LEGO Chinese New Year 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions review

The

Chinese New Year sets continue to go from strength to strength, with the latest example of just why.

Serving up a modular build of six 9×9-stud vignettes that can connect together into one circular scene or stack into a cube-like display,

is more than just a seasonal gimmick of a set.

Packing in detail, colour, character and a lot of interesting things to build, it’s a fun and rather unique

set, for those with ties to celebrating Chinese New Year and for those on the lookout for sets that are just a little bit different.

— Set details —

Theme: Chinese New Year Set name:

Release: December 26, 2021 (UK), January 10, 2022 (US)

Price: £59.99 / $79.99 / €69.99 Pieces: 1,066 Minifigures: 12

:

— Build —

The most important aspect to

that makes it such an intriguing set is in the details. Yes, it’s a neat little trick that the six mini-builds combine together into either a hexagonal shape or a cube-stacked display, and yes that’s a lot of minifigures for a set just above 1,000 pieces.

But what makes the set really quite something are the details that are packed into each of the six vignettes. There is activity, character, colour and – most importantly – story jammed into each scene. The

Group has done vignettes before, but nothing quite as clear and effective as this collective.

To understand why, it’s important to know that vignettes are about more than just building something you know out of

and putting it into a small, square display with a backdrop. Vignettes are snapshots of life or captured moments from stories – they are artistic and interpretive and, done right, they can even offer new insight into the everyday.

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To that end, every detail included in a vignette is deliberate and serves to tell part of the story, to paint part of the picture that the build (and builder) intends to. The details can make or break a vignette, and they are what pull someone into the scene or take them out of it. And it’s those details that really bring

to life in such an intelligent and charming way.

Across the six scenes built in

are snapshots of festive traditions for the Chinese New Year, and in each of them, such is the skill of their design, you instantly know what is going on, what the setting is and who is likely involved in each scene.

As the

Group writes on its official website, these traditions include ‘food shopping, making good-luck decorations, visiting family and exchanging ‘Hongbao’ red envelopes’, and they are wonderfully captured in what is otherwise a small and challenging amount of real estate to work with.

— Characters —

Alongside six charming mini-builds come a staggering 12 minifigures. The Chinese New Year sets are quickly establishing their identity within the

catalogue of sets, and part of why is simply for the relatively high number of minifigures included in each one.

For a set with a piece count of just over 1,000, a dozen included characters is disproportionately high, compared with sets from many other

themes. But we’re certainly not complaining – particularly for the selection on offer in . They may not all be exclusive, but they all work perfectly as designs for the characters they are intended to be.

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— Price —

For the physical size of the model, you’d be forgiven for feeling that whatever territory you are in, £59.99 / $79.99 / €69.99 is a bit on the expensive side for

. It’s indeed an issue that the Chinese/Lunar New Year sets have suffered from in general – they do all tend towards the more expensive end of things. However, with consideration to the quality and appeal of these sets – including – there is value to be had.

These sets are different in design and story. They offer a far more nuanced insight into everyday life and tradition in a way that the likes of

and could only dream of, building at a higher level and to a higher budget. It means that the sets come in a little more expensive, but for that extra money are sets that compare very well and will maintain a lasting appeal where cheaper sets perhaps feel more disposable.

— Pictures —

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— Summary —

is perhaps the finest example of how the Group embraces the challenge of capturing cultural identity in a fun, educational and interactive way, where getting it wrong could look exploitative.

This is a set packed with story, character and so many details and it just works, for those with an affinity to the subject matter and for those with just a keen eye for good

.

This set was provided for review by the

Group.

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