Review: 40148 Year of the Sheep
Posted by Huw,
Why is it that the most desirable sets are also the hardest to get hold of? Or are they desirable because they are hard to get hold of?
This cute and desirable set, 40148, is available only in Asia so I am very grateful to Vincent from Librick, the Chinese LEGO marketplace and database, for sending me one from Taiwan.
2015 is the Year of the Sheep (or goat or ram) according to the Chinese zodiac. It started on 19th February and ends on 7th February, 2016. LEGO last released a set to commemorate the lunar new year in 2013 when a Creator set (6914) was re-hashed and re-issued as 10250 for the Year of the Snake.
On with the review...
Thankfully the small 14x12cm box arrived largely intact after its journey across the world to me. The front exclaims that it 'includes packet' which is something you don't normally find in your regular LEGO set.
A single tape at the front enables the box to be opened much like Architecture boxes although it's made from regular weight cardboard. The packet is laying on the top and is used, I am told, to put cash into which is a Chinese tradition.
And what a nice packet it is, with gold blocked lettering on the front.
On the back there's a gold blocked image of the model.
I'm a sucker for brick-built animals and designer Melody Caddick has done a cracking job with this one.
Do the horns indicate it's a ram? I'm no expert so I consulted the website Sheep101 which says: "While originally all rams had horns, sheep can have horns or not, depending upon their breed, sex, and genetics. In some sheep breeds, both sexes are horned. In some breeds, only the rams have horns. Some sheep breeds have both a horned and polled strain."
So, it could be male or female: a ram or a ewe.
The 6x12 base, a rocky pasture, looks excellent. It really adds a lot to the set and enables the animal to be posed in an interesting way.
It even has a little tail at its rear.
So, what's not to like? It's a cute set with unique packaging and you'll have fun trying to get hold of it. It's everything a collector could wish for.
Thankfully it's not that hard to buy as there are quite a few listed on eBay at the moment starting at about $25, so go and grab one today!
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26 comments on this article
I think it helps, a lot of LEGO sets are this desirable. And being rare for most of the world makes it extra interesting.
Somehow I can't get my head around it why LEGO won't make this available through shop at home. That can't be all that difficult?
I aspecially like the scenery added to the sheep. This makes it all the more ideal for display.
Nice review and a nice set, if it was a polybag I'd have been all over this.
Oh yeah, can you add a db link to each review you do? I'm too lazy to type the number in the search box when I'm on the mobile!
Maybe Lego think there are no Chinese people in the western world?
Or just nobody who celibrates the Chinese New Year?
Or maybe TLG cannot produce enough to sell in China itself, so they cannot sell it anywhere else?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Chinese
Now there are about 6 million people of Chinese origin in North America
About 3-6 million in Peru and South America
About 3-4 million in Western Europe.
I think those figure alone should provide reason enough to sell this on the LEGO.com site.
There are also many other AFOL who would buy these sets if they were available.
@ Venuder: And me. ;-)
This is a wonderful set and I am pleased that there may be a chance for me to get it, as I like the look of these animals LEGO has been releasing. Last year was the Seasonal Sets, and this year we have nice little poly bags and "Occasional" sets. All of LEGO's recent animals would look nice next to my (almost - missing only 6) Mixels collection.
LEGO has done a great job on this and it would look presentable next to the new Tiger model.
(Thanks to Huw for reviewing this extremely rare set. Now I have a bit of a problem: I want it even more!)
@aleydita, I had to chuckle at your comment "if it was a polybag I'd have been all over this". It's strange, isn't it, how the packaging a set comes in affects is desirability!
@Venunder
Well, I've had no luck finding this in mainland China yet.
Nice, I'm 12 years old, so I was born in the year of the sheep 12 years ago
They should have gone for year of the goat design and packaging as it was more known as in the region. I got mine as a gift with purchase from Toys R Us Singapore when you spend more than 68SGD. The 'ang pau' packet would have been too big to place in a typical polybag. The thin box it came in was reflective of the price point which wouldn't have been a problem hadn't Jetstar Airways ground staff in Singapore caused my cabin bag to be crushed causing some slightly creasing to it (long story). Cute but in hindsight, given Lego is so expensive in Singapore I probably would not have bothered with getting this.
I... I think I want an army of Lego sheep now...
Does anyone know if this set is available in Japan, and if so, what store may carry it?
I got one as a free gift when purchasing a Star Wars set in one of the Lego Shops here. I tried asking for it from another Lego outlet but the shop attendant said it is only given with any purchases of Lego Friends or Lego City. Bugger as I spent my money on a large Star Wars set. I could see that they still carry a lot of stocks behind the counter (2 days ago).
One question, I noticed when I search for reviews with the set numbers, only user reviews came up, the inhouse reviews are not listed. I had to search for news for that set and then scroll through all the articles to find the original inhouse review (if any).
Did I miss something?
@Venunder and stupibea: Since this was first posted from someone in Japan (the original information on this was from Japan) at the start of the year, I have been looking for one. I work in Shanghai, and have also visited several other cities in the last few weeks... especially during the Spring Festival break... Still no sign of them here. I have asked friends in other cities to look, and still no sign of it... Seems China missed out on this one...
For this Sheep set, I've managed to collect 19 of them here in Singapore from the various Lego stores & TRU, each with a minimum of S$68 spent.
This is my year after all :)
Yes it's a sheep, but I've been used to the term, year of the goat, that sheep seems awkward to me. In my opinion, a goat would have been more appropriate since there's no such thing as a sheep in this part of the world. This is a promo in Singapore and also available at Resort World Sentosa Lego Certifed Store which opened recently during the Chinese New Year.
@Huw Thought I'd share some quick information!
Technically we just call them yáng and this may refer to either shanyáng or miányáng but it's not stated explicitly. The former means goat and the latter means sheep but yáng in general refers to the main family of these two; it's alright, you don't have to bother with the pronunciation! Anyway, it highly depends on the culture of the area to interpret which is which but both are accepted terms.
And yes, you put cash in those packets! Traditionally, adults will put some amount of cash in them and distribute them to each unmarried kid in the family (including relatives) or even kids of friends you know. There's a legend for this but I'll spare you guys on Brickset of the long details; these packets are generally red as a sign of good luck and to ward off evil spirits in olden times.
Over the years, red has sometimes been replaced with gold as shown in the topic post above and as a side note, these packets (two bundles of them) were also given to me when I bought the 10242 Mini Cooper Mk VII at a local store in light of Chinese New Year. A single packet is strange enough to me as stores always hand these out in large bundles of say 20 units. The packet in the post also appears to be a little larger than the typical size I know.
Maybe I should look for one of these sets! I'm a Malaysian-born Chinese by the way; and my sign is that of a Rooster (2 years from now or 10 years ago).
PS @Huw: Not sure if there's a site error, but I can't edit my country whatsoever, do you mind setting it to Malaysia for me?
Can anyone help a guy in the US get a couple? :)
I get more than 10 boxes in Hong Kong.
The instructions are listed online on Lego instructions page
http://cache.lego.com/bigdownloads/buildinginstructions/6114224.pdf
Uhmmm... I'm not really into Creator animals so I didn't spend TWD4,500 for the sheep in my local ToyRUs. I can remember that indeed many people tried to get it. Now the campaign is over but I may still get one in auction websites, the price is about USD 11.
I agree that as a Chinese I'm more willing to see a Chinese goat version over a sheep. Weirdly the area that promotes this set don't really raise sheeps :p.
@MSHunters, thanks for the information. Your country is determined from your IP address and it looks as if you are using a 'odd' one that can't be geo-located.
@Huw, well that sort of makes sense since I'm using an office computer now.. Still, I've tried editing my profile from home previously and there still isn't a country "box" to fill in.
Anyway I don't think it's an issue; if you could resolve it on your end, that would make things nicer and if you can't, well let's just say "MSHunters in {Unknown country}" seems weird to an extent. :P
EDIT: Okay I get it now, the country information is automatically filled depending on what network I'm currently on; since office can't be tracked, it shows an unknown country. I'm on my phone now and it displays just fine. Apologies for the inconvenience!
^^ You got it!
There are actually two country settings. One is your 'actual' country, determined by geo-locating your IP and the second is your 'preferred' country which can be set by clicking on the flag in the top corner. The preferred country setting is used to tailor the Amazon listings and affiliate links etc. Your 'actual' one can't be changed.
So this is or was available in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia? But not China.
That is bizzaro marketing by TLG.
^ I can't verify that it's available in Malaysia; I can however confirm that the red packets are. I might do a check one of these days. :P
Yes, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia confirmed were available during the Lunar New Year celebration period. Japan should have as per the first original post for this set on this site, and Taiwan and Hong Kong too based on the comments above.