This December, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is going to celebrate the holidays with a yuletide special on Disney+, written and directed by James Gunn. Naturally, LEGO has seized on the opportunity to release one of its annual advent calendars themed entirely around the Guardians. 76231 Guardians of the Galaxy Advent Calendar is a 268-piece set available September 1st for US $44.99 | CAN $59.99 | UK £29.99.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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Unboxing

This set comes in the familiar LEGO advent packaging. The front of the box shows several of the team engaged in holiday festivities – a decorated Groot is centered as Rocket roasts the holiday turkey, Mantis reaches for a snack, and Star-Lord is delivering a gift overhead.

The back of the box features a rather meta image of the box itself with its back flap deployed.

Deploying said back flap reveals twenty-four perforated doors that appear decorated like video monitors (or perhaps containers in the Collector’s menagerie from the first film…it’s hard to tell). The flap itself is printed with a spaceship floor design. Inside the box is an interior tray holding the builds in individual chambers. In years past, LEGO has crafted these trays from plastic, but on this set, the tray is a more eco-friendly, heavy-duty egg carton-like material.

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The final models

If you’ve never purchased a LEGO advent calendar before, the idea is that behind each door is a minifigure or small build, with the instructions for the build printed on the reverse side of the door. Starting on December 1st, you open one door a day up until you reach Christmas Eve. I won’t spoil which of the builds are contained within each day, but I will say that LEGO is holding to certain patterns that an experienced Advent-buyer might recognize from years past. With that said, let’s have a look at all the final builds grouped as thematically as possible.

Star-Lord, the not-as-charismatic-as-he-thinks leader of the Guardians, comes with his laser blasters and jets strapped to the sides of his boots (made from gold roller skates). The mix tapes his mom made for him are represented by a new tile print on both a larger stereo and a smaller portable radio. The stereo has a pair of detached speakers, while a gift box containing a pair of dark tan headphones gives Star-Lord a way to listen to the smaller radio.

Rocket Racoon, the team’s resident tech/weapons expert, arrives with a flamethrower to cook the holiday dinner. There’s also a tool rack and a box of various gizmos and gadgets, including Yondu’s Yaka Arrow and a prosthetic eye that Rocket undoubtedly stole from some unfortunate alien.

Rocket’s best buddy, the alien known as Groot, arrives spruced up for the holidays with some ornamented leaves attached to his back. This is the teenage version of Groot, so naturally, he even spends the Guardians’ Christmas party with his face buried in his phone. A giant candy cane is also on hand to decorate the ship.

Nebula, the Guardians’ enemy-turned-ally, arrives in a Christmas sweater featuring her father Thanos on the front. There’s also a Thanos-themed snowman and a small spaceship with a trailer for delivering a bag of gifts.

Drax comes to us in a holiday sweater that features a dancing potted Baby Groot. Drax has traded in his usual daggers for a fork and spoon. What better way to chow down on the table full of treats? Drax’s frenemy Mantis surprises with a blue guitar accessory. (For caroling, I guess?) Oddly, Drax also includes a spur of the purple Infinity Stone (the Power Stone). While this is the stone the Guardians sought to protect in their first movie, it has no immediately obvious purpose here beyond that homage.

And what LEGO Advent set would be complete without some microscale vehicles? There are five small ships in total, including microscale versions of Star Lord’s original ship, the Milano, the team’s upgraded M-Class Benatar, and Yondu’s Laser Drill pod from the second movie.

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The minifigures

The Advent calendar provides you with a pretty complete collection of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Nebula’s sister Gamora is noticeably absent, but since the holiday special is set to take place between the events of Avengers: Endgame and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, that tracks. (Although, Gamora is homaged on the back of Nebula’s sweater.)

The only entirely new minifigure pieces appear to be Drax’s head and Drax and Nebula’s sweaters. Rocket, Groot, and Mantis all appear to be identical to the figures that appeared in set 76193 The Guardians’ Ship. Star-Lord is repeating his head and torso from that set, with more common hair and leg pieces.

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Conclusion and recommendation

I always enjoy a LEGO advent calendar in December. (Or chocolate, or coffee, or once even a whiskey calendar…that was a rough month.) Taking five minutes out of your day to enjoy a surprise build is a great tradition, and this set doesn’t disappoint in that regard. There are lots of neat little builds and plenty of deep-cut references for Guardians of the Galaxy fans. My one concern is that past Marvel-themed calendars have usually cast a wider net in terms of the included characters, and I worry that MCU fanatics might bah-humbug the lack of heroes like Iron Man or Thor in this set. No such problem in my house. Guardians of the Galaxy is, with no exaggeration, my wife’s favorite movie. Not a “favorite Marvel movie.” Favorite movie. I showed her the Gamora on the back of Nebula’s sweater and there was an audible gasp of delight like you would not believe. So, this gets a big thumbs-up from us. But if you’re buying for a more general fan, you might want to at least consider the Star Wars or City themes before deciding which set to purchase.

76231 Guardians of the Galaxy Advent Calendar is a 268-piece set available September 1st for US $44.99 | CAN $59.99 | UK £29.99. It may also be available from third-party sellers on Amazon and eBay.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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