Review: 40575 Year of the Rabbit
Posted by Huw,
2023 is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, so accordingly LEGO has produced model of a lagomorph as the next addition to the series of matching zodiac animal models that began in 2015.
40575 Year of the Rabbit will be a gift with purchase sometime during January, although we don't know when.
Summary
40575 Year of the Rabbit, 194 pieces.
Another fun addition to the Chinese zodiac animals collection
- Matches those released since 2015
- None
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
It's packed in a flip-top box and is designed to be opened prior to gifting so that the envelope inside, embellished with 2023 in gold foil, can be filled with money beforehand.
Rabbits come in a variety of colours but black and white has been chosen here, perhaps in part to differentiate it from other animals in the series.
Like most of those before it, it's posed in a seated position and mounted on top of a decorative 8x8 round base.
Its head rotates on its shoulder and the ears are hinged.
The base is embellished with red and gold, like most things associated with Chinese New Year!
I really like this series of models and keep them all built ready for a group photo every year. It's unusual for LEGO to maintain design consistency over such a long period and I think that is part of their appeal.
Nine of the 12 zodiac animals have been produced in this format, although the current standard was not set until the release of the second one, the monkey. That just leaves the dragon (2024), snake (2025) and horse (2026) to go.
I am aware that the sheep did not come with a circular base, I made one to match the others.
40575 Year of the Rabbit is one of at least three gift with purchases that'll be offered sometime during January. I suspect that if you have a collection of these models you'll want to add this one to it.
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26 comments on this article
Geez as someone with all of these since 2017 I was planning on getting this one but with the onslaught of high value GWPs it may not happen. They seem to be pumping out too many too fast for me to keep up.
It's adorable! I really like this line, and I love when you line up your collection for this particular group of sets each year, Huw. Thanks very much for doing that!
Last year both ToysRUs here in Canada and Indigo, a book store chain, sold the Year of the Tiger set for about $14.00, so Canadians, who aren't planning any February purchases, may be able to pick Year of the Rabbit up at one of those locations. The Year of the Tiger sets are still available at some Indigo shops.
If anyone would ask me, I would call it a dog...
Bugger! I was just scraping together a £170 basket to get the Blacktron thing.
Should I wait to get this- I have them all since the Dog- or should I get the spaceship?
Decisions, decisions.
Postscript 1: Do I ever feel like I'm being manipulated?- yes!
Postscript 2: There is now only one independent toy shop within 20 miles of here. What chance has it got if Lego does all these online GsWP?- none at all.
@mfg3000 said:
"It's adorable! I really like this line, and I love when you line up your collection for this particular group of sets each year, Huw. Thanks very much for doing that!"
Thank you -- it's always fun getting them out again!
With all the Easter rabbits, we're awash with them. But this one is quite cute.
@Pongo said:
"Bugger! I was just scraping together a £170 basket to get the Blacktron thing.
Should I wait to get this- I have them all since the Dog- or should I get the spaceship?
Decisions, decisions."
The rabbit will be readily available on Bricklink, the spaceship will be common too, just not cheap.
I wonder if this can be easily turned into a cat, without using too many extra parts.
We Vietnamese, unlike all other countries who use lunar calendar, have the Cat instead of the Rabbit as a zodiac animal.
@Huw:
Someone posted a screenshot of the January digital camera, showing that this and World House 1 will be available from January 15.
@minhvo:
If I set the image so the ears are off-screen, it looks fairly catlike. I’d think just a new pair of ears and a tail is all you’ll need to make it work.
It's nice, and certainly fits the other builds style, it's just that LEGO has had a lot of rabbit builds over the past couple years, like the easter vignettes , mechanical monkie kid moon rabbit, and even the 2023 White Rabbit and Lunar Parade, that this feels a bit less special and more of a "completionist" type of set.
I have 4 of them from pig to tiger, still undecided on this one.
(also the availability of other seasonal vignettes like valentines love bear/birds, halloween owl/cat, or winter penguin/bears offer a bit of nice variation instead of chasing those GWPs)
However, I am especially looking forward to next year's Dragon, wouldn't be too weird to expect a Lunar New Year, Creator and GWP dragon sets for 2024.
I sure hope they hold with the line and redo the sheep. My crew are split between being monkeys and pigs with me being the odd one out as a sheep. I started collecting them year before last but have managed to buy or BL all the way back except for the sheep. My rooster eyes aren’t correct - wow does that one cost on the secondary market.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Huw:
Someone posted a screenshot of the January digital camera…"
That should be “digital calendar”.
The LCS in Singapore has all 3 GWP available from tomorrow showing on their digital calendar. Based on the spend threshold for 40580 (that are available in both GBP and SGD) I'd expect this (40575) to be about £60 and 30641 to be around £40 when they appear in the UK.
@Igloo said:
"The LCS in Singapore has all 3 GWP available from tomorrow showing on their digital calendar. Based on the spend threshold for 40580 (that are available in both GBP and SGD) I'd expect this (40575) to be about £60 and 30641 to be around £40 when they appear in the UK."
30641 was available yesterday for 500 VIP points
@PeterT_AFOL said:
" @Igloo said:
"The LCS in Singapore has all 3 GWP available from tomorrow showing on their digital calendar. Based on the spend threshold for 40580 (that are available in both GBP and SGD) I'd expect this (40575) to be about £60 and 30641 to be around £40 when they appear in the UK."
30641 was available yesterday for 500 VIP points"
Oh, not to be a GWP here then? I'll check that out, thanks.
@Glacier_Phoenix said:
"Geez as someone with all of these since 2017 I was planning on getting this one but with the onslaught of high value GWPs it may not happen. They seem to be pumping out too many too fast for me to keep up. "
You should be able to buy this set on eBay etc soon, although you may have to wait a while for prices to be reasonable.
I recently got 40290 60 Years of the LEGO Brick for £12 which was a GWP back in 2018 (with a spend threshold of £100 at the time)
I'm with @Lo1sJess. I hope they start the series over again. I'd like to have 40207, because that's my position in the Chinese zodiac.
Feels like yesterday we got the Year of the Tiger review!
@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"With all the Easter rabbits, we're awash with them. But this one is quite cute. "
They're procreating like... ba dum, bump.
Just add grated cheese and stick it under the grill.
the rabbit comes out 15th to 25th
the snake ae pricey....
and dragon?
those not really numbered right like rest
Did they make horse in 2014?
Jan 15 would make sense for the Rabbit gwp, since the Blacktron gwp ends Jan 14.
Blacktron gwp seems hard to get unless you're buying the Jazz Club since that's the only new set over $200 to start the year. Only new set over US$100, actually.
This rabbit gwp will be easier, as one could probably scrape up several small new sets to meet the purchase threshold.
Personally, I love the Sheep one (for being cute and adorable without being a caricature) but not particularly enamoured by overly "cartoony" feel of all the others, including this (next) year's Rabbit....but maybe that's just me...
We have displayed the relevant year in our house in Vietnam but unfortunately there is a problem this year as the Vietnamese zodiac animal for 2023 is a cat not a rabbit!
Do we will be making our own based on the cat from 40570
So cool, if only I had the first 3 in this series too.
"lagomorph"? Really?