We Build the 2024 LEGO Advent Calendars for Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Harry Potter

Today, we're taking a look at three of LEGO's annual Advent calendars for 2024: Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Harry Potter. This is the third year we're doing this; you can see our 2023 Advent reviews here and our 2022 Advent reviews here.

So good news first: this is the first year that I did not open the box the wrong way. For the past two years, I thought that the Advent calendar was inside the box, only to realize that the Advent calendar is the box itself.

Instead of opening the box from its top or bottom, you detach a cardboard flap, laid across the box's front, to reveal 24 small compartments, concealed with perforated "doors." Each compartment is numbered randomly between 1 and 24, to correspond to the days leading up to Christmas.

As a non-Christian (who married a Catholic), I only learned what Advent calendars were a few years ago. To wit: Advent is the preparation season prior to Christmas, and Advent calendars are a fun Christmas Day countdown. You open up one numbered door per day (Door 1 on December 1, Door 2 on December 2, and so forth). Each compartment contains an individual miniature LEGO build.

Sometimes, it's a minifigure, usually with a holiday sweater or some other Christmas apparel. Other times, it's a piece of holiday iconography, like a Christmas tree or a fireplace with stockings. The rest of the time, it's something that's thematically related, while not explicitly holiday-themed. For example: there's a miniature Millennium Falcon in the 2024 Star Wars calendar. There's been a miniature Millennium Falcon in every LEGO Star Wars Advent calendar, come to think of it.

The Star Wars calendar is the least holiday-themed, aside from Luke and Leia dressed in Christmas sweaters. But the collection of space vehicles is very diverse and fun, and includes an X-wing, a TIE Fighter, an AT-AT, a Y-wing, the Razor Crest, the Crimson Firehawk, and a Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser.

Earlier this year, I built a massive, 3,942-piece LEGO recreation of Jabba's Sail Barge. For the LEGO Star Wars 2024 Advent calendar, I built a miniature version of the barge with less than 20 pieces. Both barges are impressive, in different ways – the former for its grandeur and attention to detail, the latter for communicating a great deal with very little. (See our picks for the best LEGO Star Wars sets).

The Spider-Man calendar is a little more scattershot in terms of individual quality, and it has the lowest piece count, collectively. But it has some exceptional builds that really stand out. Venom holding a hot dog, wearing a Christmas scarf, is oddly cute. And then the following day, you build the hot dog cart. A lot of the builds in the Spider-Man calendar work that way; you build a minifigure, and then you build the accessory that pairs with it. You build Green Goblin, and then you build his Christmas-themed glider. You build Spider-Gwen, and then you build the drum set for her to play on. (See our picks for the best LEGO Marvel sets).

The Harry Potter calendar is similar to last year's – lots of holiday trimmings like a big turkey, a Christmas tree, and holiday decorations – and a handful of Hogwarts-specific builds. You build four stone busts, representing the four animals for each of the houses. You build four miniature house tables, color coded and laden with food.

And you build seven minifigures, the most of the three calendars that we reviewed: Harry Potter, Susan Bones, Cho Chang, Draco Malfoy, Albus Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, and the Choir Ghost. The Choir ghost is exceptionally well-detailed, with a deathly pallor and a massive bustle gown. (See our picks for the best LEGO Harry Potter sets).

The builds are simple enough that the instructions exist as a single image, on the inside of each perforated flap. And that is also the most impressive thing about them – that with no more than a few well-placed bricks, the LEGO designers can hint at something much grander. It's a different way of thinking about LEGO that most builders don't even consider. We tend to think about LEGO bricks in bulk – as hundreds of disassociated bits that only create something when they are combined and layered on top of one another.

Certainly, that's impressive. But there's something charmingly childish and affirming about this other type of 'impressive' – that respects and recognizes the power of a single brick to tell a story. It's a hell of a lot cheaper too.

LEGO Star Wars 2024 Advent Calendar, Set #75395, is composed of 368 pieces. LEGO Spider-Man 2024 Advent Calendar, Set #76293, is composed of 246 pieces. LEGO Harry Potter 2024 Advent Calendar, Set #76438, is composed of 301 pieces. All three Advent calendars retail for $44.99 apiece. They're available now.

Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He's also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.