The announcement of series 23 of the collectable minifigures at LEGO CON in June surprised me a little. Since 2017, we have been presented with a set of ‘in-house’ figures, a Warner Bros licenced series (DC Super Heroes, Looney Tunes, Harry Potter, LEGO Movie/TLM2/TLMBM/TLNM) and a Disney licenced series (Disney, Marvel, Muppets). And the in-house series number has been the same as the year number. Now my ordinal sensibilities have been challenged, and I am not sure I like it.
That said, when we look at the figures presented in Series 23, it is appropriately timed, with many figures appropriate for the holiday season, including a Turkey costume, along with a snowman, reindeer costume, elf, nutcracker and Sugar Plum Fairy (or is it just the most generic toddler girl ever?).
Today we continue our Advent-ure: 2018 is the 20th anniversary of the first LEGO Advent Calendar, which appeared in 1998. In our the Rambling Brick’s Advent-ure, we travel through the years looking at different sets and themes which have been used over the years to celebrate the Christmas Holiday Season. And then, you can follow down to see what our Friends have in store in their Advent Calendar today.
Today, let us take a look at the Nutcracker 40254, distributed as a gift with purchase during Brick Friday 2017. Nutcracker dolls originated in Germany in the seventeenth century, and became associated with Christmas through Hoffman’s story “The Mouse and the Nutcracker” which is set around the time of a household Christmas Party. The story was popularised through Tchaikovsky’s ballet adaptation, which has become a seasonal favourite over the year.
The 2017 Staff Gift: at 732 elements, it’s a bit bigger than 40254
The set has two hundred and thirty parts, and features an opening and closing jawbone, operated through a lever on its back. As a relatively recent set, it should not set you back too much on the secondary market. This version of the nutcracker makes great use of the warm gold/ pearl gold highlights. The build was simple, and made good use of warm gold jumper plates. This was not the only Nutcracker model released in 2017, with the annual staff gift also depicting a much taller nutcracker. I quite like this set: it is small and effective, and achieved its goal of causing me to purchase a significant amount of LEGO at the time of the year.
I don’t know what drove me to want to discuss it this particular set today…
As I write this, we are somewhere between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. In Australia, this period of time is characterized by alternating between retail discounts, blockbuster cinematic releases and spending time with friends and family.
For the rambling brick family, we have been blessed by bright sun, warm days, and many opportunities for extended napping. We have been staying away from the family LEGO collection, but not entirely brick free. I was fortunate to discover NINJAGO City lying on top of my Christmas Stocking. It was never going to fit in. My wife and I were also given the wedding topper, by way of commemorating our 20th Wedding Anniversary during this period. I am currently writing in secret… Continue reading →
The Rambling Brick 
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