Hello-ho-hI'M A RELIABLE REINDEER

December 4, 2019 12:55 AM

Stuart "Ashens" Ashen (extra channel where most of these videos go), that beloved reviewer of gubbinses and tat, has an annual Christmas tradition, starting in 2012, of reviewing the contents of unusual advent calendars one day and door at a time. In 2015, this evolved into Ashens and fellow YouTuber Nerdcubed reviewing multiple calendars each year and comparing their contents. This year, there's an additional twist: each reviews a different calendar, and each day, whoever has the losing door-contents must partake of that day's edible - and spicy - offering from a dreaded forfeit calendar (to say nothing of the final punishment for being the Mega-Loser). Days One, Two and Three are already up. Links to the whole previous shebangs are after the jump.

2012: Lego Star Wars
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

2013: Playmobil
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

2014: Block Tech
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

2015: Schleich Magical Friendships With Elves and Race at the Farm
Intro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

2016: Despicable Me Mega Bloks, Playmobil (With Extra Animals), and Wilko Blox (forfeit calendar)
Intro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 n=n+1

2017: Frozen Winter Magic, Cars 3, Paw Patrol and Wera Tools
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

2018: Pensioner's Breakfast, Magic, Revell Control, Porsche and Playmobil Pirates
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Outtakes

posted by BiggerJ (6 comments total)

There's a Funko Pop Fortnite advent calendar and it costs EIGHTY POUNDS fml
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:52 AM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

I like Ashens to a certain point but the Nerdcube guy rubs me a bit in the wrong way. Don't know what it is and he's probably a very decent bloke and a lot of fun in the pub etc etc but still, I've skipped the last couple of years on the advent calenders. This while having found the series quite entertaining at first.

Maybe it's time to pick it up again and check this years'. Who knows I might be able to get on with Nerdcube's antics this time. Thanks for the post!
posted by Kosmob0t at 4:27 AM on December 4, 2019

Last year's was about watching Ashens grow ever more despondent by receiving increasingly trivial parts for his crap non-functional kit toy, while Nerdcubed resorted to poisoning himself with something awful labelled "pensioners breakfast".

This year is all about Ashens being bemused by how recieving micro-funko-pops every day might somehow not be an instant fail, while Nerdcubed literally pours salt on an open wound.

Riveting stuff.
posted by Eleven at 7:00 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

The tiny Funko Pops don't even look good! Or like Funko Pops! I don't understand how it cost £80??
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:16 AM on December 4, 2019

Advent calendars can be a bit chintzy at times. It is kind of a let down when you open a Playmobil advent calendar and all you get one day is some small accessory maybe if you're lucky you'd get a tree or parrot or gun. Maybe German kids appreciate that kind of stuff more? When my kid was younger I augmented the boxes of the Playmobil calendars we'd get. I'd throw in all kinds of cool bits and pieces. Now that he is older he can handle the anticlimax of opening his Harry Potter Lego Advent Calendar and getting a tiny train or a tree...
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:46 AM on December 4, 2019

These advent calendars where you get something every day are weird to me. The only kind we ever had (and still have) are where you do something each day - hang an ornament on a tree or some such.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:03 AM on December 4, 2019