We Build the LEGO Trotting Lantern, a 2025 Lunar New Year Celebration

LEGO annually releases themed sets celebrating Lunar New Year. The 2021 (Year of the Ox) set featured a Spring Festival scene in a traditional garden. 2024's (Year of the Dragon) offering was the LEGO Auspicious Dragon, a bronze statue replica.

LEGO Spring Festival Trotting Lantern

$129.95 at Amazon
$129.99 at LEGO Store

2025, the Year of the Snake, sees LEGO release three commemorative sets. A Lucky Cat, a "Good Fortune" set featuring Chinese iconography (decorative fan, calligraphy set, golden ingots), and a detailed replica of a traditional trotting lantern—the focus of this review. This lantern, like other focused LEGO builds, offers surprising depth beyond initial appearances.

Building the LEGO Trotting Lantern

The lantern's exterior is exquisitely detailed. Every inch boasts decorative elements: red lanterns, gold detailing, and intricately painted walls depicting sky and clouds framed by rocks.

Construction is a layered process. You build the core lantern, then add layers of increasingly intricate details. This creates a delightful anticipation, reminiscent of the now-retired LEGO Carousel, as you eagerly await each new decorative element.

Historically, trotting lanterns (dating back to the Han Dynasty) used oil lamps to project silhouettes of paper cutouts. The heat rotated propellers, animating the silhouettes. The LEGO version cleverly simulates this: an upright rod activates a light brick, illuminating a clear piece with a black-lined image, projecting it onto the lantern's side. Rotating the rod animates the projection.

While the packaging highlights wall projection, the image is unfortunately blurry and indistinct. This feature, ineffective and historically inaccurate, seems an odd selling point.

More impressive is the lantern's upper tier, opening to reveal three charming dioramas: a dumpling stall, a decorations stall, and a shadow puppet theater. These hidden scenes, nestled within the lantern's cylinder, create a delightful surprise. The set includes five minifigures (one with a snake costume), dumplings, a red envelope, a shadow puppet, and chopsticks.

The set's appeal hinges on your priorities. The light-up, rotating mechanism isn't spectacular enough to justify the price alone. However, the aesthetic beauty and the intricately detailed, hidden dioramas make it a stunning Lunar New Year celebration. Rated for ages 9+, its complexity suggests a more mature build experience.

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

LEGO Trotting Lantern, Set #80116, retails for $129.99 and contains 1295 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and the LEGO Store.