Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar 2021
Published: December 2021
Every year I pick up a copy of the Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar. This year I plan to update this post on a day by day basis with each new micro build along with a little background information on each one. This years edition of this advent calendar is based on the very popular Mandalorian tv series on Disney+.
Day 1: Razor Crest
The Razor Crest, owned by Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin, was built as a gunship military craft known as a ST-70 Assault Ship at some point before the formation of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY. A version of this micro-build first appeared in the 2020 version of the advent calendar, the day at which I opened it coincided with the very same ship being destroyed in season two of The Mandalorian.
Day 2: Riot Mar’s Starfighter
This ship made it’s debut appearance in Season 1 Chapter 5 of the Mandalorian. The bounty hunter Riot Mar used one of these starfighters while pursuing the Mandalorian Din Djarin but was quickly dispatched. Admittedly I did not recognise this Star Fighter as it hasn’t featured on screen for long or stationary enough to become iconic or recognisable.
The order of micro-builds means that even by day 2, you can have some fun recreating the aforementioned star-ship battle.
The following is a rendition of this star fighter, credit for this image goes to this article on Wookiepedia: Bounty Hunter Fighter.
Day 3: Storm Trooper
The Mandalorian is set after the events of the Return of the Jedi and the empire has fallen. Moff Gideon is a major antagonist of the series and leads a remnant of the Imperial forces. Among these forces are the familiar armoured Storm Troopers that Moff Gideon used to corner the Mandalorian and his allies. Every year the calendar comes with at least one trooper variant. The trooper never comes with a weapon within their day, but immediately following day usually includes something for them to use.
Day 4: E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster Cannon
In season 1, chapter 8 : Redemption, Gideon’s Imperial Remnant cornered the Mandalorian and his allies within a building. In this scene a number of troopers run into the scene carrying the components for the E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster and get ready to use it. The Mandalorian busts out of the building in a classic western style shootout and picks up this weapon from it’s stand and uses it against the imperial forces.
This weapon goes really with the Storm Trooper from day 3. As this is an advent calendar, this build comes with a stud launcher with white studs to give the impression of shooting snow balls.
Day 5: Targets
Day 5 builds up on days 3 & 4 by adding targets for the Storm Trooper to shoot using the E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster. The height of the targets is perfect for the height of the stud launcher and are light enough to be knocked down the projected stud.
Day 6: K79-S80 Imperial Troop Transport
The K79-S80 Imperial Troop Transport (ITT), also known as the RTT or Recon transport, was a boxy repulsorlift ground assault vehicle used by the Galactic Empire. Developed by Ubrikkian Industries, it was used to either move Imperial stormtroopers in, or to move prisoners out. This vehicle has appeared many times within the star wars universe, most prominently within the Star Wars Rebels series and later during Season 1 Chapter 7 of The Mandalorian.
Day 7: The Mythrol’s Land Speeder
This land speeder made an appearance in Season 2 Chapter 12 and was driven by a character known as “The Mythrol” who was of the Mythrol species. This land speeder was ultimately destroyed when Cara Dune landed a Trexler 906 Armoured Marauder.
Day 8: Tuscan Raider / Sand Person
Tusken Raiders, less formally referred to as Sand People or simply as Tuskens, were a culture of nomadic, primitive sentients indigenous to Tatooine, where they were often hostile to local settlers.
Historically in the movies, the Tusken Raiders were always portrayed as violent savages. In Season 1 Chapter 5, the Mandalorian meets with the Tuskens and negotiates passage across their lands using sign language. This scene adds some much desired depth to the Tuskens as we learn that they consider themselves to be the local indigenous race and that the other settlements are trespassers on their lands. This leads to a nice parallel with American colonial history.
As an additional fun fact, the Tusken was portrayed by a deaf actor who created a whole new set of hand gestures based on Tusken culture and environment. Read more here: Mandalorian Tusken Sign Language.
Day 9: Gaderffii / Gaffi Stick and Weapon Rack
Day 9 builds on day 8 by providing desert terrain and a Gaderffii / Gaffi Stick for the Sand Person. The gaderffii, or gaffi stick, was the traditional melee weapon of the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine. It was a pole weapon with a spike or blade on one end and some kind of bludgeoning instrument on the other.
Day 10: Tusken Ballista
Day 10 builds on Days 8 & 9 by adding the Tusken Ballista first seen in The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 9. The Mandalorian teams up with a local sheriff to take care of a Krayt Dragon that has been threatening the local settlements. Along the way he enlists the help of the Tusken people who bring along a number of Ballistae to shoot harpoons with ropes at the colossal Krayt Dragon.
This builds on the previous encounter with the Tuskens by yet again portraying them as a people with their own culture and technology. Lego also produced a small set called “Trouble on Tatooine” which featured a much bigger version of this Ballista along with a speeder bike and a Tusken hut. This set included minifigs of The Mandalorian, a Tusken and a The Child.
Day 11: T65-B X-Wing Starfighter
In The Mandalorian Season 1 Chapter 6, the Mandalorian encounters a wing of X-Wings led by Trapper Wolf (Played by the show runner Dave Fiolni) who proceeded to take out the prisoners who double crossed the Mandalorian. In Season 2 Chapter 10, the Mandalorian encounters two X-Wing pilots led by the same Trapper Wolf. In this second encounter, they are policing the space lanes and attempt to pull the Mandalorian over for not having a valid transponder to identify him and his ship. You can read more about these encounter’s in the following article: Inverse: Lock S-Foils into Attack Position
This makes 3 micro-build ships so far that can be used to play out different scenes from the Mandalorian series. Its not the first time that an X-Wing has appeared in a Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar, which is no surprise as this fighter is iconic to the series.
Poe Dameron’s orange and black T-70 X-Wing previously made an appearance. Technically this is the second of three X-Wings we see Poe use during the trilogy and it is the second that he uses in The Force Awakens. I’m not a big fan of the T-70 variant of the X-Wing as I don’t think the engine modules splitting in half make sense.
Luke Skywalker’s T-65B X-Wing previously mad an appearance as well and still is my favourite version of the X-Wing. Trapper Wolf’s T-65 X-Wing is meant to be the same model, but the build differs ever so slightly. The brick that connects the forward and back halves has been changed, as has the brick chosen for the tip of the nose of the ship. This results in a slightly shorter version of the same micro-build.
Day 12: Outland TIE Fighter
The Outland TIE Fighter is a version of the TIE series which is visually similar to the classic TIE Fighter but was able to fold up it’s wings when landing on planet surfaces. This version was designed after the Battle of Yavin as the empire lost territory, the ability to fold it’s wings was to aid pilots in accessing the top mounted cockpit hatch. The Outland TIE Fighter made appearances in Season 1 Chapters 7 & 8 and was flown by Moff Gideon. After the Mandalorian forced Gideon to crash his TIE Fighter, the crash site was then used to reveal Gideon as the current holder of the Dark Sabre as he cut his way out of the fighter.
Differing versions of the TIE series fighters have been released in previous versions of the Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar. Previous versions include the First Order TIE Fighter, TIE Interceptor and the TIE Dagger.
Day 13: Scout Trooper
Day 13 marks the start of the second half of the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar with the familiar Scout Trooper. Originally this type of trooper made their debut in Star Wars Return of the Jedi when they are found on scout patrols with speeder bikes. This type of trooper returns to the screen in the Season 1 Chapters 7 and 8 when they briefly become the captors of the The Child before being killed by IG-11. The comedians Jason Sudeikis and Adam Pally perform the voices of the two Scout Troopers are a hidden cameo. You can read more about their cameo here: Who Plays The Scout Troopers In The Mandalorian Finale?
Day 14: Weapons Rack #2
Weapon Racks are common in every Star Wars Advent Calendar, as usual this one is quite unremarkable but provides scenery and a Blaster Pistol and Blaster Rifle for the Scout Trooper to use.
Day 15: 74-Z Speeder Bike
The 74-Z Speeder Bike is a key piece of equipment for a Scout Trooper and makes a good addition to the playability with the Scout Trooper from day 13. What makes this micro-build special is that it is mini-figure compatible, something that is a rare occurrence within the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar range. Sadly this build doesn’t include any bricks to provide a sense of hovering that is typical of speeders within Star Wars. The 2x1 transparent brick used here just happens to be a spare brick from my collection.
Day 16: Droid Piloted Cargo Sled
The droid piloted cargo sled made an appearance during the escape from Nevarro in Season 1 of The Mandalorian. Very little information exists for this particular cargo sled and there is little reason to get excited for this micro-build. The redeeming part of this is how four small bricks come together to create a blocky representation of the Astro-Mech driving the cargo sled.
Day 17: Arquitens Class Command Cruiser
The Arquitens Class Command Cruiser, also known as the Imperial light cruiser, was a multipurpose light cruiser used by the Imperial Navy. Moff Gideon obtained a Model 546 version of the Arquitens Class in the years following the Battle of Yavin. This vessel became the setting of the finale of Season 2 of The Mandalorian and included duels between The Mandalorian and Moff Gideon and cameos from Bo-Katan Kryze and Luke Skywalker.
Day 18: IT-0 Interrogator Droid
The IT-0 Interrogator Droid was developed by the Imperial Security Bureau that would inject it’s subject with a chemical that would reduce the victim’s pain threshold before subjecting them to torture. This droid made it’s first appearance in Star Wars IV: A New Hope where it was used in Princess Leia’s torture. In Season 1 Chapter 3 when The Mandalorian decides to become the guardian of The Child; he comes to Grogu’s rescue and finds an IT-0 droid hovering over The Child.
Day 19: Firespray
Day 19 brings us the “Firespray”, Boba Fett’s starship which is a Firespray 31 Class Patrol and Attack Ship. A small scale lego build of this ship was released as “Boba Fett’s Starship” and fans will remember that this ship was previously known as “Slave 1”. Now that Star Wars belongs to Disney, it’s likely that the usage of the name “Slave 1” in a fan favourite vessel is not something that Disney would wish to be associated with. Personally I think this is a more inclusive and welcome rename.
The Firespray has been released before in a previous version of the Lego Advent Calendar, though the build was distinctly different. This version of the micro-build is a distinct improvement on the previous version. The profile of the ship is more proportionally accurate and it features the lower cannons that were missing in the previous version.
Day 20: IG-11
IG-11 is an IG series assassin droid that first appeared in the opening episode of The Mandalorian. Initially IG-11 was sent on a mission to kill The Child and teamed up with The Mandalorian to eliminate the Nikto mercenaries. The episode finishes with IG-11 being terminated by The Mandalorian. IG-11 later comes back having been repaired and reprogrammed by The Ugnaught Kuill and would become a deadly ally to The Mandalorian.
Previous versions of the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar have included IG-88, another IG series assassin droid. The earliest builds used a simple combination of studs to give the impression of head details. Later versions would then have a print on the head brick to represent the droids iconic facial features. There are subtle differences in this print between IG-11 and IG-88 as you can see below.
Day 21: Weapons Rack #3
Day 21 brings the third weapon rack within this years advent calendar. The weapon racks never really reflect any specific piece of scenery and are merely filler as they provide a means to separate equipment from minifigs. Having three weapon racks in one calendar is somewhat of a let down. The weapons on this rack provide a rifle for use by IG-11 and the pieces required to represent The Mandalorian’s favoured rifle.
Day 22: Festive Grugu (The Child)
The last few days of every Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar always bring us more festive versions of our favourite characters. Day 22 continues this trend by providing Grogu in a festive outfit. Grogu’s jumper/bodysuit appears to have a 3 x 3 collection of snowflakes with a scarf to keep him warm. Grogu also comes with a carry pouch that looks like it is intended to hook over the neck spoke of a minifig.
Day 23: Grogu’s Hovering Pram
When we first meet Grogu (The Child) at the beginning of the first season, he is contained inside of a hovering pram that comes with a handy built in blast shield to protect him. This micro-build version of the hovering pram matches the scale of the Lego Grogu character but comes with some colourful red bricks to match the festive version of Grogu.
Day 24: Din Djarin (The Mandalorian)
Din Djarin, also known as “The Mandalorian” or simply as “Mando” is the title character of The Mandalorian series. Din Djarin was raised as a foundling among the Children of the Watch which was an orthodox cult that had splintered from the main Mandalorian society. This version of Din Djarin comes with a festive scarf on top of the beskar armour that Din gains over the course of the first series.
Din Djarin can be augmented with his Amban Phase Pulse Blaster from day 21’s weapon rack and with the carry bag for Grogu from Day 22 that fits neatly over the minifigure’s neck.
Summary
Overall, the 2021 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar feels like a mixed bag of improvements and backwards steps over previous years. The quality of the micro-build star-ships is a distinct improvement over previous years; The Firespray and The Razor’s Crest were both improved models over previous years as well as being key vessels in season two.
Previous years did have micro-builds of scenery from different parts of the key movie themes which are absent from this years calendar. For example, previous years have included the island where Luke Skywalker went into self imposed exile, battle scenery from Hoth and key scenes from Tatooine. Given the Mandalorian’s very varied locations, it would have been hard to include a quality recognisable micro-build of a location, so I can understand these types of builds being absent this year.
The number of mini-figures in this calendar has dropped compared to previous years and is now the lowest to date; in the following table I list the number of mini-figures, droids like IG-11 and “other” which encompasses small companions like Grogu or Porgs.
| Year | Mini-Figures | Droids | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 2015 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 9 |
| 2016 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 2017 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 2018 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| 2019 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| 2020 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 2021 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
This year included 3 weapon racks, these are never recognisable on screen and are always filler builds to accompany a minifigure. I would have preferred it if the minifigures came with their relevant weapons and these weapon racks being replaced with more minifigures. This would have been a great opportunity to include some gender equality on the minifigures by including Bo Katan, Cara Dune or Ahsoka Tano.