75981 Harry Potter Advent Calendar Review

As per usual, with all four (yep, four!) of the 2020 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; Harry Potter
No: 75981
Release Year: 2020
Cost: AUD $49.95
Pieces: 335 (with six minifigures)

LEGO Harry Potter gets it’s own advent calendar again this year, and I’m very happy. Let’s take a look.

The display stand looks excellent again – this year we’re going with a Yule Ball theme. The Yule Ball was the Christmas celebration for the students that entered the Triwizard Tournament. It’s going to be a fun set to build.

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Day 1: Yule Ball Harry Potter

Day one is a great start – Harry Potter in his Yule Ball tuxedo, as well as a little table and candle, and a beautifully printed 2×3 tile with a Yule Ball invitation on it. There’s also a few extra wands thrown in for good measure.

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Day 2: Hogwarts

This is fantastic! A microscale Hogwarts! I absolutely love this. Last year’s Hogwarts Express was excellent, and this is just as good. With the Great Hall, Gryffindor Tower and main entrance clearly identifiable, this is really cleverly done.

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Day 3: Durmstrang Ship

This is absolutely brilliant – a microscale Durmstrang Ship! This is the school bus for the Durmstrang students to get to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament, and it’s one of the coolest entrances ever. This is a really exciting build – what a strong start to this calendar! I’m very excited to see what Day 4’s build is.

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Day 4: Beaubatons Carriage

The Harry Potter Advent Calendar continues to give us the goods! Following on from yesterday’s Durmstrang Ship, today we get the Beaubatons Carriage, and it’s a beauty! The dishes as wheels are clever, and the white Abraxan is fantastic! If only we had a few more to add to the front. This set is just delivering this year! Bring on Day 5!

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Day 5: Yule Ball Cho Chang

Today’s build is the second minifigure for the calendar – Cho Chang dressed in her formal Yule Ball gown. The printing on this is beautiful, as is the hair piece, but I’m not the biggest fan of the use of a 1×2 brick and 1×2 plate as legs. It’s not flowy enough. The dress element would have made her too tall, which is a shame, but this isn’t quite right either.

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Day 6: Goblet of Fire

Day 6 is the Goblet of Fire – the impartial cup that determines who would enter the Triwizard Tournament. It’s an interesting build, and the blue fire is sparkly! Bring on more Harry Potter goodness! I’m loving it.

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Day 7: Gramophone

The Harry Potter calendar just continues to deliver! Today we’ve got the magical gramophone that was used while the students practiced dancing for the Yule Ball. It’s a beauty! I’m a big fan of this build. It’s super clever.

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Day 8: Couch and Golden Egg

This may seem like a random build, but it’s pretty cool! The golden egg is the treasure claimed after Harry defeated the Dragon for his first task in the Triwizard Tournament – it ends up being the clue for the second task. Open it above water and it screams like a banshee, underwater is the song of the Mermaids. The couch (clearly from the Gryffindor common room) is a bit more vague – I think there’s a scene where Harry is lying on it, hugging the egg and talking to Hermione, but I can’t find the clip! Either way, I like it.

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Day 9: Table

It’s a bit more toned down today with a table and bottle on top. It’s very simple, but still quite nicely built.

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Day 10: Yule Ball Ron Weasley

I love this – Ron Weasley in his ancient and rather ruffled hand-me-down Yule Ball robes. It’s fantastic! We’ve seen this minifigure before, in the latest wave of Harry Potter sets for the Clock Tower (75948), but that’s a Yule Ball set too. He’s also got a grumpy face on the reverse, perfect for the scene with his robes.

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Day 11: Fireplace

As is pretty standard in Advent Calendars, it’s a fireplace. The fireplace itself is quite simple. I’m curious about what those clips are going to be used for. Will they attach to something later in the calendar? I really like the stocking. It’s the best bit of the build.

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Day 12: Window with Drink

This one is a little weird. It’s the halfway point, and I think it’s a window? It’s got some holly at the top and a drink on the window sill (cleverly made by the way). It looks pretty good, but what I want to know is why it’s able to be connected to the fireplace. It doesn’t make any sense, unless it’s meant to be backwards?

If you clip it on, the fireplace is on the outside of the window, with people looking out from the back. I like the idea of it being joined to another build, and I’m excited to see what happens tomorrow, but it’s still intriguing.

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Day 13: Christmas Tree

Today we’ve got one of the large snow covered Christmas trees that adorn the Great Hall and are also shown on the backdrop of the set itself. It’s a really nice build that’s got a nice shape to it. I also like the pyramid tiles used instead of the standard options.

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Day 14: Window and Chocolate Frog

Matching Day 12’s window, we’ve got another one, this time with a chocolate frog on the window sill. Aside from that, it’s identical. Those extra clips have me wondering though – will we see more builds connect to this?

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Day 15: Yule Ball Padma Patil

Today we get another minifigure – Padma Patil in her Yule Ball gown. It’s a good little build, but again, the dress is a little lacking, using a 1×2 brick and plate. Padma was Ron’s date to the Yule Ball, and it did not go that well. I wonder if we’ll see Parvati?

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Day 16: Small Christmas Trees

Going with Day 13’s big tree we have two identical snowy Christmas trees. They’re nice, but due to the cone elements used, there’s a limited amount of studs to place details on.

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Day 17: Grand Piano

Apologies for the delay in posting day 17’s builds – I’ve landed myself in hospital with pancreatitis! I was just too weak to do anything yesterday. I’m here for a few more days, but will try to continue to post.

We’ve got a grand piano! This is a nice build. I really like the printed keyboard tile. The fact that it’s not in black also adds something to the build.

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Day 18: Ice Sculpture and Food Table

This was an interesting build. A rather simple but clever ice sculpture, a couple of drinks and a mysterious food item on a semicircular table. I’m really liking the way glasses are done in the calendar. It’s very clever and looks great.

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Day 19: Yule Ball Parvati Patil

In a matching pair from Day 15, we’ve got Parvati Patil. It’s an opposite colour print from Padma and looks just as good.

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Day 20: Ice Sculpture and Drinks Table

I’m out of hospital! Time to recover and get stuck into some more LEGO. Time to catch up on Day 20 as well.

Day 20 gave us the other half of the Ice Sculpture and table from Day 18. There’s a slight difference with the sculpture, and more drinks on the table with no food.

I have to say, I really like them together! It looks really good.

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Day 21: Microphone and Music

We’re a bit more paired back today, with a strange looking microphone and some sheet music. It’s not a ball without music! Simple, but important. Three days to go! I wonder what we’ll get?

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Day 22: Yule Ball Hermione Granger

What we get is Hermione Granger in her elegant ball gown, walking in fashionably late, just like the movie! Great printing on this one, but again with those ‘legs’. The hairpiece is nice. Looks like it’s from a Friends minidoll.

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Day 23: Presents

It’s the second last day and we’ve got some presents wrapped in the Hogwarts House colours. These are really cool, especially the gift wrapped broomstick! What a calendar this has been. I’ve been loving it and don’t want it to stop! One day to go…

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Day 24: Triwizard Cup

It’s Christmas Eve! To wrap up (yep, I said it) this fantastic Advent Calendar we’ve got the Triwizard Cup, and it looks really good. The snake handles are spot on and although the overall tapering of the cup is not there, it’s not really possible either, so this is as good as we can get. Good thing it’s really good!

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I have been incredibly impressed with the Harry Potter calendar this year. It’s a huge improvement on last year, and one of the best of 2020. It’s got a cohesive feel, made thanks to the Yule Ball theme, and had some exciting builds as well. My favourite builds this year have got to be the Durmstrang Ship and Beauxbaton’s Carriage, with the table being the only real disappointment, I think. Even the windows, although a little odd, link up to be quite a nice little build.

Thank you to all of you for following along with the calendar this year. It’s been a big month! In the coming week I’ll be preparing my 2020 Reflections article and then in the new year I’ll be releasing the results of the Top 5 Sets for 2020 poll, and who the winner is! We’ve had a lot (I mean a lot!) of entries.

Merry Christmas to Everyone, and have a great New Year’s break.