LEGO Trotting Lantern Unveiled for 2025 Lunar New Year

Each year, LEGO honors the Lunar New Year with a series of themed sets that capture the essence of the celebration. 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 released the Auspicious Dragon set, designed to resemble a bronze statue mounted on a stand.

### LEGO Spring Festival Trotting Lantern

$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 to mark the occasion. The first set features a Lucky Cat. The second, dubbed Good Fortune, is a pastiche of Chinese iconography that includes a decorative fan, a calligraphy pen and scroll, and golden ingots. The third and most opulent set, which we've built and photographed for this review, is a detailed replica of a traditional trotting lantern. This set transcends its initial appearance, offering much more to the dedicated builder.

We Build The LEGO Trotting Lantern

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Let's pause to admire the exterior of the LEGO Trotting Lantern. This model is a testament to detailed craftsmanship, with every inch adorned with decorative elements. From the red lanterns dangling from the buttresses to the gold detailing on the walls' edges and the walls themselves, which depict an open sky and clouds framed by rocks, the design is truly extravagant.

Constructing the lantern involves a meticulous process of layering. You start by assembling the core lantern, then add layers of intricate details. The final touch involves adding even more detailed elements on top. This build evokes the same excitement I felt with the now-retired LEGO Carousel, anticipating the next elaborate decorative piece.

Traditional trotting lanterns, dating back to the Han Dynasty, were powered by oil lamps. These lamps projected silhouettes of paper cutouts onto the lantern's sides while the heat generated from the lamps turned propellers, rotating the silhouettes. LEGO's designers have ingeniously replicated this effect, though in a more simplified form. An upright rod activates a light brick, illuminating the lantern's base with a warm yellow glow. This light shines 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 the ability to project the image onto a wall or surface. However, in my experience, the projection was blurry and hard to make out. This feature seems overstated, especially since traditional trotting lanterns were not designed for this purpose.

The upper section of the lantern is a marvel, opening to reveal three hidden dioramas: a food stall serving dumplings, a decorations stall, and a shadow puppet theater. These dioramas, cleverly concealed within the lantern's cylinder like a Polly Pocket, play on the viewer's perception of depth and space. The set includes five minifigures, one sporting a snake-themed costume, along with accessories like a plate of dumplings, a red envelope, a shadow puppet, and sets of chopsticks.

Your decision to purchase this set may hinge on the feature you value most. If it's the illuminated, rotating mechanical effect, it might not meet your expectations in terms of clarity and impact. However, if you're drawn to the set's aesthetic beauty and the intricate, hidden minifigure scenes within its detailed structure, the LEGO Trotting Lantern is a splendid tribute to the Lunar New Year. Although rated for ages 9 and up, the complexity of the final build suggests it's more suited for those 18 and older.

For more LEGO recommendations, explore our selections for the best overall LEGO sets, the top Marvel LEGO sets, and the most expensive LEGO sets.

The LEGO Trotting Lantern, Set #80116, is priced at $129.99 and comprises 1295 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and the LEGO Store.