It always starts with one thing. In this case: 77053 Stargazing with Celeste.
The third wave of Animal Crossing sets was hard to resist, especially 20% to 30% off on Amazon. (The second wave was easy to pass up, thankfully.)
The smallest of these, Stargazing with Celeste, is a nice little $10 set. It's a reminder that some of the most delightful, bang-for-buck Lego experiences come in humble sizes. This one has only 78 pieces but many useful elements.
These bright light orange pieces represent star fragments -- two small and one large. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, if you wish upon shooting stars, you can pick up their fragments scattered across the beach the next morning.
The
owl Celeste appears only on nights with shooting stars, no more than
once a week. She gives you DIY recipes for luxurious-looking, zodiac-themed furniture which require star fragments to construct.
I've never seen Celeste do anything but stroll the beach. But in this Lego
set, you could imagine having midnight tea with her (though there's only
one teacup and one cupcake on that picnic blanket).
The telescope is a common design I've seen in other sets, but it's one I really like.
The giant moon tells us, in no uncertain terms, that this set depicts a nighttime scene. Otherwise, how would we know? And without it, the set would look strangely bare, wouldn't it?
You can rearrange the terrain plates into a different configuration. Like I did below:
I tried placing the moon in the sky, but that didn't quite work!
This little purchase avalanched into buying all third-wave sets, plus Nook's Cranny from the first wave -- thanks to a decision to forgo buying The Shire.
As much as I love Lord of the Rings, The Shire's launch price turned out to exceed my fund (and it neither exceeded nor met my hopes for the interior of Bilbo and Frodo's home). So I had a nice big fund to spend on Animal Crossing, with more leftover.
Stargazing with Celeste will be part of my permanent collection, along with the earlier Isabelle's House Visit. Relative to, and despite, its size, I think it's the best of third wave.