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WhiteFang

REVIEW: 40148 Year of the Sheep

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Hello everyone,

I am very pleased to share with you guys, a special exclusive LEGO set which is supposedly limited to countries located in oriental Asia. From my understanding, this set is very limited in distribution and it is advertised as while stock last. It is rare for us to be able to acquire this set through normal distribution mode in local mono-brand shops in Singapore, for example. As far as I am aware, this Year of the Sheep set is available and could be found in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. You can't buy the set over the shelf and you can only redeem it through a minimum amount of purchase is restricted to one set per customer no matter what amount you have spend. In Singapore, you will need to spend a minimum amount of SGD$68 in order to qualify for the set, while in Malaysia (LEGOLAND Malaysia), you will need to spend a minimum of RM168 by buying LEGO City, Friends, Ninjago and Creator sets if I recall correctly. I believe by the time this Chinese New Year celebration is over, the distribution and give-away for this set will also end as well. This is the background of the set and hope you guys are able to locate this set if you are keen to add this into your collection.

Name: 40148 Year of the Sheep

Theme: LEGO System / Creator / Exclusive

Year: 2015

Pieces: 99

Minifigs: 0 minifigure

Price: USD N.A, GBP N.A, EURO N.A, SGD N.A

Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

An original box image of the 40148 Year of the Sheep

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Back view of the original box image of the 40148 Year of the Sheep

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(1) Side view of the original box image of the 40148 Year of the Sheep

(2) Side view of the original box image of the 40148 Year of the Sheep

(3) Side view of the original box image of the 40148 Year of the Sheep

(4) Side view of the original box image of the 40148 Year of the Sheep

Celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in the Year of the Sheep

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In the Chinese Lunar Calendar, the celebration of the year 2015 happen to be the Year of the Sheep. It is part of the 12 Chinese Zodiacs and after the Year of the Horse and in less than a month time, we will be welcoming the Year of the Sheep. I believe that TLG is trying to penetrate and appeal to the oriental market like the earlier re-release and re-hash of this 10250 Year of the Snake. This is indeed a welcoming move to be able to see something so lovely and nice in this sheep.

As you can see the release and intent of this set is meant to design as a gift to others since there is a 'To' and 'From' at the front of the box. This also include the opportunity for the giver to include some money if you are married to give to the younger children or basically unmarried ones who you visit or visiting. The rational of giving will be explained in the latter part of the review. Well, this is all part of the Chinese tradition. To me, this is a fine display set made up of pure LEGO bricks to form a fine animal display especially if you are very fond of brick-built sheep.

Opening the box

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The content of the sealed box

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The sealed squarish box comes with two mint packages and an instruction manual to guide the user to build up the set. After the building is completed, these are the remaining spare parts. This is what I did, after I opened the packets.

You also receive the exclusive big red packet or another term known as red packet. Giving red packets is a channel for sending good wishes and luck. Actually, the significance of red packets is the red paper, not the money inside. Wrapping money in red packets is hoped to bring more happiness and blessing to the receivers. Hence, it is impolite to open a red packet in front of the person who gives you. This is the back view of the red packet. In my opinion, I felt the red packet is really too big and I really wonder if this is one of the first few rare occasions that TLG produced such red packets. I know there are some new red packets designs being given away in LEGOLAND Malaysia with minimum purchase but it is a pity that I am unable to take pictures of them.

The separate built components to form the sheep together

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By building the various key elements such as the main body frame, legs and head, you are able to link and connect them altogether to form the completed built of the sheep. It is a very simple and effective built.

The completed built of the Sheep

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The completed built is very lovely indeed. The legs can be moved front and back and the mouth can close up and down. The design even include a tongue, a moving tail which can be seen in the next next image and horns. I got no qualms of the design being done and the simplicity show the beauty of it very well.

Side view of the Sheep

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Back view of the Sheep

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The completed built of the grass patch

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The completed built of the grass patch is to form the base of the display where the Sheep can be placed from an elevated height. The design and the placement of the rocks is to be able to adjust the final placement of the sheep being seen near the grass patch with the legs being placed forward. I am very pleased with the outcome of the design.

The final built of the Sheep with the display

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To conclude, I am very pleased to be able to own this set even though it was not easy to locate this set and to match what you need to buy in order to qualify for this purchase with little or no discount. Well, in Singapore, perhaps less than a week of the release, most of the mono-brand shops are starting to deplete their stock despite of the redemption restriction. I am happy to open and build this set and shared my experience with all of you. Do get this set if you are able to find it with an affordable price tag.

Summary review

Playability: 8/10 (Nice playing feature such as the movement of the legs, mouth and tail.)

Design: 8/10 (With limited amount of building bricks, you are able to build the sheep and display for it which make a fine display piece on your table.)

Price: 8/10 (The reason for the high score is because it was given for free with minimum purchase and if you are getting via secondary source, don't pay an exorbitant price for it.)

Overall: 8/10 (Very nice Creator set to celebrate for the upcoming Chinese New Year and distribution will probably be very limited.)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card. :wink: What about yours?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Flickr.

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I can't believe I didn't know before LEGO was producing sets based on the chinese zodiacs

And I missed the Snake Year set. Being a Snake myself, it's unforgivable

This Sheep set is ok, but the Snake rules!

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I can't believe I didn't know before LEGO was producing sets based on the chinese zodiacs

Me too.

And I also see no point in this set.

Sorry, WhiteFang, that you need to waste your talent on something like this. The sheep is neither cute nor funny.

TLG, bring on the Mixels again!

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Thanks guys for your kind thoughts. I just wanted to share this very uncommon giveaway set with you guys especially since this is not likely to be available in the US or Europe region.

Great review again, WhiteFang - but who needs this sheep?

I supposed people who strive for completion on exclusive sets and people who are fond of brick-built animals of the Creator theme.

Sorry, WhiteFang, that you need to waste your talent on something like this. The sheep is neither cute nor funny.

I enjoyed doing this review and no one really forced me into doing something I don't like. In fact, I wanted to create awareness for this set for our community and at the same to let you guys know of the Chinese Lunar New Year tradition. Personally, if this is not a giveaway, it could be harder to appeal to the mass-market, but I could be wrong since this is specifically targeted at the oriental market where I have mentioned those countries in the review that have seen the giveaway presence.

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It could be a pointless set for us because this is a regional thing.

The chinese zodiac is pretty important there and that's why the set was released only in some countries on oriental Asia

Personally, I'm glad this review was made because, as I said, I didn't know about these. I'll try to get the Snake set. (I hope the 12 "regular" zodics will be made. I would love to get a Scorpio set)

The artwork on the box called my attention. It's pretty different from what we get in this side of the world

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Whoa, interesting stuff. I kind of like the little guy, regardless of what everyone else says.

Great reviewing, as always, WhiteFang!

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The Sheep from the Lego game Shave a Sheep looked a lot better...

well reviewed though.

I should have said that... would have come across a bit friendlier... :look:

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I find the set really poor compared to The Year of the Snake. For that, Lego produced the beautiful door piece, on the 8*8 round tile. It is such a shame that they did not continue at that standard.

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While this set is not up to the size of the Snake set as mentioned above, it is much cheaper to buy and a lot of fun to build.

Thanks so much for the great review....as usual. I think it is wonderful that you reviewed this special little set because most folks on EB would not know about it otherwise.

It is fantastic that LEGO is recognizing the importance of the Chinese Lunar Holiday because that holiday is so important to the Chinese all over the world. LEGO needs to produce all twelve Chinese zodiac signs in special sets. I am sad that they just missed the Year of the Horse. Is someone asleep in Billund? (Hint, hint....I am a rabbit!)

I just built the sheep, and it is a lovely small build. I would enjoy this set as a Caucasian person even if I didn't have a Chinese DIL. Let's not knock the customs central to other cultures.

We always celebrate the Chinese New Year with Chinese dumpling making in our kitchen and special decorations at a lively feast. And the decorations are a lot of fun to hang and view. This sheep will fit in perfectly!

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Could we please get more feedback from others who have built this set (besides WhiteFang and me)??? Thanks!

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A toy store near me is selling this for around US$10 and no one seems to be buying it. :classic:

Maybe I should start a thread selling it for US$15-20 :grin:

Anyway, for what I paid. I'd say it's a good set, great playability and they did great with the pedestal.

Although they should be able to do better with the goat design. That animal looks like it has some kind of sickness. :tongue:

And then there's the "Is it a goat? Or Sheep?" 1 hour discussion I had with my friends, but that's a story for another thread....

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I saw the year of the goat set at a Toys "R" Us here in Singapore- but I'm not going to pay S$69 just to get it! :cry_sad: The thing that makes me want to get it is that after the promotion is over prices for this set will skyrocket (If they aren't already expensive :hmpf_bad: ). Then again, I feel the same way for almost every cool set I see. :tongue:

I find the set really poor compared to The Year of the Snake. For that, Lego produced the beautiful door piece, on the 8*8 round tile. It is such a shame that they did not continue at that standard.

Sadly LEGO can't always make new pieces for every set they make. :sad:

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Interesting that TLG would do Year of the Sheep instead of Year of the Ram...my relatives in Taiwan and those Chinese I know here never call it Year of the Sheep...it's always Ram. Would be interested to hear from others in the Chinese culture what they think. I believe I read this is technically the Year of the Green Yang, but Yang can be interpreted differently. I don't think it is a big deal since a Ram is the male alpha sheep, although I have also heard some say in English Year of the Goat. I guess you would have to go back to the ancient Chinese writings to get the definitive on it.

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The gift box looks like a nice touch. The sheep itself somehow looks a little bit dazed or confused, maybe because the mouth is hanging open? Still, I like the idea of the set. I hope they keep doing the yearly theme.

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I saw the year of the goat set at a Toys "R" Us here in Singapore- but I'm not going to pay S$69 just to get it! :cry_sad: The thing that makes me want to get it is that after the promotion is over prices for this set will skyrocket (If they aren't already expensive :hmpf_bad: ). Then again, I feel the same way for almost every cool set I see. :tongue:

Sadly LEGO can't always make new pieces for every set they make. :sad:

It wouldn't need a new mold, just a new print.

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