendar and always pop here to see what you think right after I’ve opened mine. I am definitely happy they have chosen to just include blasters with the minifigures this year rather then have the rather weak weapons rack days.
I have deliberately not mentioned w***** r***** so as not to jinx it!!! We’re still quite some time away from the finale, but I think it’s safe to say that this has been the best SW Advent Calendar yet!
Day 12- what the hell? I thought I was building a Gungan sub. Thanks for clearing that up. I love your photo of all the OT minifigs standing around it. I can almost hear them saying “WTF is it?” whilst scratching their collective ABS plastic heads and consulting the clone wars history books.
A Gungan Sub would be cool! I’d love to see them have another crack at it.
The Gungan sub was day 1 of 2012’s Star Wars Calendar
Thanks for today’s post! We didn’t recognise the Droid gunship. So glad we found your blog.
This is our first Star Wars Lego advent, and I don’t think it will be the last!
Our favourite piece so far has been the Death Star Trooper.
X
Awesome! He does have a coolest looking helmet 🙂
This page is now a ritual – merry Xmas and may the Force be with you.
I just hope that this is much better than the Star Wars Holiday Special 🙂
Thank you, Jay, for this blog! I am a mom to a 4.5 year old Lego and Star Wars enthusiast who is crazy for this calendar. I know only the basics of both, so your blog has been a godsend while we use this calendar! Every day when we open it he asks me to check your blog for the name of what we’ve opened and to see a picture from the movies. When I don’t know what something is he tells me to “ask ‘Jays Brickwog’ on your phone”….he thinks that you are the creator of the set. Thanks again from Virginia, USA!
You’re welcome! Haha, I wish I was creative enough to design these models!
I’m very glad that you’re enjoying the daily updates so far! Hope you enjoy your stay!
This may seem ridiculous but we cannot get the brown swivel piece to attach to the grey piece that makes up the body. The nub simply does not fit?! Anybody else have this issue? Are we missing a piece?
Weird
Thanks
Jay – Greetings from Los Angeles! You have become part of our morning ritual. My kids open up their respective calandars (Star Wars and Friends) and then we read your descriptions. Thank you for putting forth the effort and doing all the work. It is much appreciated. Cheers!
Hello from Down Under! I’m so glad that I could be a part of your morning ritual being so far away! I hope they’re enjoying the calendars. Which days have been their favourite so far?
Thank the Maker for your blog!
I remember last year some other moms and I could not figure out what one of the figures was and I tracked down your blog and found out it was the sail barge. 😀
Today (Dec 11) my little buddy was having trouble with the AAT — yup, the orientation of the brown block turned out to be the issue, just as you figured.
you rock our blocks!! 😀
You’re welcome, I’m very happy to help! it’s good to have you back! Yeah, the instructions do need to be improved – hopefully they make it easier to interpret next year!
Just wanted to thank you so much for your detailed posts! My 5 year old has a Star Wars lego calendar for the first time and your blog is making it much more enjoyable for both of us! Upon opening the doors each morning he immediately asks me to “check that blog!” for better pictures so that he can build! Thank you!
You’re very welcome! I’m so privileged to be able to add to you and your 5 year old’s advent calendar experience 🙂
Day 10 – Venator class Star Destroyer. I agree with 100%, it’s awesome. When I first opened the window I thought it was a kinda dodgy looking A-wing. But as soon as I put that dark red tile on the two longer slopes I think I let out a little squeal. The engines are oversized but I think they represent them pretty well.
Now, for LEGO to sell another full-sized one!
I love advent celendars
You and me both!
We could count the Bespin Guard as a rebel. After all, in Star Wars Battlefront, the Bespin Guard uniform is only wearable by rebel players.
Oooh, I don’t know play the video game so I didn’t know that!
Thank you for this blog! My 8 year old daughter and I have been following along since trying to figure out who the Bespin guy was. We got the Lego Friends calendar a couple years ago and loved it, so when my daughter started getting into Star Wars this was a no brainer. We’re hoping to see Luke like it shows on the box (her favorite) and we both have guesses as to who’s hand is popping out of the frozen lake (she’s hoping for Kylo Ren!). She looks forward to hearing all about the builds each day and the significance they have. Surprisingly she has had zero issues with the builds, I think she’s a Lego prodigy or something 😀 Thanks again!
You’re very welcome, Rachel! It’s a really good one this year, so you guys picked a really excellent time to get into the Star Wars Advent Calendar!
Also love that she’s had no issues with the builds! She’s probably better at LEGO than I am! :p
Am really enjoying this calendar. Normally my wife does it each year but this time I’m having a go.
Here’s a few pictures as I go through it…
https://www.facebook.com/pg/celticon/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10157748282705063
Great pictures! My kid will love these, I’ll be following your page for more.
Wow, great photos! I really love the ones where the minifigures are reflected on the playmat!
Thank you so much for this blog, one of. My 9 year olds favorite part of the day, opening the calendar then asks me to come to the blog so he can read what you say!
You’re welcome! Hope he’s enjoying the advent calendar as much as I am!
This advent calendar is the best so far! Feels good to be following along with you!
Definitely agree! No real duds yet at Day 10 which is really surprising!
This is awesome!
In the UK we are a day behind – which means by reading this blog we can see what we are going to get! 🙂
Jim
I’m in the UK too, but I’m using the blog to check I’ve done the build right…my first Lego Star Wars stuff at 52, so I need to make sure…LOL
I’m glad I’m not the only 50+ person here ?
The Lego Star Wars Advent calendar is now a yearly tradition
Yeah the instructions can be a little unclear sometimes. Hope I’ve been able to help!
Haha, I hope it doesn’t spoil the surprise by reading about it first!
Hi Jay,
I wasn’t a fan of the hoth gun turret either, but it makes a great stand for the tie fighter!
Hi Jay,
I wasn’t a fan of the both gun turret either, but it makes a great stand for the tie fighter!
Oooh I have to try balancing it on the turret!
I look forward to this blog as much as the calendar itself! Loved Slave 1 as the first model – an iconic ship from my favourite movie, and also loved the Death Star Trooper. Agree that it spoils it a bit that a lot of the models are clearly visible on the box but still looking forward to opening and putting them together with the kids (though its my calendar!)
Awesome! Yeah, I find that writing about the builds and being surprised every day helps me appreciate the calendar so much more. They should really keep the hero minifigures under wraps! That said, I am looking forward to being surprised!
While I appreciate the surprise element, as a parent trying to determine which advent calendar to buy I base my decision on seeing which minifigures & items are included.
That’s true, although I’d like them to maybe make the boxes a lot more mysterious and maybe have all the contents visible online for those that want to see what’s inside!
Hi Jay,
it`s the first time for me to be on your blog and the first time I play again with LEGO since 1985…
Your pictures are very helpful and the comparison with the “real” models shows how accurate these tiny little bricks can be.
Thanks alot for your good work and keep up!
Hey welcome on board! You’re welcome and I hope you check out some of my other reviews and articles too!
Thanks for this blog! You are really helping to make this fun for my 4 year old since I would be fumbling with builds & not knowing what things are without you. Merry Christmas!
You’re welcome, I’m very glad to help! I do wish they’d be a bit more descriptive with builds on the window, just to help identify what some of the models are! Some can get pretty obscure!
I love, love, love the Tie Interceptor and Slave 1 Balloons. They made me chuckle.
Haha thanks! It’s been a thing on Instagram for awhile! I’ve seen some really cool ones using the Disney minifigures ad balloons too!
Love this blog Jay
3rd year following the Lego Star Wars Advent calendar
Love to read your thoughts on each build.
Keep up the good work
Good to have you back!
This blog post is lovely! I missed the instructions for 3 days!! My 3 year old can put the mini figs together with no problems. 🙂 but he needs help with the ships. He’s been thrilled with the first 4. Thanks for the great pictures!
You’re welcome!
I bought the city one for my boy and friends one for my girl. I was contemplating if I should buy theStar Wars one but I’m not a fan and my children do not know about Star Wars although they love Lego. It is priced at S$45.90 which was higher than the other two that I bought at S$34.90. However, ToysRus is having a promotion in December, selling it at S$39.99. Should I buy? Looking at your blog, it’s very tempting.
Ah, if you and your kids are not familiar with Star Wars, you probably won’t get the appeal of most of the characters. But it’s still pretty neat if you like spaceships and laser blasters 🙂
Thanks for the blog posts about the advent calendar. Some of those can be pretty tricky to build and even to recognize at the first look. Have a great Christmas season and keep up the good work.
With best regards,
H from the land of Santa Claus.
Hi Henrik! Glad you’re enjoying them! If you ever bump into Santa on the street, please remind him that he owes me a LEGO Cafe Corner 🙂
Jay from the land of Kangaroos and killer spiders
Tomorrow, send a picture of all 5 builds, and do that for the whole calendar, like you did last year.
Yup, all 5 days will be in one photo as usual 🙂
Great blog my friend. Look forward to getting lots of info on my latest build everyday. Took me a while to click that it was a Bespin Guard so the clarification your blog provides is great.
Thanks! I’m only familiar with him because I have the Slave 1 set, so it was nice to see him once again!
Never really been a fan of lego advent calendars as they seem a bit pricey. However, it is a joy checking here each day to see what they hold! Thanks Jay for doing this
I guess it depends on how you look at it.i got mine for 20% Off plus there are usually some really valuable minifigs, so once you add them all up, you usually get your money’s worth and more!
Hi Jay
Seasonal greetings from the UK. Love your blog. Used it for the first time last last year and was so chuffed to see you are doing it this year too. I have also been impressed by the contents of the 3 days so far but I am not sure it has been all ‘Empire’. Aren’t days 1 an 2 more neutral than Trump?
Phil
G’day! Good to see you back! Yeah.. Sorta, although Boba is a mercenary employed by the Republic… So Slave 1 gets lumped into the bad guy bucket. I’d say Bespin is closer to neutral!
Cool Post, I have the advent calander and this is a fun thing to read along to!
Yay, hope you enjoy your stay here! Be sure to browse around the blog if you enjoy reading LEGO reviews!
I am thoroughly enjoying this advent calendar, and this page of yours makes it even more fun! So far, we’ve managed to resist checking your tips before completing the models, but it’s comforting to know that we can peek if we get really stumped. I am writing today to express appreciation for the idea of building a stand for the TIE Interceptor. We even managed to find appropriate pieces that were not already in use! 🙂
Thanks! It’s pretty fun. This year’s one is pretty good so far! Hoping it stays that way!
Thank you so much for your explanations. My husband knows what is what, but my daughter and I were struggling! She is gonna’ flip if there is no BB-8.
You’re welcome! There’s usually a few droids in each advent calendar, but I don’t think there are any characters from the new Star Wars movie, unfortunately!
My husband bought this as an early Christmas gift(I’ve always wanted one) I got the Star Wars and was struggling with todays model. I couldn’t get the top and bottom to join so thanks!
Happy to help!
New to the whole lego thing, do spare parts vary? In day 3, I didn’t see the “cockpit” in ours, did we loose it or do they sometimes miss pieces?
Hmmm, that’s definitely very odd but not unheard of. Be sure to double check the bag as transparent parts can sometimes get stuck in there.
If not, I would contact customer service. They’re usually very quick at sending out replacement parts.
Thanks I found day three very useful as it’s a tricky enough build for Dad’s!
You’re welcome!
I found your blog trying to research what the heck was in the Day 1 SW advent calendar. Thanks for your information. While the older figures may appeal to long term fans, my four year old would have been much more excited to start off with a well known figure like R2-D2. His dad thinks they are cool, but since Lego is more traditionally a younger focused product, this seems like a lost opportunity to build excitement about the whole calendar and Lego brand Star Wars offerings.
Hi Susan,
Has your son watched the older movies? My 9 y/o daughter knew exactly what the first one was as soon as she built it (and has for the past 3 years); we don’t even look at the blog until the day’s item is built. Just a suggestion to give your son a point of reference and then maybe he’ll be excited each day and not disappointed because he doesn’t know what the pieces are.
You’re welcome! I’m happy that I could help!
Typically with most advent calendars, they only start ramping up well known figures towards the end as the calendars are generally designed to get more exciting the closer we get to Xmas.
Day 3 Tie Interceptor. Great little model and I’m very happy to get a spare neck brace. It’s such a useful piece which we have the Emmet and “the piece of resistance” to thank for. But those instructions are terrible once again. The angle of the picture makes the orientation of the bottom wing wedge ambiguous. Your photos will be a godsend for many young builders (and their parents). And surely they could have included a couple of clear round 2 x 1 cylinders and a clear dish as a base to make a stand!
Yeah! It’s quite interesting because there’s always a spike of traffic on days where the models are hard to decipher. Brickset’s advent countdown used a transparent bell jar as a stand, which I thought was pretty ingenious!
SW day 2: in general I’m with you on the blasters, but look at your movie photo – theirs are small, sleek, and silver-gray. In this case, I think the nozzle piece works best!
You’re absolutely right. It would’ve been really cool if LEGO made the blasters in grey!
We have both the Star Wars and the Friend set. Thanks Jay! This blog is awesome and the info and pics make it really easy for mom to sound very informed!! Love it!
The best two calendars of course! I’m glad I can help! Let me know what your kids think of it as we go along!
This is awesome. It would have taken me hours to figure out who the little blue man was. Please do StarWars next year too.
Definitely! I’ll keep doing them for as long as they make Star Wars Advent Calendars!
I cannot for the life of me get the flat circle piece to take the both red pieces (particularly the larger red piece). It won’t snap on? What am I doing wrong?
Try lining them up slowly one by one? Do the smaller curved piece before attaching the larger red slope?
Are there any other Lego sets that have miniature Star Wars ship builds like the Advent Calendars? Or are those scale ships only available in the Advent Calendar sets? Thanks!
It’s mostly constrained to the advent calendar. Have you checked out the Star Wars microfighters? They’re slightly larger but are really cool too. And as bonus, they each come with a minifig!
Wow! I’m so happy to see this tradition return!
Wouldn’t miss it for anything! I look forward to the advent calendar all year and try really hard to stay as spoiler free as possible!
I have a question. Are the Advent Calendars worth it?
I always miss out on getting them due to budget restraints. (Aka I want too many LEGO sets.)
In my opinion, yes! They’re almost always good value as you usually get a ton of rare-ish Star Wars minifigs, including the Christmas-themed one. The models are usually pretty well designed and are great to display.
Also, the Advent Calendar also lasts nearly a whole month, so you really get a lot of mileage out of it!
Gotcha,
I’m gonna do my best to get one next year!
I really hope we get a Force Awakens/Rogue one-themed one next year! Bring on Santa Kylo Ren!
Thank you! We got this calendar for my 5 year old who loves Star Wars, and day 1 was confusing. We needed the pictures that you provided to figure it out. Much appreciated!
You’re welcome! If you get stuck again, you know where to come to 🙂
Thank god I found this blog, 6 y old son chose this one and I am mega Lego challenged. Will be most definitely following following your instructions!
Agreed!! fantastic blog! Love it!! Also I’m super glad u write it before Ireland wakes up so i can read it to my 6yo as he’s putting the pieces together!
Thank you! How’s your 6yo finding it so far?
On school days we open after school as more relaxing especially since we need to build most days. Definitely very convenient to have you publish before we have a go each day. And daddy engineer gets a lie in in the weekend as 6-year old can manage just fine thanks to your photos and write up.
Nice! It’s one of the few good things about being based in Australia – starting the day before most of the world!
Just having family from Ireland over for a visit
Happy to help! Hope your 6 year old enjoys this calendar!
This is our first year doing one of these. I’m so glad your blog is here to help us out!!! Lol. Looking forward to some LEGO fun!
Yay! I hope you guys enjoy your first advent calendar – it’s always a very memorable experience with your first!
I’m following along with you because I ALSO have this set!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????
I’m following along with you because I ALSO have this set!
Awesome! I have a good feeling about this year’s one!
Thanks for doing this! My 9-year-old and I were pretty confused. 🙂
You’re welcome! They always have a few tricky ones each year! ?
For the gap you can use green 1*1 spare brick 😉
Ah but the colour won’t match the red!!
Love the blog!! Discovered you last year. Needed help with the build today and knew right where to look. : )
So good to have you back!
Thanks for posting great pictures of the completed Slave I. My husband usually helps my daughter with putting together Lego. He’s currently gone for four months doing training and I found your site on this advent calendar quite helpful. Thank you.
I guess it didn’t help that I tore up the instructions behind the calendar.
Aww, you’re welcome! I’m glad I could help! The doors are kinda flimsy and I’ve definitely tore one up accidentally, so you’re not alone there!
First year doing a Lego advent calendar, so it took us a minute to figure out where the build instructions were. The extra pieces didn’t help, either! Our question; since we got the same extra pieces that you did, do those extra pieces end up combining with extra pieces from other days to make a bonus item?
It would be fantastic if they did! Perhaps Jay could use some connections to make this suggestion! 🙂
They’re just spares though, which is nice, but a bonus build would be better.
I’ll see what I can do at the end of the calendar! ?
Yeah, it’s a little unintuitive for first timers! Unfortunately, the extra pieces don’t build anything extra! They’re mostly spare parts or little bits like 1×1 tiles/plates or cheese slopes or sometimes extra weapons!
Hi Jay
Like many first-timers we were confused by the extra pieces! Is this normal in LEGO Advent Calendar?
Thanks for your time and efforts (done with love, that’s obvious!) in providing this service!
All the best
J
Hey Joseph, yes, it’s very normal to get spare pieces! This is because LEGO’s manufacturing processes add in extra pieces (usually smaller bits) so that you can easily replace one’s that you lose.
You’re very welcome! I love doing this, so it’s an incredible pleasure for me to write every day!
That’s really informative Jay – thanks.
And yeah, it’s really clear how much you love doing this! Your attention to detail is really admirable and your enthusiasm is very obvious. I really enjoy your writing – you should start a really popular blog or something…. :p
J
You’re welcome! Haha I shall have to look into that “blog” thing 😉
First Lego advent calander with my 9 year old. Day 1 was interesting but thanks to your pictures it was more clear to me. Muchos Gracias!!
Awesome! I’ve got a really good feeling about this year’s one! Here hoping it will be a memorable one for your 9 year old!
Oh boy. Wish I had seen this first. In my family, advent calendars are apparently opened backward, so you are counting *down* to Christmas! So we got the grand finale today. No spoilers, you are going to love it, but I am afraid my daughter will be a bit disappointed in getting Slave-I on Christmas eve. Oh, well!
Oh no! I’ve heard of this happening to a few people ! Is it not too late to redo it in the correct order since it’s still early days?
It’s a great start! To capture such a complex shape and include the right colours in micro scale is no mean feat. The instruction wasn’t the clearest so I can imagine it might be challenging for younger builders. It also annoys me that they continue to put the instructions ‘upside down’, assuming you don’t destroy the box.
Can’t complain about Cloud City (and Empire) getting some extra love! I’m looking at the instructions as some kind of challenge, but it’s a little weird that they’ve made it quite tricky for younger builders to try figure out as you can see from the many comments on this post!
Opened my day one door this morning and brought it into work. Had to Google instructions to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Thanks for this blog, I’ll be using your instructions each day I expect.
No worries – happy to help!
Yay! Will be following again this year. My 6 year old is very excited, but my Star Wars knowledge isn’t great.
Awesome, glad to have you back! I hope I can help you impress him with all sorts of Star Wars trivia!
Younger builders? I had trouble and I’m 31! Guess I’m out of practice.
This must be how my parents felt when they complained that my Transformers were too complicated.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who had a bit of trouble initially. I blame the diagram for not being clear!
Thank you so much – I was struggling with day 1 and dreading the next 23!!! All built now ready for the little one coming home from school. Thanks again x
Hopefully it gets easier! You’re very welcome!
I feel so stupid, I haven’t had a Lego advent calendar before and had to Google where the build instructions were – not very observant!
Great blog btw.
It’s not particularly intuitive! Be careful opening the windows as they’re quite fragile! Thanks so much, I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
Hi!
Very nice blog, is there any chance for you to attach a real image of teh supposed ships/figures so that you can se how it is supposed to look?
Hi Henrik, thanks for the suggestion! I’ve added a photo of Slave 1 in and I’ll do so moving forward. I normally link to Wookiepedia for those that want to find out more!
it looks like slave one looks the same from 2 and 6
Wasn’t Jango Fett’s Slave 1 in Episode 2 blue, though?
Yes, please do the Lego city one! We had star wars last year too and always read your blog!
Ah, I wont be doing the City one this year, I’ll just be doing Star Wars and Friends this year. The City one didn’t really appeal to me this year. :/
Why not do the city set? Jay, you seem to be receiving a lot of freebies from LEGO, so why not ask them nicely for a CITY advent calendar?
It just didn’t appeal to me this year! Contrary to popular belief, I still buy most of my sets! Also, it’s mostly up to LEGO to offer sets for reviews. We don’t really get to request any!
e3p0 loolks like tc 14
Except he’s not as shiny!
This is our first year of doing the Lego Advent calendar. We’ve got the Lego city one as my boy is only 4 and it seemed more relevant to him. Plus it will have our first Lego Santander.
Oh nice! I hope he enjoys it! The City one is great for younger kids and those newton advent calendars!
Not doing the Lego City one? My little boy will be gutted! We read your blog every day last year when we had the Star Wars calendar.
Unfortunately no! I haven’t bought a City Advent Calendar in years. I will be doing the Friends one though!
Are you sure Day 16 is E3PO? I thought because day 15 was the Tantive IV it might be U3PO?
Ah, I think you’re definitely right. I did some research on the official LEGO site and yes, it seems to be U-3PO and not E-3PO! Thanks for the heads up, I’ve updated the post accordingly!
I’m not convinced it’s U-3PO. The argument of having Tantive IV previously in the calendar doesn’t really work since we had cloud city in day 2. You mentioned doing some research on official Lego website but I couldn’t find anything myself could share the links you found?
It says so on the LEGO website here! https://www.lego.com/en-us/starwars/characters/u-3po-0fc741bcf35e48f1b557d7aef77cca4c
Ok I’m convinced now!
Thank you.
i like both of them
You can go to retro robot review and follow along with him. He does it in separate days.