Review: 80111 Lunar New Year Parade
Posted by Huw,
Since their introduction during 2019 the annual assortment of Chinese Traditional Festival (CTF) sets have been among the best sets released: highly detailed, colourful, packed with minifigures, and designed with no expense spared.
The two that'll be available in a few weeks look to be no exception. In this article, that kicks-off our reviews of 2023 sets, I'll take a look at the largest of the pair, the 1,653-piece 80111 Lunar New Year Parade, which consists of three vibrant parade floats and a huge number of minifigures.
Summary
80111 Lunar New Year Parade, 1,653 pieces.
£89.99 / $129.99 / €99.99 | 5.4p/7.9c/6.0c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Exquisite, extravogant, beautiful: I could run out of superlatives to describe it...
- Almost no expense spared
- 18 minifigures!
- Stickers
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Like many of the CTF sets, it is designed to be built concurrently with others, so there are three instruction manuals to facilitate that, one for each float. The new plain white instruction cover now seems to be standard across the entire product portfolio now.
The 1,653-pieces are packed in plastic bags numbered one to 10, of which there is one of each. There's also a flexible plastic sheet printed with flags and ribbons, and a transparent sticker sheet, which is slightly disappointing given that many CTF sets have been devoid of them.
Float 1
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit, so lagomorphs features prominently in this set, both in giant form on this float, as a mascot minifigure and on printed elements.
It's accompanied by two flag-waving minifigures carrying oversized heads that were first used for Marvel antagonist Thanos during 2021. These 'big doll head' masks are apparently worn to bring fun and cheer to parties and parades during new year celebrations.
The transparent 3x3 dishes are provided to prevent the figures from toppling over. It's a shame that there isn't a 3x3 round tile with centre stud available for the job.
Personally, I think they look grotesque!
There have been many different types of rabbit head produced for minifigures, either as a replacement for their heads or to fit over it. This one of the latter is a new design, which has a snout. It's the fifth CNY mascot minifigure to be made, and as you can see in this photo of the other four, it's very similar in design.
She's carrying a lantern with a rabbit motif.
The giant rabbit dominates the float, which is lavishly decorated on all four sides. The patterns are built up using layer upon layer of plates and tiles and finished off with gold embellishments.
It has wheels underneath and also a simple Technic mechanism attached to the animal's head which causes it to move up and down as it's pushed along.
A platform at the back provides the rabbit mascot minifigure with somewhere to stand.
Float 2
The second float features a huge drum and five female musicians.
Four of them are equipped with drumsticks and percussion, and the one second from the left is playing a stringed instrument, which is the lute introduced with the series 22 Troubadour with a new print.
The float is as gorgeous as the first, extravagantly decorated from front to back with ribbons, clouds, lanterns, flowers, and finished off with lashings of gold.
The mechanism under this one moves the small platform in front of the drum from side to side as it's pushed along.
The mechanism is ingenious, involving the two round-ended rods you can see here and a 49135 TECHNIC ANGULAR WHEEL above them.
Float 3
This one is probably not particularly traditional, but this LEGO-themed float is great fun! It features giant LEGO bricks and Ollie the dragon, who rotates as the float is wheeled along.
Four minifigures wearing 'traditional minifigure headgear' (space, pirates, castle and Ninjago) accompany this float and Classic Space aficionados will be particularly excited by the purple helmet and air tanks which will allow for the construction of an all-purple classic space figure when used with the CMF series 22 Space Creature's torso.
Fireman and workman's helmets, and a Forestman's hat are also provided, stashed away in a box at the back.
The lack of gold embellishments almost make this float look drab compared to the other two!
The green Nexo Knights shields forming Ollie's body are printed.
The three floats can be connected together, train-like, thanks to socket joints at the ends and supplied rods, so can be pulled along in unison.
However, it looks a bit unrealistic when you do so.
Bystanders
As if the 12 minifigures accompanying the floats was not enough, the set also includes six bystanders!
Three adults and three children attired in a variety of colourful outfits are provided. The red/orange jacket torso is new, and I believe those of the other kids are as well.
Note the man's bunny-eared glasses.
Many of the heads are double-sided, but the review is long enough already to include photos of them all!
That's a total of 18 minifigures, of which 12 are female.
Verdict
You really get a sense that no expense has been spared when adding layer upon layer of decoration to the sides of the floats and exquisite details all over them. Then, when you've finished building and line them up together they really are a joy to behold. There's so much colour and detail that they demand closer examination to take it all in. The fact they are also functional, with movement as you push them along, is the icing on the cake.
You might expect to have to pay through the (rabbit's) nose for such extravagance, but that is not the case at all. In fact the price is unbelievably reasonable, particularly in Europe where it'll cost just £89.99 or $99.99. You'd pay close to that for 18 collectable minifigures!
In the USA it'll set you back $129.99 which obviously doesn't make it quite the bargain it is on the other side of the Atlantic, but nevertheless it's worth every cent.
It is a wonderfully colourful and inventive model that might just be my favourite Traditional Chinese Festival set to date.
It'll be available at LEGO.com from 25th December in Europe and 10th January in North America.
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59 comments on this article
The eternal question: do I get a large set I have no interest in just to get the incomplete pieces to a purple classic spaceman?
This seems to be incredible value-for-money! I love it!
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"The eternal question: do I get a large set I have no interest in just to get the incomplete pieces to a purple classic spaceman?"
I too am only here for the purple people parts!
In a couple of weeks, you'll be able to buy them on Bricklink for mad-money; then, in a couple of months, the parts will (hopefully...) be a available through LEGO's Pick-a-Brick. And then a little later they'll be on Bricklink & eBay for (hopefully...) reasonable prices.
Patience is the key (hopefully...)
An excellent set, as all of the Chinese New Year ones typically have been. The special printing budget for these must be massive in comparison to most other sets/lines.
Great models and outstanding fig selection, will be getting this for sure.
Nice, but has no point in my setup, so no.
Minifigs in winter clothing were somewhat hard to come by in the past. One thing that I love about the CNY sets is that they include lots of minifigs with jackets, coats, and scarves. These can serve double duty for my Winter Village.
This is a very interesting and impressive build. The same can be said for a large number of other China-focused sets. However, it is hard not to grow weary of the emphasis on 'traditional' Chinese culture - it has always felt like an attempt to establish a foothold in an emerging market. Why not explore cultural themes in South American, Africa, etc.? I would love to see a set that captures some element of traditional / historical Danish culture, and this would arguably 'honor' the Lego brand more that pandering to China...
These look fantastic and I can't wait to get my hands on them. I hope you guys review the other CNY sets too!
100 euro for half a purple classic space man is quite steep. Even with the other bundled parts added in.
@drussell said:
"(...) it has always felt like an attempt to establish a foothold in an emerging market. Why not explore cultural themes in South America, Africa, etc.? I would love to see a set that captures some element of traditional / historical Danish culture, and this would arguably 'honor' the Lego brand more that pandering to China...(...)"
It's economics; it's a numbers game. That's it. Nothing more. It makes economic sense to release products that will sell well so they are absolutely "pandering to China" because it's simply a massive market.
We can spend our days getting frothy about all the sets we'd love LEGO to produce which cater to our own tastes, even needlessly dragging "honour" into it, but it ain't gonna make them happen.
It's LEGO though, so we can build them ourselves!
(EDIT: now that I think about it, it's probable that in our English-speaking (or, at least, non-Chinese speaking) bubble, we can't even comprehend the scope of the Chinese LEGOsphere, or how it's marketed, perceived, and collected in that part of the world.)
A superb day 1 purchase!
I wish they'd re-release the early sets that came before they got a world wide release.
I have no problem with stickers, so long as they're clear backed. If only they wouldn't still persist with the ill matched disasters that they add to the likes of Speed Champions!
Great review! Though I almost wish you could have embedded video/gifs of some of the functionality, seeing how many moving parts this set seems to have!
The stickers are a bit of a shame, and I especially wish that the Lego logo on the "studs" of the giant bricks could have been printed—though I suppose that would've required at least four distinct "elements" for the different brick colors. Interestingly, the dragon scales are printed (unlike the earlier similar ones from this year's City of Lanterns set). Makes me wonder if it'll be showing up in other sets in the future as well!
As always, the detailing and building techniques in these CNY sets are top notch. A parade is a somewhat new subject for Lego sets, but it suits the medium so well. The minifigures look great as well, with some amazing new prints including both traditionally Chinese fashion as well as more versatile winter wear! I'm very much looking forward to adding this to my growing collection of CNY sets.
I'm gonna guess we will get a full purple spaceman soon enough. With the helmet and air tanks in production and it wouldn't be had to swap the brown torsos with a purple to do the print.
Looks really nice, and I always enjoy some technic functions! I’m not too fond of stickers, but it looks like you could reasonably skip most of them without sacrificing the look of the model
@huw I'm curious if there's a technical limitation to the site that inhibits including gif files for showcasing motion features.
@bananaworld said:
"
It's economics; it's a numbers game. That's it. Nothing more. It makes economic sense to release products that will sell well so they are absolutely "pandering to China" because it's simply a massive market."
Same reason why Disney/Marvel allows some of its films to be edited heavily, to appeal to that market. Star Wars is no different, you won't see much of Finn in any Chinese marketing for the more recent Star Wars films for that reason.
America Chavez's Pride Flag was a tile and not part of the minifigure printing so it could be removed from countries that have a less than great history of equal rights without re-printing the entire torso piece.
To be honest, my main reason for buying this set is definitely the purple spaceman, but even so, the price is a bargain even if just as a parts pack. But I have quite a few of the previous CTF sets too, so this will make a nice addition in any case.
@bananaworld said:
"It's economics; it's a numbers game. That's it. Nothing more. It makes economic sense to release products that will sell well so they are absolutely "pandering to China" because it's simply a massive market."
Exactly. Who hasn't heard of, and maybe participated in, Chinese New Year celebrations? Danish, African, South American, probably not so much!
Great review, Huw! Great ingenious set(s)!
I really really want to like it... but.... What's supposed to be the Rabbit Mascot looks more like a giant Rat to me!! Or is that just me?
1st day purchase for sure!
@bananaworld said:
"
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"The eternal question: do I get a large set I have no interest in just to get the incomplete pieces to a purple classic spaceman?"
I too am only here for the purple people parts!
In a couple of weeks, you'll be able to buy them on Bricklink for mad-money; then, in a couple of months, the parts will (hopefully...) be a available through LEGO's Pick-a-Brick. And then a little later they'll be on Bricklink & eBay for (hopefully...) reasonable prices.
Patience is the key (hopefully...)
"
Ive got my spare Purple CMF ready to go..... The parade wont notice if one of its characters goes missing...... Very expensive helmet / air tanks / legs but the set does look good so I'll be trying to secure in 2022, who knows how many there are for the UK.....
Also Patience is not normally a trait of a Lego AFOL, never mind a child. Must have that one...........
Any bets on how much the first Purple Space man will be on ebay for and when?
@benbuildslego said:
" @huw I'm curious if there's a technical limitation to the site that inhibits including gif files for showcasing motion features. "
No, we are just not very good at creating them :-)
Looks very good, I prefer location sets but this still looks more interesting and better value compared to what 80104 : Lion Dance offered for €75 at the time, at least the Euro price.
But where is StarWars?!
Thanks for this great review
We were used to have printed parts instead of stickers in the Chinese Traditional Festivals sets.
The last year 80108 has 23 stickers, but the other no or only a few.
TIL CTF needed an acronym (NAA)
@Quinnly said:
"But where is StarWars?!"
Leaks and pictures, even full scale reviews of the entire wave are on the internet. Apparently a retailer accidentally put them out too early. As to when Lego might announce them, only God and TLG know. I really don't understand why they waited so long. We're already nearing the halfway point of December.
Is 40575 for Asia only? The only one I haven't got is the year of the snake.
@drussell said:
"I would love to see a set that captures some element of traditional / historical Danish culture, and this would arguably 'honor' the Lego brand more that pandering to China..."
You mean, like Viking ships and castles...? ;-) While you could consider this 'pandering', which probably isn't entirely untrue, you should also consider the massive Chinese diaspora outside of China, meaning there's a huge potential market for these.
Anyhow, amazing set, unfortunately too many big stickers, but acceptable for the price point and you can easily leave them off without hurting the overall look. It looks beautiful, with an incredible minifigure selection. Tempted to buy it for those alone.
@Capybara554321 said:
"I'm gonna guess we will get a full purple spaceman soon enough. With the helmet and air tanks in production and it wouldn't be had to swap the brown torsos with a purple to do the print. "
The purple space torso has already been made, so it's not very likely.
Also consider that the grey space torso never led to a full grey space figure.
And some people are still waiting for an orange space figure to be sold as part of another set.
So if you really want a purple space figure it would be wise to start collecting parts and treat it as a Lego build-a-figure.
Of course Lego can gladly proof me wrong and release a whole spectrum of different coloured space figures!
^ What we really need is just an All Classic Space Figs Are Awesome set.
I look forward to seeing the entire stock of pick-a-brick helmets and air tanks vanish into scalpers' pockets within minutes.
Beautifully designed and generous sets as always with this line, but it does make me wonder why we can’t get a better range of Christmas style festive themed sets apart from one Winter Village and a few GWPs each year.
If Lego really wanted to cash in on Classic Space fans, they'd re-release 40516 Everyone Is Awesome but all the people would be Classic Space figures in all the colors. People would buy it to support LBGTQ+ AND they'd buy it for Classic Space. I'd buy a few for army-building.
@PDelahanty said:
"If Lego really wanted to cash in on Classic Space fans, they'd re-release 40516 Everyone Is Awesome but all the people would be Classic Space figures in all the colors. People would buy it to support LBGTQ+ AND they'd buy it for Classic Space. I'd buy a few for army-building."
No joke! That's a fantastic idea. Kill 2 birds as they say.
Love this set. Have all the others plus Ninjago City n stuff. A parade going through my anime-inspired city will be cool.
@hawk_JK said:
"Beautifully designed and generous sets as always with this line, but it does make me wonder why we can’t get a better range of Christmas style festive themed sets apart from one Winter Village and a few GWPs each year. "
I'm not sure what you mean by this? Apart from the Winter Village sets and GWPs, there have also been several other Christmas sets each year including popular items like 2020's 2-in-1 Wreath, last year's Santa's Sleigh or this year's 2-in-1 Christmas Tree (not to mention smaller sets like this year's Wintertime Polar Bears and of course the multiple themed advent calendars each year). There certainly is no shortage of Christmas-themed items by Lego each year, and they've been doing them for much longer.
@Feroz said:
"And some people are still waiting for an orange space figure to be sold as part of another set."
Fortunately if you missed him the first time around in the Minifigure book, he is available again in the LEGO Ideas and Games collection which i have seen at Costco in the US. But if the price tag for the previous book held you back, he's not much cheaper with this new presentation.
@PDelahanty said:
"If Lego really wanted to cash in on Classic Space fans, they'd re-release 40516 Everyone Is Awesome but all the people would be Classic Space figures in all the colors. People would buy it to support LBGTQ+ AND they'd buy it for Classic Space. I'd buy a few for army-building."
I bought 2 of them for this exact reason. Built the second one in reverse added some technic bits and put them together. Put together the purple and light grey already minus the air tanks. The brown is all I need to complete the set. Still need to grab a third set for the brick suits.
@Feroz said:
" @Capybara554321 said:
"I'm gonna guess we will get a full purple spaceman soon enough. With the helmet and air tanks in production and it wouldn't be had to swap the brown torsos with a purple to do the print. "
The purple space torso has already been made, so it's not very likely.
Also consider that the grey space torso never led to a full grey space figure.
And some people are still waiting for an orange space figure to be sold as part of another set.
So if you really want a purple space figure it would be wise to start collecting parts and treat it as a Lego build-a-figure.
Of course Lego can gladly proof me wrong and release a whole spectrum of different coloured space figures!"
I did not buy 40516, but would buy multiple copies if they ever decide to do an 'Every Spaceman is awesome' with a traditional yellow grin faces and 11 (or more, lots more is better!) different colours spaceman. Heck, I hardly ever buy CMFs (got a few HP - really hate the doubles) but will most certainly try my luck to get a brown spaceman. (I already bought the purple CMF on Bricklink and the other corresponding parts from Lego).
@ra226 said:
"^ What we really need is just an All Classic Space Figs Are Awesome set."
With a few small CS style builds instead of the wall? That would be a Day One purchase for me. In fact, I’d make a special trip to a LEGO store just for that.
@Capybara554321 said:
" @PDelahanty said:
"If Lego really wanted to cash in on Classic Space fans, they'd re-release 40516 Everyone Is Awesome but all the people would be Classic Space figures in all the colors. People would buy it to support LBGTQ+ AND they'd buy it for Classic Space. I'd buy a few for army-building."
I bought 2 of them for this exact reason. Built the second one in reverse added some technic bits and put them together. Put together the purple and light grey already minus the air tanks. The brown is all I need to complete the set. Still need to grab a third set for the brick suits. "
Hehe! Almost the exact same position for me! Once brown and purple spaceman are complete, my only gaps will be classic space helmet in light bley and green.
I repeat, for the benefit of Lego’s community spies, that’s “Classic Space Helmet in Light Bley” (OK, Medium Stone Grey if you like) and “Classic Space Helmet in Green”
Thanks in advance, love from everybody.
The number of stickers is disappointing, clear backed too, so the worst to apply (the Windex trick doesn’t work as well with these).
They couldn’t have at least printed those logo tiles?
Where are you people finding purple air tanks/? I cant find that listed as a color they were produced in here or at Bricklink.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Where are you people finding purple air tanks/? I cant find that listed as a color they were produced in here or at Bricklink."
In this set!
I mentally facepalmed when the Monkie Kid hair on the performer with the fireworks string was described as Ninjago "traditional minifig headgear." I'm pretty sure that performer is not intended to promote any theme, but if any, it would be Monkie Kid, not Ninjago! @Huw should know better!
@Huw: I feel like an idiot now. I completely missed the tanks and only saw the helmet.
I wish Ollie‘s scales were printed for 80036 The City of Lanterns, I just applied those stickers a few days ago. Still, it’s cool that they are printed now.
So… reveal of the new modular any time soon?
The Year of the Rabbit is followed by the Year of the Dragon, and this version of Ollie the dragon looks like a Chinese dragon, so it can be displayed for next year as well.
BTW, Chinese New Year is not just celebrated by Chinese. It and its variants are celebrated by many East Asian cultures. So, both the existing market and potential market are huge.
A few of the photos seem to be celebrating the Year of the Hair. :-)
I’m just going to pretend this makes sense in ninjago city…
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"The eternal question: do I get a large set I have no interest in just to get the incomplete pieces to a purple classic spaceman?"
I know a few people who would jump on this set in a second. Not me though, I'm still not over Green, Orange and Pink spacemen. Having said that, I've built a grey spaceman, because grey was a major color in original space theme.
@scifiantihero said:
"I’m just going to pretend this makes sense in ninjago city…"
Considering the look of the buildings and those sets having references to other Lego themes it really isn't that big of a leap? :-)
Dear Lego, we still need a classic space helmet in green and light bluish gray, and a light bluish gray oxygen tank. While you are at it, if you could do a light blue classic spaceman, then we could complete the Everyone is Awesome set with spacemen!
'Four minifigures wearing 'traditional minifigure headgear' (space, pirates, castle and Ninjago)'
The Ninjago-guy has a red stuff with golden ends and wears a headband. He is dressed as Monkie Kid, which is in China a most popular theme as Ninjago. Apart from that Lego listed the set as a Monkie Kid Addition, when you search for Monkie Kid via the search button.
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"The eternal question: do I get a large set I have no interest in just to get the incomplete pieces to a purple classic spaceman?"
Yes, see not so eternal is it.
Sadly, although folks are talking about this being a "Day 1" purchase, I've been trained by Lego to wait a bit to see what GWP offerings will show up before buying on Day 1.