As per usual, with all four of the 2019 Advent Calendars, I’ll be updating this post daily. Each day will have an image of the day’s build, a quick comment, with a final overall review at the end of the month. If you want to keep up to date with the post, use the link to the right of the page – it’ll be there for the duration of December. I won’t be posting any pics on social media, so it won’t get spoilt by me!
Theme: Seasonal; Star Wars
No: 75245
Release Year: 2019
Cost: AUD $49.95
Pieces: 280 (with nine minifigures)
It’s such a shame that there are still so many spoilers on the box! This happens every single year – I can count 12 – that’s half the box spoiled already! LEGO Advent Calendar designers, we went through this last year – give us a chance to be surprised. It’s the whole point!
The display stand is very different this year – one simple planet. It’s Ahch-To, where Rey goes to find Luke Skywalker. I like it.
Day 1: First Order Star Destroyer
Day 2: Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle
Day 3: First Order Stormtrooper
Day 4: FWMB-10 Repeating Blaster
Day 5: Black One
Day 6: Resistance Troop Transporter
Day 7: Cooking with Chewie
Day 8: Ahch-To
Day 9: Luke Skywalker
Day 10: Quadjumper
Day 11: Death Star Turret
Day 12: Death Star Gunner
Day 1: First Order Star Destroyer
We’re off to a good start, with the First Order Star Destroyer. These have the flatter bridges, compared to the Imperial Star Destroyer. Obviously there’s a limit to the triangularity (is that a word?) of the vessel, but I reckon the designers have done well. Looking forward to tomorrow!
Day 2: Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle
Another beauty, and a new entrant! Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle is pretty mean looking, but it misses a few targets for me. The wings aren’t really long enough, and it looks strange with the dark bluish grey accents. It’s just a little off. I knew exactly what it was, but it’s just not quite there. That’s what we get when working at this scale!
Day 3: First Order Stormtrooper
We’re sticking with the First Order theme of the calendar so far, with a First Order Stormtrooper, the cannon fodder of the Star Wars universe. He looks great, as usual and comes with a blaster. I wonder if we’ll get a blaster rack in this set?
Day 4: FWMB-10 Repeating Blaster
For a weapon only build (if you can call it that), I don’t actually mind this! This is the FWMB-10 Repeating Blaster. It’s got double hand grips at the back, thanks to a rollerskate, and it’s a big unit. It also has a white blaster, which has only been seen once before, back in 2018, with 75217 Imperial Conveyex Transport. Not bad. I mean, it could be better, but it could also be worse…
Day 5: Black One
We’ve come back strong with Black One, Poe Dameron’s X-Wing. Wow, this is a cracker of a build! Loads of parts, and it looks phenomenal! An instantly recognisable ship, and a seriously detailed little build. I love the little white BB-8 as well! Man this was a good one.
Day 6: Resistance Troop Transporter
Today’s build took me a while to figure out. It’s a weird little Resistance Troop Transporter. We’ve seen these before in LEGO, with 75140. It doesn’t translate as well with this scale, but I think they’ve done okay.
Day 7: Cooking with Chewie
No, it’s not a Star Wars based cooking show. Today we get Chewbacca complete with a Porg drumstick and fire, just like The Last Jedi! This is hilarious, and a stunning version of Chewie. This latest version has amazing printing all over him, including his bandolier. So great!
Day 8: Ahch-To
We’ve got a location today, and it’s the location of the display plate – Ahch-To. It’s pretty good, and it even has Luke Skywalker’s little house. Not bad.
Day 9: Luke Skywalker
Continuing on from yesterday’s Ahch-To, we’ve got the inhabitant – an older Luke Skywalker! He’s got a torn brown tunic on, with back printing and a double sided head, showing his grimace. He’s also got a walking staff and a freshly caught fish. A great inclusion overall.
Day 10: Quadjumper
This one was a little harder to pick, but it’s a Quadjumper. These funny little craft ferry freight containers around, and it’s what Rey and Finn were heading to on Jakku before it got all explodey.
Day 11: Death Star Turret
I got this one pretty quickly – a Death Star turret, straight out of the trench run! I like it. It’s got some basic greebling at the base, and looks good. It can also be positioned differently.
Day 12: Death Star Gunner
We’ve reached halfway and were sticking with the Death Star. We’ve got a Death Star Gunner today – those soldiers that could destroy a planet with the press of a button. He looks good, and also has some back printing. There’s also a stern face with a comms radio underneath that helmet. The printing on the helmet in particular is very detailed – the buttons on the side are very nice!
Day 13: Mouse Droid
Sorry about the lateness of this post! I was at a work function last night, and another one this afternoon! Busy 24 hours.
We’ve got a cute little Mouse Droid for Day 13 – it’s a little unrecognisable due to the scale, but at the same time it’s really not! It’s very clever.
Day 14: Persuader Class Tank Droid
These Tank Droids had a huge caterpillar track in the middle of the unit, and were pretty quick, dashing around the battlefields of the Clone Wars on Kashyyyk. Yep, we’ve left the Death Star and are in the Clone Wars. What’s in for tomorrow?
Day 15: Battle Droid
We’re continuing on with the droid theme of the last few days with the blaster magnet, the battle droid. They come by the hundreds and are a bit goofy and glitchy, so provide the comic relief for the movies.
Day 16: Multi-Troop Transport
We’ve got another vehicle – this time a Multi Troop Transport (MTT) were the big hovering maroon vehicles that shuttled the battle droids onto the battlefield. The front opened up to extend the rack that they were stored on, before they opened up, fired off a few shots, and then got laid waste by the Jedi in spectacular fashion.
Day 17: Escape Pod
This is a weird one – an Escape Pod. One of these was seen in A New Hope where our favourite two droids land on Tatooine. It looks simple, but I had a bit of trouble with it! I really need to get better lights in my LEGO room.
Day 18: Rebel Trooper
This is a nice one – a Rebel Trooper. The helmet looks great, as does the uniform. He’s also got an alternate face – a determined grimace. The chin strap is a nice addition too.
Day 19: Mynock
Remember the flying bat things that latched on to the Millenium Falcon in Empire Strikes Back? The cave that wasn’t a cave? This is a Mynock, presumably one that lived in the monstrous space slug that almost ate our crew. It’s a bit weird to be honest. The face looks unfinished!
Day 20: Echo Base
Echo Base! That’s awesome. This is fantastic! The entrance to Echo Base, an Ion Cannon mid-fire and a turret. It’s a shame the hinge plate under the cannon is dark grey – they do these in white. It would have looked a lot better! Also, that ion bolt should be orange, not blue.
Day 21: Cloud Car
I really like the shaping of this cloud car. It’s a very clever little build. The movie versions are also a little more rounded on the outside edges, but I don’t think it was possible to do that at this scale.
Day 22: Cloud Car Pilot
It’s only fitting that after yesterday’s Cloud Car, we get someone to pilot it! The helmet on the Cloud Car Pilot is fantastic, as well as the printing on the torso. These minifigures are very rare, only appearing in one other set – last year’s 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City, which also had a very nice minifigure scale Cloud Car. Two days to go! Hopefully we finish strong – it’s been good so far!
Day 23: Christmas Gonk Droid
How cool is this! A Christmas Gonk Droid! Officially known as the GNK Droid, these guys are batteries. Power units. This one though – this one looks brilliant! The Gonk name comes from the noise they make – “gonk”. This is an awesome way to almost wrap up the calendar (get it?). We’ve got one more to go!
Day 24: Christmas Porg
Today is Christmas Eve, and every calendar on Day 24 we get something Christmassy. This year it’s a Porg in a Christmas outfit! I like it – very cute.
All in all, I think this year has been pretty strong. We’ve had some great builds and nice minifigure inclusions, so I’ve had fun with this calendar.
The highlights for me would definitely be that X-Wing, the Gonk, and Barbeque Chewie.
Thank you to all of you that have been following along this year! I hope you enjoyed your own calendars, and have a great Christmas Day! May Santa bring you lots of LEGO! I’m looking forward to seeing what 2020 brings…
