The LEGO Group’s Chinese New Year theme is once again heading into uncharted territory with 80107 Spring Lantern Festival – but can it continue the formidable form of the seasonal lineup?

The Chinese New Year theme hasn’t been on the LEGO scene for a long time. His first sets rolled off Billund’s production lines (or probably more specifically China’s production lines) in 2019, so he didn’t have much time to carve out a legacy. But it didn’t need to: by its third year, the seasonal range has already established itself as one of the most impressive themes of the LEGO Group. And it’s now available to everyone – for which we could be especially grateful in the case of the 80107 Spring Lantern Festival.

Indeed, it’s not just the individual sets that make the Chinese New Year theme so awesome, but also the way they each add something distinct to the overall collection. 80107 Spring Lantern Festival continues this brand new tradition by tackling a traditional Asian garden, with moon gates, a pond, a pavilion and Chinese lanterns galore. It’s brand new material for the theme – and possibly the best Chinese New Year set yet.

Theme: Chinese New Year Game name: 80107 Spring Lantern Festival Release: January 10, 2021

Price: £ 89.99 / $ 119.99 / € 99.99 Rooms: 1793 Minifigures: 7

Lego: Available now

If you grab a copy of 80107 Spring Lantern Festival with no box, you might think you accidentally bought a modular building. After all, the 16 × 32 and 32 × 32 baseplates that come out of the box are largely only included with these Creator Expert models these days, and will likely become even rarer with the newer system. LEGO CITY road plates. But their presence here is an immediate testament to the large imprint of this year’s Chinese New Year flagship set and the shelf space you’ll need to accommodate it.

This separation on two base plates also lends itself perfectly to side-by-side construction, which is fortunately enabled by two separate instruction manuals. If you can bear to share – and given what you’re about to find out, you might not – 80107 Spring Lantern Festival is designed to get together with a friend, partner, or maybe just an acquaintance general in a post-COVID world. (These are the things we dream of in 2020.)

It is no coincidence that this set shares its base with the Modular Building Collection – a fact that you will realize very quickly when you start laying the pavement slabs, which perfectly match the style of this series, and start to build the raised base of the garden. While this makes things easier like the bottom layer of the pond, taking inspiration from the water effect of 70620 NINJAGO City with trans blue tiles on a layer of plates, it also makes it possible to use these hole bricks Familiar techniques that connect each modular building to each other.

This means that the final set will connect seamlessly with any of your current and future modular buildings, or maybe even your NINJAGO City modules, and – hopefully – future Chinese New Year sets in this vein. Indeed, this system may have started as a modular building standard, but its transplantation to other themes suggests that it is now a larger LEGO standard – one that simply allows sets to be built. multiple themes to connect, whether they are or not. Best of all, pins are present on both sides of each baseplate, allowing not only for more versatile display options in a bustling LEGO city, but even overall itself, which can be configured in two layouts. different.

Beyond what designers may or may not have planned for the 80107 Spring Lantern Festival in your larger LEGO set-up, you buy first and foremost in this set on its own – and it all starts with the building experience . And while 2021 hasn’t even arrived yet, at least at the time of writing and publishing, we can already say with confidence that it’s one of the best building experiences you’ll have all year round.

There is so much variety in the build that you can’t fail to be engaged throughout. One moment you put down those plates and tiles, no doubt thrilled by the printed koi fishes scattered around the pond, and the next day you stack green candles in beautiful bamboo trees, or tie bricks in all directions to assemble an ox lantern. that really lights up.

It all comes down to a model that looks like a custom build, not an official LEGO set, and there really isn’t more praise than that. That’s not to say that official LEGO sets are inherently inferior to fan designs: it’s just that they’re more obviously bound by the limitations that come with serving the mass market, whether in the narrower palette of parts used or in need of structural support (and the aesthetic compromise that often leads to). There’s hardly any of that here, or at least not in an obvious way, as the 80107 Spring Lantern Festival offers an ensemble that feels free from limitations.

Part of this is due to the lack of height in the garden, of course – building low means there really is no need for those structural sacrifices in the design. But that’s not the only reason the 80107 Spring Lantern Festival is successful, as the pavilion (for example) requires vertical construction, but makes it so inventive that it’s still the kind of thing you’re more of. likely to spot at a fan convention. A combination of dark blue bananas and candles attach to a ring that sits atop the roof (there’s a phrase you’ll never read except in connection with a LEGO set), closing off the spaces between the plates. corner. The rock base, on the other hand, is one of those builds that – like the trees in Stranger Things 75810 The Upside Down – reflect in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the assembly, but not at the expense of aesthetics.

While 80107 Spring Lantern Festival undoubtedly succeeds in weaving a visual history of the Asian architecture it draws inspiration from, the real story of this set is how it makes this experience without any expense – whether in the aesthetics or the elements used, or the way it comes together.

As the Chinese New Year prepares, 80107 Spring Lantern Festival focuses heavily on civilians to populate its stage. And it’s certainly not short of them here: you get seven characters in the box, although you’ll technically be building eight figures thanks to the lantern next to one of the moon gates. The seven human figures are enough to fill the garden even if this is your only Chinese New Year set – or even your only LEGO set – and while their heads, hairpieces and legs are all pretty generic, they are their torsos where things go. interesting.

The couple waving their selfie sticks around the bear corresponding to the ‘2021’ Horsemen, putting a timestamp on 80107 Spring Lantern Festival beyond its Year of the Ox theme; the boy’s shirt features a nod to another China-specific theme in Monkie Kid; and daddy’s sweater – complete with print on the arms – is just a wonderfully versatile item.

If you’ve been collecting Chinese New Year’s sets for quite some time, however, what you’ll probably appreciate the most is the very familiar family of four included here – just like they were in 80101 Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner and 80105 Chinese New Year. Temple fair. This makes it harder to display everything in a giant Chinese festival setup (at least without humming the Attack of the Clones theme), but you have to admire the tale the LEGO Group is weaving together. The boy’s change of hairstyle, for example, implies that these children grow older every year. Maybe the 2022 sets will use mid-rise legs?

This year, the 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair served 1,664 coins for £ 89.99 / $ 119.99. The 80107 Spring Lantern Festival increases that number by 129 bricks and sticks at the same price – which looks to be even better if you factor in the baseplates. But beyond that oft-mentioned price per part ratio (which doesn’t always tell the whole story), does this set seem like good value to you once you’ve put it together?

This is not as obvious an answer as it might seem at first glance, mainly because stretching the model over a 32 × 48 stud recess could easily make you believe that there is more to this set than it does. there really isn’t. It builds wide, but not tall, and that can make a model appear wide even if it doesn’t have a lot of substance.

Luckily there are definitely here – to the point that you can very happily pay top dollar and still feel like you’re getting a good deal, which is really just another way that 80107 Spring Lantern Festival stands out in the larger LEGO portfolio.

The challenge ahead of 80107 Spring Lantern Festival was quite significant: to take the Chinese New Year theme in another new direction, creating an experience that honors its source material while planting its flag firmly in LEGO territory (thanks to its build compatibility modular). It’s safe to say that he fills this brief succinctly through the 1,793 pieces, putting each of them to smart use in a design that’s as fun to build as it is to watch on screen. (And even play with it, if it’s your bag.)

It’s another kick-off for the seasonal theme, and once again ensures that the LEGO Group starts the New Year – and Chinese New Year – on a high note.

This product has been provided for review by the LEGO Group.

80107 Spring Lantern Festival will be launched on January 10, 2021. You can support the work of Brick fanatics by ordering your copy through our affiliate links.