A designer video has been released for LEGO’s 2020 Chinese Festival Special Edition sets, and it gives us a better look at their features from the perspective of the LEGO design team. The LEGO Lion Dance (80104) and the LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair (80105) are the latest sets to be included in LEGO’s roster of seasonal sets that celebrate the festivities of the Chinese Spring Festival.


The official reveals earlier today gave us a glimpse of what we can expect from these sets, and this designer video from the perspective of LEGO Product Designer, Markus Rollbühler, gives us a closer look at these sets’ play features and their highlights. Watch this.
The LEGO design team meticulously paid attention to the fine details of the Chinese Spring Festival so they can be translated well in LEGO bricks. For the LEGO Lion Dance (80104) set, they looked into the classic tale of the Nian lion and how it interacts with the objects around it. Such as when it gets a red envelope and spits out or gives out the greens (in this case a piece of lettuce) – both symbolizing good fortune and blessings for business. The final design perfectly captures the details of the Nian lion, including the unique shape of its head, eyes, and mouth. The mouth opens and closes while the build itself can be posed in many different ways thanks to the minifigure torso and legs that are included with it.
Speaking about minifigs, this set also features a new, costumed minifigure that celebrates 2020 as being the Year of the Metal Rat.
The LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair (80105) is more of a collection of several builds that when combined together creates a busy market place, giving life to the traditional Chinese Spring Festival. There are five primary builds: a shrine, and four stalls loaded with details, each highlighting a particular activity or ware. We have a food stall, a toy stall, a shadow theater, and a vase & pottery store. These are accentuated by numerous traditional Chinese decors placed across them.
Both of these 2020 LEGO Chinese Festival Special Edition sets can be displayed individually, but it will certainly look great seeing them combined together for a more immersive play experience. You can arrange the stalls around the Lion Dance performance for example, while the family checks out each of the stalls. If you already have the LEGO Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner (80101) set, then it will be great adding this to the display as well.
I’m excited to see these sets in person, and if you’re looking forward to having these sets and you’re currently based in China or in the Asia Pacific, you’ll be glad to know that both these LEGO Chinese Festival Special Edition sets will be available in these regions on December 26, 2019. If you’re outside these regions, then you’ll only have to wait a couple of weeks when they are released worldwide on January 10, 2020.
Thanks to The Brothers Brick for sharing this video.