LEGO has revealed two new sets to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year: 80104 Lion Dance and 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair. Both sets feature an incredible amount of new prints, recoloring of pieces and a significant amount of minifigures which all combine into a large festival setting. So today we have your first look at the sets and minifigures along with a video for each.
Honoring LEGO’s commitment to offer regional exclusives sets worldwide, the two new LEGO Chinese Traditional Festival models will launch in China and the Asia Pacific region starting December 26, 2019 with global availability beginning January 10, 2020.
Last year’s selection of Chinese Traditional Festival sets kicked off the product line with three highly sought-after models including 80101 Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner, 80102 Dragon Dance and 80103 Dragon Boat Race. High demand combined with the frustration surrounding the exclusivity of these sets actually led to a policy change at LEGO where they committed to releasing regional exclusives globally a short time after an in-region launch. We are happy to report that LEGO is staying true to that promise with the launch of the Lion Dance and Chinese New Year Temple Fair.
Before we dive into the photos of each, the following video shows each set in full along with LEGO designer Markus Rollbühler describing the functions and play features and how the two models can be combined.
80104 Lion Dance | 882 pieces
US $79.99 | CAN $109.99 | UK £64.99
The Lion Dance set showcases the traditional Chinese Spring Festival dancers and costumes, and features five brick-built lion figurines along with a percussion team, dancing stage, and ornate temple gate. Eight minifigures come with the set including dancers, a family, and one minifigure in a rat costume to mark the upcoming Year of the Rat. Accessories include red scrolls and orbs, a cabbage, calligraphy brush and rocket fireworks.
The five brick-built lion costumes feature an incredible amount of new prints and newly colored pieces, as well as movable hinged jaws and ten minifigure legs for the added illusion that there are minifigures puppeteering the lions.
The eight minifigures include one in a rat costume, three drummers, and four other in celebratory outfits. The scarf element appears in red for the first time, and alternate faces are included in the expanded photo gallery below.
LEGO also released a short animated video showing off the features of the Lion Dance set. For our readers who do not speak Chinese, the voice-over says “Five blessings to celebrate the Lunar New Year” (五福臨門 贺新春 / 五福临门贺新春) and “Gather both [2] festive sets to unlock even more [game] play” (集齊兩款解鎖更多玩法 / 集齐两款解锁更多玩法).
80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair | 1,664 pieces
US $119.99 | CAN $159.99 | UK £89.99
The Chinese New Year Temple Fair is a sprawling set that shows a lively festival like the ones seen in towns and cities throughout China around the lunar new year. The set includes a large temple gate, blossoming trees, four stalls and a whopping 14 minifgures. The set features many new prints showing ornate detailing on the temple gate, traditional signage, and various foods and treats available at the stalls. The new pumpkin elements are used as red lanterns, there are three distinct roofing techniques, and a toy stall includes nearly every color of LEGO nano-figure currently in production.
The set also includes 14 minifigures, though we only have 11 close up photos at the moment. There are several shop keepers as well as a few families, one of which is the same as the family in last year’s Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner set. There are several new prints, and two new red scarves are included.
LEGO also created another short animated video showing off the festival set. To the best of our abilities, the Chinese voice-over says “Family reunion to celebrate a blessed year” ( 闔家團圓幸富年 / 合家团圆幸福年) and “Gather both [2] festive sets to unlock even more [game] play” (集齊兩款解鎖更多玩法 / 集齐两款解锁更多玩法).
The two new LEGO Chinese Traditional Festival models can be combined into one, giant fair shown in the top photo in this article. The sets will be available in China and the Asia Pacific region starting December 26, 2019 with global availability beginning January 10, 2020.
The full press release and expanded photo gallery are included below.
Celebrate the Chinese New Year with LEGO Lion Dance and Traditional Temple Fair
Billund, 05 November 2019: Today, the LEGO Group revealed its 2020 Chinese New Year sets – Lion Dance and Chinese New Year Temple Fair. The launch follows on from this year’s popular sets: Dragon Boat Race, Dragon Dance and Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner, the first LEGO products created to mark the festivities.
The Lion Dance set vividly reproduces a well-loved scene of the Spring Festival and is sure to evoke fond memories of the traditional festival. The set features 5 beautifully decorated small lion figurines and a percussionists’ stage with an awesome drumming function. An accompanying temple gate is decorated with LEGO tiles featuring traditional patterns. The set also comes complete with 8 minifigures including lion dancers and a man in rat costume to mark the Year of the Rat. Additional accessory elements such as the red ‘best wishes’ scroll, red orb, cabbage, calligraphy brush and a rocket firework are included to inspire unlimited role-play.
The Chinese New Year Temple Fair set captures a beloved event often seen in towns and cities throughout China around the lunar new year. The set includes stalls displaying a vast, colourful array of LEGO versions of authentic items you would find at a Temple Fair. Everything from barbecue dishes to candy, toys, vases and dough figurines are lovingly re-created ion LEGO form. The set also includes 14 minifigures. Eagle-eyed LEGO fans will notice that the family from last year’s Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner set make an appearance, continuing the story of their Spring Festival celebrations.
LEGO Product designer Markus Rollbühler, designed the sets to be as authentic as possible: “We were incredibly thorough with our research when designing the sets. For the Chinese New Year Temple Fair, we looked closely at the types of things vendors sell in the market stalls and all of the various goods on offer.” It was also important that children could act out scenes to make the sets come alive: “Both sets include amazing minifigures and details to encourage role play. The Lion Dance set comes with many interesting play features. For example, you can fully pose the lions and you can also open and close their mouths to help recreate the spectacular dances we all know and love.” Markus explains.
The two new LEGO® Chinese Traditional Festival models will be ready to discover in China and Asia Pacific markets from December 26, 2019 and the rest of the world from January 10, 2020.
So the lion dancers are just legs? Doesn’t look like a full figure could fit.
Too bad minifigures cannot for into the Lions
Also why can’t Lego include a base plate for the temple set?