If you are a Castle collector then the Castle Advent Calendar is one of the best ways to get your hands on some very nice extra elements. Not only are there nine figures in the set but tons of highly usable pieces. This doesn't follow the usual for of other advent calendars that Lego previously released; those had specific pieces to build a different item each day. This one is a bit more basic but still an attractive gift for Lego Castle lovers. If you want to save the most, buy this theme set after the holidays to save upwards of 50% off the suggested retail price of $29.99. They may be hard to find in retail stores but trust me, if you are into the Lego Castle theme it is more than worth it to make some calls to see if stores have them in stock. Since it is a seasonal item you may not be able to get your hands on a set or two until mid November.

Everything comes packaged in the usual Lego advent calendar type box with individual doors that you open until Christmas arrives. There was some talk of them making this into a "holiday" set instead of tagging it with the "advent calendar" name to make it more appealing to those that do not celebrate the holiday or are from different religions. Given that this comes with a thirty dollar price tag, I could care less about what it is called or whom it is marketed to. I did the math on the individual pieces on the set and if I were to buy them individually I would end up paying about seven dollars more than the actual advent calendar so it was a good deal for me. As I said, getting it after the holiday will say you even more money and if you can buy multiples you can resell them later and make a sweet profit on them. Are they guaranteed to go up in price? That is questionable but eventually it will be retired or the pieces in it will change and then people will be looking to buy them.

Some of the animals that you get in this set include a spider, bat, frog, snake and rat but for me it was the myriad of gemstones and the crystal cluster that impressed me. I was hoping to get more gold coins but my selection didn’t have any. Members of Lego fan boards have said that they did get gold coins in their calendar but didn't get any gemstones. Maybe that was the trade off. What are some of the other small items that you get with this set? One of the very cool clear crystal balls, archway pieces, witches hat, torch holder, faux wood wheels for a cart assembly, magic broom [identical to the one in the Harry Potter sets], table pieces, assorted food items and one of the coolest lightening rod pieces I have ever seen. All of these items can be used with all standard sized Lego figures as well as added to a scene where you have clip on pegs and studs.

You get a total of nine figures with the set and there is a nice assortment of skeletons, knights and a damsel. You can build these any way that you want but since they are scattered throughout the calendar you will have to wait until you have opened all the packages to sort doing modifications. Some of the best figures are the skeletons; thankfully they aren't all the plain bone white ones either. They come with various weapons and shields with the skull logo on them and as previously mentioned, all these accessory pieces can be used with other standard Lego figures. The knights are basic but interesting so they can be added to other sets and scenes without having to rip them apart to get rid of odd crests or stenciling. There are some really nice helmets in this set, so nice that I have to wonder why they weren't added to some of the regular medieval sets like the Castle Knights Battle Pack and Fright Knight Castle.

It's hard for me to say "sometimes the accessories are what make the set" because that is basically what this advent calendar is all about. It is a quick, easy way to bulk up your scenes without having to sink a lot of time and money into tracking down the individual elements. It remains to be seen if Lego will put out a different selection this year, even if it stays the same you are getting a lot of really fun castle pieces to build with. This does contain a lot of small pieces like the gemstones, studs and a few pointy weapons like the pike and scabbard. It is something that kids and adults that are into the theme will love getting and if you buy more than one of them, they will go crazy modifying them. This is a nice way to kick off the month of December and give your Lego lover something to look forward to every day. The items are bagged individually and in separate compartments. You can store the items in the calendar box if you want to but chances are they will end up getting tossed in with all the other Lego pieces.


Name: Castle Advent Calendar
Set Theme: Christmas
Set Number: 7979
Piece Count: 176
Age Recommendation: 6 and older
Difficulty Level: Easy
Build Time: 1 minute per item
Price: $24.99


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^V^ © 2009 Freak369 ^V^
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Count Down To The Holidays Calendar
Belville 2007 Advent Calendar
Lego City Advent Calendar

Witch's Fireplace
Knights' Kingdom Dungeon
Dragon Masters Magic Shop
Black Monarch's Ghost

Castle Knights Battle Pack
Castle Skeleton Battle Pack
Lego Knights Kingdom Chess
Lego Castle Tic Tac Toe


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): see review
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family