Lego 2824 - City Advent Calendar 2010

Following from the Lego Kingdoms Advent Calendar 2010, I've also had the pleasure of ripping open this companion set - the City Advent Calendar 2010. This was due in greater part to spring cleaning for the Chinese New Year period than an actual desire to view the toys contained within. So the box had to go and the Lego pieces went straight into storage after the pictures were taken for this post.

On the whole, I prefer this set to the Kingdoms Advent Calendar. Despite containing only six mini-figures compared to the nine in the Kingdoms set, the various little compartments contained little toys that were more fun to build. They also hold their own if you desired to distribute the contents as separate gifts, unlike the Kingdoms set where the little gifts were better off paired with each other (e.g. blacksmith with his anvil or barmaid with the cask). Here, you get a few mini-vehicles, two Santa figures and a little toy train to go along with the other pieces of furniture. Furthermore, they fit easily into any Lego Town or City that you build, especially the great series of modular buildings that Lego has been releasing over the past couple of years.


Box (front)


Box (rear)


Inside flap shows a Lego City background and a base featuring a railway track (you'll see why later)


Plastic tray containing all 24 packs


Day 1 - Snowman


Day 2 - Boy with toy sword


Day 3 - Skate ramp, helmet and skateboard


Day 4 - Mini crane


Day 5 - Drum kit


Day 6 - Girl with cat


Day 7 - Keyboard


Day 8 - Dog with sausage


Day 9 - Mini plane


Day 10 - Man with briefcase


Day 11 - Fireplace


Day 12 - Logs, axe and wagon


Day 13 - Mini fire engine


Day 14 - Woman with loaf of bread


Day 15 - Table, lamp and chairs


Day 16 - Bench


Day 17 - Shower


Day 18 - Santa taking a shower


Day 19 - Red train carriage


Day 20 - Mini bulldozer


Day 21 - Yellow train carriage


Day 22 - Mini helicopter


Day 23 - Christmas tree


Day 24 - Santa with locomotive


Lots of spares in this set


Santa taking a shower


Santa train (goes with the train tracks on the box flap)

Lego 7952 - Kingdoms Advent Calendar 2010

Countdown the 24 days in December to Christmas with the Lego Kingdoms Advent Calendar. This set consists of an outer box with 24 trays hidden behind numbered doors. Behind each door is a Lego toy from the Kingdoms / medieval theme. Open one per day up till Christmas or you could do what I did - open them all at once!

Overall, this set is good for kids with easy builds and would make a nice supplement to the Medieval Market Village set. It also comes with 8 mini-figures out of 24. Other than that, there is little for the AFOL to do with the individual pieces other than put them on display...or distribute among friends and colleagues by asking them to pick a window to open in order to reveal their gift..or as Christmas party favours. At the very least, it would keep your kid from asking about their Christmas gifts every other day.




Box art (MISB)



The flap opens to reveal a castle backdrop and 24 numbered windows (1 for each day of December up till Christmas)



There are no instruction books per se, but the back of the flap would reveal the item build. Easy to figure out fairly easy even without the pictures for most of the sets.



You can also pull out the inner tray, which would make a good sorting aid when you're building other sets.



Day 1 - We get a blacksmith, pictured here with a spare hammer.



Day 2 - Blacksmith's hearth and anvil, with sword



Day 3 - Medieval weapons rack



Day 4 - Black knight with spare morningstar



Day 5 - Some kinda spear wagon, with spare red clip



Day 6 - Suit of armour and helmet. I would have preferred if there was a way for the helmet to remain on the top.



Day 7 - Queen with frog! The queen also comes with a alternate head design on the reverse side to depict different emotions.



Day 8 - I suppose this is supposed to be a throne. Lame.



Day 9 - Treasure chest with assorted gems



Day 10 - Nice figure. Skeleton with spare hand. The arms are attached via ball joints.



Day 11 - Dungeon wall with spare cuffs



Day 12 - Pig and apple. No building required at all.



Day 13 - Another nice figure. A prince with spare sword. He also came with a spare hairpiece (the first time I've encountered such a thing in a Lego set).



Day 14 - Sword in stone



Day 15 - A good one... jousting dummy that swivels round and round.



Day 16 - Bar wench



Day 17 - Beer keg and mug. Nice build.



Day 18 - Pot, another apple and knives (on sprue).



Day 19 - Soldier (with spare spear)



Day 20 - Mini catapult (with spare swivel peg)



Day 21 - Crossbowman



Day 22 - Owl resting on tree stump



Day 23 - Stove



Day 24 - Best figure of them all. Wizard with spare wand.



Storage option