Random set of the day: Castle Advent Calendar
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 7979 Castle Advent Calendar, released during 2008. It's one of 14 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 176 pieces and 9 minifigs, and its retail price was US$30/£12.99.
It's owned by 1,632 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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44 comments on this article
I wish they still had Castle Advent Calendars! This looks amazing!
I guess news travels slowly in Medieval times...
Thou art late and hath missed it by that much.
Interesting. Had to look up what the builds were. Good set of accessory bits which could liven up a castle/medieval display. Does the potions shelf technically count as a weapons rack for the evil witch?
Best advent calendar ever!
Too late
Please make a come-back!!!
The skeleton putting his head on the snowman!
Missed it by a hair!
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda...
Oh the good ole days when they would release 9 figures in a set.
@HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
Gandalf. The Lord of the Rings.
Nine figures? I must be dreaming!
@HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
It’s Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring. “A wizard is never late.”
@HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
Gandalf to Frodo Baggins on the engagement of a Long Expected Party.
@HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
Sure… it’s a line by “Dumbledore” from “Harry Potter.”
Edit: Y’all beat me to it. They still make inexpensive sets with 9 figures every once in a blue moon, like the Gamer Market from Ninjago.
This came out right when I was about to collect the whole theme, so definitely a must have for me!
It was the debut of both the witch (also appeared in the chess set) and the villager woman (also in Medieval Market Village and later somewhat used in Pirates II).
The highlight of the set was of cause the court jester (who has now been given the name 'Gogo'). I was slightly disappointed that his next appearance in the drawbridge set would have him with a double-sided head, whilst this was single sided, but he was still quite interesting (especially since we never had one before!).
Note that the jester's hat was technically created for this set. Was this the only calendar with something like that?
The mining cart doeas in fact fit on the tracks of the Dwarven Mine!
@Mr__Thrawn said:
" @HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
It’s Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring. “A wizard is never late.”"
Ah yes, I remember now. Thanks. Also very fitting. Also not a bad idea to binge-watch LotR/Hobbit during the holidays!
@HOBBES said:
" @Mr__Thrawn said:
" @HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
It’s Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring. “A wizard is never late.”"
Ah yes, I remember now. Thanks. Also very fitting. Also not a bad idea to binge-watch LotR/Hobbit during the holidays!"
How prescient: check out the Reindeer Battle Pak in the night sky above the castle.
I think this is the one that they refused to sell in the US because we were too discerning to buy the weak Advent Calendars that had been available in other themes up to that point. Then they accidentally shipped an entire pallet of them to Enfield, and decided it just made more sense to sell them here anyways than to ship them back to Europe. I think you had to order them over the phone, rather than being able to use the website.
Yeah, but how many weapons racks did this have?
@Atuin said:
"
The highlight of the set was of cause the court jester (who has now been given the name 'Gogo')
"
Man, I don't think I've played LEGO Legacy Heroes Unboxed in nearly a year, but I loved that it gave names and personalities to a lot of classic LEGO figures. I'll have to check in on who they've added sometime...
@PurpleDave said:
"I think this is the one that they refused to sell in the US because we were too discerning to buy the weak Advent Calendars that had been available in other themes up to that point. Then they accidentally shipped an entire pallet of them to Enfield, and decided it just made more sense to sell them here anyways than to ship them back to Europe. I think you had to order them over the phone, rather than being able to use the website."
Yes. You had to phone in and give a special code. Could order up to two copies of the set.
*Closes Eyes*...I wish TLG would bring these back, in rotation w/Space, Pirate, and other themes that have been ignored...come to think of it: has there been a Ninjago calendar? And personally I want a DC one...
@brick_r said:
"*Closes Eyes*...I wish TLG would bring these back, in rotation w/Space, Pirate, and other themes that have been ignored...come to think of it: has there been a Ninjago calendar? And personally I want a DC one..."
Ninjago never got an advent calendar. I find that so weird, wouldn't it make sense to make at least one for their most popt original theme? And at the same time, Friends keeps getting advent calendars every year, and those never sell that well from what I can see.
I never understood why LEGO has always been so heistant about giving more advent calendars to their original themes besides City and Friends. Castle and Pirates getting one each speaks volumes about how much LEGO valued this themes back in the day... which is no longer the case, unfortunately.
I opened this along with 7952 this advent. 7979 is far too fantasy, but the jester and villager woman figures are terrific. 7952 is a much better Castle set, though.
@HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
It was Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek
Together with the pirate theme calendar 6299, these are probably the best calendars ever with the 24 days provided here https://www.toysperiod.com/lego-set-reference/search-results/?keywords=7979
Given that Castle seems to be a profitable enough niche to get an Ideas and Creator set this year, releasing an advent calendar like this could be a nicely inexpensive way of whetting the appetite of fans
2008 Castle, 2009 Pirates, 2010 Kingdoms Calendars looked so good.
But now with 5 calendars this year, one of them Harry Potter (a theme going bigger then ever before), a Castle Calendar seems very unlikely anytime soon.
Also keep in mind, 2008-2010 was still before the era of Ninjago, Friends, Avengers .
And even Harry Potter didn't have constant sets compared to Castle at the time (no sets in 2006-2009)
Impressive minifigure selection! I like the fully-armoured knight and the villager woman, particularly; and you can never have enough Lego living skeletons, if you ask me! It's a nice touch that it gives you a sample of each of the fantasy races of the time too, for those who wouldn't get any of the other sets but still liked their minifigure designs.
I see the mention above of there being a lot of weapon racks: but looking through the individual days on Bricklink, I also see that the majority of the minifigures were packed with their own weapons or accessories AS WELL. From this year's Star Wars calendar comments, I got the impression that much of the dislike for weapon racks comes not so much from them existing as from the fact that it means the minifigures don't get packaged with their own weapons, when they easily could have been, which makes the racks just a space-filler. In this case, though, each minifigure does have a weapon with them (except the jester) - the weapon racks then provide *additional* weapons for more variety.
Is that any better? I guess it's a matter of personal opinion. But I know for myself that I'd be happy if I got this advent calendar, for sure!
@HOBBES said:
" @Mr__Thrawn said:
" @HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
It’s Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring. “A wizard is never late.”"
Ah yes, I remember now. Thanks. Also very fitting. Also not a bad idea to binge-watch LotR/Hobbit during the holidays!"
To quote Vitruvius from The Lego Movie "Ah you all look the same to me!"
This could be the first use of the fabuland cauldron mould with the fabuland logo wiped
@brick_r:
Pirates did have one (6299), but Space is almost certainly locked out by SW. Ninjago isn’t likely to get in with so many other themes geared towards boys getting one, while Friends is one of only three themes that are currently targeted at girls (the others being Disney Princess and Dots). DC is tough to say. As long as Marvel keeps cranking out kiddie-fare movies, and DC keeps exploring R-rated territory, I suspect the Superheroes offerings will continue to skew Marvel’s way. With five calendars out this year, I started noticing that not every store carried all five, so adding DC as a sixth seems doubtful. Maybe they could alternate them, but again there’s that issue of audience focus. Honestly, I think LEGO Batman Movie would have been the best time to make a DC calendar (or two, since the theme lasted two full years), but with WB being done with LEGO films, that’s unlikely now.
@mediAFOL said:
"I opened this along with 7952 this advent. 7979 is far too fantasy, but the jester and villager woman figures are terrific. 7952 is a much better Castle set, though. "
That Kingdoms Advent Calendar looks amazing! Regret have missed these!!
@HOBBES I refuse to believe that you're not trolling, and I cannot believe @560heliport @Mr__Thrawn and @Rimefang fell for it. Come on guys. @Trigger_ @MeisterDad and @jkb know what's up. Jury's still out on @lost_scotsman though.
Picked this up a couple of weeks ago w/o a box at a very good price. Truly the best advent calendar out there especially for Castle fans. All these builds could be used to expand the theme, whereas the recent Advent calendars are just a bunch of mini-builds + repetitive minifigures. I don't understand why they can afford to include printed elements from the sets that had these motives with stickers (e.g. HP house crests, Privet Drive, 9 3/4 etc.).
@MCLegoboy what's wrong with simply answering a question?
@lost_scotsman said:
" @HOBBES said:
" @Mr__Thrawn said:
" @HOBBES said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy : an advent calender is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it intends to."
Is this a quote from a Harry Potter movie? I can imagine Dumbledore saying something like this. Could also be from Yoda..."
It’s Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring. “A wizard is never late.”"
Ah yes, I remember now. Thanks. Also very fitting. Also not a bad idea to binge-watch LotR/Hobbit during the holidays!"
To quote Vitruvius from The Lego Movie "Ah you all look the same to me!""
Vitruvius is Gandalf is Dumbledore is Obi-Wan is Jean-Luc is Papa Smurf is Yoda is Panoramix/Getafix/Miraculix is Captain Adama is "The Wisecracking Old Know-It-All Who Always Raises His Finger".
@HOBBES:
I’m pretty sure his name is Double Door.
@ambr said:
"Together with the pirate theme calendar 6299, these are probably the best calendars ever with the 24 days provided here https://www.toysperiod.com/lego-set-reference/search-results/?keywords=7979 "
Please don't forget 7951
This was released during my LEGO 'dark ages', so I completely missed this one, and I heavily regret that. Great advent calendar and just overal good stuff. I hope LEGO will revamp it next year. Their recent advent calendars were a bit underwhelming overall, especially compared to this.
Most amazing Advent Calendar I've ever seen. And none of those ridiculous city mini builds. Lego designers take note. This one is really special.
Only 2 Castle advent calendars in Lego history. This is unfair. I have the other one 7952 from 2010 and missed this one
@560heliport said:
"what's wrong with simply answering a question? "
Absolutely nothing, but somebody doesn't just confuse three very different franchises unless they are absolutely and truly clueless about pop culture, or knows exactly what they're doing. Something seems suspicious. I can see confusing Dumbledore and Gandalf because they're tall wizards with long hair and beards and impart some sage wisdom, but throwing Yoda into the mix is definitely where things don't line up.
There's a classic meme designed to "anger nerds" that does this very thing by mashing as many franchises together as possible in an image and mixing quotes that are said by another even more incorrect character from yet another incorrect franchise.