Review : LEGO Chinese New Year 2021 80107 Spring Lantern Festival

Today we are quickly interested in the LEGO set 80107 Spring Lantern Festival, a box of 1793 pieces that will be marketed from January 10, 2021 at the public price of € 99.99.

The theme of the set: the traditional lantern festival that puts an end to the Chinese New Year celebrations. To put it simply, on the occasion of these festivities, the Chinese go to their city's parks at night to stroll and admire the rows of decorated lanterns installed there. The Chinese calendar being modeled on the lunar phases, so it makes sense that some of the traditional parks pay homage to the star and this is the case here with beautifully executed round doors that serve as entry points to this garden.

The theme of the Chinese New Year is therefore always present in this box, but we pour a little less into the usual clichés and we get something more cultural than folkloric as was already the case last year with the set. 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair. It is not to displease me, the integration of this garden in a more global context will be even easier.

As much to tell you right away, I really appreciated the assembly of this box and even if most of us will miss certain references supported to the Asian culture, the whole offers a real playful and rhythmic progression . You will understand, this park with its adapted sidewalks is designed to fit between two Modulars and the whole itself offers a certain modularity with a garden divided into two parts to be clipped between them in the direction that suits you, knowing that in one of the configurations the paved path which circulates in the garden loses its continuity.

The techniques offered are often very interesting and we take pleasure in discovering all the subtleties of the different sub-assemblies that dress the space. But some of the designer's choices induce a fairly significant fragility of several portions of the set: the roof of the pavilion, for example, poses a problem with blue clips on the Clutch Power very limited which do not really hold in place on the steering wheel which serves as the central axis. Also pay attention to bamboos when moving the model, they are relatively fragile. This garden is not a playset for children aged 8 and over, impossible to have fun with without destroying something in the process and it is simply a decorative object designed to integrate a more global diorama.

The representation of a traditional Chinese park is obviously here condensed to fit on the two base plates provided (32x32 and 16x32) and we find all the usual attributes a little piled on top of each other. The green spaces are only symbolized by a few plaques and we must rely on bamboo shoots leaning over Ball Seals gray too visible to add some vegetation to the scene.

The alleys of the park are not entirely paved with ingots, the visible tenons will allow to stage the seven minifigs provided. The small pond covered with water lilies consists of tiles transparent, some of which are pad printed with a few carp, the effect is successful. No stickers in this box and the calligraphic Chun Lian banners hanging along the fence are made of flexible plastic.

The endowment in minifigs is also very interesting because it allows to obtain a handful of modern characters in "civil" without traditional costumes or disguises. That's always taken for a city diorama in which this park will easily find its place, the set is designed for that and it is about selling it to today's fans anxious to find a product that embodies certain of the most ancestral traditions of Chinese culture but which also makes it possible to stage current families.

The pad prints are successful, the characters are relatively neutral and some of them are accompanied by original and funny accessories. A nod to the passage to the Monkie Kid universe, a pad printing of the sweater sleeves which covers a large part of the arms, a pretty sweatshirt with the 2021 logo in the "American" style identical to the two teenagers, two smartphones including one with a selfie stick, a decorated roller bunny, everything is really very successful until the use of the transparent support which was used to stage the minifigs of the DC Comics collectible character series and which here acts as a straw for the slushie.

A funny detail: the dark mark on the neck of the red statue that is visible through the transparent head is not present on the official visuals. This black area is used as a reference during the pad printing of the torsos and it has obviously been retouched so that the minifigure is visually more homogeneous. In fact, it is immediately less successful when the model is facing the front.

In short, this very nice set does not hide its desire to be stuck between two Modulars and fans will finally have at hand an "official" green space which will give a little air to their row of buildings. It will be possible to ignore the festive side of the matter and make this garden a little more neutral by temporarily removing the different rows of lanterns, even if it means putting them back in place at the end of the year (see photo above). The ox with its luminous brick which is only lit as long as you leave your finger on the button can possibly remain in place to furnish, it's up to you.

The level of detail of the places is very impressive and the compactness of the diorama reinforces the impression of getting value for the money when it comes to various and varied details. Everything is assembled in just a few hours, but you will have to take the time to savor all the often very original techniques used by designer Justin Ramsden.

In the end, we note that LEGO does not skimp on resources or creativity when it comes to dredging up Chinese customers overwhelmed with more or less equivalent products but sold much cheaper than official LEGO sets. This is good news, in turn, the other products of the manufacturers benefit directly from the ability of LEGO to offer new parts, new elements in certain colors (blue bananas ...) and quality pad printing.

This box will be available from January 10, 2021 on the official online store at the public price of € 99.99. However, this set will not be on sale at your usual toy store.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at December 29, 2020 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.