Review: 80113 Family Reunion Celebration
Posted by Huw,80113 Family Reunion Celebration is the second Chinese Traditional Festival set to depict a New Year celebratory meal but unlike the first, 80101 Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner, this one is set in a restaurant.
In a neat piece of continuity, it includes the same three-generation family of six, plus seven other minfigures.
Summary
80113 Family Reunion Celebration, 1,823 pieces.
£89.99 / $129.99 / €99.99 | 4.9p/7.1c/5.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A realistic and colourful building packed with authentic details and minifigures
- 13 minifigs
- Continuity with the first CTF set
- A bargain
- Stickers
- Unfinished pillar
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The completed model
The two-storey building sits on plates that occupy an area of 16 x 36 studs. The main part of the restaurant is 12 studs deep. A 4-stud wide pavement surrounds it, attractively curved at the corner and where the building's depth changes.
Outside, there's a traditional mandarin tree by the door, and a food vendor making and selling longevity peach buns, which introduce a new element.
To the left of the restaurant a small flower stall sits under a striped yellow canopy.
I hope the fish tank on the right-hand wall is for decorative purposes, rather than to choose your meal from! The pillar to the left of it looks unfinished, and I wondered whether I had left off a piece from the top of it, but no, that’s how it's supposed to be.
The building has a beautiful facade, dripping with detail wherever you look. The dark green ingots are perfect for the roof tiles. A few of them are 'broken', where a pair of tiles has been used instead.
The high level of detail continues inside, where you'll find everything you'd expect to see in a restaurant.
The ground floor is occupied by a reception area with a desk and computer. The wall panel behind it, decorated with a sticker, can be removed to gain access to it.
The area to the right of that is largely empty, with stairs leading to the first floor.
A well-equipped kitchen can be found on the far right, complete with hobs, utensils, worktop and poultry hanging from the wall.
The first floor contains the main dining area and restroom. A large round table for six takes up most of the space, leaving just room in the corner for a karaoke machine.
The table is set with bowls of noodles and other Asian delicacies on the lazy Susan in the middle.
A toilet and small sink can be found in the restroom, which is somewhat precariously accessed from a door right by the stairs.
The roof has a table for al-fresco dining for two, laid out with bowls of soup and steamed buns, and a space heater in the corner for when it turns chilly. There are no stairs to access it, however.
The only 'side builds' in the set are a food trolley and a vending cart, selling tasty round nougat-coloured 1x1 plates.
Minifigures
Recent CTF sets have contained more minifigures than you would expect for a set of their size and price, and this one is no exception, with 13 of them!
The family of six that first appeared in 80101 Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner make a return in this one, albeit looking slightly older, which is wonderful continuity. You can see how they looked in that set in MeganL's review from 2019.
The grandfather is wearing what looks to be a very warm cardigan that first appeared in 10325 Alpine Lodge earlier this year. His hair has not receded in four years, but he's changed his glasses to something more fashionable and has grown a moustache.
Grandma, too, has upgraded her glasses but wears the same hairstyle. Her beautifully printed torso is new.
Mum and dad are wearing less formal attire than their last appearance. Dad's hair is the same as before, but mum's looks more like a 'Rachel' now.
The kids look slightly older, as you'd expect, and their hair has changed. The girl has the same top on as her grandmother and both are carrying red packets: gifts from their grandparents, no doubt.
This young woman is attired in a black leather jacket and jeans, and wields a selfie stick. She doesn't appear to be a customer of the restaurant, she's seen loitering around on the pavement taking pictures in the official set images.
This pair are the al fresco diners having dinner on the roof. They have matching jackets which look great from the front, but even better on the back, which is printed with a fantastic classic space and dragon mash-up emblem.
The establishment is manned by a staff of three: a waiter, a chef, and a lady who works reception and serves tea.
Last but certainly not least, is the 'year of the...' minifigure. This year it is of course a dragon, which joins the line-up of pig (2019), rat (2020), ox (2021), tiger (2021) and rabbit (2022).
The gold head cover is matched by an elaborately printed gold torso and overall it looks excellent. He's holding one of the three longevity peach buns that come in the set.
Construction
I'm not going to dwell on construction because nothing is really hidden away that can't be seen in the pictures above but, disappointingly, I do have to reveal that the set contains a fairly substantial sticker sheet.
Verdict
The high standard set by previous Chinese Traditional Festival sets has been upheld here and in fact I would go so far as to say that this is one of, if not, the best.
The building is architecturally lavish and elaborate, and the minifigures that bring it to life are charming and plentiful. The interior is equally lavish, with authentic details abound.
One could argue that it was a missed opportunity not to make it modular-building compatible but it would not require too much work to make it so, especially as a stand-alone building with an alleyway down both sides. It will make a great starting point to add a Chinatown district to your City.
Price wise, it's $129.99, £89.99, €99.99 for 1,823 pieces, which seems like a bargain to me, even before factoring in the 13 minifigs. For once, those of us on the east of the Atlantic get a better deal, which is always welcome! You will be hard-pressed to find another set outside the Classic range that has a price per piece of under 5p.
Once again, next year's CTF sets look to be among the best in LEGO's annual assortment. This, and 80112 Auspicious Dragon, will be available from 1st January at LEGO.com.
Your noodles, sir...
Grandma: "Can't you give that karaoke a rest, son -- I've had enough of 'The Moon Represents My Heart'!"
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32 comments on this article
Great set, but a majorly missed opportunity in not making this modular compatible. My city layout could use a Chinese restaurant.
Another downside is that half an hour after building the set, you’re hungry to build another.
I’m really excited for the new peach mold. I was convinced when the first wave of Animal Crossing sets was announced that, whenever the second wave rolls around, we were likely to get sets with a peach tree and pear tree in them somewhere, to complete the set. The appearance of a brand new peach mold in this set seems to me like it prefaces the existence of a peach tree in the second AC wave! Here’s hoping we get a new pear mold, too!
Are those noodle prints new?
Shame about the huge quantity of stickers.
Can't wait to see the modular mods of this one!
£89.99 is currently $113.40 USD
€99.99 is currently $108.10 USD
At $129.99 USD, it's a fraction over $0.07 per piece.
Clearly a temptation, espacially for that price! I could imagine that with more reasonable pricing, LEGO would easily sell more of the big sets...
@chrisaw said:
"Are those noodle prints new?"
Yes I believe so although I can't see them in the inventory at the back of the instructions to check.
This set looks fantastic, much nicer than 2023's set. Instant buy for me!
"A well-equipped kitchen can be found on the far right, complete with hobs, utensils, worktop and chicken hanging from the wall."
I'm guessing that's actually a peking duck! They dry those out for days before preparing them!
@Tuzi said:
"This set looks fantastic, much nicer than 2023's set. Instant buy for me!
"A well-equipped kitchen can be found on the far right, complete with hobs, utensils, worktop and chicken hanging from the wall."
I'm guessing that's actually a peking duck! They dry those out for days before preparing them!"
I'll change it to 'poultry' :-)
@Librarian1976 said:
"Great set, but a majorly missed opportunity in not making this modular compatible. My city layout could use a Chinese restaurant.
Another downside is that half an hour after building the set, you’re hungry to build another."
That's always true.
Another beautiful addition to the series. Each year that passes makes me more regretful for not getting the 2019 sets!
The first 2024 set (besides the Museum modular, which I suppose officially counts as a 2024 release) that I'm excited by.
It's practically looks like a modular already, and shouldn't be too difficult to 'modularise' (is that the right verb?), although I will have to lengthen/complete (?) that pillar. I'm really keen to read suggestions/thoughts for how to modularise the set. Will it require buying two sets? Obviously, the restaurant will ideally have more than one table.
Frankly, I like this set better than the museum (looking at its roof is the visual equivalent, to me, of nails scraping a blackboard--it's just *wrong*!) and the price is a real selling point, even given the US amount is somewhat above the European/UK ones. For once, I'm not getting the modular as my first large set of the New Year!
I don't mind the sticker sheet, either. So many lovely Asian-themed elements, to use or not as I please!
Unless it's quite narrow on my display it will look like a modular anyway.
Are there spare flats for that unfinished pillar?
An unfinished column on both sides of the building. I wonder if there's a story as to why that is. Seems easily fixable if I have the right Sand Green parts.
I’ll be grabbing 2 of these day 1 and making a proper Modular :D
Shame about the stickers, would the set suffer if I don’t apply most of them do you think? Looks stellar otherwise!
Thanks for the thorough review!
This is the most tempting festival set for me so far. The Lego Space nod makes it even more so.
The upcoming noir detective figure will also add to this one. Forget about it Jack! It's China Chow!
You must be a Crouching Tiger or Hidden Dragon to dine on the roof.
I put 'The Moon Represents My Heart' on repeat all day. I just looked into the mirror and my face looks like the grandma minifig. Yoikes!
This set is realy, realy beautiful. In fact i skipped the review to not get spoiled. Sometimes i need the complete experience and this is the first time since the vw t1 camper van came out that i need a set day 1. Later in the end of 2024 i might even get a second one if that set goes on sale like this years chineese lunar new year sets. The dragon by the way is amazing as well!
Such a beautiful set! I love the variety of sets in this theme, which LEGO always knocks out of the park.
The family has actually appeared in the sets every single year since 2019, though not the grandparents in 2023.
" I hope the fish tank on the right-hand wall is for decorative purposes, rather than to choose your meal from!"
In a traditional Chinese restaurant, the fish in the fish tank is decorative, but also almost always for diners to 'choose' which fresh fish they would like the kitchen to prepare! Usually there's not just one fish tank, but a whole battery of them. The 'fresher' the better! - It's called 'live fish' (translated).
What a set, this will sell like hotcakes - may get one or a couple of them... Very keen to turn it into a modular.
"The girl has the same top on as her mother..." I think you mean grandmother, no?
This theme used to be mostly prints. What happened?
@gatorbug6 said:
"This theme used to be mostly prints. What happened?"
Nothing happened. The theme has had a mix of stickers and prints since the very beginning. 80101 had stickers. 80108 in 2022 and 80111 this year had pretty large sticker sheets. This is nothing new.
Come on Lego it's almoust 2024 and I think it's time for these chinese sets to get more diverse minifigures.
@gatorbug6 said:
"This theme used to be mostly prints. What happened?"
What always happens when LEGO find out that the sets sell even without prints.
At least this set is a bargain, and high quality outside the stickers.
I'd rather see more prints on some of those massively overpriced sets from other themes. No reason for those to use stickers at all. Just compare with high price sets from the competition. There you can see where your money goes.
For me one of the best things about set 80101 was all the printed tiles, with the food and chopsticks, it's a shame those have not been repeated in this set. Especially as 80101 was not widely available and many missed out on it.
Should "dropping with detail" not be 'drooping'.
"I hope the fish tank on the right-hand wall is for decorative purposes, rather than to choose your meal from!"
God forbid! We want to eat animals without being reminded that they are beautiful, defenseless creatures with feelings that we bring into the world for the sole purpose of (ab)using them.
Used to travel to China quite a lot. The unfinished pillar look made me laugh a little. There’s a bit of um…questionable construction techniques in some areas of China that I wonder if this was paying a bit of ‘homage’ to?
For the record, this might be my favorite of the CNY sets. It’s awesome.
I prefer seeing the fish and knowing where it’s come from. No problem for me
@Ridgeheart said:
"It's lovely. The weird thing is - well, it's obviously a China-themed set, but it fits just about anywhere. City, Friends, Marvel, DC, Ninjago, Monkie Kid... it's pretty versatile. You could feasibly use it as a central hub to unite all of your themes, TLM-style, and why not?
I suppose you could also just buy the set ten times over to incorporate it within all your themes. In that case: TLG, you owe me a cut."
Seinfeld...
@gatorbug6 @C_O_Patra
This is a misunderstanding. gatorbug has a point, the 2019 CNY sets we all got outraged were regional exclusives at the time were *mostly* prints, with a few stickers, nobody said they were all prints. The review for the original dinner states there are 9 stickers. But on the table alone, I count around 13 unique prints. The new set definitely has the better build, but the old dinner spread puts the new one to shame. It's a crying shame most, if not all of the original food plate prints were never reused.