Pros

• -great variety of sets for each day
• -arranged perfectly in order for maximum fun at each stage of advent
• -high detailed minifigs
• -great accessories like knives, wands, apples, handcuffs, etc.
• -non-minifig sets fo great with the minifigs: the jail, seige weapon, sword in the stone, -practice dummy, alchemy lab, and more add tons of play value
• -the box adds ambiance and completes the scene

Cons

• -having to wait 24 hours to open the next door!

Building experience: There's nothing much to it, really. Each polybag contains very little parts, and there's even one that requires no assembly to it! (The Pig and the Apple). Some are downright simple, you can assemble them IN the polybag itself. Yes, try it. It's more challenging than you thought. Overall, the sets are simple to build.

Parts: One good thing about the advent calendar sets is that they come with a whole bunch of nice parts. It feels like buying the Medieval Market that came out last year, minus the buildings. Many of the parts you find here are currently unattainable in the sets available on shelves.

Playability: You can't really play them on their own (if you're an AFOL, that is) but they have a very good usability factor here. You can integrate them into your existing castle or medieval MOCs easily! This is the biggest plus point here.

Value for money: This is definitely well worth it. I bought it in Singapore for a discounted price of SGD $36 (about USD $25). This is roughly the price of 4 impulse sets which is SGD6.90 each (USD $5) - well worth it!

Minifigure Selection: There are 9 minifigures included with this set - a skeleton, a wizard, a flailing mace guard, a crossbowman, a guard with a spear, a queen, a blacksmith, a prince, and a cook. The cook doesn't really look like a cook, if you ask me. She looks like some really pretty damsel that works at the town tavern or something. In my opinion, she's the best-looking female Lego minifigure there is.

-asianlego

Variety

Versatility

Playability

Even though the increased advent calendar prices have caused somewhat of an uproar, I don't think it's biting into sales too much. One of the greatest reasons simply lies in the product's design --- it's great to make a child feel spirit of the holidays, and to a certain extent, stop them from nagging every other day about their gifts. Why is this important? Because whether or not this set is worth it depends on who you buy for, an AFOL or a kid. I'll try to cut in from two angles in the review.

Parts/Minifigures: For the Kingdoms AFOL or the "parts guy", the only thing you're getting here is pretty much the Wizard, the Prince, the Queen, and the visor helmet armor set. The soldiers you can get in bulks in sets 7950 and 7949, not to mention the battle packs. The blacksmith and barmaid you will have gotten in 10193 Medieval Market Village, just different faces, and if you didn't pick up that amazing set then I do not see how you incorporate these two into any other set. The skully is everywhere, don't even get me started. The weapons do come aplenty however, as I got almost an extra or two for everything, even the Wizard's wand and the Prince's hair, which is the first time I got spare hair. Maybe a minor appeal is the pig, but if I remember correctly it was just the pig (maybe with apples?) for that day, and even if you do want pigs, you'd be much better off with 7566. The pot, the owl, the treasure are worth what they are, but definitely not the main focus of this set.

Now about those worthy figures. The Wizard is pretty much a modern day rehash of Majisto of the Dragon Knights theme, and after careful comparision I believe they are the same shade of blue. Still, good printing, and after two Harry Potter woode wand wielders (sets 5614 and 7955), we finally have the return of the fairy wands, as I like to call them. The Prince is the best figure in this set IMO. This heir to the throne concept has not been embraced enough in the Castle Theme, and to think there is both a queen and prince in this set makes me excited about next year's Kingdom sets. The torso printing is great, and the face sees to fit a young man who still thinks combat is as complicated as hunting. The queen is pretty much every female minifigure in Castle and Pirate themes, just a different color to fit the Lion faction, so not much there. The visor helmet is a first in the new Kingdom line, as we have only previously seen grille helmets and the new bucketheads. I must inform you the helmet and the armor are of pearl, not the shiny silver we had in Fantasy, so they do cheapen the overall look of the armor set.

For gifts to kids, the minifigures and amount of weapons will be a great joy. However, the Dragon knight is greatly outnumbered, so unless you have other Kingdoms sets it will just be a one sided battle. A creative kid can probably weave a story from these mini-builds, but I think Lego tried too hard to develop the popular Medieval Village storyline with only one set of support, resulting in this set split between war and village life, making it difficult for kids to play with. A great way to set things up would be the advent calendar up to Christmas and the 7946/7947/7948 on Christmas, so all those soldiers have a place to call home.

Overall, the minifigs and parts are average. The Prince is the main catch for me. Unless you are a huge fan of the Kingdom line there is not much to scream about here.

Building Experience/Playability: These minibuilds always show me the magic of Lego, and I have to say I smiled while building. The standouts are the sword in the stone, the potion brewer, the practice dummy and the beer keg. You can see them on the set pictures, so I won't go into detail. With the exception of the four I mentioned, you have seen all the others somewhere else, just updated. It's great for kids because each of them go with at least one minifigure, so they don't seem out of place and allow for immediate action. Compared to this years's City Advent Calendar (2824) which is pretty much one happy present-opening living room with Santa and friends sprinkled on the side, these minibuilds go along with other Castle sets much better, always a plus.

Overall/Price: As I stated earlier, it really depends on who you are getting this set for. Kingdom Starter:For about the same price you can get 7948+7949+7950, which carry more relevant soldiers, more parts, and provide a great battle scene. So a definite big no here.

AFOL/MOCer: As I stated, the Prince, the Queen, and the Wizard are exclusives here, although I only really endorse the Prince (his torso and leg, actually). A good amount of weapons, some other special pieces, not much else. Unless you really want the exclusive minifigures and you can't get them elsewhere online, there is not much of a need to shell out the MSRP. You can get everything else cheaper on the web.

Kids: A good purchase for kids, especially if they have other Castle themed sets. The price is a bit steep, but kids usually easily get excited at the sight of cool minifigures and weapons, so it's a satisfactory deal. Spread the price out over the days you open them, and you're basically buying a happy and excited kid for $1.5 per day. How much that is worth is up to you.

This set brought me good fun and presents some collecting value. That being said, for the price conscious, I think this set is overpriced by about $5 to $10. If you can find this set on sale definitely get it for your kid. If it's for an adult, I'd get it if there were nothing left to get. With the minifigure market so large and easy to reach these days, it's not worth spilling all these big bucks for a lot of stuff you can get elsewhere.