REVIEW: Advent calendar 1 December 2024

After months of anticipation, it is finally 1 December (at least in my part of the world) and with that, it is time to open the first door of this year’s advent calendar. Having had all LEGO Harry Potter advent calendars since its start in 2019, I know quality differs. Will this be one of the better ones? Read on as we start the 2024 advent calendar review…

LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar 2024 – Set 76438

Before, I get started, as the blog has readers from New Zealand to Hawaii, spanning pretty much all time zones, I will as previous years 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 one for any in Hawaii (maybe even posted before the day has arrived there).

History of LEGO Harry Potter advent calendars

In 2019 we got the first LEGO Harry Potter advent calendar, with the models centred around Harry’s first Christmas at Hogwarts. We got some nice models, including Harry and Ron with the knitted sweaters they got from Molly Weasley.

The following year – in 2020 – we moved forward to the forth year at Hogwarts, with the Yule ball being the main storyline. While some overlap in figures, that calendar was a really good supplement to the Clocktower set, which also had the Yule ball as an overall theme.

In 2021, we returned Harry’s first year at Hogwarts – more specifically following Harry’s Journey to Hogwarts. So it wasn’t particular focused on Christmas as such. But it did include a little game, though I’m not sure it could keep the attention for long (though I did publish a set of house rules to make it more interesting).

2022 was different again, with all models (apart from minifigures) being micro-scale models. There was minifigure and two such microscale models for each moving making up the 24 models. They presented like a photo-album with pictures from the various movies, but also functioned as a game (though to be honest, I never tried it).

Last year, in 2023, took us on a trip to Hogsmeade in winter time. It was a great theme for Christmas and linked well to the Hogsmeade Village Visit and Shrieking Shack sets from a few years back and last year’s Hogwarts Express with Hogsmeade station.

If you do want to have a look at my reviews of the older calendar, you can them all here. But what about 2024?

This year’s advent calendar

I have for a number of years been hoping for Christmas at the Burrow as in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – and with this years Direct to Consumers (D2C) set being The Burrow, that would have been a perfect match. However, this year’s calendar takes us back to the first Christmas at Hogwarts.

I don’t really like that advent calendars appears to show more and more of the content relative to the early years. You may (as me) not want to look too closely to the following photos, if you want to be surprised later on.

But here’s the front of the box – if you scroll up, you will see some resembles with the 2019 calendar. It will be interesting to compare once we have opened all the doors.

As usual, when opening the flap to reveal the 24 doors, you get a scenery to set up the models on. I’m looking forward to populating this during December. Let’s get started right here and right now…

Let’s get started with the review…

1 December model

In both 2019, 2020 and 2023 we got Harry Potter on 1 December. But in 2021 and 2022 we did get something else. Statistically (can’t help it, I use this a lot for work), getting Harry Potter today would be a good guess. Let’s see what is waiting behind the first door.

Maybe not surprisingly, it was Harry Potter.

An issue I had with last year’s calendar what that figures only came with wands and nothing else, where previously we often got additional accessories or bricks. LEGO may have listened, because we also get a stand of some sort, based on four bricks, including a nicely printed tile (which has only otherwise been included in the Sorting Hat set from 2024).

For those who haven’t had an Advent Calendar before, the instructions for the build is at the back of the door. Here is what it looks like when completed.

The Harry Potter figure is unique to this set and looks good. The scarf is well printed on both sides of the torso, and it would be a good minifigure/torso to use for a Quidditch scene.

Summary

At this point, I will as usually award the daily some points. I’m using a scale of 1 to 5 house points, with five being the top score.

So, was it a good start? I will give today’s model 4 out of five house points. It is a pretty good minifigure, rather generic (good for customising other persons), but I did like last year’s more movie accurate appearances. The score is pulled up slightly by the inclusion of the stand with the rather rare printed Gryffindor tile.

I always find it hard to score the first model, when you don’t have any other models to compare with.

What will come on 2 December? Something for Harry to interact with? Or something for the stand? Check back tomorrow to see what we got on the 2024 Advent Calendar page.

Till then, Build the Magic!