REVIEW: 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions

[Pchan1983]

Local stores put this on shelf earlier than expected and here is my review on 2022 Chinese new year set, 80108 Lunar New Year:

THE GOOD:

• Good concept and enjoyable building experience despite the base of each section are the same build.
• The mandarin tree is one of the best plant build in recent years.
• God of Fortune minifigure is awesome.
• Some fun call backs to previous sets in the form of stickers.
• Some great new minifigure parts.  Love the sleeping dad face.
• Each tradition can be displayed on its own based on your preference.
• Some great new printed parts.
• Designed to be a fun family building experience.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

• The modular stacking is not as easy as it seems.  Can be a bit flimsy too when stacked up.
• The central piece has a few decorations but you can't really see if all connected.  It doesn't look that good on its own.

Overall, this set exceeds my expectation.  Originally, I was more into 80109 but after building this set I started to appreciate this a lot.  The concept of small section with LOTS OF DETAILS that can stack up in a modular way is great. And some of the small details in each section just blew my mind. (the mandarin tree).  Once again the CNY theme delivers excellent minifigures and parts.  The god of fortune is really authentic.  Now I really hope all these new parts can be ordered from B&P from 1st Jan.  Having each section to be built separately and having individual instruction booklet for each really promote the whole family fun idea.  While this is a great set, I did find the stacking do not work as smooth as I would hope.  However, the set is still too good to not recommend to everyone.  The price is a bit high but I do believe the enjoyment and satisfaction from this set overweights the price.  Highly Recommended.

[eric_son_of_joseph]

Thank you for posting this very thorough review, I enjoyed it.  Looking forward to your review of set 80109.  Cheers!

[Robert8]

I really like this concept. I love to see it used in other themes

Thanks for the review!

[Pchan1983]

8 hours ago, eric_son_of_joseph said:

Thank you for posting this very thorough review, I enjoyed it.  Looking forward to your review of set 80109.  Cheers!

Thanks, 80109 is half way built now =)

6 hours ago, Robert8 said:

I really like this concept. I love to see it used in other themes

Thanks for the review!

even MOC can use similar concept, especially for people like me when display space is limited

[williejm]

I like that each of the individual vignettes features a tiger somehow 🐯

[alvinofdiaspar]

Thanks for the review!  Love the the kumquat tree and will definitely look up the instructions for that. The pearl gold hotdog buns subbing as gold bullions is great too. Are the coins printed?  The carousel diorama also reminds me of the CNY candy tray with multiple compartments 
 

I typically only pick up only one of the CNY sets and this one is cute - but I have already decided on 80109.  Looking forward to your review of that set!

Edited December 23, 2021 by alvinofdiaspar

[AmperZand]

Thanks for the review. Understanding the symbolism of the various sub-builds is both informative and educational.

The multicoloured brush is called a ‘feather duster’ even if it doesn’t have feathers, and the gold bar is an ‘ingot’. The connector used to attach each scene to the central column seems to be an axle, not a pin.

Edited December 23, 2021 by AmperZand

[Pchan1983]

14 hours ago, alvinofdiaspar said:

Thanks for the review!  Love the the kumquat tree and will definitely look up the instructions for that. The pearl gold hotdog buns subbing as gold bullions is great too. Are the coins printed?  The carousel diorama also reminds me of the CNY candy tray with multiple compartments 
 

I typically only pick up only one of the CNY sets and this one is cute - but I have already decided on 80109.  Looking forward to your review of that set!

It will be even more awesome if it can rotates like the candy tray. shouldn't be that hard to make this modification.

12 hours ago, AmperZand said:

The multicoloured brush is called a ‘feather duster’ even if it doesn’t have feathers, and the gold bar is an ‘ingot’. The connector used to attach each scene to the central column seems to be an axle, not a pin.

oh right, thanks for this.

[alvinofdiaspar]

11 hours ago, Pchan1983 said:

It will be even more awesome if it can rotates like the candy tray. shouldn't be that hard to make this modification.

Actually a CNY candy tray (with Lego candies) would be perfect as an "adult" Lego product.

Edited December 24, 2021 by alvinofdiaspar