Since their 2019 debut, LEGO's Lunar New Year sets have become an annual staple, and for 2022, LEGO fans are being treated to two fantastic new builds: 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions and 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival! This week, Toy-People is unboxing both of these sets, which are packed with traditional Chinese flavor.
Going in numerical order, let's start with 80108. The "Lunar New Year Traditions" set features six vignettes representing various holiday activities. Each module is built to the same specifications, recreating familiar New Year's scenes in a compact space: spring cleaning, shopping for holiday goods, giving red envelopes, and gathering with family to watch New Year's specials on TV. Plus, this set offers multiple creative display options.
▼ The box art features a purple and red theme with ink wash-style brushstrokes to enhance the traditional aesthetic. A tiger graphic in the bottom-left corner celebrates the Year of the Tiger.
▼ The box specifically highlights that "up to 6 people can build together."
▼ The back of the box showcases details of each scene and an alternate stacking configuration.
▼ All the minifigures lined up! The God of Wealth is absolutely awesome.
▼ The set includes 7 bags of parts and 6 instruction booklets, making it perfect for building with family and friends who love LEGO!
▼ Each instruction booklet is headed with a four-character Chinese idiom that serves as the theme for one of the six scenes.
▼ The instructions also open with an illustration showing everyone building together.
▼ Let's get building!
▼ First, here's the default configuration after assembly. It would have been next-level if they had designed a rotating mechanism!
▼ The set's other main build configuration allows you to view all the scenes from a single side.
● Spring Cleaning ●
The tiger head printed on the back of the torso is a great touch for the new year. The minifigure holds a colorful feather duster and a window squeegee, perfectly capturing the feeling of a big clean-up!
● Shopping for New Year's Goods ●
This scene depicts a market stall selling cured sausages, chicken legs, and dough figurines. The fanny pack print on the vendor's torso is a fantastic detail!
● Welcoming Good Fortune ●
▼ While the adorable tiger-themed "Fu" (Fortune) character sign is a sticker, the three-part couplet is a printed brick.
● New Year's Visits to get red envelopes●
▼ The living room is decorated with a shelf full of items, a large vase, and a tiger-themed wall hanging.
● Staying Up on New Year's Eve ●
Next up is my favorite scene: New Year's Eve. This tiny space is packed with elements like a TV, a two-seater sofa, a family portrait, and a fish tank. The three minifigures create a warm, cozy TV-watching moment, and the dad's sleepy expression is hilarious!
● Welcoming the God of Wealth ●
A major highlight of this set is the God of Wealth minifigure. The "Zhao Cai Jin Bao" (招財進寶, "Bring in wealth and treasure") printed tile and the transparent printed tiger tile are both very appealing. Using hot dog buns as gold ingots is also a clever touch.
▼ This is the central column that connects all the vignettes. The printed Year of the Tiger top piece is super cute.
▼ Here's a look at all the minifigures from set 80108.
Now let's move on to the next set, "80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival." This build creates a lively ice skating rink scene, complete with a stunning ice sculpture of the Chinese character for "Spring" (春)! As you can see from the box art, this set is also packed with minifigures.
▼ The back of the box shows off the play features in detail.
▼ The set contains 13 bags of parts, two white baseplates, one instruction booklet, and a Year of the Tiger photo standee. There are no stickers—every decorated piece is printed.
▼ These face-in-hole photo boards used to be common at tourist spots, but now you're more likely to see them at themed exhibitions.
▼ Time to start building!
▼ All finished!
▼ Let's take a look at the "Lunar New Year Ice Festival" from a few different angles. The scene is very complete and feels reminiscent of the previously released "80107 Spring Lantern Festival." However, I personally think this ice rink offers a bit more playability.
▼ Moving on to the details, this beautifully designed and highly realistic stone staircase is definitely a technique that scene-building LEGO fans should take note of.
▼ A barrier formed by a brick wall and a wooden fence.
▼ The sign for the ice rink shows the temperature has dropped to -6°C! That's freezing!
▼ Here's the skate rental shop. The Chinese characters on the sign, the lanterns, and the blue-and-gold logo are all very charming.
▼ In addition to the snow on the front eaves, the roof features some nice build details. The bottom can also be pulled out to reveal various equipment stored inside.
▼ The skate equipment rack is awesome!
▼ A snow-covered tree.
▼ And now for a major highlight of the set: the "Spring" (春) character ice sculpture, built from two types of transparent bricks. There's even a small slope to slide down.
▼ The set uses parts with a glittery texture to create the frozen lake, and the fish visible beneath the ice is a really cool design choice.
▼ There's a hole near the rental shop where you can go ice fishing!
▼ One of my favorite mini-builds is this penguin sled. The design, which allows one person to ride while another pushes from behind, is so much fun!
▼ Recreating a classic scene of ice rink chaos!
▼ This set also includes a cool new translucent-blue ice penguin piece.
▼ The Year of the Tiger photo standee is perfectly on-theme, and it's printed on both sides!
▼ Feeling hungry after all that skating? No problem! Just outside, there's a cart selling roasted sweet potatoes. Like the vendor in 80108, this minifigure also has a fanny pack printed on his torso.
▼ Here's a look at all the minifigures and the penguin figure from this set.
【LEGO 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions & 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival Review Summary】
As part of a series that gets more exciting every year, both of these new Lunar New Year sets live up to the hype. 80108's clever design combines the fun of "building together" with "creative variety," and of course, the God of Wealth minifigure is a showstopper! Meanwhile, 80109 delivers a fun-filled ice rink scene with a stunning transparent ice sculpture as its centerpiece. With plenty of minifigures, vendors, and photo standees, it's perfect for creating a festive atmosphere. While 80108 does have a fair number of stickers, both sets are loaded with unique Year of the Tiger printed bricks. These are definitely worth picking up to get into the holiday spirit!
LEGO 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions
Total Parts: 1066 pieces, Release Date: Available Now
LEGO 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival
Total Parts: 1519 pieces, Release Date: Available Now