LEGO Unveils Lunar New Year Lantern for 2025

LEGO celebrates Lunar New Year annually with exclusive themed sets. For the 2021 Year of the Ox, they crafted a Spring Festival scene in a classical garden setting. The 2024 Year of the Dragon brought the magnificent LEGO Auspicious Dragon, designed to resemble an ornate bronze statue on a pedestal.

LEGO Spring Festival Trotting Lantern

$129.95 at Amazon | $129.99 at LEGO Store

Marking the 2025 Year of the Snake, LEGO unveils three special editions. The first features a Lucky Cat figurine. Good Fortune, the second set, blends classic Chinese motifs into artistic displays including decorative folding fans, calligraphy tools, and golden ingots. The crowning piece – which we assembled for this review – faithfully recreates a traditional trotting lantern. True to LEGO's craftsmanship, this build reveals extraordinary complexity beyond its initial impression.

Building the LEGO Trotting Lantern

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The exterior alone warrants admiration – every millimeter bursts with intricate details. Crimson lanterns dangle from ornate brackets, gold filigree traces architectural edges, and panoramic murals depict celestial landscapes framed by stone formations.

Construction follows a mesmerizing tiered approach. After establishing the central framework, builders add successive decorative layers – each revealing greater complexity. This progressive detailing evokes the same wonder as LEGO's retired Carousel set, where each step unveiled new artistic surprises.

Historically dating to China's Han Dynasty, authentic trotting lanterns used oil lamps to cast moving silhouette animations via heat-powered rotation.

LEGO engineers developed a simplified mechanical homage to this effect. Turning an axis rod activates a glowing yellow base that projects rotating imagery through transparent panels – though the projection quality proves disappointingly faint compared to marketing claims.

The true marvel emerges upstairs – sliding panels reveal three hidden dioramas: a dumpling vendor, festive decoration stall, and shadow puppet theater. This nested surprise rivals Polly Pocket's spatial illusions, enhanced by five included minifigures (one wearing a snake headpiece) with authentic Lunar New Year accessories.

Your satisfaction hinges on expectations. The projection mechanism underwhelms visually, but as an artistic centerpiece concealing micro-scale wonders within exquisite craftsmanship, it beautifully honors Lunar New Year traditions. Though marketed for ages 9+, its sophistication rivals adult collector sets.

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