Looking for the 2022 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar Countdown?
Hello there and welcome to the Jay’s Brick Blog Daily daily countdown of the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar!
This is the big one, and has been a long-time tradition on the blog, dating back to 2014! This is something I look forward to each year, and I just love counting down the days to Christmas.
Note: UCS AT-AT not included!
This year’s Advent Calendar is a bit of a new experience as I believe it’s solely focused on The Mandalorian TV series which streams on Disney+, a departure from previous years where you had builds and characters from different movies/eras of Star Wars.
I look forward to Advent Calendar Season every year as it’s been a long tradition on the blog (since 2014!), so if this is your first, or you’re back once again, welcome and I hope you enjoy the daily countdown posts, as we work our way towards Christmas!
If you’d like to check out previous Star Wars Advent calendars, here are the links to 2014, 2015. 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 calendars if you’d like a trip down memory lane.
This year will be the biggest LEGO Advent Calendar season yet, as I’ll be counting down 4 Advent Calendars – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Friends and Marvel.
You can check out each countdown here
- 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar
- 2021 LEGO Marvel Avengers Advent Calendar
- 2021 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar
- 2021 LEGO Friends Advent Calendar
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.
- Day 1 – Razor Crest
- Day 2 – Riot Mar’s Starfighter
- Day 3 – Stormtrooper
- Day 4 – E-web Heavy Blaster Snow Launcher
- Day 5 – Target Practice
- Day 6 – Imperial Troop Transport
- Day 7 – Mythrol’s Speeder
- Day 8 – Tusken Raider
- Day 9 – Tusken Raider Weapons Rack
- Day 10 – Tusken Snow Ballista
- Day 11 – X-Wing Starfighter
- Day 12 – TIE Fighter
- Day 13 – Scout Trooper
- Day 14 – Weapons Rack
- Day 15 – Speeder Bike
Day 16 – Keelboat and Ferry DroidDroid Sled- Day 17 – Imperial Light Cruiser
- Day 18 – IT-O Interrogation Droid
- Day 19 – Slave 1
- Day 20 – IG-11
- Day 21 – Weapons Rack #3
- Day 22 – Festive Grogu
- Day 23 – Grogu’s Hoverpram
- Day 24 – The Christmas Mandalorian
- Final Thoughts
How does this work?
If you’re new here, I do daily updates on each window of the 2021 Star Wars Advent Calendar. I usually post updates in the morning, but sometimes if I get too busy at work, updates will be posted in the evening. I’ll update this post each day, as I don’t really enjoy the practice of creating new posts for each day as it keeps it so much cleaner.
Unlike other sites, I’m actually opening each window as I go, and I’ve been able to be relatively spoiler-free to be as surprised as I can get. All reviews, thoughts and reactions are live as we go along, there are no pre-planned photos or thoughts, unless I happen to be travelling or away from home.
Do note that I’m based in Melbourne, Australia (GMT +11) so we’re ahead of most of the world (except New Zealand) so to avoid spoilers, try to come back to this post after you’ve opened your window and built the daily model especially if you’re located in other timezones like the US or UK.
PS: If you’re planning to buy any LEGO for Christmas and would like to support the blog, please use these affiliate links if you’re shopping on Amazon, Amazon Australia or LEGO.com!
I receive a small commission if you purchase something, which goes a long way in paying for equipment and server costs, and of course LEGO I purchase for content. All my advent calendars are purchased myself!
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To follow along, it’s best to bookmark this post to check back each day. You can also find a link to this post from the home page via a link in the top navigation bar. If you’re on mobile, you have to expand the burger menu (the button with the 3 lines) to find it.
Here’s the flap of the 2021 Star Wars Advent Calendar when opened up, which offers up a familiar snowy scene, and a bunch of builds and minifigures, that are pretty big spoilers. Not idea if you like surprises!
As always, the instruction of each day’s builds are printed on the inside of the doors, so be careful and try not to rip them out!
Without wasting any time, let’s get started with the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar countdown!
Day 1
Day 1 of the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar is off to a great start, with a really substantial build – the Razor Crest, the ship used by Din Djarin, aka The Mandalorian.
Really surprised to get such a heavy hitter ship on Day 1, but I’m not going to complain. This was quite an extensive build, and the instructions on the window flap might be a little hard to read, especially for younger builders, so here’s a shot of how to build the twin engines, and components.
It’s a really solid build, and the design of the engines are an improvement over the 2020 Razor Crest as they look much more accurate.
Here’s a side by side shot to illustrate that I mean – the proportions and colours are much more accurate this time around, and the tile on the sides make such a big improvement aesthetically!
It is quite odd to have the same ship 2 years back to back, but that just speaks to the immense popularity of The Mandalorian, and this is quite a nice update to fix many of the issues from the 2020 Razor Crest.
No complaints with the Day 1 Razor Crest here, and it sets the tone for what we’re bout to get in the next 23 windows/days, so check in tomorrow to see what Day 2 brings!
Day 2
Day 2 of the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar throws quite a bit of a curve ball, with Riot Mar’s Starfighter. No, it’s not some wonky Y-Wing Starfighter.
Featured in Episode 5 of Season 1 in Chapter 5: The Gunslinger, Riot Mar is one of the Bounty Hunter looking to capture and kill Din Djarin, and collect Baby Yoda, but unfortunately, is outgunned and ends up getting blown up.
Check out the battle scene in the video above. The build is close enough to the actual starfighter, but as it’s such an obscure ship (and character), it’s going to be a tough one for people to guess what it is.
This is the first ever LEGO appearance of Riot Mar’s Starfigher, and I’ll be curious to see if we get a full-sized set.
I do like the colours, and the overall silhouette of the ship, as well as the trans-red cockpit, but my favourite feature is the binoculars as engine thrusters.
That’s it for Day 2! You can now set up a dog-fighting scene between yesterday’s Razor Crest, but this was quite a tricky one to identify, so hope this entry helps!
I kinda like that LEGO have gone quite obscure in the 2nd day of the calendar, but hopefully we get some more recognisable ships or figures soon. Speaking of which, I hope we get a minifigure tomorrow. Check in again to see what we get for Day 3!
Day 3
On Day 3 of the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar, we finally get a minifigure – one that you wouldn’t mind getting hundreds or even thousands of – a Stormtrooper!
This is your classic Stormtrooper, and is the exact variant of the one from 75300 Tie Fighter.
Here’s a look at the back printing, on his helmet, and torso.
Interestingly, he doesn’t come with a Blaster of any sort, which does make him quite defenseless, although you could debate the effectiveness of a Stormtrooper with or without a Blaster Rifle since they can’t aim to save their lives.
The lack of a Blaster also probably foreshadows a certain love/hate staple of Star Wars Advent Calendars… a Blaster Rack in future days, maybe in Day 4? That would be super funny.
Anyway, here’s Day 3 so far of the Star Wars Advent Calendar – it’s never a bad day to open up a Stormtrooper in a window, so this was a pretty good day.
Check back tomorrow to see what Day 4 brings!
Day 4
Day 4 didn’t give us a Weapons Rack, as predicted, but something a lot more heavy-duty (and festive), an E-Web Heavy Repeating Snowball Launcher! Since its Winter, LEGO have found it appropriate to modify an E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster to shoot snowballs instead.
The design is really well done, and I especially like how the muzzle was designed, which does a great job mimicking the e-web’s muzzle at this scale.
There’s a handle for the Stormtrooper to hold, as he lines up a target to be hit in the face by a snowball, which is represented by a white stud, and can be fired using a standard stud-blaster.
I do wish that LEGO had included the power generator feed – the black box connected to the E-Web that powers it, but this still works and is quite recognisable.
Don’t worry, Stormtroopers have terrible aim, and he has a very high chance of NOT hitting you.
That’s it for Day 4 so far – great to see the Stormtrooper get a weapon, and bonus points that it has some playablity with the Stud Blaster.
It’s been AGES since we’ve last gotten an E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster in an advent calendar – it was last seen in the 2014 Star Wars Calendar, so this is a welcome return for one of the most iconic high-calibre blasters in the Star Wars universe, and I’m really glad to see it!
But with all Star Wars Advent Calendars… the Weapons Racks are an ever-present threat, so maybe we’ll get one tomorrow? Check in to see what we get in Day 5!
Day 5
No weapons rack in Day 5, but a small but simple build that perfectly complements yesterday’s E-Web Heavy Repeating Snowball Blaster – some Target Practice stands!
Stormtroopers have incredibly terrible aim, so these large red targets help then improve their shooting skills, and while simple, and have really no in-universe tie-in to Star Wars, make for a fun interactive feature in the Star Wars Advent Calendar.
Using Day 4’s E-Web, it’s quite fun to practice the Stormtrooper’s aim, and fire off the white snowball studs at these targets.
That’s it for Day 5 so far, and this checks the “playability” box for me, even if it isn’t the most interesting or complex build. I hope we get back to a regular mini-build or even a minifigure tomorrow, so check back in to see what Day 6 will bring!
Day 6
After the relatively weak and disappointing Targets in Day 5, we’re back into the swing of things in Day 6 with the Imperial Troop Transport, an APC-like vehicle used to transport Stormtroopers!
As it’s inspired by an Armoured Personnel Carrier, it gives off a bulky, and heavily armoured look. There is a small cannon on the roof, and I like the clever use of the elements to give the model some textural details across its body.
The red stud at the front is a little too large, but I can see why it was important to retain, as the version we saw in The Mandalorian had a small red strip, near the Imperial logo.
And here’s the back – again, love the grill behind, and just how well the “gaps” look on the model – which again, really delivers that “armour-plated” look well.
And that’s it for Day 6! It’s a really strong model, and something that fits in really well with the Stormtrooper minifigure.
Quite happy, even if this is a bit of a less popular vehicle, but the great design more than makes up for the slightly obscure vehicle.
Check in tomorrow to see what Day 7 brings!
Day 7
Day 7 of the Star Wars Advent Calendar gives us another fairly obscure vehicle from the Mandalorian TV series – Mythrol’s Speeder. The Mandalorian was lauded for its world-building, and how well it stuck to Star Wars roots of creating a rich, organic and believable world filled with aliens.
This pale blue Landspeeder is a really wonderful build, with fantastic and believable proportions, and an attractive colour scheme.
I especially like the engines on the back, and how aerodynamic this microbuild looks like.
In case you need a refresher on who the heck Mythrol is, and what his Landspeeder looked like, hopefully this shot from Season 2 Episode 4 (Chapter 12) is a helpful refresher!
The instructions are a little tricky, especially the front part of the Landspeeder, so hopefully these 2 images above help you figure out where all the parts go.
In LEGO Star Wars, Landspeeders have always been dark orange/red thanks to Luke’s Landspeeder, but this blue variant is a great alternative, and yet another great use of an Advent Calendar window to spotlight a fairly obscure vehicle from The Mandalorian!
Feeling great so far, and I love the direction of this The Mandalorian-themed Advent Calendar, so check in tomorrow to see what Day 8 brings! I hope we get another minifigure as the Stormtrooper feels quite lonely!
Day 8
Apologies that today’s update is so late – had a really busy day, and only just found the time to take photos and post.
Day 8 gives us a familiar minifigure – a Tusken Raider! They used to be called Sandpeople but I think that name is a little outdated.
The Tusken Raider minifigure is pretty much unchanged, and is the same version as the one from 75299 Trouble on Tatooine. It’s a Tusken Raider, and really doesn’t need many updates thanks to the highly detailed moulded head.
Native to the planet Tatooine, one of the funnier scenes in Mandalorian Season 2 reveals that Mando speaks Tusken Raider, and negotiates with them to help kill a Krayt Dragon.
Here’s the back printing for reference.
That’s Day 8 so far! Pleased to finally get another minifigure, but it isn’t a named character, in fact we haven’t got one yet, which I think is pretty neat, as it builds the anticipation for when we actually get a main character.
Check back tomorrow to see what we get in Day 9!
Day 9
Let it be said, that LEGO Star Wars designers have zero sense of humour. Day 9 is a surprising one, with a Tusken Raider Weapons Rack! I definitely was not expecting them to go in this direction when it comes to the infamous Weapons Racks, which are a staple of LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendars.
When I was first assembling this, I was excited as it seemed like I was building a microscale model of a location in Tatooine, until I realised, oh… that’s not some sort of antenna, it’s actually a Gaderffii, a traditional melee weapon that Tusken Raiders use to club their enemies to death. Or poke them with the pointy end.
It’s amazing that the Tusken Raider gets a handheld weapon BEFORE the Stormtrooper!
Is it a great build? No. Does it feel like a cruel twist, to subvert the expectations of LEGO Star Wars Calendar fans? Yes. And you know what, as much as I dislike the build for being plain (it could’ve been included with the Tusken Raider), I can respect the designers leaning into fans and their hatred for Weapons Racks, by making one of the worst and most unnecessary one yet!
But hey, at least the Tusken Raider can now club the Stormtrooper to death!
Day 10
If a Tusken Weapons Rack isn’t enough for the Tusken Raider, he receives some additional firepower thanks to Day 10’s Tusken Snow Ballista! A seasonal-appropriate snowball-launching version of the Tusken Ballista, this is a primitive but effective method to defend the Tusken Raiders against their foes.
The build features a stud blaster, and also handles for the Tusken Raider to drop, and I like the use of the horns to give it that curved Ballista Shape.
The Tusken Ballistas featured prominently in Season 2 when Mando, Cobb Vanth, and some Tusken Raiders take on the Krayt Dragon.
And now together with the Stormtrooper, the Tusken Raider can practice his aim – so that’s why we got 2 Targets!
Surprised that the Tusken Raider has a lot more in the weapons department than the Stormtrooper. Surely, we’ll need a Stormtrooper Weapons Rack to even the score!
Day 11
Day 11 of the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar gives us one of the most recognisable starfighters in the galaxy – an X-Wing Starfighter!
X-Wings have been a staple of Advent Calendars, and this one doesn’t deviate far from the established design, with it looking very similar to 2020’s X-Wing, except with more white elements than grey.
I always enjoy seeing the blue studs, that represent Astromech Droids, docked behind the cockpit.
The build was quite challenging, as the instructions were quite tricky to make out, so hope this image helps you orientate the brick and elements in the cockpit, and mid-section of the X-Wing.
As expected, you can also “flatted” the s-foils (wings) for a non-attack mode X-Wing.
My guess is this X-Wing could belong to rapper Wolf, a human male pilot for the New Republic, who rescued Din Djarin from giant ice spider monsters.
Update: Or as many of you have pointed out, it could be Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing from that epic Season 2 Finale of The Mandalorian.
It’s always a good day to see a familiar ship, and I really like how clean this year’s X-Wing looks like, even if it is very very similar to the 2020 mini X-Wing.
Check in tomorrow to see what we get for Day 12!
Day 12
Day 12 of the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar gives us another familiar build – a TIE Fighter! As the natural adversary of X-Wings, it’s great to see these 2 iconic ships back to back in the calendar, as you can pair them up for some space dog-fights.
The TIE Fighter’s design is hard to improve on at this scale, so there’s nothing really notable about the TIE’s design, and not a lot of innovation can be found here, but Star Wars fans like the comfort of anything from the Original Trilogy, so this inclusion makes sense.
Like X-Wings, TIE Fighters are staples of the LEGO Star Wars universe, and have shown up fairly frequently in Advent Calendars, so Day 12 is pretty par for the course.
Check in tomorrow to see what surprises lurk behind Day 13!
Day 13
Day 13 of the Star Wars Advent Calendar gives us yet another Imperial baddie to join the Stormtrooper – a Scout Trooper!
This is the same Scout Trooper as the one from the Razor Crest set, and I like to imagine that this is a reference to Jason Sudeikis (aka Ted Lasso), who cameo’d as a Scout Trooper in the Season 1 finale, famously punching Grogu in the bag.
I do wish that we had printed arms in this version, as I do like how detailed the torso and back printing is, as well as the helmet.
Curiously, the Scout Trooper doesn’t come with any weapon… so I can absolutely tell that we’re going to get hit by another Weapons Rack. Maybe in Day 14? Yoda, help us.
Not bad for Day 13, and still no named minifigures yet, which has to be some kind of record for Star Wars Advent Calendars! The Tusken Raider is not feeling great about feeling outnumbered now.
Check back in to see what we get on Day 14! Maybe some Weapons?? On a Rack?? I’m just filled with existential dread at the inevitable is going to get dropped on us any day now.
Day 14
Well… the good news is that the Scout Trooper and Stormtrooper have weapons. Bad news is that Day 14 is a Weapons Rack.
Weapons Racks are a dreaded tradition in Star Wars Advent Calendars, so this wasn’t entirely unexpected but to get 2 in an Advent Calendar (after the Tusken Raider Weapons Rack), is a bit of a shocker.
Anyway, this Weapons Rack is quite unremarkable in design, but comes with a blaster pistol (the small gun), and a short blaster rifle.
I wonder why the designers would to use 2 slots for Weapons Racks, instead of consolidating them with the minifigures.
And that’s it for Day 14 – predictable, but at at least the Imperial troops now have some weaponry, and the poor Tusken Raider is finally outgunned.
I hope Day 15 improves on Day 14 and quickly takes away the pain of a Weapons Rack!
Day 15
Taking away the sting of Day 14’s Weapons Rack is a brick-built Speeder Bike, perfect for the Scout Trooper we got earlier! This Speeder Bike has a mostly white colour scheme, matching the ones we saw from Season 2, Episode 4!
Apologies but I actually messed up the build slightly before realising… and used the white piece as a seat instead, so please don’t follow how it looks in the photo, and instead use the instructions!
We last got a Speeder Bike in the 2018 Advent Calendar, but what makes this one notable is that it isn’t micro-scale, but it’s minifigure scale, allowing the Scout Trooper to be seated in it.
I don’t believe we’ve had minifigure-scale vehicles in Advent Calendars (that aren’t Sleds), so this is a a big step forward for Advent Calendar playability.
And that’s it for Day 15 so far! Very pleased to get a vehicle for the Scout Trooper! Come back tomorrow to see what we get in Day 16!
Day 16
Day 16 gives us another great Mandalorian reference – a Keelboat and Ferry Droid! It looks like a sleigh pulled by a random astromech droid, but it featured prominently in the Season 1 finale (Chapter 8: Redemption), transporting our heroes across a river of lava.
Update: Thanks to everyone who got in touch with me, but it appears that I have misidentified this build! It isn’t the Keelboat, but the Sled, pulled by a Droid that Mando jumps into for cover, as he’s surrounded by Bounty Hunters, until he gets saved by other Mandalorians.
Apologies for the mistake, and thank you so much to everyone that wrote in!
See below for a reference photo.
You can briefly see it in action in this scene from Season 1.
Here’s a reference shot!
The design is fairly simple, and not particularly noteworthy since the keelboat is based on a barge, but I do like the tiny Ferry Droid up front, which makes great use of a plain grey BB-8 head.
The scene that features it was incredibly memorable, so this should please fans of the TV show, even if it isn’t the most engaging build – it’s a great way to commemorate an iconic from the Season 1 finale!
And that’s it for Day 16, check back tomorrow to see what else beckons! Only 8 days to go till the end of the calendar!
Day 17
Before we get into Day 17’s build, I made a mistake with identifying Day 16’s build – it isn’t a Keelboat and Ferry Droid, but is actually a transport sled piloted by an Astromech Droid. I’ve made some corrections in yesterday’s post – thanks to everyone who wrote in about it!
Anyway, back to business – Day 17 gives us one of the most memorable Imperial ships in The Mandalorian – the Imperial Light Cruiser, which was under the command of Moff Gideon, the primary antagonist of The Mandalorian.
Another apology – I got the orientation of the cheese slopes on the back, near the engine thrusters wrong in the photo!
It’s a delightful micro rendition of the Light Cruiser, of which you can also get a full-sized LEGO version ( 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser) to go along with it.
The build uses slopes to create its triangular head, and I do like that they even managed to incorporate the gap in the front. Here’s how it looks from behind.
And here are the instructions.
I also really liked the tile at the bottom, which creates the effect that the Imperial Light Cruiser is levitating off the ground.
And that’s it for Day 17 – The Imperial Light Cruiser is a solid micro build, and I’m chuffed to get such a great version, even if the scale is a little small compared to the other builds (Tie Fighter get launched out of the gap for reference), but it’s still super cute in its own way.
Check back to see what we get in Day 18! Less than one week to go for the Advent Calendar! Can’t believe time has flew so quickly!
Day 18
Day 18 is another pretty obscure build – an IT-O Interrogation Droid! The build is fairly basic as the droid is a small black sphere, with an evil-looking dark red lens, as well as a syringe attached to its arm.
The IT-O featured briefly in Season 1 Episode 3 (The Sin), when Mandalorian changes his mind about Yodsa (Baby Yoda) and attempts to rescue him back from The Client.
You can check out the scene here at about the 1:17 mark, where Mando blasts the Droid to oblivion.
Outside of the Mandalorian, IT-O is best known for its appearance when Darth Vader attempts to interrogate Princess Leia in A New Hope!
That’s it for Day 18! Hope this helps identify it if it was a bit too tricky to figure out, and check back tomorrow to see what we get in Day 19!
Day 19
It wouldn’t be a Mandalorian-themed Advent Calendar without a nod to the most famous Mandalorian of all in the Star Wars universe, and Day 19 delivers with a micro Slave 1 build!
There was a bit of controversy this year with the name Slave 1, as LEGO had changed how it referred to the ship in 75312 Boba Fett’s Starship, but for many long-time Star Wars fans, this will and always be called Slave 1. Read more on LEGO’s decision to drop the Slave 1 name here.
LEGO have completely re-engineered the build, departing from the last time we saw Slave 1 in the Advent Calendar way back in 2016, and I quite like it.
This version has a much narrower profile, and more accurate proportions, but most importantly, allows you to display Slave 1 in its proper upright orientation, with its twin cannons in attack position, and also the wings can be swivelled around.
The build was a little tricky, especially since you were made to build in different orientations, so here’s a guide on how each main piece goes with one another.
It’s always a good day to get one of the most recognisable Star Wars ships in an Advent Calendar, and while the design might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I like that the designers took the risk to try something new, instead of riff on an established design – plus the bonus advantage of being able to display Slave 1 upright makes this a winner in my books
See you tomorrow for Day 20!
Day 20
Welcome to Day 20 of the Star Wars Advent Calendar, with another major Mandalorian character – fan-favourite Assassin Droid-turned heroic protector of Baby Yoda, IG-11!
I had some issues with my photos I took of IG-11, so had to use the stock image as the reference shot – apologies!
IG-11 was one of the most memorable characters in Season 1 of the Mandalorian, mostly because of his heroics – he originally took on a bounty with Din Djarin (Mando), to capture Baby Yoda, before being destroyed by Mando.
His body was recovered by Kuiil, and restored, with his memory wiped, and re-programmed to protect Grogu (Baby Yoda). He strikes up an uneasy but effective partnership with Mando despite his mistrust of droids – and becomes one of the most endearing characters in Season 1.
And that’s it for Day 20! With only 4 days remaining, it seems like there should only be great builds or characters left, so check back tomorrow to see what we get on Day 21!
Day 21
Oh no… no, no no. No, God, no. ANOTHER Weapons Rack? I had a really bad feeling when yesterday’s IG-11 didn’t come with any weapons… but never would I imagine that we’d get another Weapons Rack on Day 21!
I mean, is this some sort of sick joke? Why are there THREE Weapons Racks in one Advent Calendar!? I feel like I have somehow caused this… when in 2019, which as a Weapons Racks-less Advent Calendar, I did wish for a Weapons Rack… but this feels like a load of coal.
Anyway… it’s a Weapons Rack.. with a long blaster rifle for IG-11, and in the other clip, is an Amban phase-pulse blaster, which is Mandalorian’s weapon of choice, suggesting that we’re about to see him soon.
But man, what a kick in the guts so close to Christmas! With only 3 windows left, I can’t believe that they’d sneak in a third Weapons Rack… you’d usually think the most anticipated builds would be reserved for the finals slots of the Advent Calendar but nope, hope you like Weapons Racks because this Advent Calendar is flowing with it!
I mean, that surely spells the end for Weapons Racks in this Advent Calendar right? We only have 3 days left in the calendar… so check back in tomorrow to see how the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar makes up for this!
I’m honestly baffled that we’d get 3 Weapons Racks. Three!!
Day 22
To soothe the hurt caused by yesterday’s Weapons Racks, the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar finally gives us our first named, seasonal character – a Festive/Christmas-themed Grogu aka Baby Yoda!
This is the Baby Yoda that we all know and love, and likely one of the main reasons why most of us bought this year’s Star Wars calendar, and he also comes with a baby-carrier that can be used by a minifigure.
Here’s a better look at the Christmas Baby Yoda minifigure, which has a small bit of printing on his body – a red and green scarf, as well as a Christmas jumper. It’s super adorable, and one of the best days yet of what has shaped up to be a very hit and miss Advent Calendar.
Here’s a comparison with the regular Grogu minifigure, in his decidedly less festive outfit.
Thank goodness for finally getting a named character, and I liked that Grogu comes with his own carrier, which you can attach to IG-11 to carry Baby Yoda around.
Only 2 days remain in this year’s Advent Calendar, and you can probably guess that there aren’t many more surprises left. Check back tomorrow for the second last day of the calendar!
Day 23
It’s the second last day of the Advent Calendar! Where has December gone!
Following yesterday’s Christmas Grogu, on Day 23, we get a similarly festive Hoverpram, the egg-shaped device used to carry Baby Yoda or Grogu around.
The design of the hoverpram is near perfect, and Baby Yoda fits snugly within it, with it being deep enough so that you can just see his head and large ears sticking out.
Here are the instructions for the pram.
And that’s it for Day 23! Only one day left, and there won’t be any surprises as to what Day 24 will be – but check in tomorrow as we open the final window of the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar, and I’ll be sharing a brief recap, and overall thoughts of the whole calendar!
Day 24
It’s the final day and Christmas Eve, and Day 24’s window gives us a Christmas version of Din Djarin, aka The Mandalorian. He’s all dressed up for the holidays, with a festive red scarf which has the same pattern as Grogu’s jumper.
This version of The Mandalorian is almost the same as the one from 75319 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge, except for the red scarf which is just printed on the same torso.
It’s the most detailed version of the Mandalorian yet. with printing on both arms, which includes the Mudhorn Signet, and even Whistling Birds on the wrist.
And here’s a look at the back, which also has more of the red scarf.
Here’s a look at Mando and Baby Yoda, dressed in their Christmas best. It’s kinda cute that they’re both twinning, with their Christmas scarves.
As the finale for a Mandalorian-themed Advent Calendar, it’s pretty decent – but not super enticing. For starters, they just slapped a scarf on Mando, and that’s it. I think LEGO would’ve made Mando a lot more festive, whether with a more seasonal print.
Final Thoughts
And that’s it for the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar! I think most of you would share this sentiment, but I was quite disappointed with this year’s calendar.
While I get the appeal of a fully Mandalorian-themed calendar due to the popularity of The Mandalorian TV series, the focus was way too narrow, and unlike Advent Calendars of the past which had multiple Star Wars movies/properties to balance out, and keep things fresh by bouncing from Trilogy to Trilogy, or era to era.
Looking at the minifigure lineup, which is usually the biggest draw of the calendar. While the Christmas Grogu and Mando minifigures are nice, the rest of the lineup is pretty poor.
The Mandalorian has been a rich series, introducing new characters and re-introducing popular characters from the Original Trilogy, and even Clone Wars, but outside of Baby Yoda and Mando, I feel like it’s a wasted opportunity to not include some more memorable characters, especially female characters like Bo Katan, Cara Dune, or even Ahsoka Tano.
There’s technically 4 minifigures (5 if you count IG-11), which is a little on the lower side, especially when they aren’t main or named characters.
LEGO has been going hard at gender equality, and trying to improve the gender balance and female representation, especially in themes like Star Wars, so it’s quite puzzling that we didn’t even get one important Mandalorian female characters – not having Bo Katan or Cara Dune is a big miss in my opinion.
Here are the starfighters and ships included, which is one of the highlights of the calendar as you get a great mix of classics such as X-Wings and TIE Fighters, but also some Mandalorian-specific ships like the Imperial Light Cruiser and Razor Crest.
The ground vehicles are a mixed bag, and I really only like the Landspeeder, and Speeder Bike.
The “playable” elements such as the Balista and E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster are kind of okay, but they really should’ve come with the Targets, instead of the Targets coming as their own window.
But oh boy… the audacity of the designers to include THREE Weapons Racks clearly demonstrates a lack of options, or ideas.
Weapons Racks have always been a bit of an Advent Calendar in-joke, largely dud builds that we all expect to get, but because they’ve been such a long-running staple of Advent Calendars, you get strangely attached to them.
Including 3 is just cruel, when these windows could’ve been used on more interesting and desirable builds, whether they’re minifigures, or even location builds, which seem to have been passed over in 2021.
In summary, I think this has been one of the weakest Star Wars Advent Calendars ever, and it looks even worse when you compare it side by side with the Marvel Advent Calendar, which has been consistently awesome day after day.
I just think the Advent Calendar focusing on just one Star Wars show ultimately hamstrung the potential, as it became quite stale after a while, because the sense of excitement and surprise just wasnt there – also because most of the builds were spoiled on the box anyway.
Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who has been following the 2021 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar countdown every day, enduring through all the Weapons Racks and Targets together!
I sincerely hope next year’s will be better and that the 2021 version is just an anomaly.
I haven’t been able to respond to every single comment, but I’ve read every single one, and it’s been so much fun counting down the days to Christmas! Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, and New Year’s!
I hope Santa has plenty of LEGO for you and your family under the Christmas tree! If you’re new to the blog, feel free to subscribe if you want to get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox.
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Merry Christmas!
Jay,
Totally agree with your conclusion that this was one of the most disappointing SW advents ever! In fact I pre-empted the disappointment when I saw a preview of this Advent earlier in the year and saw in particular the low mini fig count and decided not to get it but instead opened the SW 2015 advent that I had been storing for just such an emergency! 3 weapon racks! That’s just WRONG
The large number of weapons racks is a bit disappointing, but I viewed them as additions to the playable aspects giving the minifigures somewhere to hide behind during a snowball fight. That view made it a bit better for me, and hopefully it helps you too.
I liked the calendar. The vehicles are the main draw for me, with only the droid sled being okay, the rest are nice builds. The tusken raider is the nicest of the mini figures – a good design and less repetition than the others. And the weapon racks are better designs than the “square with some clips” of the past. These are usable scenery.
Overall, more interesting mini figures would have been good, but otherwise mainly hits for me.
I quite liked this years Star Wars/Mandalorian Advent, yes the 3 weapon racks were a let down, but bid provide the weapons needed for all the mini figures IG-II especially. The festive mini figures are well worth the wait.
There is something disturbing with those advent calendars : they are most likely the only sets without the product feedback notice, we can’t even give our feedback if we want cause set number is not recognized.
So I can only guess Lego people doesn’t care about what we think of their calendars, it’s kind of ire and forget set “done for this year finally… get some rest before messing around for these *** calendars I don’t want to design.”
It’s also bad there is no booklet to explain, especially for the SW one, what is what because without you Jay, I wouldn’t know many of the gifts I got. That’s a bit ridiculous. So thanks again to be there and spend your valuable time doing this blog.
More than ever it was better going through your blog than the actual calendar thanks jay if still made it memorable
So am I the only person who was SUPER lucky and got TWO Grogus?!?!?!?!
Apparently, yes! I got 2 Mandalorians
hey jay i got 2 lego star wars sets i got a series 8 minifighter millenium falcon and mandolorian trouble on tatoinne
Hi, Jay.
Thanks for doing this again this year👍
See you in 2022!
Great job on the blog! I only just stumbled onto it this year, which is also the first year I’ve done a lego advent calendar. So, I didn’t really have any expectations. Based on the general sentiment and considering the overarching Mandalorian theme though, there are at least 3 or 4 builds that could’ve been switched out with unique Mando character minifigs. Seems kind of obvious? Not sure what they were thinking.
It was still a fun way to do an advent so maybe I’ll do it again next year. And follow along with you again!
Merry xmas!
Thank you very much for this month inside the Mandalorian’s world.
I’m not as disappointed as you and many fans, maybe because I don’t have so much expectations at all, especially regarding minifigs, sure it’s poor to have random basic minifig instead of main characters. I guess Cara Dune wouldn’t make it through the Disney filter as Gina Carano was thrown away because of her personal opinions (unfortunately for her expressed publicly).
Still, Mando could have been rewarded a face which looks like Pedro Pascal instead of a plain black one. This would have conclude the calendar as the show in some way.
I like this year build mostly because they quite less “bricky” as previous years and my favorite is still the imperial troop transport, it is not as fragile as the X-Wing. Funny, it was also my favorite in the 2018 calendar.
I also hope the 2022 calendar will be more entertaining and creative :).
In the lead up to December I did have that moment when I questioned whether I should get this again; glad I didn’t TBH. But then I got the Eaglemoss Star Trek one instead, and that was hugely disappointing and such a massive waste of money it’s verging on a deliberate rip off. Oh well. Thanks again posting this each day, merry Christmas to you & yours, and everyone else reading. Stay safe, and see you next year!
Once again another great countdown from you. Well done Jay. I could almost hear your teeth grinding as more and more weapon racks appeared – I know my teeth were as well.
I was hopping for more of those mini buildings, like the Hoth Ion cannon, Lars Homestead.
This years SW Advent was very disappointing.
Nano builds like the ion cannon and Bespin Cloud City are my favourite parts, so yes it’s disappointing.
Prediction – next year, with The Book of Boba Fett out there (let’s hope it’s not all they focus on), they will revisit the Jabba’s Palace build from a few years back…
Thank you Jay! I’m quite keen on your commentary. I find it more thorough, more intelligent, and more useful than most. And you admit it when you’re wrong, and leave the evidence in plain view. Wow. I really appreciate that. Also, I’m on the US west coast, and I kind of like the 19 hour time difference because I’m so bored lately I’ve opened advent windows at the stroke of midnight. Sometimes your SW commentary was already posted!
This was my first Star Wars advent calendar. I would have been completely lost without you telling me what I just assembled. I almost came to believe that having everything pictured on the box was a good thing, because it at least gave me a fighting chance to assemble it properly. For me, this one is pretty much going to be a big pile o’ parts, but I still am interested in what real fans think of the Lego builds.
I only saw the first 3 SW movies. Back when. Like, 40 years ago. The only Star Wars Lego set I ever bought was Yoda’s Hut. I also got 2 marked down Yoda minifig magnets. Then last year I bought 2 marked up baby Yoda minifigs. One for a wildfire fire crew MOC, the other just ’cause I wanted it. So, obvious pattern – I’m here for the baby, the cradle, and his keeper. The rest of it, mostly meh.
On the other hand, it is entirely possible for a 70 year old woman living alone in the pandemic age to get so bored that she will actually play with stud shooters. Despite not being a 10 year old boy. Have you ever snapped a few studs together to shoot instead of using just one? I’ve gone up to 7 now. I’m thinking a stack of 4, maybe 5 is optimal. They’re heavier, so they don’t go as far, which makes them easier to retrieve. I think maybe easier to aim, too. Next, to see what happens with non stud bits attached! (Too bad little Lego propellers don’t actually propel…)
I used one of the side pieces from the ballista (which hold the tusks) and attached that to a snowball stud to make a tiny chair so I can fire baby yoda from the stud shooter
Just want to say it was fun following your Lego blog this year. Great job on the breakdown info on each piece day by day. This is my first Advent calendar & cant wait to see want 2022 will bring. Who knows, we may even get. TBOB, Kenobi or Mandalorian Season Advent Calendar. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & MTFBWYA!!! =)
i got two star wars lego sets min millenium falcon and trouble on tantoine
Thanks Jay for guiding us through another year of the Star Wars Advent Calendar. I am not fully up to speed on the Mandalorian yet so your help in identifying some of the builds was invaluable. Looking forward to next year already.
I was disappointed with this calendar. The vehicles are always cool but the choice of minifigs was poor – only 3 of them were actually Mandalorian-specific. Do we need another Stormtrooper or Scout Trooper when there are so many other Mandalorian characters that could have been included? I agree that the weapons should have been included with the relative figures, there were too many wasted days. And, of course… 3 weapons racks?!?
Since this was my first time and had no expectations I rather enjoyed the experience and since I never watched Mandalorian it was even more fun cause now I’m actually binge watching the show and getting all excited every time I see one of my builds on the screen.
Thanks Jay for this blog, I would have been lost without it.
Mele Kalikimaka
Thanks Jay, we always enjoy our Christmas tradition with you. Merry Christmas!
Although this year’s advent calendar was weak, I still enjoyed the few ship builds we had. I especially enjoyed Jay’s blog! Glad to see I wasn’t the only one feeling let down. Great job Jay identifying ships and adding positive comment! Here is to hoping for a better advent calendar in 2022!
I thought they did it on purpose not to have a face on him, because we’re not supposed to see his face since he’s not supposed to take his helmet off. I actually liked that.
Jay I agree with you that this advent calendar is on the weaker side for Lego Star Wars. I did have fun though following your blog, building all the weapon racks and reading other people’s comments. I love this Lego Advent-Jays blog tradition so thanks for keeping it up and look forward to coming back next year!
Trouble is, all the major female characters come from really expensive sets. No way they were going to let them loose in a cheap advent calendar when there’s money to be made
I love the festive Din Djarin, the scarf was a lovely disguise. Somehow I couldn’t see him in a sweater.
Overall, I’m actually quite happy with the calendar as a whole. I do agree that a named female character would have been good, but as Din Djarin’s the only named minifig I don’t feel the balance is too skewed. As The Mandalorian was the first of what’s looking to be an explosion of new Disney+ streaming shows, with a possible title change to “Mandalore” and joined by The Book Of Boba Fett, Kenobi, Asoka, and others, I think a future Calendar will have a far greater scope for minifigs and builds.
I’m actually happy with the builds we have, as even the Weapons Racks are more like scenery to hide behind in the playable aspects than the Racks of old, and we’ve got a good mix of classic must haves and new and obscure vehicles and ships.
Okay, it’s not the best calendar, but certainly not the worst, both in terms of SW over the last decade (I’ve been buying since the first in 2011) and with its peers: the Harry Potter has had two misses out of its three, and Friends last year was a big miss, though that one was certainly a big hit this time. I would say that The Mandalorian theme is the equal to The Avengers, which loses points on the set dressing builds, but gains on the minifigs. The Mandalorian wins for me purely because I greatly prefer a bag of bricks with ships/vehicles/buildings to minifigs or playable elements. In short, I was happy with SWAC 2021.
I don’t know why I said “disguise” in that first line. I’m feeling a bit grotty with possible covid. I meant “surprise”!
Thank you again for another blog well done. I wish I could say the same for this year’s calendar. I’m increasingly disappointed by the amount of spoilers on the box. This year even spoiling what window a certain star fighter comes out of. Mando with a black no print head? C,mon.
Rebuild of years past. X-Wing, IG unit, Razor Crest, Tie fighter.C’mon.
Lack of mini figs. C’mon.
Lack of female representation. C’mon.
Targets and 3 weapons racks. C’mon!!!
I’m getting myself worked up.
But again I will state, I would pay extra for a non spoiler box. Black star scape with the Star Wars logo with a printed ribbon. Part of the Advent calendar is the surprise. This box found a way to disappoint me even further.
Thanks again for the traditional, for me anyway, run up to Christmas.
I look forward to reading next years but I certainly will not be building I refuse to line Legos pockets again with such a poor advent calendar.😔
The kids and I were seriously bummed y this year’s selections. By far the most disappointing calendar in Lego advent calendar history. It felt like the designers were detached from the fanbase this year, not even trying to appeal. There is no excuse for the absence of a female minifig, or the lack of minifigs in general. Including Ahsoka should have been a no brainer. My only thought is that they had her early in 17 or 18 and didn’t want to reuse her again so soon. That said, Luke is usually a staple, so why not? No one ever complains about him reappearing year after year. Given Disney’s recent falling out with Gina Carano, many weren’t likely expecting to see Cara Dune, but there were other options like Fennec Shand and Bo-Katan. Would it have been so hard to give us Greef Karga or Moff Gideon? I am sure they have minifigs for both of these characters. Introducing Mythrol as a minifig would have been a cool idea. Lego was simply being lazy, imo. Please try to be more creative next year, Lego! Jay, thank you again for this blog/site and for your contributions. . . I’ve looked forward to reading your daily posts more than the calendar itself. Here’s to a better calendar in 22…and less complaining next year!
This was my third Star Wars calendar and I didn’t think it was that bad, a lot of comments about the lack of female mini figs, whilst this is true I don’t see any complaints about the lack of male mini figs in the Friends calendar
When there’s huge inequality you’ve got to add many times more to one side than the other to balance the scales. That’s why there’s no issues with lack of male representation in the Friends sets.
I am dissatisfied there weren’t more mini figures, but the biggest blow was a faceless Din Djarin, which is not acceptable!
Sorry to say, that was my feeling too. Does anyone know if the Mando minifig in the Razorcrest set has a face print of Din Djarin?
The lack of named characters (female or male) was disappointing and getting Mando with no face underneath the helmet feels like an extra insult (along with 3 weapons racks). Grogu and the pram could have been in the same window. I felt like the Slave I build was a downgrade from 2016 (it keeps coming apart). I liked the land speeder and x-wing best: who doesn’t love moving the wings in and out of attack position? But I agree it was better when the advent calendar spanned the different eras.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy 2022 Jay!
Thank you so much for sharing your journey. I’ve been reading your blog for years now and I will continue to do so with future advent Calendars. Have a great Christmas
My thoughts exactly, Marvel was incredible, Harry Potter was mediocre, and star wars was just a big disappointment. 2020 was great for Star wars, and this is just such a big step down from that. Its been fun reading your blog every day, happy holidays!!!
I slightly disagree with one aspect of your summary – I don’t think focussing on the Mandalorian was an issue. As you say elsewhere, they could easily have put in more interesting characters and builds – it is a very rich show!
It is what it is, and I’ve enjoyed most of it, but I do think it could have been way better. This is my first year with your blog as an accompaniment and I thank you for your time and effort! It’s really good to see others enjoying it (or not) and it’s even quite good to hear when other people made the same building mistakes we did.
Cheers, and Merry Christmas!
Brian(49) and Struan(9)
Well, I for one am very disappointed this year. Lego have really cheaped out; sparce mini figs; no named characters; none of the female characters; accessories not included with the mini figs; three weapons racks (only the third one looking any good; those rubbish targets; even festive grogu feels a bit naff to me – could have been packaged with another mini fig. Even the box art feels incredibly lazy and uninspired this year.
A couple of the builds have been good, and I was pleased to get a Tusken Raider and a Biker Scout, but the only thing that has really impressed me was the Speeder Bike for the scout. A very very disappointing year.
I just finished opening up day 24, and to no one’s surprise, got the Mando. Then my son mentions something about a second Mando, and lo and behold, I got 2! Is this anyone else’s experience, or did I just get a fluke window?
Jay – the only reason I like getting Weapon’s Racks is being I know you’ve written a rageuful post and it makes me feel so validated and joyful that someone understands how I feel!! Thank you for feeling all the feelings with us about this calendar 🙂
It’s the 1st advent calendar that has felt a let down. I think Lego has put price before quality. Most of the builds are average and I only really like the speeder bike and slave 1. They could have put Mando in a Christmas jumper like they did with Darth Vader last year. Hoping for better next year
Thank you once again for a most enjoyable blog. Merry Christmas to you and yours and all the best for 2022. See you next year!
Mando! As expected in Day 24 but still nice to open up and put together. Really like the print and overall look of the figure.
Me and Harry mirror Jay’s thoughts on this year’s calendar. A bit disappointing for a Star Wars advent calendar, but its still a Star Wars advent calendar and that in itself is exciting. I think we were a bit spoiled as last year’s was really, really good. Despite the general lack of Christmas-ness and figures I think we’ve had a couple of the most complex and creative mini-builds to date – Razorcrest, Troop Transport, Mythrol’s Speeder, Light Cruiser and Slave 1 were all a challenge and we turned to the blog to help put them together. Too many weapons racks though, and the less said about the practise targets the better! (something we can joke about next year?)
Thanks again Jay for a fantastic blog and the time taken to pull it all together. The calendar itself wouldn’t be half as much fun if it wasn’t shared with you and all the other fans on here. Already looking forward to next year’s and there’s a lot of new Star Wars coming our way over the next 12 months to draw inspiration from.
Have a great Christmas everyone and all the Best for the New Year and what ‘22 holds. 😊
I honestly wonder if they were going to put Cara Dune in and then realized they shouldn’t, and didn’t have a backup plan and that’s where we got so many weapons racks. They could also have done a female trooper if they wanted, but really would have been nice to get a named minifig that we don’t already have since nothing else was really unique. I liked the ships, but… The value seemed a bit lacking compared to HP or Marvel at the extra price over the non branded calendar. Oh well, happy holidays all!
I might be just scrambling to find something redeeming but did they try to combine the weapon rack and location elements? It kinda looks like it to me, not that it was done particularly well but it would explain the above average number of weapons racks and lack of locations?
Happy Christmas!!! Now Bobba feet book on Disney +.
Eh. I have to say that this year’s calendar was on the disappointing side. None of the side characters got a minifigure (not counting the droid since that’s just a copy of the IG-88 figure); but 3 weapons racks. The Christmas theme is much weaker than anticipated; we got a ‘snowball’ for one gun and a Christmas sweater on Grogu. That’s it, if I’m not missing something?
Disappointed this year, no thought seems to have gone into the calendar. Targets, three weapon racks and finally no face on the Mandolorian, please put a bit more thought into next years, Lego, you have twelve months to think about it. Merry Christmas everyone anyway, hope everyone stays well and has an enjoyable time. Also a thanks to Jay for your input.
Merry Christmas everyone and a massive thanks to you, Jay for doing this for us! This is my 4th year with the SW calendar and I have been followning this blog since the Cloud City day back then.
I am 46 years old by now and although I am as disapointed as the next Lego Builder by the weapons racks I try to look at them a little more maturely. Christmas (and life) is full of expectations and disapointments and maybe the kids who actually plays with this calendar can use them as cover in their action scenes. And to be honest, they were depicted on the box…
Hopefully we will all return with a new SW calendar next year and no more than one rack.
Happy holidays and take care!
rip hoverpram in the show it got eaten by a big fish
They couldn’t give Mando a face for Christmas? 😠
I know – a small thing but shoddy nonetheless. The final disappointment.
Is this the first hoverpram? Has it appeared in any other lego sets? Just wondering what the differences are between this and non-christmas (probably replace the red with gray).
I do like all the Grogu options: hanging off the speeder bike, IG-11 babysitting, in the pram, and…
-ab
This might be the first lego hoverpram in baby form (baby Yoda size), but there is a brickheads that shows baby Yoda in his hoverpram.
(LEGO BrickHeadz Star Wars The Mandalorian & The Child 75317)
Also, this one is (why ?) in light bluish gray, whereas in the show and in BrickHeadz, it’s white. Perhaps the cheapest/fastest option for TLG to get one, but as long as mold exists, making parts is pretty cheap, a shame to have it in the wrong/inaccurate color.
I’m apparently in the minority here, but I prefer things that require a little building, like the ships and vehicles, and even a weapons rack here and there, instead of too many mini figures that have 3 pieces.
No surprise, but it’s still lovely to get little Grogu’s Babycart!
Did you know that one of the key influences on The Mandalorian was a 1970s series of movies known variously as The Babycart Saga or Lone Wolf and Cub? It’s an extremely violent set of movies starring about a ronin (a masterless Samurai) who travels with his baby son, seeking revenge for his family’s massacre. Well worth checking out.
Here’s more info
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls068248930/
The disappointment is real, too many figures were duplicates of last years set. Razorcrest, x-wing, tie fighter and IG-11 , such a cop out.
I didn’t get a baby Yoda head with my set 🙁 just the body and the carrier. The one I was looking forward to and its defunct!
Contact Lego, they’ll replace him for you.
I’ve ordered from the missing pieces but they’re out of stock so unknown if/when one might actually arrive 🙁
Gotta say, of the three licensed calendars, this one definitely feels a bit on the light end for minifigs. How great would it have been to get Kuiil, Fennec Shand or the mechanic on Tatooine (and one of her droids would be cool too), or even the Mythrol…
The builds have been pretty good but it feels like the “Star Wars tax” hit a bit on the minifigs this year. I like the Tusken Raider as they haven’t been in that many sets, but really could have done without one of the troopers or some weapons racks / targets / heavy guns if it had meant a way to get another character or even two.
I think the weapons racks are supposed to double as a kind of snow fort for the characters to hide behind during their snowball fight. This is what my 6 year old thinks anyway. She’s convinced the characters are supposed to hide behind them while you try to shoot them with the snowball cannon.
My thoughts too. Not exciting for adult collectors, but a real blast for the kids! That’s why I don’t mind them too much: there’s more than just my demographic to keep happy.
I really appreciate this blog, it is helping me and my son understand what some of the builds are. Keep up the great work!
It’s been an okay year for the calendar. I thought the early ship builds were pretty good even if the weapons racks have outstayed their welcome. Probably just as well there was no jedi character or we would have had the dubious pleasure of a jedi without lightsaber followed by a jedi weapons rack the next day.
I suppose what disappoints me most about this year is the lack of any real ‘festive’ build. I have really enjoyed the Christmas gonks and x-wing pilot snowmen. This year we get a couple of Christmas chest prints which feels a little lazy. Even some snow balls for the droid sled (as shown on the box art) would have been nice.
From the box, I knew Grogu and his baby Bjorn were coming. The way the weapons racks have trained me this year, I would not have been surprised if we got Grogu one day and the bag the next.
Baby Yoda! I was expecting one, obviously, just the festive jumper is a lovely surprise!
I’m afraid the box has spoiled tomorrow’s, probably, but it’s a must have choice for a final mini build.
In fact, it’s almost exactly what Jay asked for all the way back in 2014!
Why, what did Jay ask for?
The lack of Mandalorian-series-specific figures, male and female, Jedi and not, has been disappointing. Ahsoka Tano in a Christmas jumper would have made my year! I suppose the storm trooper might be female.
Like others, I have definitely found this year’s calendar lacklustre compared to previous years. Separately, I don’t think any of the builds were entirely out of place (I like the playability of the targets, and a one-off weapons rack isn’t terrible), but when you put them together it does add up to quite a poor showing. I can only afford one of these per year, and while I was excited by the Marvel one I stuck with tradition. I’ll likely do the same next year, but if it’s another poor year then I’ll be very tempted to move to something else after that! Still, that said, box spoilers suggest at the least the last two days should be worthwhile!
I think it’s a disgrace we only got baby Yoda today.. the tiny fig should have come with the build we know is coming… Trying to be spoiler free here, but it’s on the box.. kind of a rip off really.
I think anyone who knows how these calendars work knew Grogu and the build-that-shall-not-be-named would be separate. That would be fine if it wasn’t that so much of the rest of the calendar was disappointing. Personally, I’m surprised it was Grogu. After the rack yesterday featuring his weapon, I expected Mando today, then the build, then Grogu last. All said and done, this year’s calendar is not the best.
That is exactly what I thought. Three weapons racks, the targets, no weapons with the characters and now this tiny thing! Kind of a let down. Seems someone at Lego is really short on ideas doesn’t it? This is my fourth one and oh so disappointed.
Baby Yoda’s also makes a great addition to the scout bike.
I can’t bring myself to have Grogu kidnapped by the Biker Scout 🙂
the person who was born the same year as grogu is anakin skywalker aka darth vader
Ooh, is that a definite in-universe fact?
Yes, it is. They were both born in 41 BBY
Wow. So my son just opened Day 21 and I already knew it was the famed unprecedented third weapons rack. He opened the door and saw the picture and was hysterically laughing BUT… the bricks were for the TIE fighter. Lol First time ever we got the wrong bricks. So we have two TIE fighters and only two different racks now.
Last year mine had an extra luke instead of rey (not complaining) and an extra kylo ren shuttle shoved into one of the other days along with that days normal build
We got two TIE fighters and no hoverpram! My daughter is upset. I contacted Lego and they are sending us the bag for day 23.
Between the targets and three weapons racks, this is maybe the laziest calendar ive had. I would’ve loved an ahsoka minfigure. And theyre are so many other mandalorian things they couldve done. A mini juggernaut, a shore trooper, mayfield, morgan elsbeth, a blurrg, frog lady and the list goes on
I vaguely remember there being another year that had at least three weapon racks
Jay,
Thanks for all your reviews; been a long-time lurker.
Yes… I mean NO NO NO NO NO!! 3 racks?!? And no female minified with SO many options? How about Ahsoka? Fennick Shand? Cara Dune? What about other beloved characters? Kuiil? Riot Mar? Or Moff Gideon, the Mythryl, a Dark Trooper would’ve been acceptable… Even a Blurrg!!! would’ve been better than a third weapons rack.
Note to LEGO: we don’t need more weapon racks. If these Advent calendars have more than 1 of these useless racks, I’m gonna stop buying them because it just shows they’re using fillers and the overall value of the calendar plummets.
Yeah, there’s definitely fewer minifigs this year, and that could definitely have given us scope for one of the many great female named characters.
I was following along until the 15th, then totally dropped the ball! Can’t believe I just let days pass without getting to the calendar. Either way, I’m caught up now. I’ve never done a lego advent calendar before and like a total moron, I didn’t know where the directions were (like, they’re right there on the back of the flaps, like, durrr 🤦♂️) so I searched and found your blog. Good times! I’ll be sure to stay the course and finish strong. Surely with a Mando minifig to look forward to?
Stink, Stank, Stunk…that is how I feel about weapons racks.
ok so this is only my 2nd year doing the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar. This calendar, so far has been such a disappointment. Maybe last years got my hopes up too high? I really dislike weapons racks. Did not like the 1st one and my opinion has not changed by the 3rd one. The weapons could have gone in with the minifigs. At this point I am not sure I will do next years calendar. At least my Niece is enjoying her Lego Friends one, the Nephew is “meh” about his. Which is sad he loves Legos.
There was so much to chose from in The Mandalorian. Heck they could have done a Moff Gideon minifig, or the Scientist minifig, just so much more.
My thoughts exactly, too many weapons racks not enough minifigures. The Marvel one has SEVEN so far!
This is our second year as well, and it has been really disappointing! The weapons rack situation is ridiculous, as is the lack of Christmas features (besides the expected printed scarf on Mando).
Might switch to something else next year.
The whole imagery on the calendar is around a big snowball fight! I’m fairly sure the weapons racks are actually supposed to be shelters that the mini figs hide behind to dodge the snow balls. The latter two racks actually have openings or clear bricks for the mini figs to l to look through.
That said, this calendar is still pretty disappointing. So many possibilities from the subject matter, but we got standard figs. Even worse that they pretty much spoiled every days reveal on the box art (except for the weapons racks)!
I knew they were going to have another weapons rack when I saw the clip on IG-11’s back
Love the blog, love Mando but I’m officially disappointed with it this year.
Thees plenty of planet-hopping goodness to glean from.
The Marvel & HP calendars have had more fogs & named ones by this point.
We’ve had three generics, making IG11 downplayed too.
I love a Stormtrooper, I can bide 1 weapon rack but 3 in 1……
Its also not very festive this year…
Maybe they’ll surprise us with a weapons rack rack so we can store our THREE weapons racks this year! 🤣🤣🤣
😆
First of all I have been getting sw advent calendars since the beginning and have followed this blog every year. Thank you for saying something about these weapons racks. This is so disappointing in an incredibly themed Lego calendar to have so many weapon racks. Honestly your reaction is exactly what mine was. Who is working at Lego that things this is what people want?! Are they trying to make their fans unhappy?! Anyways thanks for doing this and I hope they listen to their fans and quit with the weapons racks in the future or at least reduce to one rack per calendar.
THREE????????! What the *censored* is going on????
This is getting out of hand. There are now 3 weapons racks. At, least they are saving the best pieces closer to Christmas.
Between three weapons racks and the day where we just got targets, this has been a pretty disappointing Advent calendar. Especially considering last year’s was so good and gave us zero dreaded weapons racks. Early on, I wondered if maybe The Mandalorian just wasn’t a good choice to theme a whole calendar around. I know it’s the big Star Wars thing right now, but I like the calendars where the theme is just Star Wars and we get builds from every era. Last year’s holiday special toe-in calendar was really good with this. I feel like it’s been a few years now since we got any builds or Minifigures from one of the animated series. How many years ago now did we get the Ghost and a Sabine minifig? I was already a little disappointed in this year’s calendar, but today is leaving a really bad taste in my mouth.
I’m with you… I really wanted some more seasonally related things… and not getting the Mandalorian in the first 1-2 windows was super stank – and is completely out of line with the other two calendars I have (Avengers and HP). When you juxtapose this one with the Avengers (which is a really good calendar) this one just falls flat.
I hope Lego reads this…this is the worse Advent Calendar ever and even though it’s become a bit of a traditional in this household we definitely won’t be getting one next year.
Rant over, here’s to weapons rack #4 on the 24th…
My kids have been trading off opening these everyday, and yesterday my oldest son kept joking that his little sister would be getting another weapons rack today. We all didn’t believe him and assumed he was just teasing her to be funny (assuming there was no way another weapons rack would show up at this point!)…but apparently he had sneaked a peak. 😩
I saw the weapons rack on the box and knew it must be coming. If it wasn’t for the red plate on the front I might have written it off as the rack we already got but they really are different. My son has been disappointed that we didn’t get more mini figs and he’s asked for a different calendar next year. As others have said at least 1 female character would have been nice. Oh. Well, I know my son is highly anticipating she next few days. I hope they are all good.
This is easily the most disappointing Lego Star Wars calendar.
My first clue was the two weapon racks on the box.
I see it less as a weapons’ rack, and more as a Mandalorian style Christmas fireplace, something which usually crops up at roughly this time of year and frequently are weapons’ racks in disguise. It was quite a nice build, also.
Seriously disappointed I don’t even assemble these racks they go straight into my spare parts bin.
For the sake of the Lord! Yes its another weapons rack! Not a figure, not a cool or clever mini-build. I do like what the Lego team have done with the weapons but they really could’ve been packaged with the figures. Don’t know what else to say. . . . at least its not another set of practice targets. 🙂
On Day 21 too!!
I didn’t even get one set of practise targets, I got a figure that was probably meant to be in window 23 or24😲. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the surprise for everyone else. Maybe I’ll get the practise targets on Xmas Eve.
Well, I think the designers just ran out of ideas of what to do with The Mandalorian this year, it feels like. Like others have mentioned, give us more figures if they don’t have a clue what to build; plenty of great characters in the series other than the obvious two that l’m guessing will fill two of the three remaining windows.
Breaking news:
There will be a weapons rack visible in every scene of the next season of the Mandalorian.
I share the disappointment about the third weapons rack. It is uninspired and almost offensive towards the fans that buy this advent calendar ever year. But I have to say that another fact is for me beyond disappointment but makes me really angry: a Mandalorian advent calendar with no female character??? (I think it’s save to assume, looking at the box and seeing what is left. Really? Where are Cara Dune, Ashoka Tano, Bo-Katan, the Armorer? : those exist as Lego mini figures, but none of them is included. And how about Fennec Shand, Koska Reeves, the Froh Lady or Pelican Motto? How can I keep the interest of my daughters into Lego if there is hardly ever a female character in the calendars.
Thank you for expressing this. We’re near the end, but everything that’s coming is pretty much spoiled on the box already… and I wholeheartedly agree with you.
I’ll be sure to raise this directly with LEGO, but it helps so much when fans voice their opinions like this.
Thank you. I have two girls and I always wondered why, for the sake of pennies, they didn’t include at least faces and hats/hair that allowed *any* minifig to be built as male or female. And other skin tones too.
Really good point, well made.
Agree 100%. While this year has had some fun builds, 3 weapons racks and 1 set of practice targets with not a single female character (of which there are plenty of fan favorites to choose from) is borderline insulting. This would be like a Friends Advent calendar and they give you 3 Ross and 1 Gunther as the only characters.
They easily had the opportunity to include a non-white male character. Not trying to politicize Christmas, Star Wars, or LEGO but they almost had to intentionally avoid not being even a bit more inclusive here.
In fairness, out of the three, I do think Weapons Rack #3 is the best one.
That is damning with faint praise, I know!
Surely there was room for a microscale building somewhere this year?
I think this is the worst SW Lego calendar in the last 5 years…. I loved the Mando series but some of the birds have been… meh. And 3 weapon racks is a joke too far, unless on door 24, there’s instructions about putting all 3 together for some super build. That would be the only way to save my disappointment this year. At least we’re not in a world wide pandemic too…. Oh wait…. Damn…
*builds not birds…. But I bet the birds have been disappointed too.
Wholeheartedly agree, I’ve had every Lego Star Wars advent calendar since they started, and this is by far the most lacklustre one yet.
Figures so far are completely stock, there’s no Christmas detailing to them, and I’ve got so many storm troopers I could make an army out them, with so many other interesting characters on the series (The Mandalorian) they’ve managed to pull out the least interesting ones for inclusion.
Three weapons racks is massively lazy and don’t get me started on the targets and the floating square robot.
Hear hear!
We live in unprecedented times, a 3rd weapons rack
Still, there have been some good builds this year, and the final days have got to be special…
2021 continues to punish us
Very disappointed. This may be the last year i bother with the advent calendar tbh. There have been a couple of nice builds but three weapons racks is a bit much.
The “best” advent calendar for Jay, offered by The Lego Group for his next birthday : the special edition “weapon racks” advent calendar, with 24 different weapon racks :D.
The box will obviously be a lot less clear about its content, showing ghosted minifigs using weapons all other the box.
Would be funny if they announced it on 1 April..
my dad confused ig11 for ig88 the bounty hunter for han solo
Thanks for your post, I’m a huge fan and I’ve been following for years while enjoying my own calendar. Your posts do help me identify obscure builds.
Regarding this years Calendar, Day 19: do you think that the Slave I in the Advent Calendar looks very similar to an older model 7144? I think this might be a specific nod.
Are we considering IG-11 a mini-fig or a build???
It technically counts as a minifigure as it’s a Droid 🙂
IG-11 good to get a character as they’re seriously thin on the ground this year! And one block different from the IG-88 a couple of years back. But no gun! Does that mean another weapons rack. . . . . . . ! Surely not!?!?
I totally gave him one of the other’s blasters!!! LOL
I smell a weapons rack coming for day 21; IG-11 has no blaster!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Hi- this is my first Lego advent calendar and I really appreciate your site. The pictures on the box can be hard to interpret. Thanks!
oh no, another weapons rack is coming.
3 weapons racks in one set is beyond a joke…. Not impressed LEGO.. NOT IMPRESSED!
I dare to say that we even might get a 4th weapons rack … Since we don’t know if Scarf-Mando(who is spoilerd ON the packaging) is coming with his weapons or not
I CANNOT BELIEVE IT.
Weapons rack #3 coming soon! (I think)
Was suprised IG11 didnt come with a gun. blaster. I do like how they are saving the Clan of 2 minifigures towards the end of the calendar.
IG-88 was one of my many Kenner action figures, back in the early 1980s, who didn’t really have much for me to “go on” as regards its character, given we only saw the Assassin Droid standing on the bridge of a Star Destroyer being group briefed by Darth Vader. All my play was made up, and it was a cold silent hunter who was impossible to escape from.
One of the things I love about the CGI cartoons and now the live action TV series is how these blink and miss them action figures have become characters, and IG-11 is the first time I’ve actually grown a proper attachment to it.
Building Boba Fett’s ship makes you realise how the colour green figures so rarely in the Star Wars universe. And building IG-11 and him having no gun makes you wonder…not another one!
Don’t worry, another weapons rack is shown on the box.
I so agree with that last bit!
…or if he’s not an Assassin droid in this build and clip on his back is needed to carry something or someone as a nurse droid….
What a shame IG-11 has to seize weapons from Empire rack ! 😛 Troopers are already as dumb as the good and annoying “Roger Roger” droids, now they also lack of weapons… they are reduced to be mere target practice dummies !
When I first tipped out the bits I saw the green and brown and thought “ooh an Xmas tree!” then “Oh, not enough green…” and after looking behind the flap went “Oh, of course!” 🙂
I always loved Slave 1. The Kenner toy was my first introduction to it, though it was a friend’s and the closest I got to it at home was a rather groovy (and worn out) die-cast model. By the time I saw Episode V (on VHS, aged 10) I was very familiar with the design, so its first appearance was very cool.
As for the name change for marketing purposes, well, I won’t say nowt beyond it’s wrong to ignore the bad facets of human behaviour by stopping using the words that describe them. But hey, that’s the nature of capitalism; to pander to anything that increases the profit margin through liberal doses of wilful ignorance.
It’s such a classic, and does not show up enough in Advent Calendars!
I’m ambivalent to the name change, but it’s hard to tell me something I’ve known for 20+ years of my life is now named something else. Plus, fans will continue to refer to it as Slave 1… so just because the “IP owner” deems it so does not make it any less Slave 1.
Due to the lack of rustiness on the old ship, I personally like to call it the “Slave II”.
This is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!! I’ve been doing this every day with my 5 year old and have no clue what most things are. He and I think you so much!
Julie & Harris
You’re most welcome, and I’m really glad to help. Hope you and Harris are loving this year’s advent calendar!
We really like the Slave 1 build. Another quite complex and clever configuration for a mini-build. And we agree its really good to go for a different build to the 2016 Slave 1. I totally missed the boat on Disney backing away from ‘Slave 1’. If that’s the way they wanted to go why not just call it a Firespray which is what it is (probably a discussion for another for though)! 🙂
Looking forward to tomorrow’s build!
What would you suggest using to display the set?
I want to build a small scene in my office. Is there a good option for the ships to look like they are flying?
Do you have a little artificial tree? We’ve successfully hung 5 years ‘ worth of advent figs/builds, and it looks really cool! Hanging each piece on a plastic hook takes some time, but it is well worth it. You should try it too. I’m sure you’ll get lots of compliments from co-workers and clients.
Pic??
I am trying to find a way to share them . . . I am going to check with the moderator to see if they can be uploaded.
Thank you! We love your blog. It helps us know what the builds are. If it wasn’t for the blog, we would just have a pile of things not knowing what they were. Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
I love Day 18’s gift! These are probably the most sinister droids of all, wordless, but with ominous intent.
I got the build wrong at first, not noticing that the indented side of the studded block needs to be facing the back, or the bottom curved dish won’t fit on.
Hey thanks man I didn’t realize I did the same thing until I read your comment!
Really appreciate you Jay! The Star Wars Advent calendar is one our favorite parts of the season and we occasionally need some help figuring out what’s what. ;). Merry Christmas!
Honestly, I was thinking about eventually sticking it in IG-11 and make him self-destruct!
This has been super helpful for days where the instructions are hard to read, so thank you! You especially saved us with the imperial light cruiser, we didn’t think we were supposed to have so many extra pieces.
Also, I think the slanted pieces on the tail of the imperial light cruiser are backwards on yours? Probably not worth editing, but just wanted to point it out based on the picture on the box.
My kids wake up yelling, “What does Jay think of today’s build?!” Thank you for helping us figure out and enjoy our advent experience!!
Thank you for being part of my holiday experience. I look forward to the Star Wars Advent Calendar each year and opening the door to a new Lego each day. It wouldn’t be the same experience if we’re not for your blog. It adds another dimension. Thank you for your time and commitment.
Hi you have number 17 put together wrong with the triangle piece, I took a photo of mine and circled the correct way but I don’t know have to upload it to you, sorry
Hey, your speeder bike is built incorrectly. The white 2×2 you have the trooper sitting on goes on the white 2×1 and two 1x1s at the front.
See here
https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/75307-1/75307_alt1.jpg
Cheers!
Hi Jay, our family loves your blog and looks forward to reading it every day this time of year. We especially appreciate how you point out specifics that we wouldn’t notice or appreciate. We’re thankful for all the work you put into this! My son noticed that today’s build (12/17) should have the rear cheese slopes, which are in front of the ion engines, facing the opposite direction.
Help! I cannot get that bottom tile on! What am I doing wrong? The two places for it to clip on don’t line up with the holes right. What’s the secret?
The small “pegs” on the inside of the triple piece go into the holes on the two grey pieces.
Maybe you forgot the small round piece between the size 3 bar and the small square piece
The two hollow studs on the incomplete bottom of the ship (part of the two 1×1 dark grey blocks that have studs all around) should correspond with the outer two of the three teeny studs on the bottom of the smooth 1×4 tile. The finished model should have one end of the 1×4 smooth tile flush with the back of the ship (not including the blue boosters, just the actual body) and the other running up to where the two sides of the arrowhead ship start to slope.
If that’s wrong then maybe you have missed out one of the 1×1 stud tiles on the structure of the ship, or even added one extra, making the ship too short or two long.
Okay, the internal structure around the two dark grey studded blocky things should go:
From front to back of ship:
1×1 light grey stud tile (upper side facing rear of ship)
1×1 dark grey stud tile
1×1 dark grey block (with its under-side facing the front of the ship)
1×3 light grey stud plank (centred on the top stud of the dark grey block)
1×1 dark grey round stud
1×1 dark grey block (under-side facing front of ship)
1×1 round thing with the tiny stud that fits into the hollow stud on the top of the dark grey block
1×3 light grey plank
3x transparent booster round studs.
I think you have the first 2 studs backwards and missed the 3 light grey rounds on the engines
1×1 dark grey stud tile (upper side facing rear of ship)
1×1 light grey stud tile
1×1 dark grey block (with its under-side facing the front of the ship)
1×3 light grey stud plank (centred on the top stud of the dark grey block)
1×1 dark grey round stud
1×1 dark grey block (under-side facing front of ship)
1×1 round thing with the tiny stud that fits into the hollow stud on the top of the dark grey block
1×3 light grey plank
3x light grey round stud
3x transparent booster round studs.
Thank you!
I was missing the dark grey round stud between the block and the plank. Looking back at the instructions now, I see it but just barely. I was missing it so the studs didn’t line up to attach the bottom plank.
Glad you got it sorted!
For the Imperial Light Cruiser, aren’t the little wedges at the back in front of the engines the wrong way round on your build?
I came here to say the same thing !
🙂 I notice the same issue, Jay is too eager to build he doesn’t take the time to fully watch the instructions (I know, I do the same sometimes not by eagerness but not being focus enough)
Hi, great work as always! Just here to point out that the slopes in the back of the light cruiser are pointing inwards, not outwards.
This is my 11th calendar (started when my son was little and carried on) and I just can’t remember when we had such boring generic minifigs. Is that just me? Really not living up to my expectations this year. And that wagon is probably the most obscure build of any. I’m probably not the target demographic for these things though, I admit that, haha.
I agree.. this is by far the worst LEGO Star Wars advent calendar to date unfortunately.
Luckily my wife has the Marvel Avengers calendar… It’s definitely picking up the slack from this one.
Your Imperial Light Cruiser has the cheese slopes in the engine section the wrong way around. This one was a challenging build! I had the block the engine section attaches to the wrong way at first.
Thank you for this awesome Christmas tradition! I have been following since 2017.
When I looked at the bag of bits I guessed it was a Light Cruiser before I checked out the instructions. I usually like to try and guess from the bits if I can 🙂
Great little model – it’s mini builds like this which are what brings me back to the calendar year after year – but it took me a few minutes to work out how to attach the bridge piece on top of the ship. I almost gave up, until I found the dark grey stud with a hole in the top.
I agree it’s a bit of a tenuous link if it’s the boat (it looks nothing like it. It’s shown on the box transporting snowballs so had assumed it was a (poor) attempt by Lego to be festive. On a serious note Jay, do you have any inside track i.e. contact at Lego, to confirm what some of the more vague builds are supposed to be? I really appreciate the blog as sometimes I would have no clue!!!
I have to agree with the other comments, both the front of the box, and the instructions both place the astromech driver at the front of the vehicle, not at the back like the keelboat.
In addition the astromech is lower then the main bed of the vehicle, unlike the keelboat where the driver is raised up.
As others have said todays build looks to be the (unnamed?) piloted repulsorlift from the end of episode 3.
A hauler makes more sense given the picture on the box. It can be used to carry the snowballs for the launchers!
yeah, it’s the astromech-driven cargo hauler from the escape scene at the end of S1 E3.
Agreed, you get a pretty good view at 1:28 of this
Pretty sure it’s not a keelboat, but a wagon from episode 3, season 1. You can see it at the 27 minute mark in the episode.
If it’s a keelboat, it’s a pretty inaccurate one.
I don’t think it’s a keel boat. I think it’s a wagon – a type of vehicle that shows up fairly frequently, whether it’s Mando diving into one for protection in a gunfight or giving him and the Child a lift away from the village, or on other occasions.
It’s not the keelboat! It’s the droid-driven wagon that Mando dives into in S1E03!
Agreed. (Not the astromech piloted speeder from the first episode either.)
I adore this speeder bike! The white colour scheme makes it very wintery too 🙂
I am so glad I came across your site! I was seriously confused on some of the builds and your explanations make perfect sense. Thank you so much for this. I haven’t had this much fun with Lego in a very long time.
First off been following your Instructions and daily updates! We have been making daily videos with your help we Thank you.
I think you may have built the light cruiser engine exhaust slope pieces the wrong way on the promo photo on the back it shows them facing the other way? Anyways this was a tricker build than most so far thanks for your blog! Bricktonbros
I think the Speeder Bike Driver is sitting on the fairing in your pictures. When I look at the instructions that white piece covers the white 2 hole piece and the gray hole pieces.
Thanks for the reviews and additional details to the pieces such as which season and episode the vehicle or person was introduced. This is an interesting and informative site.
Going back to day 14, The Weapons Rack, I was thinking maybe as there is a hole in the ‘wall’ maybe its a hiding place so Trooper can shoot enemies through the hole ?
I think so. To me, it looks like either the wall of a bunker or one of those riot shields you can spike into the ground.
Haha, actually I also thought the white piece was the speeder chair too, looks good either way.
There it is, the weapons rack!! Kindof looks like how I’d image an Imperial chimney breast on the Deathstar would look.
Love the Speeder bike today though, great addition to the set. 🙂
I have been buying these Star Wars advent calenders from my son for a few years now. We love reading your blog each day after opening each item. It has become our December tradition. Thank you!
You built the day 15 speeder incorrectly. You can see how it is supposed to be built on the box, or if you look at the instructions you can see where the white curved piece is supposed to go.
I noticed the correction after I posted this :S
Hate to nit-pick but I think you have a piece out of place on the speeder bike. The part the scout trooper is sitting on should be in front of him above the handlebars.
Hi Jay, My son and I love building along with you. We think you may have misplaced one of the bricks on the speeder bike. The curved piece you have for a seat seems to go on the front motor pieces, for a more streamlined look. At least that’s what my son understood from the instructions. This is the fifth SW calendar we build along with you and love your posts! Thanks for what you do!
I got the build for the 24th today. Pulled out the tray to find out if my doors had been shuffled and where the speeder bike was. The 23rd was in the spot for the 24th and I got another in the 23rd. It looks like I have no speeder bike and a duplicate. Guess I’m off to try and contact Lego…
Yes! A minifig speeder bike! Thought I was going to be let down when the weapon rack came out yesterday, but got there in the end!
Day 14 was a huge disappointment. Even for a wepons rack, it’s disappointment. Worst ever?
I actually wish, they’d make these calenders more xmasy🎄🎅
I hate to break it to everyone but I think there will be 3 weapon racks 😬
Hopefully the next one will have weapons.
What I meant by this is I’ve had to contact Lego as BOTH the weapons as well as 3 other pieces were missing.
OMG I just looked at the box, I think I see what you are referring to.
Oh well given this is my first calendar I’m having a blast since I have no expectations or anything to compare to.
Ugh I am sooo sick of weapons racks. But it is what it is. I really hope all the next days will be better.
Maybe there are two weapons racks this year because there weren’t any in the last two years?
I was confused about the weapons racks comments because I didn’t remember any last year, and that was my first year. And I re-read your comment from last year about it being the second year in a row without a weapons rack.
I guess having the two weapons racks means that both the Imperials and the Tusken Raiders have some sort of shelter to take cover behind as they battle it out, so it makes a kind of logical sense. They’re also still preferable to the builds we see in the Harry Potter set, I think.
I was wondering today, given the love for these Weapons Racks, when we’re going to see a proper Lego UCS Weapons Rack set…. 😀
Hi Jay,
Nice to be back with everyone for another year!
I hope you and your family are well and Merry Christmas to everyone joining in this year.
John.
We have gotten the SW advent calendar from year 2 and I love it, but I am a bit jealous of the story line and the game that is being built in the Harry Potter Calendar and the theme of the Marvel one. I don’t know if there is a way to do that with the ships and the mini figures in the SW sets, and I realize they are doing with the Mandalorian but the envy is real.
Too bad my day 14 rack was missing a few parts,both wedges,both weapons and the 1×2 flat. So the important parts are missing.
I have a bad feeling about this! Given that the box art appears to show a third design of weapons rack could it be that the designers have run out of ideas or are they taking some kind of strange revenge on all those who have gone “Oh no! A weapons rack!” in past years? Maybe there could be a competition to build something cool from weapon rack parts and the spares we get.
Because of you and your comments a commentary, I look forward to weapons racks. I really do. Because I cannot wait to read your reaction.
Jay,
You’ve been part of our holidays for 4-5 years now from when our boy (now 10) first got into Star Wars Legos. We follow each year and have a tradition of opening a Star Wars Lego from the calendar each morning before school and one from the Harry Potter calendar after school, all while reading along with your blog. Felt your pain today about the weapons rack, but our Joe wanted you to know if you sit the trooper behind the rack on the little ledge, he can peer through the opening like a bunker. He’s clearly trying to salvage the day!
Thanks for all you do!
Good spot on the figure looking through the loophole, makes it a bit better 🙂
At 55 I’ve started collecting legos again. This is my first year with the Star wards advent calendar and I’ve been following along to figure out which vehicles some of these are. With all the hate on the weapons rack in the threads, I was ready. It made me smile when I opened the door this morning.
Thanks for putting together compete posts about which ships are from what movie / scene as well as the breakdown of a few of the builds.
Cheers man.
The weapons rack is why I found your site 6 or so years ago cause I had no idea what it was. Now they go straight into my bag of extra parts.
Hopefully we’re done with weapons racks and we get some more good stuff. Nothing very christmassy as yet.
Hopefully no more Weapons Racks this year 🙂 it can only get better
I usually read your blog before the calendar is opened and decide who opens the door and builds, I’m giving this one to the kids 😉
Is day 14 a fireplace weapons rack? Might be slightly more special than just a good ol’ one…
I think it’s supposed to be a bunker/shield, given that a trooper can fire from the slot in it.
Why do people hate the weapons racks so much? 🤷♂️
that’s what I wonder. I think they’re funny. and given that I’m a person with a penchant for organizing, I appreciate that everything has its place!
The things you say you’re so amazing thank you for what you do
They we’re called biker scouts in my day…. (Too old lol). Plain arms are a bit naff, would look more like the armour if they were white
Imperial Scout Trooper! Really pleased with today’s surprise. I think you’re right though Jay, we’re building up to the mother of all weapons racks.
Yaaaay!! My absolute favourite Star Wars figure! As a Motocross rider I just loved the similarity between his helmet and the peaked helmets of my favourite racers. And I say…
BRING ON THE WEAPONS RACK!! We had none last year, and to be honest Jay I just love your reactions to them! 😉
Thanks again for the brilliantly informative and hugely entertaining guide to the Calendar!
Cheers
Ben & Sam
Gloucester
England
I was six years old when Mum took me to see Return of the Jedi came in the cinema, and the Biker Scouts were one of the stunning new visual Imperial Forces designs that really caught my imagination. It wasn’t long before I had the Kenner toy version of the Biker Scout in my possession, and the Speeder Bike, probably that Christmas. To me they’re a definite second place behind the classic Stormtrooper design, and the big-build Lego figure and speeder bike is a prominent part of my display.
No spoilers, but I think I can guess tomorrow’s gift from accidentally letting my gaze linger on the box for a second too long.
A scout trooper needs no weapon to punch young children. I wonder if they could fit a small speeder bike with a blaster in for tomorrow, that would be preferable to a second weapon rack.
My son actually jumped for joy when he opened up the scout trooper today!
Thanks for the blog – the context, videos and other research help. I do try to work what a given item is (this is before coffee) and you’re filling the gaps for me. Much appreciated.
While this is only my second year with a Lego Star Wars advent calendar, I am enjoying that some of the items this year are fun to play with – like the snowball launchers. (Albeit the snowballs hide when they land on the floor.) I am looking forward to seeing how this calendar pans out, and hope you continue to do this blog in the future.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays –
so excited to finally get my jason sudeikis minifig!
I suppose a minifig like Asohka, Din Djarin …
on day 13 what do you mean by named minifigures
Vader, Yoda, Luke etc
Wonder why the wing-tip canons on the X-Wing use lightsabre handles are the opposite way around for the top and bottom?
I’m hoping the scout trooper gets a speeder at some point, hence the lack of weapon – but a bit of a missed opportunity seeing as the pistol was a part of the joke.
Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Another weapons rack. Lame.
Yes the missing weapons are odd … The last years they gave the troopers their blasters AND the weapons rack😅🤣
That has to be Luke’s X Wing and the TIE has to be Moff’s Outlander which looks the same in flight anyway, surely? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1HYHcXkB2Y
Otherwise I don’t really get the specific Mandalorian link?
It’s set after the trilogy, so these ships feature throughout the series
Two iconic ships, two days in a row! Awesome! One was a little tricky, especially for a first thing in the morning whilst taking 5 from the pre-work rush, but the second was dead easy, so I guess that brings balance 🙂
I was wondering if we’d get a Trapper Wolf minifig though… (Who’s played by Producer Dave Filoni, hence the “Wolf”, which has previously manisted as the Wolfpack in Clone Wars)
It’s a shame that the TIE isn’t Moff Gideon’s TIE Fighter. Although getting those folding wings at this scale would be tricky.
Good to see the X-wing and Tie Fighter appear again! I think last years X-Wing config was slightly better, and this year’s Tie Fighter is a simpler design to the one we had in 2014 (with less bricks).
Hopefully we’ve got a rake of figures coming in the next half as this is the least number of figures we’ve had since we started doing the calendars in our family in 2012.
i hope its another storm trooper for the original can have a friend well theres a scout on the box
I think the X-wing is specifically Luke Skywalker and that’s why the stud is blue, its R2-D2!
Ngl, building the x-wing (especially the cockpit red section) was challenging, but persistent paid off. I love how the blue stud to represent R2-D2 or another astromech. A fun build indeed!
It really makes me feel better when I’m struggling with a build and then see in your post that even you thought it was a difficult one. Thanks for the help!
Thanks so much for pulling apart the X wing — I wasn’t certain I had put it together properly, but I had!!
This calendar so far has been a wee bit of a let down for me. I’ve watched The Mandalorian, but I am just bogged down by the number of “what ship is this?” instances I’ve experienced, now I’m starting to moan, “Oh, no. Not another ship…” 😂 I will probably keep The Razor’s Crest & The X-Wing and put the rest in my extra bits ziplock.
Thank you for this blog! I look forward to it every year.
I sort of shake my head at the disappointment of some of the commenters. This is my 4th SW calendar, and I love every build, even the “dreaded” weapons racks! As an empty-nested 60+ year old, this satisfies the inner child. It has become a tradition for me, as well as following along with your blog, Jay. I hope you never quit! Thank you for your research and helpful hints, as well as the video clips you incorporate. So far my favorites in this calendar are the snowball launchers – I love the interactive element!
I think Demarcation may be right, but I like the idea of it being Trapper Wolf’s X-Wing, so I added Dave Filoni’s signature Cowboy hat to the ship to cement the link.
I’m pretty sure Day 11 is Luke’s X-wing from the end of S2, seeing as the droid is blue like R2.
You can safely say that YMMV when it comes to how closely any Lego SW micro- or nano-build resembles the “real thing.” But I’ve never felt that the two most popular ships in SW, the Falcon and the X, really quite gel. Controversial opinion I’m sure, don’t @ me! All the required elements are there and done in incredibly clever ways, they’re recognisable for what they are, but overall they lack a certain elegance.
Hello again from Newfoundland! We really had trouble getting the X-wing together, so thanks for the help – really appreciate this blog!
On day 9, you got weapon racked!!!
The X-wing is an awesom build, really impressive. I’ve mounted the lower wings upside down (studs down) as they look better being mirrored (I think!). Also, use the spare grey lightsaber handle, and 1×1 tile you can make a stand that fits under the main fuselage. Be great if I could post a pic to explain but give it a go
For the ballista I’ve taken off that dumb three-stud sand colored base brick and replaced it with the black tripod arrangement from the e-web blaster. Also removed the silly stud shooter. Looks half-way decent now.
I enjoy the checking out the small differences between X-wings in successive years. They never get old.
For the day 11 X-Wing, I put the middle element with the droid on sideways, so that the base tiles align up, that’s what the instructions looked like they were trying to say (and that’s what the 2020 model did). But as you wrote, the instructions were a bit cluttered.
Interesting gaffi stick factoid: the pointy hooked thing at one end was created so Tusken Raiders could ride Krayt Dragons. Tusken philosopher Mooey Daub (“bantha pie”) theorized you could hook onto a Kayt and ride, shortly before said dragon rolled and crushed him. The Tusken culture has retained this nonfunctional feature in hopes some idiot will try it again, as it was pretty funny. Source: The Journal of the Won’ts
red 5 standing by
wait only 10?
Tatooine theme with the ballista! Couldn’t work out initially from the bits whether it was a Bantha, a Tusken speeder or a weapon! I’m not doing too well this year identifying the models and glad to get it cleared up by you guys.
Also, they could’ve done what they did in 2015 and made a single Weapon Rack for both of them.
Ooh, I like this, instantly recognisable, and like you say it means the Stormtrooper and Sandperson can shoot at each other. It makes the rubbishy targets from Day 5 seem a bit redundant though.
I’m hoping for a Krayt Dragon now!
Has anyone else felt that this year’s calendar has been underwhelming so far? Reminiscent of the ’16 calendar when we got the Slave I (Day 1) followed by a long stretch of meh. I was really excited for the possibility of a Mythrol minifig a couple of days back…probably deluded thinking since that character never appeared in a previous set. Oh well! My son and I are still enjoying it. Random question: Has a minifig or build (excluding snowblowers and weapons racks) ever debuted in a calendar before? I assume the builds (ships, speeders, etc.) are inspired by larger preexisting sets.
Thanks, Jay, for your comments and overall insight! This blog has become an annual tradition, as much as the calendar itself.
The star wars advent calendar really started out strong but is now really sinking, and the Harry Potter and Marvel calendars are mediocre so far, though I still have hope for marvel. It makes you realize just how good the HP and SW calendars were in 2020
My thoughts exactly. Here’s to a superbly strong finish! Only two weeks left :/
Cheer up, day 11 is better! But I agree, this calendar as a whole has been a downgrade from last years.
The ballista is terrible. It looks like a shopping cart!
I’ve never been so disappointed than when I opened the Tusken Raiders Weapons rack. Actually can you call it a weapons rack when there’s only ONE Weapon??
Unpopular opinion: I actually kinda like the day 9 weapon rack. I’m a college student separated from nearly all of my lego collection, so it’s nice to get some terrain pieces to spruce up my desk. It also gives me a little bit of cover for my Tusken to try and hide from the Stormtroopers barrage of snowballs!
I actually got two Tusken raiders yesterday. There were two bags stuck together. Although I think what really happened was the first one got scared and returned later in greater numbers.
Happens when you’re easily startled. Nice little bonus to get 2 Tusken Raiders! Hope that means you don’t get any other missing windows!
Well, the stormtrooper kind of has a hand held weapon. The snowball launcher came with two handles that are made of guns, so….
Jay you made me laugh with clubbing the Stormtrooper to death. I love the Tuskan Raiders, so another one is welcome (they always ride single file to hide their numbers). I love the look and feel of the Tatooine sandstone so I’m happy with the rock/nook/rack. I forsee R2-D2 hiding behind it.
https://jaysbrickblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LEGO-Star-Wars-Advent-Calendar-2021-Day-9-Gaffi-Stick-1400×956.jpg
I feel like you’ve really captured the essence of him saying “WTF is this s***?!” 😂
lol !
@Jay : there is a typo in the last sentence of day 9 (unless it was intended actually) : “But hey, at least the Tusken Raider can **not** club the Stormtrooper to death!” (would be “now” I guess).
Oops, that’s been fixed! Thanks for raising that!
I too, thought this was a building of some kind, and was kind of depressed that we hadn’t gotten a weapons rack.
Weapons racks aren’t my aren’t my favorite build, unless they come with extra weapons, but would the calendar be a real Star Wars Advent Calendar without one? 🤣🤣🤣
Ugh. They REALLY should start including accessories in the same windows as minifigs.
By “not”, you mean “now” right?
Yay, the dreaded Weapons’ Rack! How long’s it been since the last one? Lego designers should note that our glee for these things is more on an ironic level, and has only manifested itself out of despair: in a choice between laugh or cry we merely choose to laugh in mock rejoice 😉
Btw, I’ve not seen that piece used in the club before, the one that’s like a lightsaber handle on one end, but with a 90 degree turn in the other end…
Monica has one, to make the tail of her drone, in the marvel mini figure blind bags right now. Could be useful for other things, but I’m not a fan of brown lego, particularly when a bunch of blocks and triangles are supposed to pass for a desert scene.
Day 9?
Hrrrrrrrrrr! Hrrrrrr! Hrrrrr! Hrrrrr! Hrrrrrr! Hrrrrrr!
I thought that day 9 was some kind of art installation, maybe on the theme of disappointment.
We also thought it was a tatooine house for a moment, before laughing out loud when we realized it was a weapons rack. It’s definitely a joke for us from the designers and must be the worst weapons rack yet. Jay, I’m hoping to see a first-to-worst weapons rack retrospective in January. 🙂
I have been enjoying this years calendar so far.
I feared that there was going to be a gear rack or two, but I did not expect it to be this bad :D. I think the best part is the extra brown bar.
At least it can only get better from here.
We really like the Tusken Raider figure – iconic original star wars, but we thought the weapons rack was some sort of Tatooine moisture-vaporator-style building so glad to get that corrected!:)
We’ve thinking we’re a bit short of figures this year but probably a bit spoilt by this stage last year when I think we’d had about 4!
Looking forward at whats to come next!
I got a two-fer! Two plastic pouches stuck together in one window! I’ve heard of this happening but, its never been me before… so stoked it’s a mini-fig day!
Interesting that neither of these first two minifigures came with an accessory or weapon. Maybe there will be a combined weapons rack? Or just a bag of weapons similar to the bag of blaster stuff from day 2 of the Marvel calendar?
Sand people may be an outdated name amongst fans, but that’s what they’re commonly called amongst the human population of Tatooine, or at least the youngsters like Luke Skywalker. I guess it’s a racially prejudiced name by our standards, but on a frontier community where the Tusken Raiders were the biggest threat to lives, it’s understandable. I certainly knew them by this name until I got to about 8 or 9 years old and started being a bit more sophisticated.
I always found them scary as a little kid, as they looked humanoid, but spoke like pigs, dressed like Mummies, and had technology grafted into their faces. Sca-reeee!
So yeah, nice figure, and no weapon, so surely there’s a Tusken Raider themed weapons rack coming up (with stolen Stormtrooper blasters on it?)
i opened door 8 and i got something not from mandalorian but instead the films it the thing that killed anakins mother shmi
Tusken raiders (sand people) appeared a number of times in the Madalorian.
It didn’t kill shimi. And by the way it’s called a tusken raider. Mando negotiated which it.
I don’t know the point of minifigures. I just positioned them.
Personally, I find they add a cuteness factor. I don’t go in for buying them separately, but always like my models to come with minifigures. I guess it makes the models more relatable.
Try watching the Mandalorian again. They feature in both series. ( as well as original film(s))
The Tusken raiders appear in season 2 in case you just haven’t seen it yet
We’re just catching up with days 6 and 7 and really good ship builds. Complex as well – we struggled with the speeder and too many bits left over but managed to sort it. Much improved over the poor non-descript targets. We’re looking forward to see what’s coming tomorrow.
Is this whole thing mandalorian themed? If so that sucks.
It’s labelled as such on the front of the box, down the bottom on the right.
THE MANDALORIAN | THE CHILD
The fact that it says this on the box should have been a clue.
thanks for clearing up that this mini build represents mythrol’s landspeeder! And here I thought I knew my Star Wars…
The only thing I didn’t know about this one was the guy’s name. I knew who he was, but not his name.
Obscure it may be, but this landspeeder is certainly memorable from the series, especially as it becomes a great comedy moment in these usually more gritty stories.
Btw, yesterday’s Imperial Troop Carrier, it’s possible I may be wrong, but I remember this as originally being one of the made-up “mini-fig” toys that went with the Kenner figures of the late 70s, and was only “canon-ised” in Star Wars: Rebels. I love it when the old toys become part of the series proper.
“Mini-Rig” toys, I mean, not “fig”! Loads of new budget price craft were created by Kenner for added playability.
I recognised this one. Its probably on screen as much as Lukes; a refreshing change.
Top tip,it comes with extra studs, so I used 2 to support the back-end.
You shouldn’t have to support the back end… the bottom should be flat. I had to go back and rebuild mine halfway through… maybe you made the same mistake I did?
Agreed, so happy they made this vehicle cannon!! Lego has actually made a couple sets for it:
75078 – https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/imperial-troop-transport-75078
75311 – https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/imperial-armored-marauder-75311
and if you look out there, fans have made even better custom versions.
Looks like the Mythrol’s Speeder got it’s revenge on the Imperial Trooper for Day 7. XD. Loving the blue color on this mini build.
*Imperial Troop Transport
the storm trooper is lonely
Interesting how the speeder from day 7 comes with 1×1 light grey round plates in both the full and hollow stud variety. From the instructions it is evident that the one on the back if meant to be hollow so by process of elimination the one on the front of the top engine if meant to be full.
Anyway you can use the two spares to put in the center of the underside and make the speeder look like it’s hovering.
Jay, I had no idea what 7 was. I just thought it was some sort of landspeeder. By the way I’m a kid but I’m using my dad’s account with his permission.
Thanks for this! I love following along w you!
Excellent! I had thought it was the vehicle that the Mandalorian and his ex-Empire friend hijacked in order to get into that Imperial Mining Base in one of the later episodes, but I’m equally happy with the Troop Transport (come the think of it the ore transporter wouldn’t have had a cannon on top).
I thought that too.
I thought the same and doesn’t Greef Targa use a gun mounted on top?
Yeah, maybe. It’s been something like a year since I saw the episodes, and I forget details quickly.
Mind you, they’re probably the same basic vehicle adapted for different usage. We see AT-ATs in Rogue One with different “body” sections, used for purposes other than troop transportation, so no reason why both us and Jay can’t be right.
Woops I told my kid that day 2 was a Naboo starfighter.