2019 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 18

Welcome to Day 18 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the four mini-builds from the LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2019 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. Will Day 18 be the best day yet?

For Day 18, we have Professor Flitwick from Harry Potter and a Rebel Fleet Trooper from Star Wars.

Dave: For Harry Potter, we have another Hogwarts professor, Filius Flitwick. The charms teacher looks great in yet another exclusive torso (this calendar’s fourth!?) and a cute bow tie. He looks like he just took off his jacket from his appearance in the Harry Potter Collectible Minifigure series. This Flitwick was obviously modeled after the character from later movies because he went through a significant redesign and beard trim for the third film–which is somewhat confusing since the rest of the calendar has been based on the first film from the series. (I personally wish LEGO would make a minifig of Flitwick in his more bearded and goblin-like appearance from the first two films.)

For Star Wars, we have a Rebel Fleet Trooper who is incredibly new, having only been introduced in this year’s 75244 Tantive IV. That’s a nice addition to the Star Wars advent that has for some reason not felt quite as special this year.

Chuck: “Aren’t you a bit short for a Hogwarts professor?”

Lino: “Big gun, big helmet…let me guess, you also own a jacked-up space pickup truck, right?”

Benjamin: If the rebel trooper can’t stop an evil space wizard, he’s got no chance against a benign English one.

Chris: All jokes aside, these are actually pretty good figures to get in an Advent calendar.

Matt: While I know the figure on the left is from the Harry Potter Advent Calendar, I keep getting Teddy Roosevelt vibes.


Continuing with Day 18, we have a toy soldier ornament from Friends and table with food from City.

Dave: For the Friends advent, the toy soldier is done well. The arms hand and rotate freely since they are connected by a blue half-pin. The addition of the three 2×2 rounded plates in medium azure is nice too, since that is a fairly new color of a piece only appearing this year in Hidden Side’s Paranormal Intercept Bus.

The city table is like the kids table at Christmas in comparison to the ones from the Harry Potter advent this year, though the tablecloth is a nice addition. Also, now that I look at it, I think LEGO has pulled a fast one on us and updated the turkey drumstick mold making them a little shorter. I wonder why the change was needed.

Chuck: “Help me find my dinner, I can’t see!”

Lino: It all looks so delicious. If only I had longer arms.

Benjamin: After the Hogwarts tables, this one seems so small. And I guess that’s a decent tiny nutcracker. But why the stacked 2×2 round plates (in black and blue) rather than 2×2 round bricks?

Chris: I’m actually kind of fond of that toy soldier. It’s simple, but it’s instantly recognizable. Perfect for an ornament.

Matt: As someone who used to collect toy soldiers, I’m glad to see what appears to be a representation of a Danish Royal Life Guard. As for the food, a soldier’s gotta eat!


Whenever we can, we’ll mash up all the LEGO advent calendar builds from that specific day and see what kind of hilarity ensues. Please enjoy these hijinks!

Dave: Everything is fancier when you wear a bow tie, and you get two extra! (Which is great for an element that has only come in black in two sets.)

Lino: “Never mind how I lost my pants, how I lost my hat is the more interesting story…”

Benjamin: That must be one of those establishments that loans you a tie if you don’t have one, just to keep up appearances.

Chris: Ah yes, the dreaded work Christmas party with all your distant co-workers whom you don’t know well but must socialize with.

Matt: Hey, it’s the Brotherhood of the Traveling Bowties!


< 2019 LEGO Advent Calendars Day 17 | 2019 LEGO Advent Calendars Day 19 >

3 comments on “2019 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 18

  1. Purple Dave

    Regarding the drumstick, I know there are two versions out there. The original one had a short bone that minifig hands couldn’t hold very well, so they made one with a longer bone (is long turkey anything like long pork, or have they just been eating underage turkeys all this time?) when they released the S1 Zombie, which is long enough that you can rotate it in a minifig’s hand and it doesn’t pop loose like the old version. I’ve seen claims that the long drumsticks don’t work on the turkey body because the ends touch, but I know I checked that once with actual S1 Zombie drumsticks and there was still a small gap.

    Now, are you saying this might be a third variant? And if so, is it a medium-length or even shorter than the original?

  2. Dave Schefcik Post author

    Yes, I believe this is a third variant that is medium length and with a slightly different pin hole in the connector rod on the backside.

  3. Purple Dave

    Interesting. Bricklink does have three versions in the catalog, at 20mm, 22mm, and 23mm. The 20mm version should be the original European mold, and 23mm is linked to the S1 Zombie. 23mm should therefore be a Chinese mold, since 100% of all CMF parts through the Harry Potter series were made in China (starting with Unikitty and the packet changes they sourced them from all over the world). I suspect Bricklink’s inventories have at least a couple errors, since the only other set listed for the Chinese 23mm version was a basic Pirates polybag, which doesn’t really make sense. I’d figure that would be when it would make more sense to add the 22mm to European production rather than shipping batches of turkey legs from China just to get a longer bone that minifigs can hold.

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