2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar: FINAL RANKINGS

Overall, I can't say this was one of the best advent calendars.  There were a few underwhelming inclusions (even a weapons rack and a sled with no apparent driver) and a few builds that left you feeling "meh."   And why no Jedi or Sith?  The primary themes were Rebels, The Force Awakens and Rogue One.  Surely, they could have thrown in a cool new version of a force user or two!

But there were also some really nice highlights.  Let's review some of them here.

My top 5 vehicles/mini-builds (out of 16):

1) Y-WING

2) MILLENNIUM FALCON

3) LUGGABEAST

4) THE GHOST

5) REY'S SPEEDER

My top 3 figures (out of 8):

1) SANTA BB-8

2) SABINE WREN

3) UNKAR'S THUG

Hope you enjoyed!  See you next Christmas!

2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Day 24: SANTA BB-8

DAY 24: SANTA BB-8

PIECES: 6 (5 for the build, 1 extra)

QUALITY OF CHOICE: 5 of 5.  The one we've all been waiting for...and the only reason why many people probably bought the set!

ENJOYABILITY OF BUILD: 5 of 5.  It's pretty fun putting a Santa hat on a little bubbins of a droid, and putting that droid onto a snowboard.  The only issue is that his hat doesn't fit very snugly.

RECOGNIZABILITY OF BUILD: 5 of 5.  

COMMENTS: What could we really complain about here?  And he fits in nicely with some of my old advent calendar heroes!

2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Day 23: SLED WITH PRESENTS

DAY 23: SLED WITH PRESENTS

PIECES: 14 (13 for build, 1 extra)

QUALITY OF CHOICE: 3 of 5.  You basically have to have a Christmas sled...but BB already has a snowboard, so who's going to drive this?

ENJOYABILITY OF BUILD: 3 of 5.  If you're going to have a sled with no obvious driver, you should spice up the design a little more.  Pretty bland.

RECOGNIZABILITY OF BUILD: 4 of 5.  I mean, it's obviously a sled with presents.  But...

COMMENTS: Again...since BB was the only Christmas-themed figure included and he already has transport, what do we do with this?

2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Day 22: AT-ST

DAY 22: AT-ST

PIECES: 16 (14 for the build, 2 extras)

QUALITY OF CHOICE: 5 of 5.  Another of my favorite SW vehicles...I can't complain.

ENJOYABILITY OF BUILD: 5 of 5.  Not quite the impact of the Falcon or Y-Wing, but it's fun.

RECOGNIZABILITY OF BUILD: 5 of 5.  Everyone knows and loves chicken walkers.

COMMENTS: Great to have another AT-ST in my collection!  I hope they release another Original Trilogy version soon.

2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Day 21: IMPERIAL GROUND CREW

DAY 21: IMPERIAL GROUND CREW

PIECES: 5

QUALITY OF CHOICE: 5 of 5.  It's nice to get one of these, as the only previous appearance of this uniform (to my recollection) was Jyn in the Battle of Scarif set.

ENJOYABILITY OF BUILD: 4 of 5.  I know it's asking a lot, but might have been cool to give him the same light sticks that Jyn had.  I'm happy he has a blaster, though!

RECOGNIZABILITY OF BUILD: 4 of 5.  Without knowing it's Rogue One, you could easily mistake this dude for a Death Star Gunner.

COMMENTS: This is one of the better figures in the set.  Perhaps not as cool as a Shoretrooper or Hovertank pilot from the same movie, but they like to provide more unique figs in these calendars and that's commendable.

2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Day 20: IMPERIAL ASSAULT HOVERTANK

DAY 20: IMPERIAL ASSAULT HOVERTANK

PIECES: 21 (17 for the build, 4 extras)

QUALITY OF CHOICE: 4 of 5.  If they were going to cover Rogue One designs, I guess this needed to be part of it.

ENJOYABILITY OF BUILD: 3 of 5.  Underwhelming in the same way that a lot of the First Order designs were.  

RECOGNIZABILITY OF BUILD: 3 of 5.  The orange brick is basically the only obvious giveaway.

COMMENTS: Not a bad design given the source material.  There just isn't a lot to work with here.

2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Day 19: TIE STRIKER

DAY 19: TIE STRIKER

PIECES: 15 (14 pieces for the build, 1 extra)

QUALITY OF CHOICE: 5 of 5.  Another favorite from Rogue One - I'm a sucker for anything resembling a TIE Interceptor.

ENJOYABILITY OF BUILD: 3 of 5.  A bit difficult to figure out the wing attachment based on the picture.  Plus, there's something just a bit underwhelming about the finished product.  I realize that any extra details would require a significant step up in piece count, though.

RECOGNIZABILITY OF BUILD: 5 of 5.  Pretty obvious if you know your ships.

COMMENTS: This is good, but another that doesn't translate in an interesting way to a mini-build.  At least to me.