Huigberts Builds

Damn, and the Astronomy Tower isn't even there yet xD.

I don't think anyone here has an issue with the figures, it's the builds. Also I wouldn't say Flitwick isn't canon, he's just retconned, but all of the versions we got appeared on screen so they're canon to the specific movie they appeared in.

Maybe, idk. To me it always felt the advent calendar at the very least complimented a set from either that or the previous year with some small builds and accessoires that would fit in with the others. Sure they experimented a little with a board game, multiple schoolyears at once, sometimes more micro builds than another, but overall they fitted in better with the regular sets than any other theme. While this year it feels quite the opposite. Still gonna buy it, it's interesting to say the least, this Advent Calendar kinda feels like how I expected the calendars to be back in like 2019. Not to mention this might be our first Harry that never appeared on screen (correct me if I'm wrong, just don't remember any of these sweaters) which opens up the doors for a lot of other new interesting things. Would love to get a Santa Hagrid and Dumbledore one day. Although I also still wish to get some of the missing Christmas scenes from the movies, especially Fred and George in their Christmas sweaters (as it's the closest to how they appeared in the old pc games).

I thought the original cmf one and latest book exclusive one were pretty good. Interesting how all the Harry Potter sets that leaked end up being the last to be officially revealed. Really want to see the interior for Privet Drive and QQS.

These Spidey sets look great, I want them all, now I just need money, and space. Especially the figures are a huge upgrade. And we're still getting that spiderverse cmf series, huge win for Spider-man figures overall.

I mean it looks cool, but I have no interest now that it doesn't include the villains. Either they'll give us another Forever set (in the near or far future) with the villains included in which batman will obviously appear again, in which case I don't need this set, or they'll never give us the Forever villains, in which case I don't need this Batman. So this has gotta be a pass for me, especially for this price, even though it looks pretty cool.

Ngl, this is probably my least favourite Harry Potter Advent Calendar, especially compared to the others great ones coming out this year. Harry Potter has been winning the AC race ever since the first one in my book, but this year it just gets outshined by pretty much every other one. Sure the sweaters are cute (although I don't remember ever seeing them in the movies) and so are the builds, but the builds are pretty useless to me. Other years they would enrich my other sets, this year idk, maybe for the people who bought the tiny Hedwig, but I wouldn’t have gotten them if it wasn't for the figures. Maybe they changed designers? Feels very different from other years. I'll buy it for the sweaters, but meh...

Nice to get a store worker for QQS. I wonder what piece they used for the Nimbus 2000 handle, looks new but I'm not certain

It definitely won't be. The Flying Lesson building cannonically goes in the back, plus it doesn't even look anything like the bridge. This is supposed to be the most accurate version of the castle we've ever gotten (and likely will ever get), they won't cut corners like that. Sure they did it with the previous system, but that was a whole different scenario. It was in the first movie. Plus lego made a set on it during the original poa run, so I think it would be a pretty nice callback to make a new one as gwp.

Oh wow wow, wow. That settles is, this is my favourite Fluffy. The Fat Lady Portrait actually being a functioning door this time. Dumbledore's Office looking the most accurate ever, even included the Griffin gargoyle statue on the back of the stairs. This looks awesome Speaking of the stairs, so glad they're actually funcional, they can actually bring you from 1 floor to another. And the room is filled with a decent amount of portraits. The Gryffindor Dormitory and common room are looking great. Beds are a bit simplistic and we can probably forget about Sirius in the fireplace, but other than that it ticks all the boxes of what you could possibly want from that place. The trial rooms look way better than with the last Fluffy encounter set. Actually got the key segments and the devils snare looks way better, although it still can't hold a candle to the original sets, where they actually had a play function. And the entire thing about winged keys is that they have wings. I wish child me didn't lose the wing elements D:. It still looks great for what it is though. Mirror of Erised looks great as well, way less stickers this time around. Although I prefer the artstyle of the 2018 stickers, looked more realistic, this one looks more like how they do the paintings. Exterior looks great (although not to sure why there's a big window on the side). Figures are pretty good as well, although definitely not the highlight of the set. Dumbledore has been done better in countless other sets (still good design though), and I kinda prefer the previous Nick. Neville and Kettleburn are true highlights though, even though I might make a few adjustments to make him a bit more book accurate. Either way, I think this might be my new favourite set, definitely interior wise. I wonder if the Astronomy Tower on the box is a tease for next year.

The new Fluffy looks pretty good, but the original one just has a spot in my heart that's hard to replace. If the new one can open their mouths (which I highly doubt) that would be the deciding factor for me which of the 2 I prefer. At the very least miles better than the brickbuild one with the stupid eyes. The idea was fun, but only for a very specific angle. You would've needed to buy 3 of them to make a regular one, which I a shame. No, this is way, and way better.

Now that Lego seems to take some more inspiration from the parks, what are the chances of us getting Zonko's in the Hogsmeade set?

Or alternatively, and bear with me, the lego baby xD. But yeah, it's understandable, but their absence is just very noticeable.

For Diagon Alley the nanofigures appear to be Hermione, Ron, Lavender, Ginny, Fred, George, Mr Borgin, Narcissa, Draco, Madam Malkin, Ollivander and Harry. They somehow put more effort in nano Narcissa than the regular version xD. The lineup is pretty decent, although I was kinda hoping they would find a way to do a tiny Hagrid. Also Borgin feels slightly out of place without his actual shop, then again, at first I mistook him for Tom, he can probably easily double for that. Goblins are also noticeably absent, although I don't know how they could've done them either so that's understandable.

Hmmmm, don't know how I feel about the final 2 sets. For the Flying Lesson I think the exterior is absolute excellent, it looks great, it kinda feels like they combined the previous flying lesson with the 2018 Whomping Willow set. I'm sure it will look great combined with the other sets. But the interior really isn't my cup of tea. The smaller office and trophy room are fine, but the other 2 rooms feel a bit claustrophobic and very undetailed. I was hoping for all the classes to be as detailed as the potions class, which was such a huge upgrade from the one before. But both transfiguration and Charms really aren't that. Charms is even closed when displayed, I mean so was Potions, but at least there it made somewhat sense, here the arches will look awful if it has this huge brick of a class stored inside. The rooms feel more like storage containers than actual display pieces. And the figures really aren't great either, McGonagall is probably the worst one we've ever received, including the ones pre 2018, which is a huge downgrade considering the one right before it was the absolute best. The others are nothing special either, Oliver Wood is alright though. The Knight Bus is a huge disappointment. Stan no longer has printing on his hat, Padfoot still uses the old piece, which like, defeats the entire point of why many people who owned the previous one wanted this set. The build itself, while perhaps more accurate, somehow feels less than the previous one. The interior is alright, although I did really enjoy the sliding bed from the last one. The sleeping witch is a nice inclusion, but it just reuses the Flower Lady torso, and I can't spot the Shrunken Head anywhere, so if that's the trade in, I don't really think it's worth it. So far I've been collecting all the system scale sets from 2018 onwards, but I think this might become the set where I stop that.