This year marks the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac. As part of the Spring Festival celebrations, the LEGO Group have released the Auspicious Dragon. Of all the Zodiac animals, the dragon is best suited to create a visually impactful display piece and a marvellous build. April will also see the return of the NINJAGO: Dragons Rising, making this month very dragon-centric. But is the set a worthy addition to your collection? Here’s a closer look at the Chinese Spring Festival Auspicious Dragon set.
Product Details
Set Name: Auspicious Dragon | Set Number: 80112 | Pieces: 1171 | Theme: Seasonal
Number of Bags: Bags x 10 | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Stickers: N/A | Characters: N/A | Insiders QR: Yes
RRP: £69.99/$89.99/79.99€/CAD119.99/AUD149.99/NZD169.99
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
There have been several sets released to mark the Chinese New Year. These have ranged from small cartoon-like animals to minifigure-filled scenes and buildings. But some of the more interesting Spring Festival sets have been the displayable builds. That’s certainly the case with this set. It recreates a colourful dragon mounted on a rocky display base and it’s the base where the build begins. This base section is an interesting piece to build. The base is surprisingly complex in its construction, not in terms of difficulty in building but how it’s put together. It’s an oddly uneven collection of elements, but once complete, it works perfectly. One thing which elevates the rocky crop, on which the dragon stands, is the little wisps of clouds licking the blue base surrounding the rock section.
In comparison to the base, the build of the dragon is a little more traditional. To achieve the dragon’s curvy shape, the body is built in small sections. A pair of small ball joints then connect these. This results in a nice and secure connection, which maintains the shape of the dragon when connected to the base. There are lots of little details added to the dragon which add to its visual splendor. These golden spikes and scales are created through printed NEXO shields. These elements look great against the layering of the red and brick yellow pieces, along with flashes of bright blueish green.
The connection method for the dragon to the base is surprisingly simple. Three of the feet clip onto Technic pins, these then connect to the body of the dragon by larger ball joints. Although much of the base is built first, towards the end of the build, you added a few extra flourishes to finish it off. These include several red and orange cloud plates and a printed door panel offering a message of good luck.
When it was first revealed, I thought the set looked interesting but after building it, it’s an incredible set. I loved the uniqueness of the build and it looks amazing. If you had a similar feeling about the set, I’d recommend picking it up as it is just as much fun to build as it is as a display piece. Seasonal sets such as this often only stay around for the year they are released. It’s also a fairly useful set for parts, including some great printed pieces. The Auspicious Dragon set is available now from LEGO stores and LEGO.com.
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The LEGO Group provided this set, upon request, for this review. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz.com and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
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