REVIEW: Advent calendar 16 December 2021

With only six pieces yesterday, my hope was that today would be better. As number 16 didn’t feature on the gameboard, I my thinking was that another minifigure must be due. But was it? Here is what we got…

It wasn’t a minifigure – and as of piece count – we did hit a new low!

16 December model

Once again I had to doublecheck behind the door to see if there was an extra plastic bag I had missed, but no – four bricks is what was there. The theme could still be Diagon Alley (Hagrid did give the white owl Hedwig to Harry as gift there) – but the chocolate frog, the associated wizard collectable card and the ticket to Hogwarts Express all relate to the subsequent travelling from Platform 9¾ to Hogwarts. Hedwig was part of the luggage Harry brought, so maybe the theme is just Hogwarts Express. Hopefully tomorrow will clarify.

Four pieces is not a lot, though I feel slightly better about it than yesterday. An owl was overdue, and the printed tile with the Hogwarts Express ticket is unique to this calendar and really nice.

I’ve got plenty of brown (chocolate frogs), but the wizard collectable card is a good addition. I do have a full collection of chocolate frog wizard cards (having recently bought the ones I was missing from Bricklink), but having extras will be useful for MOCs.

It stacks well with what we got yesterday – but it doesn’t really look like two days of bricks.

Harry has been more effective than me shopping (as I still got heaps of Christmas shopping to do), so he almost looks ready for this trip with the Hogwarts Express.

Summary

With an owl and two printed tiles (one unique to this calendar), regardless of the new low of just four pieces, I’m slightly more positive today than yesterday, and thus awarding 2.5 out of 5 house points. Browsing through last year’s calendar review, I can see scores are down – mainly as reflection of smaller builds. I really hope the last bit of the calendar will lift the game!

So I’m hoping for a great model tomorrow, though wondering if we are still at Diagon Alley – or maybe already at Kings Cross? Tomorrow, we’ll hopefully know, so check back on this year’s advent calendar review page then to see!

Till then, Build the Magic!

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