Set Review: 7979 Castle Advent Calendar

[cagri]

7979 Castle Advent Calendar

Theme: Castle

Released: 2008

Price: 13 Pounds

Pieces: 176

Warning:

I ordered two of this set from SAH and both of copies had only one kind of crown knight even though it shows two different crownies in the box. I have seen other people receiving the two different figures so it might be just my luck. My luck in a good way! The duplicate figures I received have a new design released with this set and I'm happy to own four them. So please note that I'm reviewing a faulty version of this set!

Introduction:

Aren't we all tired of those silly Town calendars each year, all those different presentations of the same content? The same garbage men, police officers, firemen.. We already got them from regular sets! Finally TLG managed offer something completely new and it makes up for all the lost years of Castle theme. Meet our new Castle advent calendar:

There are 24 (surprise!) seperate polybags for each day:

Strangely they have different sizes?

All those brown parts will be useful for any castle builder:

We get quite a lot of transparent parts as well.

Various containers and a small treasure:

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a coin pack instead of one of the gem sets?

Pottery, food and animals:

Probably animals and food meant the same thing back then!

Lots of figure accesories, we could use some more shields though:

Gotta love that magic spark! It only came with 7093 before the calendar.

Extra parts:

Isn't that carrot top cute ?

We have nine unique figures, five of them are released with this set:

Don't mind the picture, I received one type of crown knight instead of two.

Jester is one of the bestest figures of all time:

Harley Quinn from 7886 would be a great match as his enemy.

We haven't had an witch for some time. They will be a great couple with the evil wizard from 7093:

The wonderful maid has two different faces, the other one can be seen in of the pictures below.

Dreadful witch quarters:

Snake soup for dinner? Yuck!

The evil band of undead:

Brown crossbow on a black skeleton doesn't look so good.

Hard working dwarf with his tools:

If only the cart could fit in the railway sytem of 7036.

The visor is nice:

You already met my twin crownies.

Archery range is really sweet:

The two battle tools are not so interesting.

Watch out for Spidey!

The desk and the stool is well-designed. I love the plate/glass color as well.

All the castle folk:

Carrot, apple and mouse doesn't match. Hit him in head maid!

Folder when public:

Brickshelf

Rating:

-Figures: 10/10 It would be better to get something else instead of the skeletons but that wouldn't be possible without a raise in the price.

-Parts: 7/10 We get quite a lot of interesting parts such as food, containers, animals, accesories.. They make nice details. But the rest is just standart parts.

-Price: 10/10 I'm willing to pay 25 Pounds for this little treasure!

-Design: 8/10 Not much to design here, but the stool, archery range, shelving.. is useful in MOCs.

-Building: 8/10 It will be exciting to place these little models by your window every day. If you can wait until Christmas :)

-Total: 43/50 Jump out of the window if you don't like this set!

Conclusion:

Nothing much left to say, pictures speak for themselves. We all have been waiting for this set since its picture leaked early this year. I'm really happy that it wasn't a fake one and I hope TLG will make another calendar for next year. I'm sure this one will be top seller and eventually it will be released in North America since there is a great demand and market. Order yours right now!

Links:

Brickset Reviews

Bricklink Entry

Peeron Inventory

Notes:

-Once again, I'd like to mention that the two copies of this set I own came with one type of Crown knights instead of two. I ordered my sets from UK SAH and I don't know how common this problem is.

-I just realized that I could have replaced the figures from my inventory but I was a little slow to come up with this solution. I already took the pictures and I'm too lazy to start shooting again. Sorry!

-My camera has white balance problems and my light source continuously changes so the images do not reflect the original colors of the parts. I'm sorry for that.

-WhiteFang just told me that magic spark doesn't only come with 7093 & 7979 but with various other sets as well. I must have missed it, sorry !

Edited September 23, 2008 by KimT
Indexed

[keetong]

Hey why did you get two archers instead of one archer and one knight?

Oh sorry didn't read that part.

Edited September 23, 2008 by keetong

[KimT]

Mmmmm another review on this fantastic advent calendar.

I like the pieces and the minifigs, in fact what's not to like (yeah yeah I know, not in NA )

Thanks cagri for this review, I've added it to the index.

[WhiteFang]

Another outstanding set with a great review.

The more I look at your review, the more I wished this set will come soon. There is so much possibilites that I could do with it. There are so many useful accessories for your kingdom, and new addition to your kingdom as well, with the maiden and jester. Can't wait to get hold of this set soon. Thanks Cagri!

[Guss]

I was planning to buy one, but now that you showed me how nice it is, I'm going to buy it before next sunday ^^

[I Scream Clone]

Great review! I had also heard of another packing error from another review. No beard for the dwarf

I have one ordered and on the way so I cant wait to rip into all the great accessories shown here

[Derek]

Thanks for the review! I am one of the lucky ones able to order one in the US, and I actualy hope mine comes with the double archer minifigs. I don't have very many of them, and I really want that face....

[UsernameMDM]

I wouldn't mind getting two of that Crown Knight instead of 1 each.

[Stash2Sixx]

Nicely done. I just ordered mine last Friday and I got it earlier this afternoon!!!!!

[the enigma that is badger]

Thanks for the great review!

Nicely done. I just ordered mine last Friday and I got it earlier this afternoon!!!!!

Looks like UPS to Chicagoland is fairly consistent - based on the tracking #, mine should be waiting for me at home, too!

badger

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thank you very much for this great review, cagri!

I voted for Outstanding since there are four excellent minifigs included (jester, medieval maiden, witch and dwarf), two nice knights and a lot of nice and useful additional stuff (I don't care about the two skellies and the orc because I really don't like these fractions). The only thing of which I'm really disappointed is that there is no medieval market stand included in this set .

Klaus-Dieter

Edited October 2, 2008 by Klaus-Dieter

[Norro]

One of the best Castle sets in ages! Especially with the correct assortment of figures ; )

God Bless and thanks for the review!

Nathan

[slimninj4]

My set came in the mail yesterday. Now I have 2 months to wait to open each one. Wow....talk about patience.

[UsernameMDM]

My set came in the mail yesterday. Now I have 2 months to wait to open each one. Wow....talk about patience.

I opened one last nite and will open the other one for Advent with my daughter.

[metalandi]

Feckin' Amazon still didn't ship mine, so that means it will again not arrive before next week. I can't wait anymore!!!

[Sandy]

I'm so relieved to have finally bought this set at a reasonable price on Ebay! The witch and the jester and the maiden will finally be mine!

And hell no, I won't wait for Christmas to open the box either!

[ultraman_bc]

In one of those rare Lego moments, Singapore actually got the calendars as general release, and priced reasonably too. I found myself with 3 sets and I could not resist to get more items from the calendar when the local shop I frequent started to part the items to sell them separately. Got another maiden and several bull's eye for my archers to practice on.

[Derek]

I wish I had a Lego store around here, buying them seperately would be sweet! But I am in the US and my calendar arrived today, so if you ordered one one last week, watch out. Now the hard part, waiting til December...

[Skipper 24]

Seeming as all the reviews of the set are so tempting I probably will buy one. You were pretty unlucky to get a dodgy knight fig in there. My favourite fig in there must be the Jester because he is just so cool. If I do get it I will probably wait till December to open it though. Great review .

[skelliesgang]

what would've made this a perfect set is the inclusion of the wizard or a king minifig.

Edited October 4, 2008 by skelliesgang

[Matteo Kenobi]

This set looks great, I love the great mini figs, good choice by lego...we have enough kings!

When is this to be released in the US?

[Skipper 24]

This set looks great, I love the great mini figs, good choice by lego...we have enough kings!

When is this to be released in the US?

It won't be except for the limited time release where you have to quote a special code. I don't know if this is still running.

[Matteo Kenobi]

Dang, oh well, thanks.

[Batbrick]

Okay, I've decided to forsake some pirate sets in order to order this and the Battle Wheel. seriously, I need this, Castle on!

Batbrick Away!