REVIEW: Advent calendar 1 December 2020

Hurrah, finally it is 1 December and the Christmas month has officially started. It is time to open the first door of the advent calendar, which I have been gazing longingly at on the shelf for so long. Was it worth the wait? Read on for my review of the 1 December model…

As the blog has readers from New Zealand to Hawaii, spanning most time zones, I’ll like last year keep the title photo without any spoilers – just open the link when you’re ready to see what the calendar had to offer each particular day. It may be a late post for those in New Zealand, and very early for any in Hawaii.

LEGO have released advent calendars for many years. Mostly City and Star Wars, but also LEGO Friends in recent years. In addition, there have been a couple of themes that have showed up one year, Castle in 2008 followed by Pirates in 2009. When I saw Harry Potter in 2019, I wondered if this would be another “one-year-only” release. Luckily it wasn’t, so here we are again reviewing a Harry Potter Advent Calendar.

Let’s get to business!

The Advent Calendar

Before opening the first lid, I had a quick look at the box. The front shows a few of the items you can expect to find in the calendar, including three of the figures. An illustration of Hogwarts in winter time is shown in the back. I think it works well overall (and better than last year).

The top shows a few more items, and am a bit disappointed that LEGO includes so much of the content on the box. Personally, I like surprises.

Opening it, you see the back wall of the Great Hall, beautifully decorated for Christmas. Presumingly, based on the figures on the box, this is from the famous Yule Ball from the Goblet of Fire.

But let’s open the first door and see what awaits…

1 December model

The first model we get is a minifigure. I think that is standard for all Advent calendars so no big surprise here. Similarly, I expected Harry Potter to be the first figure as it was last year, and he features dominantly on the front of the box too.

Harry is in his Yule Ball attire and looks great. The figure is however exactly the same as in the Hogwarts Clock tower set, which is somewhat disappointing, though I don’t mind having an extra copy – as I often have multiple Christmas displays. His printing is excellent, with dual printing on the head, and torso printed on the back as well.

Also included, as shown, is a small table with a lit candlelight. I find those candles and flames useful (a spare flame is provided as usual) for my own models, so glad to see that included.

But most important is the Yule Ball invitation (printed 2×3 tile). I thought it might have been behind one of the later doors. It is one of the items I’ve been looking most forward to get, as it looks amazing. Below is the tile shown next to the original invitation.

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I award today’s model 4.5 house points. I love the Yule Ball invitation, and it is a great minifigure of Harry, and many may not have it from the Clock tower set. Still, the figure is a repetition of a very recent set, so very close to 5, but not quite.

For now I’ve put Harry standing in the Great Hall, waiting for his Yule Ball date. Will she turn up? Wonder what tomorrow will bring? Check back in tomorrow to see on the 2020 Advent Calendar page.

Till then, Build the Magic!