As we have seen from this month’s LEGO Store Calendar, those who will be making their next LEGO purchase starting on Monday is in for another brick treat. For every single-receipt purchase of any LEGO products or merchandise worth $80 and above from January 13 to 26 will entitle you to an exclusive LEGO Year of the Rat (40355) set as a way of celebrating the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year.
And if you want to see what you can expect from this set, LEGO servers are now updated to include several official images of this set. Take a look.
LEGO Year of the Rat (40355)
Similar to last year’s LEGO Year of the Pig (40186) promotional set, this newest member of the Chinese zodiac-inspired LEGO set comes with a variety of play features and points of articulation. It comes in 162 pieces and has posable ears and paws and a movable tail and head. It comes with a bit of LEGO foliage pieces on top of a circular base similar to its predecessors.
Our holiday vacations were quite busy during the past week, but like any other faithful LEGO fan, this will not stop us from visiting the LEGO Store to see first hand LEGO’s latest new-for-2020 LEGO sets. In case you already have a copy of the LEGO Catalog for the first half of 2020 either in physical or digital formats, then you will definitely like to see these new sets up-close and personal. So while you’re still contemplating on which new LEGO sets will make it to your top five, must-purchase list, take a look at some of the best LEGO sets that are now available this 2020. Just click on the following links below to know more about this new-for-2020 LEGO sets.
Our first wave of LEGO BrickHeadz 2020 seasonal sets have finally been listed at LEGO Shop@Home. Since their reveal earlier this October, the theme has proven itself popular to fans, with more LEGO BrickHeadz 2020 sets to be expected as promised by its lead designer Marcos Bessa. This time around, we’re getting an early Valentine’s Day treat with the January 2020 release of three of their seasonal sets: the Valentine’s Bear (40379), Bride (43083) and Groom (43084).
For an early Chinese New Year treat, LEGO is also releasing the LEGO BrickHeadz Lucky Cat (40436) to celebrate the festivities. These sets are slated to be released on January 1st, so you may want to add them to your LEGO Shop@Home wishlist for the time being. Check out the rest of these LEGO BrickHeadz 2020 seasonal sets and their respective product details below.
The adorable LEGO® BrickHeadz™ Valentine’s Bear (40379) is the perfect way to let someone know how much they’re loved. Holding a large red heart, the cute brown bear sits on a picnic blanket together with his little bee friend, a honey jar and colorful flowers. Displayed on a sturdy baseplate, the Valentine’s Bear is a fun, lasting gift idea for him, her, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife… at any time of year, whether Valentine’s, birthday, Christmas or just because.
This collectible LEGO® BrickHeadz™ buildable model of a cute brown bear holding a large red heart, sits on a picnic blanket together with his little bee friend, a honey jar and colorful flowers.
A great way to let someone know how much they’re loved; this set is suitable for anyone aged 10 and up.
With 150 pieces and standing more than 3” (8cm) tall, this is a great buildable Valentine’s Bear gift for him, her, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife… anyone who deserves to feel loved, at any time of year.
This LEGO® BrickHeadz™ Wedding Bride (40383) is a fun way to celebrate an impending marriage – whether a friend’s, a family member’s or your own! The buildable model comes with a pair of glasses, flowers, dress decorations, a ring and other optional pieces to personalize the bride’s facial expression, hair and skin color. With at least 14 possible looks, there’s plenty of opportunity to get creative before the big day!
This collectible LEGO® BrickHeadz™ buildable model of a beautiful bride with customizable facial expression, hair and skin color makes a great gift for a bride to be.
Simple and fun to build, the set is suitable for anyone aged 10 and up.
With 306 pieces and standing more than 3” (8cm) tall, this buildable Wedding Bride looks great combined with the corresponding LEGO® BrickHeadz™ Wedding Groom (40384).
Celebrate a friend’s, family member’s or your own upcoming marriage with a LEGO® BrickHeadz™ Wedding Groom (40384) building kit. The fun model comes with a pair of glasses, hat, suit decorations, a ring and other optional pieces to personalize the facial expression, hair and skin color. With at least 11 possible looks, there’s plenty of creative construction to enjoy before the big day!
This collectible LEGO® BrickHeadz™ buildable model of a smartly dressed gentleman with customizable facial expression, hair and skin color makes a great gift for a groom on or before his wedding day.
Simple and fun to build, the set is suitable for anyone aged 10 and up.
With 255 pieces and standing more than 3” (8cm) tall, this buildable Wedding Groom looks great combined with the corresponding LEGO® BrickHeadz™ Wedding Bride (40383).
This adorable LEGO® BrickHeadz™ Lucky Cat (40436) is a great gift for kids at Chinese New Year. The model has long whiskers, a cute pink nose and incorporates a lever at the back that moves the cat’s paw up and down. Displayed on a sturdy baseplate, the Lucky Cat is a fun, lasting gift that delivers a message of good fortune all year round.
This collectible LEGO® BrickHeadz™ buildable model of a traditional Chinese Lucky Cat sits on a sturdy base, making it ideal for play or display.
A great way to wish anyone ‘Happy New Year’, this set is suitable for anyone aged 10 and up.
With 134 pieces and standing more than 3” (8cm) tall, this buildable Lucky Cat is a fun, traditional way to wish the recipient good luck at any time of the year.
In case you missed out on this year’s holiday gift-with-purchase (GWP) set in the form of the LEGO Christmas Tree (40338), you might be interested to know that LEGO’s Customer Service has also uploaded the building instructions to recreate this set. You may download a copy of it right here.
It’s nice of LEGO to make the building instructions for their exclusive promotional sets – such as the Buildable Red Brick for example – available to the public particularly to LEGO fans that may have missed out on this promo. As part of its Black Friday deals, the LEGO Christmas Tree (40338) was only made available for four days from November 29 to December 2, for a minimum single-receipt purchase worth $120 USD. It obviously comes with a relatively higher qualifying purchase as compared to other promos, but as a freebie coming in at 392 pieces and with some pretty nice play features, I certainly have no qualms about it.
As much as I understand the idea of giving shopping incentives and freebies to LEGO fans, I wish that LEGO will eventually make the LEGO Christmas Tree (40338), as well as other previously released seasonal gift-with-purchase (GWP) sets such as the LEGO Christmas Carousel (40293) and LEGO Christmas Gift Box (40292) both from last year, available as regular selling items in LEGO brand stores. In my opinion, it will be nice to offer them initially as exclusive freebies but LEGO will be serving the larger LEGO community in general if they will make these sets available for sale later on.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, LEGO Shop@Home is now carrying a new promotional that will run for the next two weeks. It may not be that exciting as compared to the upcoming gift-with-purchase set such as the LEGO Batman 1989 Batmobile – Limited Edition (40433) set, but still, its a nice way to celebrate the holiday season. From November 4 to 17, every single-receipt purchase of any LEGO product or merchandise worth $35 and more will entitle you to a free LEGO Creator Reindeer (40434) polybag.
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, this latest LEGO Creator Reindeer (40434) freebie is basically a re-release of 2016’s LEGO Creator Reindeer (30474). It may not look that much but since its a promotional, I’m still glad to see a free item added in my cart. However, I strongly feel that most fans out there are holding back on their LEGO purchases until the end of this month once this year’s Black Friday deals roll in. For one, those who will make their LEGO qualifying purchases (worth $120 and more) from November 29 to December 2 will get the much better, limited-edition LEGO Christmas Tree (40338) gift-with-purchase set.
LEGO is also posed to reveal another BIG, nostalgic set that will debut on these dates. I’m positive that this display-worthy set will be revealed very soon so be sure to stay tuned.
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 LEGO Lion Dance (80104) set.The LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair (80105) set.
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.
Following the reveal of the first 2020 regional-themed, seasonal set in the form of the LEGO Lion Dance (80104), LEGO has also revealed another set that celebrates 2020’s new Lunar Year festivities. The LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair (80105) has been officially unveiled and is a great addition to any existing collection that marks these festivities.
LEGO fans who are keeping track of these sets will notice that the same minifigure family included in the LEGO Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner (80101) comes back to continue their journey of celebrating the Spring Festival. If I may say, this set is the most elaborate of all the themed set under this category and even includes a huge number of detailed minifigures – 14 in total to be exact. I also appreciate the thoughtful design process that went through the creation of the LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair (80105), including that of the Lion Dance (80104). According to LEGO Product designer Markus Rollbühler, they’ve intentionally designed the sets to be as authentic as possible. “We were incredibly thorough with our research when designing the sets. For the Chinese New Year Temple Fair, we looked closely at the types of things vendors sell in the market stalls and all of the various goods on offer.”
Together with the LEGO Lion Dance (80104), the LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair (80105) will also launch in China and the Asia Pacific region on December 26, 2019 and will be offered to the rest of world on January 10, 2019. Read on for LEGO’s official description for this set, and be sure to check with LEGO Shop@Home during these dates.
LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair (80105)
The Chinese New Year Temple Fair set captures a beloved event often seen in towns and cities throughout China around the lunar new year. The set includes stalls displaying a vast, colorful array of LEGO versions of authentic items you would find at a Temple Fair. Everything from barbecue dishes to candy, toys, vases and dough figurines are lovingly re-created ion LEGO form. The set also includes 14 minifigures. Eagle-eyed LEGO fans will notice that the family from last year’s Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner set make an appearance, continuing the story of their Spring Festival celebrations.
LEGO is further gearing up its roster of 2020 sets, and this next one will certainly be appreciated across Asia and the rest of the world. A new, Chinese New Year inspired set has now been officially revealed – the LEGO Lion Dance (80104).
The LEGO Lion Dance (80104) showcases five, colorfully decorated brick-built lion figures used in the traditional Lion Dance performance. It also includes 8 minifigures, and I guess plenty of minifig legs for the dancing lion figures, lol. This set is expected to be released in China and in the Asia Pacific region earlier just after Christmas on December 26, 2019 and to the rest of the world on January 10, 2020. I’ll keep you posted on the retail price and piece count of this set any time soon. For now, here’s how the LEGO Group describes the LEGO Lion Dance (80104) set.
The Lion Dance set vividly reproduces a well-loved scene of the Spring Festival and is sure to evoke fond memories of the traditional festival. The set features 5 beautifully decorated small lion figurines and a percussionists’ stage with an awesome drumming function. An accompanying temple gate is decorated with LEGO tiles featuring traditional patterns. The set also comes complete with 8 minifigures including lion dancers and a man in rat costume to mark the Year of the Rat. Additional accessory elements such as the red ‘best wishes’ scroll, red orb, cabbage, calligraphy brush and a rocket firework are included to inspire unlimited role-play.
Here’s another reason to be jolly this holiday season. It has been revealed that we will have another limited edition, gift-with-purchase (GWP) set just in time for Christmas. An image has been shared via Brick and Bricks’ Facebook page that shows the arrival of a limited edition, LEGO Mini Gingerbread House (40337) GWP set anytime soon. This freebie is a nod to its larger replica which is the LEGO Creator Expert Gingerbread House (10267).
This is a great addition to the recently announced LEGO Christmas Tree (40338) set which will also be offered as a seasonal gift-with-purchase set at the end of November. Other than this first look, we don’t have further info as of now regarding its release date nor its piece count. Though the 2019 LEGO Christmas Tree (40338) freebie comes at a higher purchase price point of $120 USD because of its higher piece count, we can expect the LEGO Mini Gingerbread House (40337) to be somewhat lower. In any case, it will be great to see both of these sets on display beside that LEGO Winter Village MOC that you might be working on.
If you recall, this smaller version of the Gingerbread House is somehow reminiscent of 2015’s similar freebie which is the LEGO Gingerbread House (40139). It was offered back then during 2015’s Black Friday sales in November, with qualifying LEGO purchases worth $99 and more. So I guess it’s not far-fetched to consider that LEGO might be doing the same for this new Gingerbread House iteration.
To be completely honest, between this year’s version of the Mini Gingerbread House (40337) and that from four years ago (40139), I have to say that I prefer the latter. But in any case, I’m not the type to really complain especially considering the fact that this is a free set. I just hope that LEGO will offer this new freebie at a relatively low qualifying purchase point.
We’re just counting the days before a swarm of Treat or Tricksters come knocking at our doors this Halloween, and what a better way to add some brick-building fun to this occasion by including this double monster treats from our master builders from Build Better Bricks. Inspired by classic horror films, these custom LEGO Werewolf and LEGO Frankenstein Monster builds stands at 8 and 11 inches tall respectively – a formidable monster duo that never goes out of style. This monster tandem will be a great addition to that fear-inducing and gut-wrenching custom LEGO Aliens Xenomorph that I featured a couple of months ago.
I love the range of articulation in these Halloween-inspired builds, especially the custom LEGO Werewolf. Such a well-built, organic form gives this creation a sense of ghoulish character and personality that makes you feel that it might jump on you at any time. The custom LEGO Frankenstein, on the other hand, retains it’s clunky, heavy built reminiscent of how the original monster looks and feels like. It is also well articulated and offers a lot of possibilities for display. This double monster brick builds is a sure way to get anyone’s attention this all Hallow’s eve.
If you want to add some LEGO brick-building fun this Thursday night, then be sure to head over at Build Better Bricks to purchase and download the building instructions to create these ghastly fun builds. Happy building!
The best way to build this beast is in the light of a full moon…that is, unless you are also a lycanthrope. This model is highly articulated to capture a werewolf’s organic form. He can be posed standing or on all fours. This model would be a wonderful addition to any Halloween display.
It’s Alive! Well, not really. However, you can play the role of Dr. Frankenstein and bring this creation to life. This monster is part man and part machine…and part plastic too. He’s harmless unless you put it near an open flame. Then he may melt. The model is fully articulated and stands exceptionally well. Great for your Halloween display!
