Random set of the day: Star Wars Advent Calendar
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 7958 Star Wars Advent Calendar, released during 2011. It's one of 32 Star Wars sets produced that year. It contains 266 pieces and 9 minifigs, and its retail price was US$39.99/£24.99.
It's owned by 9,288 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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The first of the Star Wars Advent Calendars. I couldn't bring myself to pay $40 for a bunch of micro builds. Plus, I had a feeling that once I got this one, I'd feel the collector's urge to get each subsequent Advent Calendar. There's some cool stuff to be sure, like Santa Yoda, Nute Gunray's walking chair since it had never been done before, and just seeing how well the various ships could be represented at such tiny scales, but for my setup, it just didn't fit with the rest of the collection.
X-wing, Y-wing, A-wing, Snow Speeder all in the same set!..not to mention a Tie Fighter and Laat!
No showering Santa. Lame.
@MCLegoboy said:
"Nute Gunray's walking chair"
I always thought day 3 was supposed to be a crab droid.
Also, the R2-Q5 is wrong.
The first and still one of the best Star Wars calendars. Santa Yoda and Nute Gunray are great minifigures, while the Imperial Shuttle, Slave I and Y-wing are standouts in the builds.
Why is there a micro crab droid but we’ve never had a minifig scale crab droid?
Tis the season. Well... almost
I wish I had this. Some nice mini builds and minifigs, too.
Beautiful. If this calendar were remade today, I'm not sure much would need to be changed.
I still have that Slave 1 built, albeit modified a bit. And no, it's not modified to be Blacktron...
That droid though... It needs no modifications to be OG Blacktron.
You’ve seen weapons rack
But wait until you feast your eyes on
HAMMER BARREL
A lot of nice builds but also two weapon racks and that weird walking stool thing…
A-Wing, X-Wing, Y-Wing, TIE Fighter, Millennium Falcon, Slave I, Imperial Shuttle, Republic Gunship, Snowspeeder - all in one calendar!
Plus some more vehicles.
Plus 8 minifigs. Even a random Christmas tree ;-)
Seriously, awesome selection. Almost no filler stuff, unlike in later ones.
Santa Yoda! I almost forgot how the very first 'santa version' of a minifig was based on an old image of Yoda dressed as Santa from a roleplay publication called Star Wars Adventure Journal 8:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Adventure_Journal_8
Of course, the subsequent 'santa versions' weren't really seen in any way or shape before.
Wow, I never noticed that unprinted helmet before. And that TIE fighter... it's the same scale as those on this year's 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser!
Well that seems... quite timely.
Things in this set that interest me: the astro droid, the pilot droid (mostly for the decorated torso piece, I'll be real xD), Nute Gunray (although not exactly a very festive character for an advent calendar...!) and maybe the Clone Pilot. I know none of them are unique, but Nute at least was rare, and the others are cool to me regardless. The micro-models don't do much for me at that scale, though, unless they're really spectacular - of the ones here, I like the Radiant VII best for it's more rare subject matter - and I dunno, Santa!Yoda just doesn't excite me like some of the other festive figures.
If I was to get one Star Wars Advent Calendar, from any past year at all, I'd choose the 2013 one, 75023, without a second thought. Santa!Jango all the way!
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@Binnekamp said:
"Of course, the subsequent 'santa versions' weren't really seen in any way or shape before."
The Threepio and Artoo ones from 2015's 75097 were also based off a vintage Lucasfilm Christmas card design by the movie's concept artist, Ralph McQuarrie! http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=35998
This was the only Advent Calendar I ever got. In my opinion, it is still the best they've ever made (a few have come close, though, like 75023 and 75307).
wonder why the consular ship is backwards?
This one got me right in the feels!!! Happy thanksgiving!
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"
@Binnekamp said:
"Of course, the subsequent 'santa versions' weren't really seen in any way or shape before."
The Threepio and Artoo ones from 2015's 75097 were also based off a vintage Lucasfilm Christmas card design by the movie's concept artist, Ralph McQuarrie! http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=35998 "
My comment got swallowed again :(
I basically wrote this:
Wow, I never knew that! I even checked wookiepedia this time. I've seen that image before, but I guess I never made the connection because the C3-PO minifig wears his beard, which I always found looks odd. Thanks, I learnt something new today!
I personally prefer these mixes of different movies over the new calendars that have been geared to a single theme. There’s just something about getting Nute Gunray and a random imperial droid seen on the Death Star that echoes the randomness and assortment of the Christmas gifts I received as a kid.
I remember stopping at the LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Chicago on my way to visit friends in October 2012, and they had a few of 9509, and a ton of this set. Apparently they’d seriously overestimated demand for the first year, and rather than clearance them off, they actually warehoused them until seasonal sets were released the following year.
@MCLegoboy:
I started buying two a year from the start, so I could keep one stock, and have a spare holiday minifig to put in our club layouts. After the second SWAC gave us Santa Maul, I even built Echo Park, a 2-baseplate city park with a Hoth theme and a 10” Christmas tree in the center (also solving the problem of where to display the tree each year). And I added the holiday minifigs each year as they came out. Then they released the first DWAC, and I skipped it because there wasn’t a single thing in it that interested me. The following years, I bought one copy each, figuring I could build the Star Wars stuff and part out any Disney builds. I had my dad pick up two copies again of this year’s DWAC from Costco ($10 off MSRP), figuring I could always have him return one if I end up deciding I don’t want two.
@ResIpsaLoquitur:
As a matter of fact, some of these models have been repeated in subsequent SWACs, either completely identical, or with just a few color swaps.
@AustinPowers:
*cough* _Two_ weapon racks. Unlike in some of the more recent ones. The only one of those that I actually enjoy is the fireplace with Lukes’s and Vader’s lightsabers hung on either side like stockings.
@Binnekamp:
https://www.thebeardedtrio.com/2016/12/32-lucasfilm-christmas-cards-from-1977.html?m=1
Santa Yoda is from one of Lucasfilm’s Christmas cards (1981, probably their most famous one, but he makes a repeat appearance on 1982). Note the Pixar ball peeking out by his feet, because this was before Disney got their hooks in either company. Santa C-3PO and Reindeer R2-D2 are from their 1979 card. They also appear on 1978 and 1980, but without any Christmas outfits. Ewoks were the theme from 1983-1986, but the bib heads make a minifig unlikely. There’s a Jawa card with a Sandcrawler that’s not pictured, but I don’t know if it was Christmas-themed, or if it was for something else.
There are enough significant gaps that I wouldn’t rule out any of the other holiday minifigs having made at least once print appearance prior to being released in a calendar.
Hard to really enjoy the Lego SW advent calendars these days. This sure brings back memories of years gone by when they were really something special. Thanks for those memories!
A pretty good selection, though I'm glad weapon racks have become rarer since. That X-Wing build would become all too familiar of course.
@PurpleDave said:
"I remember stopping at the LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Chicago on my way to visit friends in October 2012, and they had a few of 9509, and a ton of this set. Apparently they’d seriously overestimated demand for the first year, and rather than clearance them off, they actually warehoused them until seasonal sets were released the following year."
Local TRU used to do a similar thing, they'd put the remaining calendars from the previous year out first (though at least they were half price, I believe), before setting out the current ones.
I picked up 75097 and a second 75146 that way, but I did have to wonder how many kids were gifted the wrong calendar by unknowing parents or grandparents who thought they'd gotten a good deal.
@Rob42:
I know I got two copies of this, but it’s entirely possible I picked up the second copy in 2012. I know I didn’t start working on Echo Park until Santa Maul came out, so from 2012-Disney, I always bought two, knowing that I’d be permanently adding the holiday minifig from one copy to the display. I’m just not sure about 2011 now.