LEGO advent calendars is a collection of seasonal sets which are released annualy some time before Christmas. They belong to different themes (Basic, Belville, Castle, City, Clikits, Creator, Friends, Kingdoms, Pirates, Star Wars). Every advent calendar contain 24 little models for each day from the begining of December till Christmas Eve. An advent calendar is used to countdown the days preceding the Christmas Day. In the XIX Century it had strictly religious character, as it was used by German Lutherans to mark passing days of preparation time (advent) before the birth of Christ’s celebrations. The printed or home-made calendars revealed daily a part of a Nativity story, a verse from the Bible or a religious image. The idea of a device allowing children to receive one small gift a day while waiting for presents under the Chistmas tree was created after the Second World War. The typical calendar is made of 24 little sealed compartments which can be reached by forcing open the pre-cut ‘windows’ of the cardboard cover.
The windows are designed to be opened one per day. Each compartment contains a small treat (usually a sweet or an image) – in LEGO sets there is a few bricks or a minifigure inside. The calendar is supposed to be given to children on December the 1st to teach them patience and to make the waiting for holidays more interesting. The first LEGO advent calendar appeared in 1998. The late nineties’ sets contained a Santa Claus minifigure and – typicaly to the Basic theme – simple brick-made structures, which can be finally reassembled into a bigger model. This idea was continued in Creator’s calendars (2001–2004), which also included Max and Tina 4+ figures. In 2004 two advent calendars representing different themes appeared for the first time. An alternative advent calendar set belonged to Clikits theme and from then on up to three sets are available each year. The City theme calendars have been released every year since 2005, usually accompanied by one or two sets from other popular themes.
Apart from various minifigures, the mystery windows contain many useful accessories. Nowadays the biggest advantage of purchasing advent calendars – apart from receiving a suprise gift every day – is the possibility of obtaining rare parts and unique variations of certain minifigures (e.g. Friends girls wearing winter clothes). Many models hidden in Basic, Creator, City and Friends advent calendars are connected to Christmas celebrations and winter activities, therefore they represent typical holidays icons (like Santa Claus, a snowman or a Christmas tree), which throughout the years appeared in many variations. Other non-seasonal themed treats are included in order to enrich owner’s collection. Star Wars, Castle and Pirates calendars are focused on valuable themed parts and figures but sometimes contain unique and suprising elements like main characters clad as Santa.If you haven’t picked up the LEGO Ideas Caterham Seven 620R (21307) yet, Amazon has it on sale for a pretty decent price of $59.99 which is 25% off the retail price.
I’ve done a review of the Caterham and it is arguably one of the best LEGO Ideas sets to be released so far. With the sale going on, it’s worth picking up even more. We’re getting down towards the end of The LEGO Batman Movie set reviews and the penultimate set I’ll be reviewing of the initial wave is the Batcave Break-In (70909). The set has 1,047 pieces and retails for $99.99. There are eight numbered bags, the instruction booklet, and a decent sized sticker sheet packed in the box. Interested in LEGO Art? The AFOL Poster Subscription Service from Bricks on the Dollar has begun its mission to bring you original LEGO Artwork every month with their second release, 6037 Witch’s Windship by Claire Baldwin. Every month a new artist will create distinctly LEGO-themed art in their own style. 11”x17” posters are available from the AFOL Poster Service website. Posters are tube-shipped to their recipients. For only $10 per month you will get the newest poster tube-shipped to you on the 1st of each month.
Subscribers also get a short bio about the artist and the artwork as well as an official LEGO Minifigure from the depicted theme! If you want to pick and choose, the posters will be individually available on the 15th of each month for $13 shipped. Check out the posters which are available right now. A new poster will be available each month while supplies last. Upcoming themes include Galaxy Squad, Town, and more. Pick your favorites or sign up for the subscription to never miss a poster! If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s going to be a cool little set that will be coming out for aspiring filmmakers called Movie Maker Set (853650) that is themed around The LEGO Batman Movie. The set has 152 pieces and includes a Batman minifigure, parts to build a stand for your smartphone, as well as a background scene. The set is good for making your own stop-motion videos. The Movie Maker Set (853650) is already available in Europe and Asia but there’s no word on the availability here in North America.
The LEGO Batman Movie: The Making of the Movie is now available and DK has sent over a copy of the book. I already purchased my own copy from Amazon and I’ll be doing a review on it probably in the next week or so to give people some time to watch the movie if they haven’t yet since there are spoilers. For this extra copy, I’ll be doing a giveaway for it for you readers. There’s nothing special you have to do, just follow the instructions below. The contest will run for two weeks and the deadline to enter is March 11, 2017 and one winner will be chosen. This will be a USA only contest. The Red Arrows Hawk by M4 CUS and RAFRed10 is the latest project to achieve 10,000 on LEGO Ideas. It is based on the BAE Systems Hawk T1 aircraft that flies for the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team. The plane also has functioning features such as a retractable undercarriage and opening cockpit canopy. There’s also a pilot and engineer minifigures in their respective red and blue suits.