X-Entertainment Advent Calendar Discussion

**Peter Paltridge** · 12-04-2007, 03:16 PM

http://www.x-entertainment.com/updates/

Matt Caracappa's X-E Advent Calendar has become one of my favorite recent holiday traditions. I've been an X-E reader since his Captain N review all the way back in 2001, and in 2002 he began counting down the days to Christmas with special short articles, reviews, and stage shows starring children's toys. That last part isn't lame....the shows are extremely clever and gut-bustingly hilarious.

After a couple years, the toy show became the main attraction of the Advent Calendar, with a cast full of regular bizarre characters that only make sense if you've been reading from the beginning.

2002's Advent Calendar
2003's
2004's
2005's
2006's
2007's
2008's

Spoiler:

2009's

Spoiler:

2010's

Spoiler:

2011's
http://www.x-entertainment.com/adven...011/december1/
http://www.x-entertainment.com/adven...011/december2/

If you've never read the Advent Calendar before, I both pity and envy you...the envy is because you actually get to read all these for the first time. But sheesh, hurry up. This year's Calendar is the best yet, with a simultaneous mystery involving creepy plastic bunnies that readers are given clues to solve.

If anyone here is an Advent Calendar reader, let's start a joyful discussion of Mares and Waiterbot and James Lipton.

**Peter Paltridge** · 12-24-2007, 02:09 PM

No one else here reads these? This year was great! You missed a ton of fun.

**J. B. Warner** · 12-24-2007, 02:26 PM

I pop into X-E every once in a while to see the new articles (I particularly enjoy Matt's reviews of past Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades), but the Advent Calendar never really did much for me. One of these days, I'll sit down and check 'em all out, though.

**DarthGonzo** · 12-24-2007, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by J. B. Warner

I pop into X-E every once in a while to see the new articles (I particularly enjoy Matt's reviews of past Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades), but the Advent Calendar never really did much for me. One of these days, I'll sit down and check 'em all out, though.

Yeah I agree with that. I've tried with sit down with the Advent Calendar but it just doesn't work for me.

**Peter Paltridge** · 11-23-2008, 03:56 AM

It's almost time again, give or take a couple weeks. Man, I can't wait. I think I'm actually looking more forward to this than to the Real Ghostbusters set, and that cost me $200.

The best things in life, such as Waiterbot, are free. Plus, this is the only real thing Matt does with his site anymore. I miss him.

I'm going to try to drum up as much support around here as possible this time. I'll be as blunt and one-sided as possible about this: If you "can't get into" the Advent Calendar Groove then you need to get to the doctor's right away and have your brain looked at, because some synapse in there isn't firing correctly. The ongoing adventures of the Advent Calendar toys are hilarious and warmly Christmassy at once. There's nothing else quite like it online. If you don't read it you are MISSING OUT ON LIFE.

Originally Posted by Matt Caracappa

mezzanine: Here’s a “brief” breakdown of the events of each calendar:

2002: A series of femme fatales who all look exactly like 80's actress Mare Winningham arrive with unclear intentions; we now know that Playmobil “births” many Mares, and that they’re all born evil.

2003: Arrival of the one “true” Mare, who has starred in every Advent Calendar since. Only, in 2003, she was completely evil and, in the climax, was fed to the Rancor Monster by Santa Claus.

2004: Knacks and Kuse, then teenagers, are enthralled with the mythology of Mare and seek out her remains, ultimately resurrecting her. Having learned from her past mistakes, Mare is now a hero, and guides her new friends through the perils of the 2004 Advent Calendar. One of that year’s gifts turned out to be a new Mare — nicknamed “Claire” — who was of course born evil, and planned to stay that way. In the end, Mare sacrifices herself to save the world, and Santa encases Claire in magic ice to ensure that she’ll never be a problem again. 2004 is also notable for the introduction of Waiterbot, who began humbly as a waiter at a sushi restaurant Mare, Knacks and Kuse went to.

2005: Waiterbot returns in a new body as the year’s star villain, who steals the 2005 Advent Calendar’s “new” Mare and makes her his #1 gun. Fortunately, the “new” Mare somehow retained the spirit of the Mare who died in 2004, and with some help from Knacks, she remembered who she was and went good again. After Waiterbot was soundly defeated, a new threat arrived in Santa Claus himself. (Santa Clauses are supposed to pass the torch to the new Santa Clauses that pop off the Advent Calendar each year, but this one didn’t want to do it.) In the end, the good guys won, and Waiterbot even got to join the hero crew in his new Santa Claus body. (The villainous Santa who almost ruined things in 2005 is the vessel Waiterbot still uses to this day.) 2005 is also the year that Kuse and Mare began their romance.

2006: The year begins with just the usual bunch of gift-opening and domestic disputes, but soon enough, a new batch of villains, led by some wizard dude, start wreaking havoc by kidnapping the heroes. Ultimately, it’s revealed that these villains are under the mind control of Claire, who has retained her special Mare abilities despite still being locked in a block of ice. Making matters worse, that year’s Advent Calendar gave us another new Mare — nicknamed “Mare II” — who ultimately became a heroine and love interest for Knacks, but not before freeing Claire from her icy prison. In the finale, the original Mare blasts Claire in half, and everyone has a happy Christmas.
Of course, if you scroll to the end of the last entry of 2006, 2007’s ominous setup is revealed.

2007: Hssxxlllo Ussall and his unnamed leader, a pair of humanoid rabbits from one of Saturn’s moons who practice witchcraft, arrive amid great mystery and intrigue. Forming a small army and packing more power than any of the previous villains, it’s eventually revealed that the larger of the two rabbits is Mare’s sister: Hare Winningham. Despite her religious bravado, Hare is really just out for blood and glory, and Hssxxlllo switches sides, feeling misled. In the end, Hare fails to summon the demon god Leviathan, who deems her requests of destruction unworthy. With aid from Hssxxlllo, however, Kuse is able to raise Leviathan: A 100-story demon rabbit who grabs Hare and brings her to Hell. The day is saved, but in the epilogue, we find Hare in hell, despondent…until she’s met by an old colleague with similar interests: Claire Winningham.

Okay, so for this year, the question is: Did Hare and Claire find a way out of Hell? What do they have in store for our friends? FIND OUT SOON.

**Peter Paltridge** · 12-01-2008, 03:27 AM

http://www.x-entertainment.com/adven...008/december1/

IT....HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED. And it's just as funny as ever.

Let the boogie-ing begin!

**DarthGonzo** · 12-30-2008, 10:19 PM

Anyone been following this all month?

It's driving me crazy. I really wish he'd update it. I figured he would have gotten back to it by now.

**Peter Paltridge** · 12-31-2008, 12:27 AM

By my own theoretical estimation, the Point of No Return will be after the New Year has settled in, around January 4 or 5, when all possible motivation to do anything holiday-related will have disappeared. If he hasn't shown up by then, weep for the poor little figures.

**DarthGonzo** · 01-01-2009, 02:33 AM

Well he did update the blog tonight. Hinted at making things up to everyone.

So we'll see.

**Jon Cooke** · 06-15-2009, 09:56 PM

Be sure to check out X-E's blog today.

**Peter Paltridge** · 12-02-2009, 03:28 PM

Okay, it's back again. I'm worried, though -- the precedent has been set; if he feels too lazy to complete this one too, he'll find it easier to up and quit than he would if he'd never done that before.

Also, there's no way to access the 2008 calendar. Except manually:

Spoiler:

**sdp** · 12-03-2009, 11:10 AM

I've been wanting to check it out for three years now but it looks so unappealing, its only the positive feedback I read that gets me want to check it out. I think this year I'll finally start, not sure if I'll read all of them this year, maybe I'll save some for next year or maybe I just don't like them.

Plus, this is the only real thing Matt does with his site anymore. I miss him.

Well, many of his blog posts can count as the articles he used to write. though I do agree with you.

**Peter Paltridge** · 12-24-2009, 06:59 PM

Yay, he finished it this time!

Great year. I wish there had been more than two appearances from Man-Car, though.

Mare-y Christmas! Ham energy for all!

**Peter Paltridge** · 11-27-2010, 05:11 PM

It will commence again soon, but Matt's getting back to basics this year and only taking 1 or 2 pictures per day. He confessed the Advent Calendar took a full eight hours per entry at its peak, which I have to admit is pretty insane.

I'm happy to get something rather than nothing, though.

**Peter Paltridge** · 12-04-2011, 02:31 AM

http://www.x-entertainment.com/adven...011/december1/
http://www.x-entertainment.com/adven...011/december2/

Aaaaaand it's dead. Matt only wrote two before delinking it a day later and announcing he didn't want to make them anymore. Said it felt more like something he "had" to do rather than "wanted" to do. From experience with Keiki's Huge Christmas Epic, I know how that feels (the difference being nobody read the Christmas Epic anyway). But nuts, I'm really gonna miss this.

Let's all visit the links one last time and have a good larf. As for me, I'm so hardcore I've already used a site-downloading tool to archive the entire thing onto a CD, in case it ever disappears. I still want a hardcover of the whole saga too.

But at least I discovered THIS to ease the pain:
http://adventcalendar.decemberized.com/wiki.asp

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