Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.

We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!

Fools: When I showed this build to my sister, who an even bigger Potter fan than I am, she had trouble figuring out what it was. We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a Thestral, but in our opinions it misses the mark a bit. Especially compared to the Buckbeak build, this Thestral is too stocky and the piece used for the muzzle looks more like a beak.

Bones: I don’t know why similar Buckbeak from day 8 feels stronger than this, maybe the black makes it heavier and less appealing. It’s all in the details!

Expansion: Agree that the Thestral is a bit too bulky. Maybe it hit the gym!

Fools: Another couple of house builds to add to your growing winter village, this one has a nice fire-lit window.

Expansion: Another low poly render like yesterday’s Christmas tree, but I like the idea of a full winter village spread throughout the calendar.

Jake: Maybe it’ll look better when all the mini builds are side-by-side, but on its own, this is pretty lacking. Some printed bricks would have helped.

Fools: Today’s alt-build is a better owl.

Expansion: I’d rather have received your owl alt build than the thestral!

Jake: Nevermore!

Bones: The crown jewel of this calendar, this new Christmas tree costume is gorgeous with its little printed red and gold baubles. I’m not showing it here, but it isn’t printed on the back, which I actually think is a good thing, making it a bit more versatile for mocs as just a plain tree.

Expansion: Amazing costume suit. It’s all fun and games until the lumberjack shows up to the party

Fools: Definitely my favorite part of this calendar! This piece is super cool.

Bones: Today’s Minecraft gift is pretty complete: a few accessories, including a bow, a box, and some snowballs. But most importantly, a skeleton equipped with armor, which completes the helmet from Day 9 for a full set. Like the polar bear from Day 15, this Stray is a carbon copy of the one found in set 21277.

Fools: Strays are one of the few snow-exclusive mobs in the game, so it’s definitely a good idea to get one in this.

Expansion: A stray is a cool inclusion but nothing will beat the fabric cape in the original stray

Jake: A gift will warm that Stray’s heart!

Bones: Every fort comes with a proper armory, no exceptions!

Expansion: A Guinea pig and its habitat. Similar to the gecko from a few days ago, this is perfect. A cute printed animal with some silly accessories for it to play with. Although given its small size it’s likely to go the same way as my real Guinea pig- lost behind the sofa! 5/5

Bones: Like the lizard from Day 6, having both a small build and an animal is really nice. This guinea pig might get a bit thirsty though!

Fools: I really like this little guinea pig chill-pad!

Expansion: A repaired B1 battle droid. This guy is fun with his mismatched colours showing a tough life. I can’t help thinking this was a missed opportunity to recolour or print the head with something festive seeing as everyone has a million of these guys 4/5

Fools: Sort of a random amalgamation of parts. I guess it does fit as something you would find in Babu’s workshop, though.

Bones: Looks like this poor droid got its arm a bit too close to a blaster, but at least it gives us a slightly different version of this absolute classic.

Jake: Considering how abundant these droids were in the prequels, I like when they show up in Imperial era media like Mandalorian and Jedi: Survivor.

Expansion: I told you I would build a gonk droid. Tell me this isn’t the gonk the fans deserve haha!

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