Set #41382 LEGO Friends Advent Calendar: As you know I have been reviewing the LEGO Harry Potter, Star Wars and Star Wars 2018 Advent Calendars this year so far. But I decided I needed more Advent Calendars, the City one will probably get nabbed too, but today I have received via Canada Post this year’s LEGO Friends Calendar. Something I definitely plan on enjoying. In 2017 I selected the City Advent Calendar and apparently I never managed to get any 2018 Calendars until this year, in the interest of getting to the Advent Calendar review quicker I will end the opening by saying, the new Friends character designs look really odd the way they are standing on the front of this calendar.

Packaging

As with most Advent Calendars the artwork spoils numerous gifts you will find in this set, in fact the CGI Friends art characters are holding little builds of the actual LEGO items you will find in the Calendar, this is actually pretty clever because it shows you that the Friends are building the gifts in the Calendar to decorate their Christmas Tree.

My comment above however refers to the CGI artwork. The way the characters are depicted with their legs look extremely odd, Andrea appears uncomfortable, Stephanie is pretty bland looking, while Emma, Andrea and Mia are the most excited. I have a feeling Stephanie and Olivia aren’t as interested in their activity, but I suppose that was just the decision LEGO made when designing this. The back at least shows them more excited and is pretty fun, kind of glad.

The Days

Gift #1: I was checking out Brickset’s review for the first few days, so I kind of know in advance what some of them are, that being said it has been two weeks since then and so I may have forgotten them. So on Day 1 of the LEGO Friends 2019 Advent Calendar we get to build a heart shaped Christmas decoration. This was a cute and impressive build when I first saw it in the Creator Expert Gingerbread House. There it was a heart shaped present.

Here we change the look, add a pearl gold bar with stud element a couple of festive greenery and we see an ornament. What’s really interesting is you get a spare watermelon wedge tile in this set so you can make an ordinary heart box for a Mini-Doll to hold.

Overall a pretty solid build for day one.

Gift #2: Today was also quite the treat. We have seen Ipad or Iphone playing stereos before, I recall praising them at the time, but I think this 2019 version is a much better build than some of the past offerings. This one is a little large to be in scale with Mini-Dolls though. The handle on top would make any Mini-Doll holding this impossible to carry. But it does work as a decent tree ornament. In fact it might be a better ornament than an Iphone music player. I’d say I wonder what Day 3 has in store next, but Day 3 was one of the biggest reasons for wanting to pick this set up.

Gift #3: On the third day of Christmas, Olivia built for me, two Puffin toy ornaments and they are just too cute and too adorable and as soon as I saw them on the Brickset review I knew I had to have them. Just… Nothing could stop me from picking up this Advent Calendar for my collection, with a few spares in the bag you can even make a third little Puffin toy just by getting a few of the other pieces from your collection. All it would require is two extra four way headlight bricks and another pearl gold handle piece. Yes, the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar started pretty strong, after Day 3 I also stopped checking the reveals every day over on Brickset so I wouldn’t spoil myself. So I am now legitimately curious what to expect for Day 4. No matter what I doubt it will top these windup toy puffins, but I’m sure it will be quite charming.

Gift #4: Today is a really cute little sled complete with Friends Gerbil/Hamster animal to ride it. A very fun little build and not another tree ornament, though it could be with the handle on the back. This model uses the Minifigure Skates for runners, a very clever idea actually, and something you can easily make more of with all those spare skates you get every time. That’s Ice Skates, not Roller Skates.

Gift #5: Today is Mia day, Mini-Doll Mia hasn’t changed much over the years. This version is sporting a very nice looking festive sweater and dark blue pants with boots on for winter. Something I haven’t noticed before, as I haven’t bought much Friends sets since the reboot, but it would appear they’ve made a brighter hair element for her in a brighter shade of red. The Mia from one of my previous Advent Calendars had a more muted and darker red for her hair. I wonder if that was always the case now? Or if her brighter shade is more common? Either way, this is a very solid Mini-Doll to get here.

Gift #6: Oh my gosh, this is one massive cake. It’s taller than a Mini-Doll almost, the cylinder in the center leaves two visible holes for Technic Pins accessible, more than likely this is meant to be strung up and used as another Christmas Tree decoration, overall though I wouldn’t say no to seeing if Mia could eat the whole thing. It’s a very festive and cute design, love the use of trans-clear green for jelly decorations. Possibly gumdrops. This was a welcome surprise.

Gift #7: Yesterday was oversized cake day, today is oversized robot control device, old cell phone or walkie talkie day. It honestly could be any one of those three items considering what type of imagination you have. It’s giant sized, so it’s meant to use the bar piece to be tied with string and hung on the Christmas Tree. (Christmas Tree not included.) It’s a clever little build, and small hands could pretend it’s the right size for them to control Olivia’s robot friends. Even my smallish adult hands could pass, though it is much tinier in my hands compared to a child’s.

Overview of Week 1: In keeping to what I’ve done with the other three Advent Calendar’s I have reviewed this year, let’s discuss the overall weeks’ worth of presents.

Compared to Harry Potter and Star Wars of 2019 this first week from Friends has been a blast, more colorful and festive in most regards, it beats out The week of almost solid First Order builds by a landslide, and the first week of Harry Potter was marginally better in some areas, though still felt rushed compared to this solid design of Tree Ornaments.

If I were to compare this to previous Friends Advent Calendars I’ve purchased though, I would have to say that LEGO’s making these more about tree decorations as opposed to little set pieces and such really is a detriment for this old flinty AFOL. I don’t own a Christmas Tree anymore that isn’t mad out of LEGO which are all too small for these decorations to hang from, so I don’t get much use out of them. And as simple display items… well I suppose they work in some instances, but others, such as the overgrown control device just don’t serve much of a purpose for me.

It’s a very smartly designed Advent Calendar though and those toy puffin decorations are just too cute for words. I mean, they made me go out and buy this thing after all. Let’s move onwards to week two and see how I felt about those models. Oh, but one final thing to note, I am not a fan of this design, the flap opens up and features LEGO Life Ads instead of a dedicated play mat and scene, the doors are backwards compared to the other Advent Calendars, meaning I have to lay it down with the flap open to access the models, it is definitely a poorly designed inner box compared to the other more traditionally designed calendars.

Gift #8: Snowmen are traditional in Advent Calendars, and you know what, this one is unique in that it is actually an ornament. Its design vaguely reminds me of the Creator Snowman Polybag I got several years ago, with the big curvy lower body and the black attachment point on top for the string. Pretty decent build and a lot more parts were involved here compared to Day 8 of Star Wars if I’m not mistaken.

Gift #9: A festive looking Heartlake City lamppost decoration is today’s build and it’s quite impressive, even if we’ve seen similar builds in the past. The use of the purple cylinders/toilet rolls is a nice use of colour contrast and the build is very cute with a festive wreath (using the toilet seat element in green) and a gold star decoration on the wreath. Pearl gold to be precise. A very nice offering for day #9.

Gift #10: Two decorations today and they are very festive looking as well. They are stockings, a pair of them, using the watermelon wedges to great effect these decorations can be hung on the tree or by the fireplace with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas will soon be there. Both builds are the same, and I can’t really say too much more about them, Christmas stockings are Christmas stockings after all.

Gift #11: Today is a delicious gift, a lovely chocolate ice cream sandwhich to hang on your tree. What a lovely looking ornament. The Heart shaped tile is included here as a decoration, this piece was introduced with the LEGO Movie 2 sets and is extremely impressive. The only other thing to say about this piece is don’t try to eat it. Tee hee.

Gift #12: I was slightly stumped by this model for a while, but after taking a closer look at it I’m confident in saying this is a roller skate ornament. It makes sense, the citizens of Heartlake City love to skate, why wouldn’t they have a tree ornament that represents this favored pastime? Very detailed build, love the overall look of it. Thrilled to finally figure it out too, was thinking it might have been an oddly shaped car for the longest time.

Gift #13: On the thirteenth we have something that isn’t an ornament, but Olivia’s pal robot dressed up as Santa, very impressive looking model. I’m pleased to discover they’ve created a new element for his binocular head, it used to be a LEGO binocular piece, but now they have this new piece that is a single solid piece which resembles the binocular element and can attach things to the head.

A very cute, festive design with a Santa hat, some trans-clear red studs for his white arms to be attached and a red circular jumper plate for his torso. He’s definitely a very nice build.

Gift #14: Strange cars that are actually Roller Skates and this time we have a train, which is a very cute ornament. You know, I’m afraid that’s the one thing I can’t stop using as a descriptor. Cute. These models are very clever and small, and adorable, and look great. I just wish they could be used more than just ornaments, I’m not sure what I’d do with them after building them once, they don’t really fit in with the rest of my Friends display.

Overview of Week Two: Goodness, has it been another week already? Two weeks in and we’ve got a ton of wonderful gifts. You know what’s really impressive is that the designers managed to create such clever and adorable models at every turn. The weakest offering from this week is probably that Roller Skate, only because it took me so long to figure out what it actually was. I’m very curious to see how many more models they can cook up for the next week of gifts.

Gift #15: A festive looking wreath is what we build today. It’s a strong contender for another favorite of mine, this model uses the parts effectively to create a very impressive ornament. I’m afraid I haven’t really a whole lot to say concerning this model, although I will say I love the pearl gold element in use here for the handle, it’s a nice contrast with the green. Actually I kind of wish LEGO would give us a silver one to make a reference to that famous song from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Don’t ask me why, it’s just a quirky notion I’ve gotten after seeing so many of the pearl gold elements here.

Gift #16: You know what I never understood, why post boxes are so often associated with Christmas. I understand you always send letters to Santa, but why do we decorate everything with post boxes? This one is pretty odd, it’s all white with purple and maroon colours to break it up. I just don’t see white post boxes too often, or, ever come to think of it. Maybe it’s covered in snow, ah well, decent enough I suppose though a tad bland compared to some of the earlier gifts.

Gift #17: Today we have two gift ornaments, each one has a bar on it so you can attach a thread and hang it on your tree. Inside is a Microphone and a Pink Crown. These two gifts may be a bit problematic, since only one stud is being used to connect the top to the bottom they might swing open when hanging on your tree. I say may, it is not guaranteed that this will even be possible to happen. Overall though it’s always nice to get two models to build as opposed to just one, and these are nice if a bit on the plainer side.

Gift #18: Today is a very squat shaped Nutcracker model, at least I’m pretty confident this is meant to be a Nutcracker. It’s a nice looking model if a tad on the shortish side, I honestly can’t think of much to say. It’s festive, it is associated with Christmas and it looks cute. It doesn’t use any traditional Friends colours which is a tad odd, this model could have been in any other Advent Calendar from LEGO City.

Gift #19: Today is a really fun looking Christmas Tree with some very nice build ideas, unfortunately this is not the best model to put on a shelf. Or desk. It is definitely designed to be strung up and hung off of a tree branch, as evidenced by the fact that it is extremely top heavy. I’m not sure why LEGO did not include a brown dish element for it to stand on, when it isn’t hanging from a tree it just topples over at the slightest inclination. Overall a good model, but not much of a display item for a Christmas display.

Gift #20: And now we come to the Candy Cane. A LEGO Candy Cane to hang on your tree complete with red and white macaroni pieces. Seriously this model almost looks like it would have been found in that Christmas Builds free giveaway from a few years back. There isn’t anything here that says Friends. If they’d used different elements, maybe made a purple and teal coloured candy cane to better match the theme? I don’t know, it’s a very nice model, just not something I traditionally would associate with LEGO Friends.

Gift #21: Today is another festive build, a very impressive little Gingerbread Decoration, there are a lot of Gingerbread Houses this year. This model is using clear green and pink studs for gum drops on the roof with a gold bar to add the string to hang it on the tree. This model was also visible on the front of the box, so not much of a surprise.

Overview of Week Three: I’m not sure how well this week turned out, honestly I’m starting to feel that the Ornaments need a tree to hang on. Maybe I’ll buy a little one for next year and make these decorate my new tiny tree. They’re very well designed and built for the most part, but they do have this feel of incompleteness. This is one of the reasons why I skipped 2017s Friends Advent Calendar, the lack of scenery and miniature models to build to interact with Mini-Dolls and things is a huge problem for me. I think this is a nice way to play with the Advent Calendars, but after two years of it I’m kind of wanting to see LEGO try a different tactic for next year’s Friends Calendar. Ah well, only three more days to go.

Gift #22: Today was a really nice surprise, a cute looking sewing machine ornament to hang on the tree. The design is also quite practical and could fit in with Mini-Dolls if necessary, it does include a pair of scissors after all. Thoroughly enjoyed the build and look forward to tomorrow.

Gift #23: Olivia created Zobo and Zobita, so here you get to build them as ornaments. Previously there was Santa Zobo, today is Chef Zobita… I’m not sure why they decided to make the girl robot a chef, I mean a scientist may have been more interesting, but I’m not sure how they’d make a robot look like a scientist without a hat. So cute looking chef robot it is.

This build is pretty similar to Zobo, so I feel it is pretty great. Love the use of the heart shaped tile for her chest detail. A very cute build for the second to last day of the Calendar.

Gift #24: I can kind of agree with the Brickset reviewer, this build today is a bit oddly placed. A Santa model would have made more sense as that seems to be the typical build we see every year in Advent Calendars. Still this is a nice use of parts, the Chi parts work well to enhance the new snowflake element that was introduced with Elsa this year in the Disney CMF Series 2. It’s a really great model, and makes a decent tree topper, but seems to be a bad choice for the final day. Especially as it is spoiled on the box.

Overall opinion

Well, there we are. I’ve reached the end of my first Friends Advent Calendar since 2016. Three years, and in three years it certainly changed a bit. I skipped last years ornament heavy build fest and missed my chance to get 2017s set so I can safely say that the Friends Advent calendars have evolved into a bit of a mess. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of these models were fun, engaging and definitely cute, but they seem to have lost some of the charm and ideas which drove the Advent Calendars of the past.

It’s also odd to see the formula approach of Advent Calendars change in this one theme, while LEGO City, Star Wars and others continue to make decent scene building Minifigure heavy calendars. At least this year they included a festive Mini-Doll to add to your collection, that was always a high point of previous calendars in my view. Ultimately I had fun, this was an interesting change of pace, but I do hope they return to fun scenes, awesome animals and great little builds to populate a Friends Heartlake City winter display for 2020. Recommended.