Review: 80107 Spring Lantern Festival
Posted by Huw,
2021 will be the third year that LEGO has produced sets depicting Chinese traditional festivals and so far all have been exceptional.
I therefore have very high expectations for 80107 Spring Lantern Festival, one of two being released in January. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be disappointed, though, because it's been designed by Justin Ramsden who's been responsible for some masterpieces during his 5-year tenure as a LEGO designer.
Later today we'll be publishing an exclusive interview with Justin so be sure not to miss that.
The Spring Lantern Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar, which this year falls on the 26th February, and marks the final day of the Chinese new year celebrations.
During the festival, children go out at night carrying paper lanterns to solve riddles printed on lanterns in their neighbourhood, which are red to denote good fortune.
I'm not going to reveal all the set's secrets, new parts and interesting building techniques because I firmly believe that half the fun of building LEGO sets is discovering them for yourself. You will, however, get a good feel for the set so you can make up your own mind whether it's for you or not.
Construction
80107 Spring Lantern Festival contains 1793 pieces, which makes it the largest of the Chinese traditional festival set released to date.
Pieces are distributed within eleven numbered bags and construction is undertaken in two parts, with bags one to seven containing those needed for the larger section of the model, and those in eight to 11 for the smaller part.
Instructions are split across two volumes, one for each subsection, so two people can build it concurrently should you wish.
Unusually for sets nowadays, it contains traditional baseplates, a 32x32 and a 16x32. Building commences on the larger of the two and as soon as you get started it's apparent that the model is modular building compatible.
The pavement/sidewalk is narrower than on most modular buildings but nevertheless it matches up just fine, and the connecting holes on two of the sides line up with those in the buildings.
There's a lot of groundwork to be done before it starts to take shape and even at this early stage it's clear that this is going to be an extravagant and lavish build. The dark green and tan plates make up the bed of the pond and are totally covered over in the next step of the build.
Every decorated part in the set is printed. Most will have limited use outside this set and in Asian-themed MOCs, but that's not the case for these koi carp tiles which are simply fantastic!
The bed of the pond is coated in trans-light-blue tiles, including those above, plus a few plates and green flower heads to represent aquatic plants.
The result is that of depth in the centre of the water and shallower sandy banks around the edge.
If that wasn't enough, another two layers of plates are applied: dark tan muddy patches around the pond's perimeter under a layer of green grass.
The first of the set's myriad lanterns is added at this stage, a large ox -- this year's Chinese zodiac animal -- which has a light brick inside, the switch for which rather amusingly is under its tail...
The attractive arched footbridge is attached at an angle to the base using 4x4 turntable plates, while light grey 'gold bars' are used to give the pathways an interesting texture.
More traditionally-shaped lanterns are added around the edges and along the paths, and bamboo canes are planted tightly in the corner.
An ornate garden wall and entranceway is added to complete this section of the build.
The highlight of this section, for me, is the pond. The carp, lilies and multiple layers of plates look superb. I can't think of another set that has such a rich and detailed landscape as this: usually such extravagance is only seen in MOCs.
Putting that larger section aside, we turn our attention to the smaller one, which sits on a 16x32 baseplate.
A small staircase leads up to a pagoda which sits on top of a rocky outcrop.
The pagoda's roof is a masterclass in hexagonal building, and we'll be revealing its secrets in our interview with Justin later today. Note the dark blue candles and bananas!
The front wall matches that of the larger section. Yet more lanterns are added, including one in the shape of a minifigure outside the portal.
Minifigures
Before putting the two sections together, let's take a look at the minifigures. Excluding the lantern, there are a generous seven of them.
Two children are among them: the boy has a new torso with a tan jacket and white t-shirt print. The girl's unicorn top first appeared in this year's 40373 Fairground Accessory Set. Her cute printed bunny on a roller-skate is, however, new.
These two grown-ups, their parents perhaps, both sport wonderfully-detailed torsos. The man's dark blue knitted jumper includes printing on its arms, while the woman's shows her belt buckle protruding from her shirt, which is an interesting detail.
Like many of us, she appears to be glued to her mobile phone, which has a new print.
This couple are wearing identical hooded sweatshirts with a 2021 ox logo emblazoned across the front. She's carrying a selfie-stick while he has a drink, which ingeniously uses one the new minifig stands for a straw.
Lastly, we have this fellow stuffing his face with steamed dumplings.
The completed model
The two halves are connected together with Technic pins and overall the model is 32x48 studs, or about 38x25cm.
The walls, pathways and landscaping match up, of course, and the result is a lavish, beautiful, and detailed self-contained model.
The banners hanging from the lanterns along the wall are made from flexible plastic sheet. The text spells out riddles to be solved: Justin explains what they say in our interview.
There are lanterns everywhere!
The growth of bamboo is given an organic feel by using ball joints to affix some shoots at an angle.
Holes on the side allow it to be connected to modular buildings, as a corner module.
The two sections can be connected the other way round, with the smaller piece on the right, and it looks perfectly acceptable in this arrangement, but perhaps not so 'finished' because the paths lead off the edges of the baseplate. There's nothing stopping you from continuing it on your own compatible modules, though!
Verdict
The Chinese traditional festival sets (CTF) are one of the highlights of LEGO's annual output and this one is my favourite of them all.
I'm not a fan of sets that consist of a multitude of disconnected subassemblies and nowhere on them to place the minifigures, but there is no such concern here. Everything sits on the baseplates so consequently it looks exceptional on display. The fact it's compatible with modular buildings is the icing on the cake.
To be honest, I don't think it's likely to have much appeal to kids, western ones in particular, since there's no action, conflict, or excitement, but a more mature audience looking for a satisfying build and an impressive display model will find a lot to like here.
One word can be used to sum it up: extravagant. A plethora of printed elements, dozens of recoloured pieces, the lavish landscaping in the park is like nothing I've seen in an official LEGO set before, and there are more minifigures than you'd usually get in a set of this price.
One of the questions I ask Justin in our interview is why do the CTF sets differ from regular ones, in that it appears that no corner has been cut and no expense has been spared?
My belief is that LEGO needs to differentiate itself from the Chinese clones in the Asian marketplace, so it goes to great lengths to ensure the sets targeting that audience are the best they can be. Chinese parents need to be convinced that LEGO sets are higher quality than cheap knock-offs and that the higher prices are justified. This is perhaps not such a concern in western markets, so corners can be, and are often, cut.
'Only the best is good enough', but only when targeting Asian consumers...
Needless to say, that's not the answer Justin gave me, so you'll have to read the interview later to find out what he did say.
It's a set like no other and I will not be surprised if I name it 'set of the year' next December.
80107 Spring Lantern Festival has a staggered release in January. It'll be available in Asia from the first of the month and the rest of the world at LEGO.com from the 10th. It'll cost £89.99 / $109.99 / €99.99. At that price it's a bargain...
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set for review. All expressed opinions are my own.
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59 comments on this article
Simply stunning in every sense!
This is a wonderful set with, I suspect, a huge appeal to AFOLs. Release day purchase for me!
Day 1 purchase, can't wait
It's definitely a gorgeous Set. Also notice the tabs on it too which means this CAN connect to any Advance Modular Set too. Very well built overall. Still waiting for it's price tag to arrive.
I'm wondering wether those new koi-fish/carp printed translucent tiles will be used in the upcoming Ninjago City Gardens...
Until then: great set and great review!
Can we get some photos of this set against some modulars? Excited to see how it looks when integrated
I would love to see it next to some modulars to see how it fits in. This is what I would be buying it to do
This looks absolutely beautiful. I love that pond!
Thank you, Huw, it does look stunning.
Absolutely gorgeous set. I particularly like the moon gates. They were everywhere in Bermuda... I hadn't realised that they originated in China. A definite must have as soon as a good GWP is availailable (hopefully the vintage car)
I just hope that UK deliveries from lego.com are unsuspended by then!
What an inspiring build! I will fill one of my city gardens with those bamboos, outstanding!
I'm not going to comment on the region exclusives, or target markets, as I mentioned before when this set was officially announced, it's a Lego set and I'm gonna make good use of the building techniques and good inspiring vibes that this excellent set brings to me!
Have a wonderful day!
A fantastic set. Would be a day 1 purchase for me - if Lego hadn’t suddenly sold out of last year’s sets, which are what inspired me to collect this theme! Not sure I can be bothered with the theme at all any more...
Looks nice. But I don't need it. However, I am happy for everyone who wants it, that they can buy it in the shop.
I'll line it up with some modulars for you later today.
I love this set, this review cements that I definitely want to get it.
The only thing I wish they'd done that they didn't would be to have one of the figures use medium legs.
This really has a certain je ne sais quoi...
I was ready to dismiss it, not having any modular buildings, or any of the previous Asian-inspired sets, or Ninjago City, but this set is still hugely appealling and very tempting!
Very inspirational.
Too true; if only Lego gave every set the love and devotion they do to CTF sets...
Oof, I really, really, REALLY like it... but I cannot afford to £90 like it. Although I suspect it's not going to get any cheaper in the future... maybe if I can get a job before it gets retired, I might splash out on it once I have an income because it's a SUPER-nice set, just such a calm and peaceful scene, a super display piece, and I reckon I could nicely expand its population a little with a few of my loose minifigures too.
We'll see, we'll see.
Thanks as always for the detailed review, Huw! :D
"Every decorated part in the set is printed". Why do only CTF, CMF, Duplo and 4+ check that box?
@Huw , Thanks for the review and pictures.
Looks like you could combine two of these sets to create a huge garden. Doesn’t even look like you would need to mod them much.
The problems are the cost and the space required. I have neither the budget nor the room for one, let alone two. Shame though. Would look smashing.
The bunny with wheels is a traditional Chinese bunny lantern. A cute little detail for this set!
^ Interesting, thank you.
These sets are awesome. Truly love them.
It's a pity LEGO treats their other themes with so little respect for a similar kind of quality these days.
Why for example can they offer the CTF sets with prints only instead of stickers (even though many of those printed pieces are of little use outside the theme) but AFOLS have to make do with stickers even on the most expensive of sets otherwise?
Wow. Just fabulous. This and and the as yet unseen Ninjago Gardens are at the top of my AFOL 2021 list! I skipped last year's CTF sets, but this is very much a day one purchase. I have the first year of CTF sets with the New Year's Eve dinner and it is fabulous. Looking at the Minifigs it looks as if it includes the same family of mum, dad, boy and girl from New Year's Eve and last year's Temple Fair which feels well planned out and a wonderful (and again quality) element of continuity across these sets. The modular compatibility is just further icing on an already sumptuous cake.
Great review Huw, I'm eagerly awaiting this one as they always are to such a high standard and have great features. I bagged this years Chinese new year sets and last years Dragon boat race. Kicking myself that I missed the initial 2019 ones.
It's almost perfect ... the only thing i don't find as beautiful as it could be is the usage of light-bluish grey ... it reminds me of concrete instead of stone. the old warm grey would have been a nuance needed here, or tan to some extent. (same for the Nian set)
Anyway ... i really hate myself to miss the first two waves of chinese sets now ...
Getting both CTF sets on 1st Jan. Exceptional.
Great review! ... one small point @huw ... It is listed for $119.99 USD on Lego.com, not $109.99...
Everyone has black hair, not too much variety.
Thank you Huw for the review, definitely a great set!
I like the introduction of a new cell phone with the orange tile. I wonder if the cell phone used for the selfie is also a tile with a new print.
Not a fan of the "2021" print on the couple torsos, I feel like it limits their usage in other contexts. I hope they release it later without the text.
Here, TLG puts one of its top designers on a complex task: make something that fits with the other Chinese-themed products like 80105 while also fitting into Modular displays, and maybe even Ninjago City with a little bit of tweaking. It's a very strong design that may look natural near 10232 Palace Cinema or even 10185 Green Grocer.
The Chinese-themed sets have been an increased resurgence of interest as of late, both from Lego and from Chinese brands like Xingbao, who have a Tang Dynasty-themed theme that is quite impressive and equivalent in detail to 80107. Their products like XBA-01030 would display well next to this.
What a fantastic set!
What is the difference between CNY and CTF? Is the Spring Lantern Festival technically a different festival from the Chinese New Year celebrations but both can be described as Chinese Traditional Festivals? And all the others in the theme to this point have been part of CNY so this set is the reason for starting to use the CTF label for the theme?
This looks beautiful, and so authentic! I can’t wait to build - and just look at - it!
I have to ask... are we confident Ninjago City Gardens is a real and distinct set, and not just a name given to this by mistake due to a Western inability to discern between Chinese culture and Ninjago?
Totally on board with this one. It just looks magnificent.
@northgeorgiamasonry said:
"What is the difference between CNY and CTF? "
We used to categorise them in the database a CNY but Justin called them CTF, which is a broader term which makes more sense, given the likes of 80103, so I've now changed the database entries.
@Balthazar_Brannigan said:
"I have to ask... are we confident Ninjago City Gardens is a real and distinct set, and not just a name given to this by mistake due to a Western inability to discern between Chinese culture and Ninjago?""
I'd say it is. There was a blurry leaked image floating about recently, and Promobricks have confirmed that the set is real is indeed real and not related to this set. We also have a set number and exact piece count.
Oh my god, it’s modular compatible? I love that! Definitely going on the list.
Must have!!!!
When even those ridiculous Harry Potter crests ($119) cost more than this set, you know this set is a must buy.
This is a fantastic review of a beautiful set. It makes me wonder how some sets would be if the same attention to amazing was paid to them that was paid to this in product design and execution.
Can you ask Justin if he made sure the bridge fits properly this time? I hear he likes being reminded of that. :D
Just kidding, the set looks awesome, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. Best of the new Chinese sets by far, and great to have a park add-on to the modular buildings series.
I actually used the candle and banana technique in a MOC I created in around August, prior to this sets' reveal. Smart minds think alike, eh? When do I get my designer spot? ;)
Whenever I see baseplates in a new set it makes me happy and this is the first time to have a pond and Koi in a Lego set. And I think this set kinda qualifies as a modular building.
I wonder if there would be a way to modify the buildings from the Monkie Kid sets to fit in well with these.
@Yooha said:
"Everyone has black hair, not too much variety."
I believe it’s meant to be set in the PRC or a country in the Chinese sphere of influence and therefore reflects the people there. It’s not meant to be set in a Chinatown in North America, Europe or Australia where you might expect other hair colours.
@DavidBrick said:
"LEGO makes sure that the sets are amazing to please the Chinese overlords. Simple as that."
LEGO, like other companies, is increasingly seeking to cement its position in the world’s fastest growing market: China. As such, it will target and favour consumers there.
For those of us in Europe, that sort of preferential treatment will seem old hat as we have been treated that way in relation to the US for decades. For US consumers, it comes as a shock. Get used to it because it’s only going to increase.
"My belief is that LEGO needs to differentiate itself from the Chinese clones in the Asian marketplace, so it goes to great lengths to ensure the sets targeting that audience are the best they can be. Chinese parents need to be convinced that LEGO sets are higher quality then cheap knock-offs and that the higher prices are justified. This is perhaps not such a concern in western markets, so corners can be, and are often, cut.
'Only the best is good enough', but only when targeting Asian consumers..."
I'm disappointed by this bit of editorializing that seems to imply a dichotomy between these and other sets that doesn't always really exist. How are the printed parts in this set so different from the ones in the Nintendo Entertainment System? Or the modular Police Station? Or the many, many Ideas sets that feature exclusively printed detail? For that matter, if including stickers is always "cutting corners", then surely the sticker-heavy Monkie Kid theme would be evidence enough that it's not as simple as Chinese-targeted sets getting a better deal than other sets and themes.
It's true that not all sets prioritize printed parts the same way. That is because printed parts like that constitute a design choice that has to be made between those and other priorities like additional minifigures, recolored parts, or any other cost that could be factored into a set's budget. And despite what some Lego fans seem to insist, the choice of one of those other priorities instead of printed parts isn't always the "wrong" choice. It's not as simple as these sets cutting fewer corners than those in other themes—it's that the corners that are cut to keep the set under budget (and make no mistake about it, every set including this one involves making hard choices between different options) end up unseen in the final product due to being opted against. We rarely get to see what choices didn't end up making the cut.
A set that will certainly be a Day 1 purchase for me comes along at last, and Huw doesn't put up a survey asking what people think of it! Oh, well....
Would like to see a big Modular Park to add it to The Modulars street, bigger than this one:)
Very nice. Too bad we can't get them here.
@quark12000 said:
"Very nice. Too bad we can't get them here."
You can...?
@MrJay520 said:
"It's definitely a gorgeous Set. Also notice the tabs on it too which means this CAN connect to any Advance Modular Set too. Very well built overall. Still waiting for it's price tag to arrive."
£89.99 / $109.99 / €99.99.
@sammy_zammy said:
" @quark12000 said:
"Very nice. Too bad we can't get them here."
You can...?"
I'm guessing that they're Asia only, like the other Chinese New Year's sets.
Does anybody even read the article, or just look at the pictures? :-)
@Huw said:
"Does anybody even read the article, or just look at the pictures? :-)"
Well, it is a rather long article about an unavailable set, so no.
@Zander said:
"LEGO, like other companies, is increasingly seeking to cement its position in the world’s fastest growing market: China. As such, it will target and favour consumers there.
For those of us in Europe, that sort of preferential treatment will seem old hat as we have been treated that way in relation to the US for decades. For US consumers, it comes as a shock. Get used to it because it’s only going to increase.
"
This.
To be honest, I much prefer Asian themed sets to ones based on US "culture". Hence I am happy about those CTF and similar sets and can only say keep them coming. After all, even though the nominal distance between Europe and Asia might be comparable to that between Europe and the US, in many other ways the things we have in common seem far greater, especially when it comes to history and a rich culture.
By the way, Xingbao also has a whole line of Modular-sized traditional Chinese buildings which are very good. I have got two of them and they will go very well with this set as well as the other CTF ones.
@Huw: at least I do. :-)
@quark12000 said:
"I'm guessing that they're Asia only, like the other Chinese New Year's sets."
It was only the first year of Chinese Festival sets that were Asia only; after protest about such excellent sets not being available worldwide, Lego made a statement that any subsequent entries into the theme wouldn't be regional exclusives; it'll be available worldwide, albeit exclusively from Lego.com, later in January ^^
@Zander:
It's not a shock to me. The US is still the largest single consumer nation, and it still shows in the general focus of their product line. Nearly ever licensed theme is tied to a US production, and every licensed Cuusoo/Ideas set approved since Minecraft is one that has a US audience. But China is a bigger market in general, and it's growing faster than any 1st World nation can keep up with. There's also a huge counterfeit market. So, yeah, they're going to put some effort into establishing their brand as well as basically competing with their own product line. Only time will tell if China can actually surpass the US as a LEGO market. If that actually happens, the product line will look _very_ different than it does right now. Sure, there will still be some Hollywood fare, as the few movies they manage to land on Chinese soil tend to do pretty well, but I'm not sure how many Hollywood movies that break into the Chinese market would actually fit with The LEGO Company's brand values.
I love this set and great review, as always.
@Huw: "To be honest, I don't think it's likely to have much appeal to kids, western ones in particular, since there's no action, conflict, or excitement, but a more mature audience looking for a satisfying build and an impressive display model will find a lot to like here."
I think western kids that like the Creator series of modular buildings would like this as well. These types of sets do not have to have conflict, or excitement per se. The stories in the sets are created by kids themselves. And with the wonderful eye popping colors and the abundant variation of figs, western kids would be a sucker for it. I know I would have been ;)
Hi, I like this set and I have bought it! Adding it in My Sets section of the site I don't see the number or related Minifigures added in my collection. Is this normal?