Today, we take a look at 80108 Lunar New Year traditions, the smaller of the two sets being launched for the Lunar New Year 2022.
Starting with two experimental? sets in 80101 and 80102 that were introduced only for the Asia Pacific market, this marks the 4th year running that The LEGO Group has made sets to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Box Experience
The front of the box seems uncharacteristically subdued with a plain purple background opted instead of the usual lineart/brush scenes of a village/town. The set in its default configuration of 6 vignettes arranged around a central pivot is shown. A smaller insert at the corner shows the other side of the vignette collection while the minifigures (12 in total!) are at their usual locations at the bottom left.
The back of the box takes us to some detailed scenes of some vignettes as well as another way to arrange those 6 vignettes (We’ll come to this in a bit)
Box Contents
7 bags of parts and one bag of 6 instruction booklets and 2 sticker sheets are the contents of the box
6 instruction booklets are given and we are encouraged to “build together” as each instruction book corresponds to one parts pack (with the exception of book 1 which takes packs 1&2)
Sticker sheets and a sample of the content of a instruction booklet which encourages bonding through building.
The Build
The first pack builds the central pivot of the display with 6 spokes to attach the 6 vignettes. Accompanying the 6 spokes are 6 stickered tiles describing each common tradition of the Lunar New Year. Stickers are attractive in the traditional golden and red colours of the Lunar New Year.
The second through seventh packs each build a vignette
Instructions 1/Pack 2 除陳布新 (chú chén bù xīn) Clean out the old, Arranging the new
Spring cleaning and buying new things for the household. LEGO chose to represent this tradition by showing a couple cleaning their rooftop though we can’t make out what the window at the side with the sticker is supposed to represent but you can clearly make out that the couple is doing their best to clean up their household with some laundry hanging out to dry. The sticker on the planter reads Ocean Sheep? Maybe it’s the rooftop of some restaurant.
Instructions 2/Pack 3 置辦年貨 (Zhìbàn niánhuò) Buying and preparing for the New Year
Buying new stuff. TLG decided to represent this by showing a typical Chinese foodstuff shop with strings of Chinese sausages, chicken and blown candy figurines but in our Singapore/Malaysia region, this normally means hoarding all the meat, fish and seafood a few weeks before the New Year for fear of it going out of stock as the masses return to their hometown.
Instructions 3/Pack 4 開門迎福 ( Kāimén yíng fú) Open the door to welcome blessings
Here, a father and daughter duo are preparing for the Lunar New Year by decorating the door with couplets and chinese calligraphy welcoming the Year of the Tiger. Also built here is the kumquat/lime tree symbolizing growth and prosperity, commonly displayed near the entryways of houses.
Instructions 4/Pack 5 除夕守歲 (Chúxì shǒusuì) Staying up all night on New Year’s Eve
Tradition 4 shows the family doing an all-nighter on the eve of Lunar New Year traditionally meant to scare off evil spirits but in modern times, this is accompanied by night long entertainment/variety programs on the TV. You can see the family frozen in time one minute before midnight and the photo frame shows that this family also visited the Spring Lantern Festival in set 80107 last year.
Instructions 5/Pack 6 新春拜年 (Xīnchūn bàinián) Lunar New Year Visiting
A kid visiting his grandparents is visualised by the two elders giving the kid ang pow (blessings in the form of money) usually given to visitors (family/friends) to your house in the first few days of Lunar New Year. The LEGO Group also snuck in a LEGO bag showing the they have bought a LEGO set for the grandkid to enjoy (or is it the other round??!)
Instructions 6/Pack 7喜迎財神 (Xǐ yíng cáishén) Happily welcoming the God of Fortune
The God of Fortune is a cultural symbol for the whole year but more prevalent in the Lunar New Year. There is even a local tradition to “welcome” him in certain times to your house. Here the God of Fortune is pictured among this stash of gold piling on the floor. The red lantern is now updated with a tiger symbol instead of a bull symbol of last year as it is now the Year of the Tiger for 2022.
The Final Build
The vignettes can be rearranged in multiple variations but the default shown is the six sided star format. This display variation is robust enough to be carried with one hand! The 3 floored stacking type seems pretty stable but we think the display variation (pyramid) proposed at the back of the box seems a bit risky during movement but it worked pretty well during our photo taking!
Interesting printed pieces include a very large pad printed decorative tile and some very useful accessories for the Lunar New Year.
Lest we forget, this is the first set that we’ve seen to include the brick on the right which is a 2 plate high 1×1 brick with open studs, we’re guessing this must be of great use in a future 2022 set(s) that required rods/other useful accessories to be inserted in the holes.
The Minifigures
12! Minifigures are included in this set
The top 3 pictures show two common male figures and a uniformed wearing male who is probably part of a lion dance troupe judging by graphic at his back. If you are wondering what the orange uniformed guy is holding, it’s a multi-coloured feather duster perfect for dusting duties before the New Year!
The second 3 pictures are the kids of the set with a boy and two girls. The middle one is wearing a shiny puff jacket. Only the girl in the turquoise fur coat has a dual printed face
The third 3 pictures show 2 females, one with a common torso and the other from the same troupe as the male figure from the first set carrying a window wiper and window cleaner spray (works a treat with positioning LEGO stickers!). A stall worker complete with a fanny pack to stow away the takings of the day completes the trio.
The final 3 pictures show the grandparents as well as the first official Fortune God from LEGO. This is a decent no frills representation of the Fortune God but we are not too sure why he has bright light blue shoulderpads on as it differs from his usual representation in popular culture.
We are sure that TLG has included a lot of other easter eggs in this lineup with some recurring characters from previous Lunar New Year sets among other things and we will slowly see people around the world figuring them out. Let us know if you spot something!
Summary
This set is compact and neat set with multiple display options. Each vignette tells a familiar story and packed with enough details to bring the story to life. The first official Fortune God is also very much welcome. We give this set a nice 4.5/5 stars for capturing the essence of Lunar New Year traditions in 6 sweet vignettes.
This set has released in Asian Pacific markets (though some markets will only get it in Jan 2022), and will reach global distribution by Jan 10 2022 barring any logistical problems caused by the long standing COVID-19 pandemic and the monsoon season in South East Asia
The set used for the review was sent to us by The LEGO Group for the purpose of an honest review. Provision of sets do not in any way influence or guarantee a positive review from us
