REVIEW: 80118 Fortune Firecracker

[Pchan1983]

Here is my review on the latest LEGO Chinese New Year set 80118 Fortune Firecracker

 

THE GOOD:

• A fun building experience.
• New variant of the God of Fortune minifig.
• Some very nice details.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

• Wall mounted only display.
• Not enough appeal for general audience.

It's been a LONG WHILE since my last review but with the new CNY sets, I decided to return with a new post.  First, I have to say, LEGO is getting "smarter" with its strategy.  To be honest, if without the miinfigures I would have skipped this.  But because of the minifigs, I've decided to give it a try as I usually don't buy decor only sets.  I was very skeptical and worried about the repetition of the building experience.  Surprisingly, this build has been fun.  No stickers is a plus, if you needed to put stickers on the crackers then it would be a nightmare.  There are some interesting techniques in building the box too.  The dragon design on the door is great and generally a great idea if you want to make a huge castle. It's also cool they put a few studs inside the cracker to allow the rattling noise. Making it like a cupboard and having the ability to switch scenes is great.  Now, the packaging is a big misleading as it kinda indicate pressing the button will switch over but in reality it just pushes the scene out and you need replace it manually.   The minifigures are great as expected.  An updated variate of the God of Fortune or the Fortune Master.  I like the face of the previous one but always good to get new variant.  Unfortunately the hat is still brick built instead of a new mould.  The biggest issue I have with the set is its being a wall mounted only set.  The reality is, even in a chinese household you would not hang this all year round.  If you don't hang it, there is not good way to say display this apart from laying it down.  And the crackers are hanged under with a fixed technic bar which makes it very inflexible.  I also don't like the use of the bright blue bricks on the front design.

Overall, I didn't find the set compelling enough compared to past CNY sets.  While the building experience is great and have some nice details, it didn't change my opinion that I probably will not buy this set if there were no exclusive minifigs included in this.