Chinese New Year and Monkie Kid 2021 sets revealed!
Posted by TheBrickPal,
LEGO has revealed four new Chinese themed sets at the third annual China International Import Exhibition.
Check out the press release after the break, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Celebrating kids creativity and empowering more children to learn through play
November 6th, 2020: Today, the LEGO Group revealed four new LEGO sets celebrating classic Chinese culture and legends at the 3rd China International Import Exhibition (CIIE). This is the company’s largest scale of novelty unveils at the CIIE since 2018.
The new offerings range from within themes such as LEGO DUPLO, the popular LEGO Chinese Traditional Festival and the newly-launched LEGO Monkie Kid.
10943 Happy Childhood Moments taps into two critical moments of a toddlers’ life in China: Chinese New Year and kindergarten. It can support Chinese parents to teach their preschoolers about traditions of the lunar new year and key skills to prepare kindergarten life in a playful way. It is also the first LEGO DUPLO set that is customized for Chinese pre-school families.
80107 Spring Lantern Festival recreates the magical atmosphere of the festival which marks the end of the lunar new year celebrations. It features a brick-built Chinese garden with moon gates, pavilion, pond and bridge, a special ox lantern illuminated by a LEGO light brick as well as other must-have items during the festival like a rabbit lantern and a Tang Yuan rice ball.
To inspire children to learn more about Chinese traditions when building, illustrations are telling the legendary stories of Nian. The Lantern Festival is added on the building instructions of the two sets, which is the first time this kind of feature appears in the LEGO Chinese Traditional Festival theme.
80106 Story of Nian invites children to learn the old story about Nian and celebrates the Chinese new year with LEGO bricks. It features a brick-built Chinese residence with traditional decorations, a snowy scene that is brought to life with a posable Nian creature, a snowman figure and six minifigures including grandpa, grandma, three children and a person in an ox costume to mark the Year of the Ox in 2021.
80023 Monkie Kid's Team Quadcopter is a new set from the LEGO Monkie Kid theme. It presents the story of Monkie Kid’s team of heroes and their battle with Spider Queen and perfectly combines the modern hi-tech fantasy elements with the well-known Chinese story. The LEGO Monkie Kid theme was launched in May 2020 as the first LEGO theme inspired by a classic Chinese legend. The new set joins the range of 11 sets, which have already been released, to empower children to be brave, resilient and optimistic through creative play.
The LEGO Story of Nian and LEGO Spring Lantern Festival sets will be available in China and Asia Pacific markets from January 1st, 2021, and from January 10th, 2021 on LEGO.com and other markets in the world.
The LEGO DUPLO Town Happy Childhood Moments set will be available across LEGO branded retail stores and LEGO.com globally from January 1st 2021. The LEGO Monkie Kids’ Team Quadcopter set will be available from March 1, 2021, together with another six new LEGO Monkie Kid sets.
Paul Huang, Senior Vice President of the LEGO Group and General Manager of LEGO China, said “We are excited and proud of unveiling new products at the CIIE for the third year in a row. All these novelties are rooted firmly with the Chinese culture and values, and provide a common ground for children and families to build and play together. By doing this, we can bring the LEGO play closer to the hearts of Chinese consumers and support the children with learning through play experiences.”
Under the theme of “Rebuild the World,” the 378-square-meter LEGO Group booth at CIIE celebrates the endless imagination and unique ingenuity that kids possess. Besides a large line-up of toy and education products, a 2.7m (height) x 2m (width) installation made by 62,750 LEGO bricks is displayed at the booth, acting as a joyful symbol of hope and positivity. One hundred LEGO creations built by 100 Chinese kids are added on the globe, showcasing the inspirational creativity of children and their powerful imaginations to make sense of the world.
“We want to celebrate children’s creativity at our booth and provide the visitors the opportunity to see the world through the kids’ eyes. The LEGO System in Play is a fantastic platform for playful expression, unlocking kids’ endless creativity and inspiring a constant cycle of building, unbuilding and rebuilding,” Huang added.
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76 comments on this article
Still love the Chinese New Year sets. Snow and a garden, just what I needed!
more great Chinese New Year sets, love the Spring Festival one, will be getting that for certain
I am glad they are doing the 'LEGO Spring Lantern Festival' as there has always been interest on Lego ideas for a Chinese garden. As well as stand alone, this will go well in-between all the modular buildings which desperately lack some green space. I hope they follow with more gardens and park squares from other countries as find far more interesting and relaxing than repeating city town center sets with mis-matched vehicles and fast food stands.
It looks like Spring Lantern Festival is compatible with Modular Buildings, will definitely be getting that! Have wanted a Modular Garden for years
@thomsedavi said:
"It looks like Spring Lantern Festival is compatible with Modular Buildings, will definitely be getting that! Have wanted a Modular Garden for years"
The garden is wonderful. Same use for me in my modular layout. It will be a fantastic addition!
The sets inspired by Chinese culture are more beautiful every year! They would all be collected! Lovable!!!
another year, another couple of Chinese new year sets I want to get but never can. the garden one looks suspiciously like the rumours gardens on Ninjago City set going of what promo bricks said... oh well. monkie kid set looks great, I adore the side builds but im not a fan of the drone helicopter thing. it looks like it has a handle on the back so im gonna assume it can carry the container pods and drop them out if needed. also, MASTER TANG!
Blue bananas in the spring festival set (pagoda roof) :))
Will probably get all the new year sets. I think this is LEGO at his best.
The fireworks are very impressive. Simple but incredibly effective. Loving the Duplo set too.
@TheInfamousBobaFett said:
"How come they’re not on brickset where I can add them to my want list"
They are! :-)
-10943
-80106
-80107
-80023
@thatsaltyninja said:
"another year, another couple of Chinese new year sets I want to get but never can. the garden one looks suspiciously like the rumours gardens on Ninjago City set going of what promo bricks said... oh well. monkie kid set looks great, I adore the side builds but im not a fan of the drone helicopter thing. it looks like it has a handle on the back so im gonna assume it can carry the container pods and drop them out if needed. also, MASTER TANG!"
I hope not... that one was rumoured 3000-4000 pieces at cost 300 euros... so I hope they are not the same!
The Lantern Festival is such a great little park! I can't wait to add that to my growing Lego Chinatown.
this Spring Lantern Festival 80107 looks like it can be nice addition to my modular buildings collection (it is on a baseplate). And I was never into this Chinesee sets, but this one got my attention.
It's seems to be 48x32 - which is great to match Assembly Square! Really wowed by the 2 CN-sets, and will certainly get 80107 and maybe 80106.
Also cool to see the MK-sets can be folded up for storage/taking along (?).
That park looks to be a perfect Lego set.
There's a mismatch in the description and images for Story of Nian and Spring Lantern Festival ... :)
80107 is beautiful! It reminds me of one of the gardens of the Forbidden City I visited many years ago :-)
I do love the Chinese themed sets, sadly it's getting harder to love the PRC and the Communist Party.
Fabulous - so glad they are not region locked. Modern Lego at its best
Again so much better than the "normal" lines - instant get
I'm totally stealing that firework design to put behind my Disney castle :D
Won’t be celebrating anything Chinese thank you.
Not sure it is the time.
My Chinese takeaways don’t seem quite as enjoyable these days either
This bull head! I need to add it to the previous year rat head on my wanted list!
Spring Lantern Festival looks amazing, need to get me one of those, will make for a perfect transition from my regular modulars to the Ninjago City part of town :D
Both CNY sets even better then 2020 imo.
Story of Nian might look a bit simple concept, but I like it more then the Lion Dance, large studded area to put figures on, and nice use of otherwise superhero pieces for firework effects. (not interested in superhero sets myself)
Lantern Festival just has so many (printed) details like Koi in the pond, red transparent pieces and a large area (32x48?)
Time to buy some DUPLO, can't leave a gap in the best designed theme. The choice between ECTO1 and the Chinese New Year sets became really easy.
These look great, specially that garden but thankfully for my wallet I won't be buying these.
I don't normally comment but here it goes.
Love the look of the Spring Latern Festival, but what is Sping Lantern Festival? Never heard of it (and I'm Chinese).
And for some of the "haters" out there, there is a difference between Chinese culture and the PRC government. Please don't "hate" all things Chinese because of the wrongs of the PRC government. Your comments are sounding very racist. Hopefully the mod can filter those out.
Thanks.
An ethnic Chinese AFOL
@twodoctors said:
"Love the look of the Spring Latern Festival, but what is Sping Lantern Festival? Never heard of it (and I'm Chinese)."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_Festival
@twodoctors said:
"And for some of the "haters" out there, there is a difference between Chinese culture and the PRC government. Please don't "hate" all things Chinese because of the wrongs of the PRC government."
Strongly agree.
Oh wow these are fantastic. Can’t wait to get the garden.
Spring Lantern Festival looks awesome!
Like the baddies in 80023.
80107: Spring Lantern Festival looks just like the Chinese garden at the Montréal Botanical Garden. Love it!
Shut up and take my money :-)
Having two children of mixed chinese and european culture, we are looking forward to these sets every year. My wife has been saying "I wish they will make a Lantern Festival set" for months. I am also very happy to see our little family from the last two years return.
80106 looks a bit fragmented, but interestingly, they can be nicely fitted into 80101 and form a traditional Chinese house. As for 80107, that's absolutely epic albeit it's not enclosed and some modifications need to be done. And unlike last year, this time we have some stickers...
They're pretty, but Chinese culture is not really my... cup of tea. Ninjago, Monkee kid, and now these. I can see Lego is really pushing for the Asian market.
Like everyone else I'm loving that Spring Festival set, can't wait for what they come up with for mid autumn moon festival!
The story of Nian has a lot of potential for cool play features, I really hope they came up with stuff like pieces that cause the monster's mouth to get stuck shut. (Nian is awfully cute for a village-destroying monster!)
I'm a little confused by how they're setting up waves for Monkie Kid. This set feels like a Wave 2 hangover, as the Spider Queen showed up but only once in Wave 2. And Red Boy. I had thought they'd work through more of Journey to the West quicker, but maybe the pandemic threw their timing off. I hope to see a little more imagination in what they come up with, though -- right now the car / plane / mech thing overlaps too much with Ninjago.
As for the pseudo political commentary here: remember that there are millions of Chinese living outside the PRC, and as one member of that diaspora I'm excited to see the world's biggest toy company acknowledging aspects of my heritage, and possibly exposing more people to that culture. They are, after all, selling them in many markets (and hopefully seeing good returns outside China)
The 2021 floodgates have officially cracked, can’t wait to see what else is hidden behind them. Up until now, I have not been interested in the Chinese New Year sets, but I’ll have to get that garden set, it looks amazing!
This is basically a dream come true for me
Fantastic to learn that Justin Ramsden designed 80107. I hope we can get an interview with him on these sets at some point.
Oh dear...
They didn't even bother attaching the upper bed in the monkey kid set properly for their product foto >.>
Wow pretty impressive stuff
The Spring Lantern Festival set is beautiful! So many wonderful details. These are neat sets, all of them.
@Zander said:
" @twodoctors said:
"Love the look of the Spring Latern Festival, but what is Sping Lantern Festival? Never heard of it (and I'm Chinese)."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_Festival "
I have heard of it in chinese name but not by its english name "Spring Lantern Festival". When I was in Hong Kong 30+ years ago most people go back to work by day 4, but the celebrations do go on to day 15 (and beyond). Should have googled it myself! :-D
I'll start saving up now for the Jan 2021 launch...
I am on the fence of getting these sets, as there is not enough red colors
I'm seeing so many new recolors and printed parts in these sets. Even the Duplo set has some potentially useful cloth pieces!
The quality and respect shown in the design of these sets and their printed parts is really incredible, arguably better than most of the 18+ line.
Oh, one more thing: considering the AFOL interest in the Monkie Kid streetscape side builds, it's too bad the side build for this new set is just another HQ hidden in a container, which is ground already covered by the ship HQ. Hopefully this is a Wave 2 overhang and Lego does some more world building in legit Wave 3.
New Year sets are becoming a very respectable theme
The two Chinese New-Year sets are really amazing.
I love them.
The graphism is so beautiful and it seems that the parts are printed except maybe two stickers on the doors of the Story of Nian house.
Guys,
We shouldn't judge or punish lego for making sets related with chinese culture. It's a smart move, it's a huge market at the end of the day.
I have absolutely no interest on buying chinese culture related sets, but they look very cool indeed, nice parts pack, and always customizable to something more Occidental.
Peace to everyone =)
The Spring Lantern Festival is a really good looking set. And surprised that it has baseplates.
I was very excited to see these sets because the CNY theme has been consistently awesome. These do not disappoint! The garden looks gorgeous, and as others have noted, can easily fit in with the modular buildings. I will definitely pick this set up right away. The Story of Nian also looks cool, though similarly to the Temple Fair, I wish we got more than just a building facade. Still, it's got a lot of room to play, and with the snow it can certainly fit in with my winter village!
@twodoctors said:
"I don't normally comment but here it goes.
Love the look of the Spring Latern Festival, but what is Sping Lantern Festival? Never heard of it (and I'm Chinese).
And for some of the "haters" out there, there is a difference between Chinese culture and the PRC government. Please don't "hate" all things Chinese because of the wrongs of the PRC government. Your comments are sounding very racist. Hopefully the mod can filter those out.
Thanks.
An ethnic Chinese AFOL"
I don’t have anything against Chinese culture, my issue is with the LEGO Group itself and other businesses turning a blind eye to problems for profit. The Chinese New Year sets are a great idea - I love them - I just don’t agree with LEGO doing business with CCP.
I realize that other countries have bad track records and politics as well, but at least there is transparency and the ability to voice displeasure with the government, with no threat of bring jailed for an anti go ernent belief
With respect to the Lantern Festival, anyone else notice the colour match problem in the green plates where the baseplates abut? I assume there were meant to be the same shade. Also the baseplates seem to have a problem sitting flat next to each other on the outer edge and if you zoom into the photo theres lots of smudgy looking photoshop edits along this join line.
Nothing to complain about, it was just something I noticed as I scoured the piccy, I did so because I loved the textures in the pavement and wanted to see what parts were used.
Duplo dumplings in a steamer!
That set & the garden look fantastic
That garden is so cool. I love the vibrant colors of these sets! They look so fun.
Spring lantern festival is the best set this year hands down after so many abysmal large sets this year. I would assume the piece count and price shouldn’t be that high too given it’s a garden and not a brick-intensive building
I really like that spring lantern festival one... it just looks like such a nice, peaceful scene. I don't know if I'll actually get it, my Lego budget is non-existent, but it's DEFINITELY very nice. I've liked the previous Chinese New Year sets, too, but before now haven't considered buying any - the only one that tempted me was the New Year's Eve Dinner, which wasn't available worldwide - but this one especially appeals to my aesthetic taste.
I just wonder what its price will be like...
I feel like Lego really puts EFFORT into these Chinese sets
Politics aside:
That's gotta be among the biggest Duplo sets ever made. And the first that even comes close to a cohesive build from an AFOL perspective.
Spring Lantern festival is gorgeous. There need to be City/Town sets with a similar setup--our last "park" set was minifigs and a few small builds.
I'm very conflicted. On the one hand, it's abhorrent for LEGO to pander hardcore to an authoritarian communist nightmare state where the government hides crucial information from its citizens, free speech is stifled, and innocent people are forced into concentration camps on the basis of their ethnicity in order to be brainwashed and exploited for slave labor.
On the other hand the sets are REALLY beautiful.
I think it’s safe to assume that Lego is creating these sets for the Chinese people, not their government...
On a side note, isn’t this the THIRD set that Monkie Kid Bigfig has been in? Seems like a record.
Edit: it’s actually the FOURTH; definitely a record. Maybe not the most prolific Bigfig character, but definitely the most times the same Bigfig has appeared in multiple sets.
All of these sets are awesome!
Some clarifications:
Spring Lantern Festival is a festival where people guess riddles pasted onto lanterns. It’s kinda a tradition but hardly anybody does it anymore outside of school celebrations.
The Story of Nian (pronounce Knee-en, the Chinese character for year) is an old legend where red packets and fireworks were used to ward off a monster named Nian.
And now the politics...
I personally believe that these sets were made for the Chinese people, not the CCP (and China isn’t the only country with Chinese people), but they do inadvertently support the CCP (and its immoral actions) through monetary gain and economical growth. That said, I won’t judge you if you purchase the sets as they are beautiful, neither will I if you boycott the entire line. Just make sure that you direct your comments towards the CCP, not the people as that sounds racist.
@theseasentinel said:
"I do love the Chinese themed sets, sadly it's getting harder to love the PRC and the Communist Party. "
Same here.
Love these new sets. I'm glad a lot more Asian inspired themes are coming out by LEGO (not just because I'm part Asian) but because the overall architecture and cultural content is different.
Everyone, let's please keep the comments about the sets. Comments not adding productively to that discussion will be deleted.
@Padmewan said:
"Oh, one more thing: considering the AFOL interest in the Monkie Kid streetscape side builds, it's too bad the side build for this new set is just another HQ hidden in a container, which is ground already covered by the ship HQ. Hopefully this is a Wave 2 overhang and Lego does some more world building in legit Wave 3."
While I would also love to see more worldbuilding, I'd been kind of hoping for a mini-hideout for Mei like this, and had even considered modding one onto the ship (my idea for one had a sort of revolving wall function to "transform" her from her street clothes into her hero gear, but otherwise this set's storage for her sword and helmet plus computer terminals/gaming setup is similar to what I had in mind).
I also think the inclusion of containers in this set might serve a functional purpose—it looks to me almost like when the containers are folded up they might be able to be "carried" by the large quadcopter. That's something for which the previous HQ couldn't really suffice, since the containers in that are little more than a shell around the large interior and can't be separated from the rest of the ship.
If it's not obvious, as a Monkie Kid fan I LOVE the look of this set. It's great to see that all the characters in it apart from Sandy and Mo (understandably) are getting new designs for the new year. The main vehicle feels fresh and unique while still adhering to the bold, angular aesthetic established by MK's previous vehicles, and the villain's weapon/hideout is really cool—I love the use of the classic 6x6 radar dish which, when folded down to close up the container, looks like it will evoke a spiderweb in keeping with the villains' theme. Mo's little flying cat carrier is another amusing touch! And it's great to finally be getting a minifigure of Tang, the only member of the main "team" who hadn't yet shown up in sets.
Story-wise, Red Son showing up alongside the Spider Queen and her new minions seems to imply that the separate "factions" of villains MK and the team have faced in the episodes so far are going to start working together to take them down. Compared to "unified" factions of villains in themes like Ninjago, the multiple villainous characters (each with their own distinct aesthetic) looks like it'll be fun and reminds me a little of themes like Ultra Agents.
All three Chinese theme sets are must-haves for me. Absolutely love all of them, including Duplo!
What I particularly love about the Chinese New Year line of sets is the amount of effort TLG is putting into them. Far more printed pieces than stickers, really intricate designs, lots of cool building techniques as well as many interesting pieces in new colours. I mean, just for one example, dark turquoise bananas on that dragon, that's just awesome.
The haters should focus on the quality of the sets, not their own prejudices about a foreign country.
Normally I have no interest in Oriental sets however that garden looks great and I might actually get it to put next to my Chinese restaurant MOC.
Its very interesting that it is modular style, I wonder if the 2021 modular building is Asian based?
Im completely open to an Asian restaurant of some sort (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai etc.) although wouldnt it be too soon for a 'food related' modular? Yes, they dont have to do a restaurant but I do feel geographically specific sets are best for restaurants and cafes, plus they could have a martial artrs studio or tea room or sushi bar etc. upstairs.
**edited for content - moderator**
Spring Lantern Festival is perfect, and I like Nian. The other two aren’t my cup of tea though.
I gotta say, the color choice for the brick separator in these sets is somewhat questionable given their color scheme. I thought the design principle was that the separator should be in a contrasting color to make it easier to find. But then again, matching-color separators also appeared in DOTS (41907 and 41915).
If the huge Lego Ninjago Gardens doesn't have the aesthetic and good vibe of this little one, I will be very disappointed =)
^Hahaha thats the first time Ive seen an edited by moderator comment. Alright fair enough and Im glad that both sides of politics have been removed so no bias brickset which is good!
Any news on what the Australian prices for these will be?
Of course they had to put the coolest character in oversized set.