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Set Info
Set Number: 9509
Pieces: 234
Age: 6-14
Price $49.99 CDN
Minifigures: 9 1/2
Year of Release: 2012
Theme: Star Wars
A brief introduction to this. To me it feels like TLG is going to be releasing one of these every year for the next 4 years. I'm hoping that as these progress the minifigures and mini-builds become a bit more... regular. As in instead of a random assortment it follows the theme. The first year was a bit of a mix of Attack of the Clones and A New Hope and some other randoms, this year is mostly The Phantom Menace and Empire Strikes back with a few more randoms. These Advent calendars are VERY lacking in design and quality of builds so that is why I seem to be very harsh with the criticism. I paid $50 for 234 very small pieces which aren't necessarily rare, and a couple unique minifigs. Just remember, this is aimed for kids and they probably don't care as much as I would.
Anyway-
The box, at first glance the view from the front of the box is similar to any other Lego box, but the remove some tape and the front flap will lift off to reveal doors of joy in no particular order.
Optionally you can cheat and open the sides of the box and pull out the trays, each tray has 1 individual polybag with the pieces. With the exception of Darth Maul who gets a cape box in his bag.
The back of the front flap shows a sort of frozen pond with snow around it. I think I have it facing the wrong way, but it's an overhead view so no one should care.
All the instructions are printed on the inside of the doors, but since each model is at the max 15 pieces, you can figure it out yourself. MANY extra pieces included. Almost every bag has them.
Day 1:
Gungan Sub
Not a fan of this, the tail at the back just seems to wrong, not much could fix this, I would prefer a different ship or what not. It's recognizable but anything with 'Gungan' just reminds me of the worst character in SW. (The next door isn't much better).
Day 2:
Gungan
Really? This is it? One 3 piece minifigure with no accessories, no weapons or anything. and the worst part is, is that it's just a Gungan soldier, I own about 10 or 12 of these now from all the Battle of Naboo sets I bought, this one is nothing special, same prints and everything. At least make it Jar Jar, the kids know him better and he was an actual character in the movies.
Day 3:
Catapult and weapons
This to me is just pure laziness on TLG part, they just throw this in obviously as a place filler when they could have easily just gave the Gungan from yesterday the shield and spear. Not a good start.
Day 4:
Imperial Star Destroyer
Hey Hey, things are picking up, we've moved off from the theme of Phantom Menace for now and moved onto ESB. I have a thing for Star Destroyers and this is no exception. Parts are nothing SUPER special, but they make a nice and simple recognizable model which looks good and serves a purpose. This set is really lacking stuff like this.
Day 5:
Trade Federation MTT
Back into Phantom Menace we have a vehicle we see for about 10-15 minutes but served the biggest role. Partswise we get the black brick which are fairly common in these calendars and have a variety of uses. It's just so little and tiny it's pretty neat you can tell what it is for only 8 pieces.
The Gungans should have no problems dealing with these, although Jar Jar will probably still mess it up.
Day 6:
Security Droid
Garbage, last year we got a pilot and this year we get a security droid. I'm taking guesses from what will come next year.... Similar to the Gungan, this droid is defencless and printless.
Droids on the march.
Day 7:
Naboo Starfighter
The colours should tell you right away what this build will be. A quaint little ship which is the ship of Phantom Menace. The tail is a bit odd though.
Day 8:
Droid Starfighter
Something for our Naboo Starfighter to battle with. It's nice using the axle piece to allow for the wings/legs to rotate. One of the challenges working with such a small scale is avoiding having weird looking things come up, much like the head portion of this sticks out like a sore thumb.
Day 9:
Imperial Officer/ General Veers
TLG tried to pass off a minifigure in the past that looked like this guy as General Veers in the past, but missed the mark. He does have a reversable head, the same one as the Death Star Trooper from the new Tie Fighter. He just seems to angry to be Veers. The trend continues however. No weapons.
Day 10:
A poor selection of parts that would be impossible to make look good. (AT-AT)
pg
I don't even want to say anything about this so I won't.
Sorry, very blurry.
Veers is not happy with his new assignment.
Day 11:
Atagar Cannon (or at least a poor attempt at one)
I don't like this, seems like yet another filler.
Day 12:
Hoth Trooper
At least we have someone to fight against the Imperial and AT-AT to bad he doesn't have a gun.
Day 13:
GNK Droid or Gonk Droid
I barely remember this little guy, but TLG does. It's a bit to big, but there is nothing really bad about it, nothing really good either.
Day 14:
Weapons Rack
Hurray! We have weapons. Wait there is a problem though. We only got 2 guns but there are already 3 soldiers or different factions, plus two more to come. Bad call. Not even going to mention how the lightsaber attactches.
Day 15:
Snowtrooper
It's a snowtrooper, but wait....
He's now has the balaclava face, the skin tone is a bit darker. (How does he tan on Hoth?)
Day 16:
Naboo Royal Starship
I was lost as to what this was when I saw the pieces, and after it was built I didn't recognize it at first. But this is probably one of the best builds in the entire set. It has the most pieces and the best shape and just everything you could hope in a mini model. Something I could see Legostein building.
Day 17:
Flash Speeder
Hey look! It's that green car that fired one shot and was then demolished by the Trade Federation. Good build techniques used, some SNOT work plus a connection I haven't seen TLG use too often, the way the engines on the back are added on. but not a good choice to include in here.
The main cannon is just a bit to little to be of any use.
Day 18:
Rebel Trooper
Wait? what? Not a Naboo Royal Guard? Not a figure that would make sense with the theme we've been following? Although this selection choice is odd. It's quite nice to get one of these guys, seeing as how they've only appeared in two sets.
What's that you say? This figure is brand new? and TLG didn't paste it all over the box? That's right, the keen observer will see that he has a smile. The same front expression as Captain Antilles, but no reversible head.
Day 19:
Separatist Shuttle
Not one of my favorite ships in the Star Wars universe, but it's a good build that looks like what it's supposed to be. (Don't remember it being tan though.)
Day 20:
General Greivous' Starfighter
So we're going to jump into Revenge of the Sith for second to include this ship that we hardly see.
The grey super brick helps make this build and it does actually look quit nice, albeit a bit narrow.
Day 21:
Super Battle Droid
Because having ONE more generic droid that many of us have multiples of will change the tide of a war.
Day 22:
Sith Infiltrator
Ehhh, I don't know about this one, something about it doesn't seem right (reading this review, nothing seems to be done right). Basic parts that don't create much.
Day 23:
Snow Droid
Here we are, this is one of the minifigures that compelled me to buy this. When I first saw prelims I thought it was a white astromech. It's actually a snowman/droid which is rather creative. I don't understand the purpose of having two pieces for the base, but it's something.
TLG added a black stud which is to go under the top hat so it attaches better. To me it just raises it to high and makes it look weird.
Without stud.
Some close ups show the carrots and the 'eye' is a piece of coal.
Day 24:
Darth Maul
Here he is, the dark lord of the sith himself, Darth Maul. Playing in the snow. Seems legit.
Honestly, this character choice makes no sense, Darth Maul rarely speaks, rarely has emotion, rarely uses a shovel to clean snow. Unlike Yoda last year who is a sort of father figure to all of the Jedi (Father Christmas) we have an Eskimo Maul?
The torso is not the same as Yoda last year, the candy cane has been moved from the front to the back, which is then covered up by the cape.
The same face from the Infiltrator is used, but no horns are included.
With the lightsaber.
Here is the whole gang, we see how The Phantom Menace is the main theme, with a little bit of Rebel and Imperial thrown in for good measure.
Overall Grade:
Value: 3/10 For what I got I was very dissapointed. The few good builds and interesting minfigures weren't enough to make it that worthwhile.
Design: 2/10 The best build and pretty much the only good build in the set was Royal Star Cruiser. The ISD was pretty nice as well.
Playability: 4/10 We have 4 weapons to spread out over 8 figures. I'm sure someone could have fun with the little Naboo Starfighter and Vulture Droid, but other than that, most of these will all just be scrapped and milked for pieces.
Parts: 4/10 I like the super bricks anddd, that's about the most redeeming part. The rest can just be used here and there.
Overall: 13/40
So that's what I think, but anyone can sit here and type about what they don't like in a set. So what would I do to make it better. I'm going to list all the days again with what I would sub in and out and leave in what was alright.
Day 1- Gungan Sub========Change to
Day 2- Gungan ===========Change to Boss Nass
Day 3- Catapult==========Change to Mini Anakins Pod Racer
Day 4- ISD===============Stay
Day 5- MTT===============Stay
Day 6- Security Droid====Change to Qui Gonn or Obi Wan
Day 7- Naboo SF==========Stay
Day 8- Vulture Droid=====Stay
Day 9- Veers=============Change to K-3P0
Day 10- AT-AT============Change to AT-ST
Day 11- Atgar============Change to Snowspeeder
Day 12- Hoth Trooper=====Change to Commander Rieekan (I would spend $50 just for him)
Day 13- GNK Droid========Change to mini Sebulba's Pod
Day 14- Weapon Rack======Change
Day 15- Snowtrooper======Stay
Day 16- Royal Starship===Stay
Day 17- Flash Speeder====Stay
Day 18- Rebel Trooper====Change to Naboo Palace Guard
Day 19- Sep Shuttle======Stay
Day 20- Greivous Fighter=Change to Droid Control Ship
Day 21- SBD==============Change to Droideka
Day 22- Sith Infiltrator=Change to AAT
Day 23- Snow Droid=======Stay
Day 24- Darth Maul=======Jar Jar Elf
What do you think could replace it?
You've convinced me not to buy this, unless I can find it at a decent discount! The Darth Maul figure is simply terrible....I'll never understand why they decided to use him 
Still a great review! 
