Lunar New Year

40491 Year of The Tiger [Hands-On Review]

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The Lunar New Year is approaching, and as such, the annual Chinese Zodiac Animal Gift with Purchase is now live. These animal models embrace a certain kawaii look, with big eyes, and cartoonish expressions. This is the 8th model in the series, which began with the Year of the Sheep in 2015. I might have missed that one, but I have managed to secure each animal since then. It is currently available through LEGO.com as a Gift With Purchase, with a price threshold of $AUD169; £88; €88, $USD88. It is also available in Australia, through Myer Stores as well as LEGO Certified Stores – possibly others – where the purchase threshold is $AUD88. The set has 183 pieces, and the promotion is due to finish on 27th January at LEGO.com, and 31st January at Myer Stores. Or while stocks last!

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80108 Lunar New Year Traditions: Hands-On Review

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The Spring Festival Sets – coinciding with the Lunar New Year Celebrations have become a highlight over the last few years. As well as a larger set commemorating a significant part of the celebrations: Family Reunion Dinner, the Temple Market, the Lantern Festival, and Ice festival, there have also been more generic sets: The Dragon Dance, Lion Dance and the Story of Nian. This year, the smaller set – 80108 Lunar New Year traditions leans on many aspects of the Chinese New Year Celebrations, and brings them into the setting of six vignettes join around a central hub. Along the way, we have a few new elements, and some delightful scenes.

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80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival: Hands-On Review

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The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival is one of the more unique events associated with the period from late December to early February. Located in Heilongjiang, the northernmost province in China, the annual festival sees a large number of magnificent Ice and Snow sculptures on display.

This festival, and other like it are the subject of 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival. With 1519 pieces, it is one of two minifigure scale sets released this year celebrating the Chinese Spring Fesitvals.

Like the Temple Fair and Lantern Festivals, this set is rich in minifigures, and scope for story telling. Being set in a snow clad winter setting, it brings us a very different environment to these other sets. I was fortunate to receive a pre-release copy of the set for review, thanks to the LEGO Group. Let’s take a look at the build experience.

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See in the Year of the Rat at the Temple Fair [Review 80105]

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I recently looked at the 80104 Lion Dance, one of the sets released to celebrate the beginning of the Lunar New Year of the Rat. I said it was one of the most beautiful sets I had seen in recent years. Today, I get rid of the qualifier, as I look at the 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair – this is quite simply the most beautiful set I have ever put together. It is a set characterised by multiple small vignettes, a larger temple build, a novel tree design, and over a dozen mini figures. There are lots of printed elements, and precisely NO stickers.

The set has no elements specific to the Year of the Rat and, as such, could come each year, unchanged.

It is a set on the larger size of things, with a part count of around 1663. On opening the box, it looked as if I had some work ahead of me…

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Countdown to the Year of the Pig: Dragon Dance 80102 [Review]

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As we approach the eve of the Year of the Pig, I would like to look at another of the sets released for the Chinese ‘Spring Festival’

The 80102 Dragon Dance has been enthusiastically awaited after the initial images arrived last November, and the set has been hotly sought after, in part due to its relative scarcity outside of Asia. In Melbourne, both this set and 80101 Chinese New Year Family Dinner have literally flown off the shelves, with long queues, household limits and disappointed customers being frequent occurrences at the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre store.

I can see the appeal of this set on many levels: as a seasonal set, it is one of the first sets released, outside of the ‘Year of the…..’ series, for this significant day in the Asian Cultural Calendar, touching on subject matter rarely covered previously, featuring bright colours, and a movement function, coupled with limited global distribution to the Asia Pacific Region – this set has very little to be negative about.

This set has 622 parts, and costs $AUD79.99 new. The retail channels for this set have been limited in Australia. Certainly, demand for this set has been high in the rest of the world, and it will be interesting to see what approach might be taken with this type of set in the future.

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Countdown to the Year of the Pig: Brickheadz Dragon Dance Guy [review]

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With the Lunar New Year just around the corner, I though I might take a look at the Dragon Dance Guy, the first Brickheadz character to be released for this particular seasonal event. The dragon dance is a frequently performed at Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, traditionally to celebrate a successful Harvest. The dragon is thought to bring prosperity and good luck. It is also believed that the dance will scare away evil spirits.

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