Review: 40864 Fortune Master
Posted by CapnRex101,
The annual Chinese Traditional Festival selection has included some smaller sets lately and 40813 Lucky Cat, launched last year, was delightful. The cartoony 40864 Fortune Master looks superb as well, featuring an interesting artistic style.
There are similarities between this fun character and the Lucky Cat and the Fortune Master offers a great deal of personality, aided by clever use of some alternative eyes.
Summary
40864 Fortune Master, 386 pieces.
£24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 | 6.5p / 7.8c / 7.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
40864 Fortune Master is a delight, packed with personality
- Wonderful cartoony style
- Appealing colour scheme
- Extra eyes for different expressions
- Base is only detailed at the front
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The Completed Model
This model is inspired by popular depictions of Caishen, the Chinese god of wealth, who was portrayed as a minifigure in 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions a few years ago. The character seems more recognisable in this format though, which is able to convey Caishen's traditionally chubby proportions and subtle features of his attire.
Caishen is often portrayed riding a cloud and surrounded by symbols of fortune, such as coins and gold ingots, known as yuanbao. I love how these ingots have been scaled down after their appearance in 80117 Good Fortune last year, still recreating their distinctive shape. The printed coins look excellent as well, with squares in the middle to represent the holes in older Chinese coinage.
One of the yuanbao rests on a white barrel, which is a good place to store the additional eyes, printed on 1x1 round tiles. The barrel has only appeared once before in white, with 10335 The Endurance last year, so it is nice to see the element again.
While much of it is hidden behind the accessories, the Fortune Master's body is quite detailed and I like the vibrant colours. Pearl gold and metallic gold pieces sometimes look a bit strange together, but the two are blended effectively here. Moreover, the figure comes with a decorated envelope, normally containing money and given on occasions including Chinese New Year.
Some may dislike the hands, which are very simple and lack texture, but I think they work with the cartoony style. The head looks marvellous as well, taking advantage of the many elements moulded in light nougat for the brilliant 72037 Mario Kart – Mario & Standard Kart. Only the 1x1 clips and 1x1 dome piece are actually new in this colour.
I love the design of the mouth, featuring a white wheel arch for the teeth and a pink 1x2 slope inside for the tongue. The result looks remarkably natural and swapping the eyes yields a few expressions. The open eyes give the character a wondrous quality, while closed eyes look like the Fortune Master is laughing or simply delighted.
The nose and ears are brilliant too, especially since the ears are designed with large earlobes, which are typically associated with good fortune in Chinese culture. These are another feature corresponding with statues and images of Caishen, as is the traditional red and gold cap.
Unsurprisingly, there is less detail on the back of the model, although the cap, hair and jacket are still finished nicely. However, I think the cloud texture on the base could have continued to the sides and back, only requiring a couple more round plates and tiles.
Overall
40864 Fortune Master is a charming model, with lots of personality and detail. The colours are attractive and I love how the head is constructed, including the traditional large earlobes and a clever mouth design, as well as alternative eyes. The accessories are splendid too, particularly given the unique printed parts provided.
I am in the rare position of having no real criticisms to offer! Ideally, the base would be equally detailed on all sides, but you are unlikely to display the figure with its back visible anyway. The price of £24.99, $29.99 or €29.99 feels reasonable too, so I can certainly recommend this model as a fun ornament.
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32 comments on this article
It’s a really nice set; not something I have a particular desire to own, but a great execution of the concept.
Wins the award for creepiest looking set in Lego history.
And this is considered a good idea?
I like how expressive this figure is, even without the eyes. Very nicely designed!
Very fortunate!
It looks good. Not as good as last year's cat, but still good.
There are way more that are creepier than this. https://brickset.com/article/126396
Nice little set, might pick one up eventually!
@HibiscusDrive said:
"Wins the award for creepiest looking set in Lego history."
40228
Honestly one of the better large scale humans they've done. Might be the first Chinese New Year thing I get to look weird on my desk.
Not something I would buy, but I really love the execution of the face. Nice parts usage and very expressive, as the review states. I'm surprised only two of the light nougat pieces are new!
I think this is very cute. Sinophiles will doubtlessly like this as a display piece, though I'm definitely not as keen on it as the lucky cat.
Always been a big fan of the Chinese-centric sets though I don't own any. It's just always nice to see LEGO highlight non-Euro, non-western cultures.
If you are into that sort of thing, this is extremely well done.
Now, how about a 386 pieces snowman (for example) (not just a stack of 5 pieces that more or less work together)
Also, that 386 pieces snowman (with lots of original printed parts) should cost no more than $30. Unlike the recent Christmas tree where you have to remortgage your house for.
There are more than just Christmas and Halloween as western cultural symbols - all the Norse and Greek mythology for example - there are a lot more - but the level of execution should be high like this set - not just a few parts slapped together. Or maybe, it is that western culture people do not like to display their culture - that's also quite possible.
Worth noting the ingot builds here are identical to the ones in 40648 Money Tree, which is a nice bit of consistency! I like the jovial look on his face, seems like as good a display piece as any in the line.
@MisterBrickster said:
" @HibiscusDrive said:
"Wins the award for creepiest looking set in Lego history."
40228"
That's a frontrunner too!
We had a contest for best set of the decade; it's time for the creepiest!
@CCC said:
"It looks good. Not as good as last year's cat, but still good.
There are way more that are creepier than this. https://brickset.com/article/126396 "
That was literally the last thing I was looking at before I read this review, and I was going to post a link before seeing yours. I agree that this isn't the *most* unintentionally creepy thing Lego's made, but it's still unsettling, especially since it has extra eyes that it keeps in a barrel.
As soon as I saw this on the front page, I knew it would be regarded as "marmitey" - either you're totally gonna love it, or you'd find it creepy as hell. In the K-3SO comments I mentioned the need for the annual Brickset KIWFANIFO-ITOWTBS Award (Kill it with fire and nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure). We already have two nominees, this and 75430 Wicket, worthy contenders (sets from this year mentioned in the "Creepiest set" comments) includes 76443 Hagrid & Harry's Motorcycle Ride, 40763 Grumpy Teddy Bear, 5009206 Elephant Pencil Holder and 30692 Santa Chimney fun - I'm sure it's potential for plenty more.
My first thought was of ‘Mr Wimpy’ from burger chain Wimpy finally exposing his face.
@HibiscusDrive said:
"Wins the award for creepiest looking set in Lego history."
Can't say that I agree.
This looks quite delightful to me.
There are way creepier sets, actually lots of them.
@axeleng said:
"As soon as I saw this on the front page, I knew it would be regarded as "marmitey" - either you're totally gonna love it, or you'd find it creepy as hell. In the K-3SO comments I mentioned the need for the annual Brickset KIWFANIFO-ITOWTBS Award (Kill it with fire and nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure). We already have two nominees, this and 75430 Wicket, worthy contenders (sets from this year mentioned in the "Creepiest set" comments) includes 76443 Hagrid & Harry's Motorcycle Ride, 40763 Grumpy Teddy Bear, 5009206 Elephant Pencil Holder and 30692 Santa Chimney fun - I'm sure it's potential for plenty more."
76421 wants a word, and that word is 'despair'.
@axeleng said:
"As soon as I saw this on the front page, I knew it would be regarded as "marmitey" - either you're totally gonna love it, or you'd find it creepy as hell. In the K-3SO comments I mentioned the need for the annual Brickset KIWFANIFO-ITOWTBS Award (Kill it with fire and nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure). We already have two nominees, this and 75430 Wicket, worthy contenders (sets from this year mentioned in the "Creepiest set" comments) includes 76443 Hagrid & Harry's Motorcycle Ride, 40763 Grumpy Teddy Bear, 5009206 Elephant Pencil Holder and 30692 Santa Chimney fun - I'm sure it's potential for plenty more."
Santa in 30692 looks like Mr Hankey of South Park's fame (just a little bit more dressed up. An elephant with front claws is indeed quite scary.
Wow, this is really cool!
@HibiscusDrive said:
"Wins the award for creepiest looking set in Lego history."
Well, that’s… certainly a take.
I wish I were friends with Happy Gilmore so that I could call him and he'd shout "You're gonna die, clown!" while destroying it… What a creepy thing this is…
Not getting all the "creepy" comments. He's just a happy little guy!
This set is not creepy until you keep ALL the 1x1 printed eye tiles in the barrel. Then you can stare into the 1x2 jumper plates doubling as eye sockets.
I think he's cute and seems reasonably priced.
Well, this is a delightful little set!
!t gives me joy-joy feelings and fills me with mirth!
Just look at that happy little guy!
Nothing creepy at all, you weirdos!
Looks excellent. Looking forward to getting all of the upcoming Chinese Festival sets.
Comments here are showing this to be a very polarizing set. You either find it cute or creepy. The other creepy sets listed in the comments are quite creepy too.
Giving it more thought on why I think it's creepy, this set creeps me out the same way porcelain dolls do.
Brickset commenters when they see a stylised build: "It's so creepy!!!!"
It's the same joke every review and news article I swear
Otherwise this build does a good job at making a cutesy cartoon statue guy. The shaping is better than most efforts, particularly the Tweety Bird set from Valentine's.
@Crux said: "76421 wants a word, and that word is 'despair'"
It sure is creepy, but it's from 2023. This should be an annual award, so we can only nominate sets from this year. We can of course have additinal one-time categories like "Creepiest set of the decade" and "Creepiest set ever".
@HOBBES said: "Santa in 30692 looks like Mr Hankey of South Park's fame (just a little bit more dressed up)"
"Heeeyyydeee Hoo!" I didn't nominate him, I just listed sets from this year mentioned in the comments for the "What is the creepiest LEGO set?" article (those I found, at least. I may have overlooked some).
My nomination was 75430 Wicket because (like I said in the other comment) "He's high-octane nightmare fuel. Those way too large thousand-yard eyes. The way it looks like he has two mouths, one above the other. How the hood and cheeks are looking like planks, like he's a crude wooden sculpture to be burnt in some unholy ritual with all the other ewoks chanting around the fire".
@MisterBrickster said:
" @HibiscusDrive said:
"Wins the award for creepiest looking set in Lego history."
40228 "
Sounds like somebody's never seen 3220
@axeleng said:
" @Crux said: "76421 wants a word, and that word is 'despair'"
It sure is creepy, but it's from 2023. This should be an annual award, so we can only nominate sets from this year. We can of course have additinal one-time categories like "Creepiest set of the decade" and "Creepiest set ever".
@HOBBES said: "Santa in 30692 looks like Mr Hankey of South Park's fame (just a little bit more dressed up)"
"Heeeyyydeee Hoo!" I didn't nominate him, I just listed sets from this year mentioned in the comments for the "What is the creepiest LEGO set?" article (those I found, at least. I may have overlooked some).
My nomination was 75430 Wicket because (like I said in the other comment) "He's high-octane nightmare fuel. Those way too large thousand-yard eyes. The way it looks like he has two mouths, one above the other. How the hood and cheeks are looking like planks, like he's a crude wooden sculpture to be burnt in some unholy ritual with all the other ewoks chanting around the fire"."
Aw, old Dobby can be redeemed! He's an excellent parts-pack. For flesh-coloured parts. You know, in case you want to use the flesh-coloured car-bonnets to make a car out of human flesh. Maybe use those eyes as hub-caps. Dobby just wants to be useful!