I was going to subtitle this post 'Faller Boogaloo', but I thought that came across as suggesting something cheap. Not the case!
I've never been one for chocolate, so I'm always looking for alternate advent calendars for December. After being gifted a Noch HO scale figure calendar in 2024 I decided I'd have another one for 2025, but there was one small snag. I couldn't remember for the life of me if the one i was gifted was the actual 2024 release or what the box artwork looked like.
So I took the easy option and ordered one from the Faller stable instead.
And here's what 23 days worth of advent looks like. Overall I'm impressed, and I think I might actually prefer this to the Noch one. There's a good variety to the figures (Compared to last year which seemed to only have three categories of either sitting people, deer or swimming people)
More importantly though, the figures themselves are held in place with see through sticky tape. Fantastic! No chance of losing them over the course of advent, and they display really nicely in the calendar itself.
If there was one slight disappointment, it was day 24...
The text on the box promised "24 new hand painted FALLER HO miniature figures as well as a festive surprise at the end". There were a few things I was thinking it could be. A snowman? Someone on a sled/toboggan? The big jolly red man himself? Nope. Instead, day 24 was a deer.
"That's not that bad Rob, it could be classed as somewhat festive"
Normally, I'd agree. However this was the third deer included in the calendar. It did feel like a bit of a weak ending to what had been a very fun journey. Would it be enough to put me off getting another Faller figure calendar for 2026? No, I don't think so. The positives far outweigh what in context is a very minor sour note.
These are of course HO scale, so now it's time to play the year long game of incorporating these into OO gauge scenes in interesting and non-obvious ways.
More importantly though, I now have a record of what the 2025 calendar looked like for comparison this year!