Each year, LEGO celebrates the Lunar New Year with specially themed sets. In 2021, during the Year of the Ox, they introduced a Spring Festival set set in a traditional garden. Fast forward to 2024, the Year of the Dragon, and LEGO unveiled the Auspicious Dragon, designed to mimic a bronze statue on a stand.
LEGO Spring Festival Trotting Lantern
0$129.95 at Amazon
$129.99 at LEGO Store
As we approach 2025, the Year of the Snake, LEGO is set to release three unique sets in honor of the occasion. The first, a Lucky Cat, will charm enthusiasts with its playful design. The second set, named Good Fortune, is a pastiche of Chinese iconography featuring a decorative fan, a calligraphy pen and scroll, and golden ingots. The third and most opulent set, the LEGO Spring Festival Trotting Lantern, which we had the pleasure of building and photographing for this review, is a stunning replica of a traditional trotting lantern. This LEGO build, like others of its kind, offers much more than meets the eye.
We Build The LEGO Trotting Lantern
98 Images
Let's pause to admire the exterior of this model, which is lavishly detailed. Every part of the set is adorned with decorative elements, from the red lanterns hanging from the buttresses to the gold detailing on the walls' borders, to the walls themselves, which showcase open skies and clouds framed by rocks.
Constructing the lantern involves a process of layering. You start with the basic core of the lantern, then add detailed overlays, and finally, layer even more intricate details on top. This method builds anticipation and delight as you uncover each new decorative element. The now-retired LEGO Carousel was the last set to evoke a similar sense of excitement about the next elaborate piece to be added.
Traditional trotting lanterns, originating from the Han Dynasty, were powered by oil lamps. These lamps projected silhouettes of paper cutouts onto the lantern's sides, while the heat generated would turn propellers, rotating the silhouettes.
LEGO's designers have ingeniously replicated this effect, albeit in a simplified form. An upright rod activates a light brick, illuminating the base of the lantern with a warm yellow glow. The light shines through a clear piece with a black-lined image, projecting it onto the lantern's side. Rotating the rod allows the image to move around the lantern.
The packaging suggests projecting the image onto a wall or other surface. However, my experience showed the projection to be blurry and hard to discern. I question LEGO's decision to highlight this feature, especially since the original trotting lantern wasn't designed for this purpose.
The upper section of the lantern opens to reveal three hidden dioramas: a food stall offering dumplings, a decorations stall, and a shadow puppet theater. These are cleverly concealed within the lantern's cylindrical structure, creating a delightful surprise that plays on the viewer's perception of depth and space. The set includes five minifigures, one sporting a snake costume, along with accessories like a plate of dumplings, a red envelope, a shadow puppet, and chopsticks.
Your decision to purchase this set may hinge on what you're looking for. If it's the illuminated, rotating mechanical effect, it might not justify the cost due to its limited visual impact. However, if you seek a visually stunning piece that hides impressive minifigure-scale scenes within an intricately detailed structure, this set is a splendid way to celebrate the Lunar New Year. It's suitable for ages 9 and up, though the final product suggests a more mature, 18+ build experience.
For further exploration, check out our selections of the best LEGO sets overall, the best Marvel LEGO sets, and the most expensive LEGO sets.
The LEGO Trotting Lantern, Set #80116, is priced at $129.99 and consists of 1295 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and the LEGO Store.
