Review: 80106 Story of Nian
Posted by Huw,The story of Nian concerns the titular half-dragon, half-unicorn monster who rampages through villages every lunar New Year, eating everything it comes across, including its favourite delicacy, children!
To cut a long story short, which you can read here, it turns out that Nian means new year and the colour red, fireworks and loud noises frighten him away which is why all three play a prominent part in Chinese New Year celebrations.
80106 Story of Nian, the smaller of the two Chinese traditional festival (CTF) sets that are being released in January, brings the legend to life.
Construction
The village residence
Parts are divided between eight numbered bags, of which 1-6 are used for the construction of the facade of the residence.
It may be 'only' a wall and a door, but it's exquisitely detailed and a lot of parts have gone into making it, and the snow-covered rocks in front of it, look authentic.
I particularly like the icicles hanging from the partially snow-covered roof. The red Chun Lian banners around the door -- to help ward Nian off -- are printed but, unusually for a CTF set, the decorations on the doors are stickers.
It looks pretty good at this stage, but there's more detail -- and foreground snow -- added to it, including some spectacular fireworks, both in the air and by the path. Two parts from the bag Mini Accessory, No. 3 which is common in Super Heroes sets, provide the flames for the latter, so there are plenty of spares.
A couple of snow-covered trees on the right finish it off.
There's nothing much to see round the back, and indeed there doesn't need to be.
Nian
The hybrid monster is the stand-out aspect of the set and it is simply spectacular. It's a riot of colour and gold, and the head in particular is delightfully complex and densely packed with all manner of techniques and pieces, including the teal bananas that Justin mentioned in his interview.
It really is a sight to behold, and looks suitably scary!
Minifigures
The set contains six minifigures, all of which have brand-new torsos, another sign that there's been no cost-cutting here.
The fellow on the left is apparently a child. I'd have lined him up with the other two, rather than with the grandparents, had I known.
The other two children are more obviously so.
The 'must have' minifigure in the set is the man dressed as an ox, which is the 2021 Chinese zodiac animal. He's wearing a unique 'hat' which i guess may well turn up in a collectable minifigure series at some point in the future.
Here he is lined up with Piggy from the 2019 CTF sets, and Ratty from 2020. Together they make a nice set of figures.
The completed model
The villagers have done all they can to ward off Nian -- there's plenty of red, bright lights and noise from the fireworks, but despite all that it looks like Ox-man needs to lure him away with what I guess might be a string of firecrackers!
Verdict
So, it's a set containing a wall and a dragon-like beast. It doesn't sound too exciting does it!
But just look at it: it's authentic, colourful, vibrant, full of life and movement, and -- to use a word I seem to have over-used when describing the CTF sets recently -- extravagant.
If this was a Marvel or Star Wars set you'd have a 20-piece wall constructed from large panels sitting on a single plate, but here, the wall and its surroundings -- which include a generous number of plates forming a large expanse of snowy foreground -- are parts dense and detailed. They don't really need to be, but remember, this is a CTF set, so no expense is spared.
Nian is a delight to construct and behold and puts similar beasts found in other themes to shame.
The minifigures all have new torsos and the ox head is something the discerning minifigure collector will want to acquire.
So, overall then, it's another superb set that further demonstrates that the Chinese festival sets are the jewel in LEGO's crown.
The 1087-piece 80106 Story of Nian will be available worldwide from LEGO.com on 10th January, priced at £59.99, $79.99, €69.99.
A thousand pieces including six minifigs for sixty quid, what's not to like!
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. All expressed opinions are my own.
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25 comments on this article
The way the colours come together in these sets is far more artistic than the “art” series sets, they have the right mix of real and mythical elements
A good set for the detail level and price point, but at the moment I'd rather spend the extra and get the lantern festival if I had to choose between the two.
Nice set, although slightly less exciting than 80107, but I'd like to know why TLG sells it for €79.99 in Belgium… (There is also an unjustified extra €10 on 80107, BTW.)
As much as I love the focus on Chinese culture (without the orientalism), it makes me a bit sad that the reason is that Lego (like many other companies) are trying to enter the enormous Chinese market, which means that we can’t expect other cultures to get the same treatment. I’d love to have sets of this quality about the culture of Mexico, India etc etc. Still, I’m definitely buying the lantern festival
Thank you for the early reviews on both sets. They are beautiful and, given the times we are in, it may be a challenge to actually get them in a timely manner. Let's hope Lego was able to really stock up on them!
Another great set, although maybe slightly overshadowed by the brilliant Spring Lantern Festival. No matter, both will be a very early order.
It's great that we're seeing old legends and folk tales come to life through playful forms. This brings the cultural and educational aspects of LEGO to the foreground. I'm delighted with what I've read in the Story of Nian, and even more delighted that a LEGO set about it is being made. Similar case is with Monkie Kid sets: implementation of tradition into creativity and imagination. I'm glad that LEGO is recognizing this.
Storytelling is a way of creating the world, yay!
Another excellent CTF set, let down only by the inclusion of stickers (why?).
Great set and great review!
I will try to get both sets asap!
@chrisaw said:
"Another excellent CTF set, let down only by the inclusion of stickers (why?).
"
The stickers are representations of posters that are pinned to the doors in the legend and traditional celebrations. In this case, stickers are actually more realistic than printed parts.
@chrisaw said:
"Another excellent CTF set, let down only by the inclusion of stickers (why?).
"
Only 2 (applied on the doors). And accurate to actual usage (to ward off evil ghosts/spirits, I think).
@Legonk said:
"As much as I love the focus on Chinese culture (without the orientalism), it makes me a bit sad that the reason is that Lego (like many other companies) are trying to enter the enormous Chinese market, which means that we can’t expect other cultures to get the same treatment. I’d love to have sets of this quality about the culture of Mexico, India etc etc. Still, I’m definitely buying the lantern festival "
I feel the exact same way! I made a YouTube video as a project for my college course exploring Asian representation in LEGO, and it was a really interesting topic to research. I love the Patil twins minifigures from the HP Advent Calendar because they're awesome figures that have culturally appropriate clothing, which is rare to see for other cultures in LEGO. There are so many opportunities for other cultures to be explored in the CMF series, and I think it's a shame that there's no ancient Indian warrior minifigure or anything like that given how many other warriors LEGO churns out. Even the new Tuk Tuk set, which is apparently based on India, is a letdown to me because those vehicles aren't even called tuk tuks in India.
My Favourite Things about this beautiful set are the Dragon and the Ox head piece!
I am so going to buy these two CTF sets.
And ONLY these sets for the foreseeable future.
This theme is everything one would expect from a company that touts "only the best is good enough".
Yes, TLG, this is what all your sets should be like:
- terrific design
- perfect execution
- no expense spared yet still...
- ... excellent value for money
Let's hope more sets in future will return to this formula.
One fun aspect of this set is that until recently, the construction of the large fireworks would have been an "illegal" connection since previously parts like the transparent plates, cones, snowflakes, and wands were all made of polycarbonate (which on tight connections like the insertion of a 3.2mm bar into an open stud had a nasty tendency to bind to itself and make the parts hard to rotate or separate). Since Lego's recent shift to a transparent ABS formulation for most transparent parts, those kinds of connections are now entirely feasible without negative consequences. I've seen occasional complaints about the slight difference in the appearance of transparent parts but for my part, I think being able to connect transparent parts together in conventional ways without the material of the parts in question damaging them more than makes up for that.
Is there a way for me to see what parts are exclusive to this set? I really only want Nian and am willing to bricklink him (it?). Obviously the teal bananas but I think yellow will still be okay.
Just wondering if I have to suck up the cost of the entire thing because much of him (it?) is made up of exclusive pieces.
There will be in January, but rest assured there are a lot.
Weird cat-thing attacks a one-walled fortress? Alright then. I don't understand mythology.
I remember back when I put together the Dinner set, a year or so ago, and I was floored by the layers of attention and detail. Even the outside path leading to the door was a delight. The reviews here are absolutely nailing the exceptionally different experience these builds are.
Can’t wait to get these.
While Nian is a thing of beauty I would love a Chinese dragon with a moulded head.
"The story of Nian concerns the titular half-dragon, half-unicorn monster who rampages through villages every lunar New Year, eating everything it comes across, including its favourite delicacy, children!"
Really?
I hear they're high in carbs, and lack any nutritional value.
Looks like this could be an Asian winter village set.
@Legonk said:
"As much as I love the focus on Chinese culture (without the orientalism), it makes me a bit sad that the reason is that Lego (like many other companies) are trying to enter the enormous Chinese market, which means that we can’t expect other cultures to get the same treatment. I’d love to have sets of this quality about the culture of Mexico, India etc etc. Still, I’m definitely buying the lantern festival "
No money - no special sets for you!
@AustinPowers said:
"...
Yes, TLG, this is what all your sets should be like:
- terrific design
- perfect execution
- no expense spared yet still...
- ... excellent value for money "
Hahaha - funny guy - dream on!
This is marketing, not real business.
@GoldenNinja3000 said:
" @Legonk said:
"As much as I love the focus on Chinese culture (without the orientalism), it makes me a bit sad that the reason is that Lego (like many other companies) are trying to enter the enormous Chinese market, which means that we can’t expect other cultures to get the same treatment. I’d love to have sets of this quality about the culture of Mexico, India etc etc. Still, I’m definitely buying the lantern festival "
I feel the exact same way! I made a YouTube video as a project for my college course exploring Asian representation in LEGO, and it was a really interesting topic to research. I love the Patil twins minifigures from the HP Advent Calendar because they're awesome figures that have culturally appropriate clothing, which is rare to see for other cultures in LEGO. There are so many opportunities for other cultures to be explored in the CMF series, and I think it's a shame that there's no ancient Indian warrior minifigure or anything like that given how many other warriors LEGO churns out. Even the new Tuk Tuk set, which is apparently based on India, is a letdown to me because those vehicles aren't even called tuk tuks in India. "
I believe tuk tuk is the name of the vehicle in Thailand :)