The LEGO Group have always celebrated jet seasonal holidays or events with a variety of different LEGO® products. Over the last few years, Chinese New Year has inspired many new sets with the latest releases being no different. In fact, this year has seen the range switch things up a little with the usual LEGO and DUPLO playsets being joined by a displayable build and a smaller set, which is the focus of this review. As a Christmas Day treat, here’s a look at the newly released LEGO Money Tree.
Money Tree
Set Name: Money Tree | Set Number: 40648 | Theme: Seasonal | Pieces: 336 | RRP: £21.99/$24.99/24.99€
Chinese culture is steeped in tradition and many of the Chinese New Year LEGO sets have taken inspiration from those long-held traditions. The ability to bestow good fortunes and luck forms a key part of those traditions, which is the focus of this set. Although dubbed a Money Tree this isn’t a recreation of the real-life plant with the same name. Instead, it’s a buildable plant which includes various elements considered bringers of good luck in Chinese culture.
The red rectangular pot forms the base and beginning of the build. The colour red is very important in Chinese culture, it’s decorated with various gold-coloured elements including two boat-like builds. These actually represent sycee, golden ingots which were once used as currency in ancient China. In modern-day Chinese culture, they are formed with gold or silver-coloured paper, similar to Origami.
The tree part of the set is built in sections upon which there are a group of 4 branches on each, in total there are 16 main branches along with 4 smaller ones which sit at the top of the tree. They all use the classic LEGO leaf elements, with those smaller branches using slightly smaller versions.
Each main branch includes a trio of symbols with strong connections to good fortunes and good luck. They include 20 tangerines, yes they use the pumpkin element and very much still look like pumpkins but they are meant to represent citrus fruits. In Chinese culture, tangerines are believed to bring good luck and happiness. There are also 14 red envelopes, created by printed 1×2 tiles. During Lunar New Year red envelopes symbolise good wishes and luck for the upcoming new year and are often given filled with money. Finally, there are also 10 printed gold coins, Chinese lucky coins are quite unique as they have a square hold removed from the middle of them which represents the heavens and the earth. They are also considered a symbol of luck.
Overall
This is the first time a smaller retail set has been created for Chinese New Year, which makes it much more affordable than most of the previous, larger-scale sets. It’s also a decoration which could be brought out every year as many do with their Christmas, Easter and Halloween LEGO sets. It’s certainly an interesting set and has some fun pieces, although it’s much smaller than I expected it to be. The LEGO Money Tree is available now through LEGO retail channels.
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This set was provided BricksFanz and provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
