A long time ago, in a Galaxy far away... it was September, so Christmas stuff appeared in the shops. Here is my annual spoiler-free* review of the Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar.

* Your mileage may vary. I will discuss but not detail *types* of mini-build and minifigure. The set pictures on this page show all the mini-builds, and the box art shows about half of them. This is similar to previous years, so well done if - like me - you have been able to avoid spoilers so far. That said, you can read this review at your own risk...

Basically, I like this year's calendar, plenty of variety, some familiarity, a good spread of sets and characters over the trilogies and some shows. There are:

• Five named characters/droid minifigures, some of which have Christmas printing or pieces. The overall quality and printing of these are excellent.

• Three 'army builder' type minifigures, of the kind that aren't rare, but you can always enjoy owning more.

• Four brick-built creatures or droids, all of which are pretty good, although one is very small. One creature is new to the Advent line, and is a good attempt but not quite right (although I could not do better). EDIT: One day later and I have just gotten the joke with that creature and I now realise it is a hilarious build. You will understand, probably quicker than I did.

• Nine ships/vehicles, which are always my favourite part of the calendars. They are mostly pretty darn good, and make use of the very newest pieces. Some are *very* familiar, although they are completely new designs, so they are great for kids getting their first SW calendar and fine for people (me!) who have every one. One of the ships replicates a recent expensive set (at a *slight* size reduction) and another has never been made as a set before, so that's cool. A couple are big enough that they could almost be polybags (or at least foil packs).

• There are three dioramas/scenes/buildings. One is nicely done - once you realise it is a certain place, not another place which would be a similar colour. The others are OK-ish, and excellent (or the other way round), and one has a tiiiny ship included. So tiny.

• Overall it's another fine calendar. Plenty to enjoy, a couple of things to criticise, but anyone who has major problems with it should just save their money, or build their own tiny Star Wars toys.

Edit: The box art is nice. It looks like a snowy version of a world used by the Rebels. There is a code for the Skywalker Saga computer game in the box. It is a 7 letter code, with each letter appearing in the instruction panel for a build. Also, there is a small cardboard box for one minifigure's cape which I only found when I broke up the packaging for recycling, so be careful of that.

SPOILER WARNING. SPOILERY BIT ABOUT WEAPONS STATIONS.

There are no weapons stations.