We Build the LEGO Trotting Lantern, a 2025 Lunar New Year Celebration

Each year, LEGO celebrates the Lunar New Year with captivating themed sets. In 2021, during the Year of the Ox, LEGO 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 set, designed to resemble a bronze statue on a stand.

### LEGO Spring Festival Trotting Lantern

0$129.95 at Amazon$129.99 at LEGO Store

As we look ahead to 2025, the Year of the Snake, LEGO is set to release three distinct sets. The first set features a Lucky Cat, the second, titled Good Fortune, is a pastiche of Chinese iconography incorporating elements like a decorative fan, a calligraphy pen and scroll, and golden ingots. The third and most luxurious set, which we've meticulously built and photographed for this review, is a replica of a traditional trotting lantern. This set, much like all LEGO builds with such focused themes, offers a depth that goes beyond its initial appearance.

We Build The LEGO Trotting Lantern

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Let's take a moment to appreciate the exterior of this model, which is a showcase of extravagance. Every part of the set is adorned with decorative elements, from the red lanterns hanging from the buttresses to the intricate gold detailing on the walls' borders, and even the walls themselves, which illustrate an open sky and clouds framed by rocks.

Constructing the lantern involves a fascinating layering process. You start by assembling the basic lantern structure, then add detailed layers on top, followed by even more intricate details. This method of building instills an anticipatory joy, reminiscent of the now-retired LEGO Carousel, as you discover what elaborate, decorative element comes next.

Traditional trotting lanterns, which originated during the Han Dynasty, were powered by oil lamps. These lamps projected silhouettes of paper cutouts onto the lantern's sides, and the heat from the lamps would rotate propellers, thus turning the silhouettes.

LEGO has ingeniously recreated this effect with a mechanism that, though limited, captures the essence of the original. An upright rod activates a light brick, causing the base of the lantern to emit a yellow glow. This light passes through a clear piece with a black-lined image, projecting it onto the lantern's side. Turning the rod rotates the image around the lantern.

The packaging suggests that the lantern can project images onto walls or other surfaces. However, in my experience, the projection was blurry and difficult to discern. It's puzzling why LEGO would highlight this feature, especially since it's neither effective nor true to the original design's purpose.

More impressive is the upper section of the lantern, which opens to reveal three hidden dioramas: a food stall offering dumplings, a decorations stall, and a shadow puppet theater. These dioramas, concealed within the lantern's cylinder like a surprise in a Polly Pocket, play on the viewer's perception of depth and space. The set includes five minifigures, one adorned with 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 seeking. If it's the lit-up, rotating mechanical effect, it might not meet expectations in terms of impressiveness or clarity for the price. However, if you're after a visually stunning piece that hides intricate minifigure-scale scenery within an even more detailed container, this set is a spectacular tribute to the Lunar New Year. It's officially rated for ages 9 and up, though its complexity suggests an 18+ build experience.

For more recommendations, explore our selections of the best overall LEGO sets, 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.