LEGO Harry Potter 75981 - Advent Calender New 2020 (335 pieces)

Product Information

If that's the case, why does LEGO release these sets in September, and start discounting them in November, before the time they're most in demand? Despite the large minifigure count this set contains a lot of repeated pieces and figures coming with just 3 exclusive pieces to date. While I’m not much of a fun of the new trilogy, I wouldn’t mind picking up a few of this minifig just for the printed torso piece. I hope to see you this time next year for the 2021 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar if they’re making one again! Add to this that the builds all need to be in the same scale (to work in the play scene), which was not a requirement for earlier Friends calendars, and you can see the problem which arises.

Pit Droid – While this set comes with four buildable figs / creatures, there’s really only one that stands out to me and that’s the Pit Droid from the original Episode 1, Phantom Menace.

I love the use of Day 2 for microbuilds (we got an amazing micro Hogwarts Express in Day 2 last year), and I think the design works for Hogwarts, and I like that the Gryffindor Tower, Great Hall and entrance are immediately recognizable. It’s great that we got the Parvati Twins and Cho Chang, but there is a massive Hufflepuff omission – I think not having the Hogwarts champion (and future vampire teenage hearththrob) Cedric Diggory is a big miss for this calendar. It’s also quite hard to replicate certain aspects, so you’re right – it may have been a compromise, with a dash of artistic license. Fortunately, the designers must have noticed that many fans did not like repetition and recolors of the same build as each mini build in this set is unique! Of the included 24 minifigs and builds, a whooping 21 are already shown on the box so little is actually left to be surprised about.

With Gonk they included him last year and did a perfect job on that so I was surprised to see him again, so I wasn’t as impressed. I am really enjoying the furniture builds this year, as unlike 2019’s banners and tables they’re interesting shapes and all come together to form a dynamic scene. Without spoiling all of the mini builds, as the box does a good job at hiding them, I have picked out my top 4 highlighted builds from the set, picking out parts that are unique.When spread throughout December however boredom would probably not be an issue as the builds are evenly spread over 24 days. This year’s Friends Advent Calendar seems to resolve several disappointing aspects from earlier years. What would’ve made it an exceptional build if they had included a Sirius Black head for the flames as a nod to this Goblet of Fire scene where Sirius chats to Harry in the flames. Also, looking at the sequence of builds, MOST advent calendars end with a Seasonal/Festive minifigure on Day 24 (Santa Claus, Santa characters etc)!