According to the folklore printed in the instruction booklet, LEGO® Chinese Festivals set 80120 Prosperity Carp Leaping symbolises "achieving one's aspirations through perseverance and determination", and displaying a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate ornament at home can bring good luck in one's career or studies. I think this is a bit contradictory – do you need to work hard if you have the ornament? Personally, I'd put more faith in the hard work part. Nonetheless, it looks like a great model – especially as we haven't seen too many sets with brick-built fish.
We were given this product by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.
80120 Prosperity Carp Leaping
- Release date: 1 June 2026
- Pieces: 736
- Ages: 9+
Price:
- US$ 59.99 on LEGO.com US
- CA$ 84.99 on LEGO.com Canada
- GB£ 44.99 on LEGO.com UK
- AU$ 89.99 on LEGO.com Australia
- NZ$ 99.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
- DE€ 49,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
- NL€ 49,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
- FR€ 49,99 on LEGO.com France
- PLN 209.99 on LEGO.com Polska
- NOK 699,90 on LEGO.com Norge
- DKK 449.95 on LEGO.com Danmark
Interesting parts
Recolour
- 8x Technic Gear Rack 1/4 Circle 11 x 11, 35 Teeth in Trans-Light Blue (6609280 | 24121)
There's only one recolour, but it is a powerful and pretty one. I associate this piece with LEGO® BIONICLE®, specifically, Nuju Hordika's "Teeth weapon" (50936), while most associate it with bananas.
Perhaps someone will use it as the drive of the Millennium Falcon?
New print
- Tile 2 x 6 with Fish and Dragon Print in Dark Red (6608790)
There's one print; a name tile with a prominent role in the final composition. It looks very nice and the border features the transformation from a carp to a dragon. 魚躍龍門 translates as "fish leaping over the dragon gate".
Rare parts
- Brick Arch 1 x 3 x 3 [Gothic] in Medium Azure (6559756 | 13965) - in 2 other sets
- Wedge Plate 3 x 4 with Stud Notches in Bright Light Orange (6614172 | 90194) - new Element ID, seen previously in 2017 in 60151 Dragster Transporter
- Slope 45° 2 x 1 with 2/3 Cutout in Reddish Orange (6551406 | 15672) - in 2 other sets
- 4x Brick Curved, Internal Double, 3 x 3 with 1/3 Inverted Cutout, Corner in Dark Green (6526716 | 73682) - also in 71831 Ninja Spinjitzu Temple
Getting more temple roof pieces is fitting for the theme, but the other rare parts are relatively random and come in small quantities.
- 3x Brick Arch 1 x 3 x 1 2/3 Curved Top in Medium Azure (6586088 | 5843) - in 2 other sets
- 2x Brick Arch 1 x 3 x 1 2/3 Curved Top in Blue (6564872 | 5843) - in 2 other sets
- 5x Brick Arch 1 x 4 x 2 1/3 Curved Top in White (6575545 | 5844) - also in 43300 Winnie the Pooh. You can read more about this new curve in Caz's review of the LEGO Winnie The Pooh.
The carp wheel
My first impressions are that this set is very cute and delightful. The three carps are my favourite part of the model, but I enjoy the total composition, too.
Despite my first impression, I experienced some doubts and contradictory thoughts when building this. I thought that the waves look too random and noisy with their studs and the sharp, sometimes jagged borders between the colours. However, in the finished model, the colours blend nicely together – the surge of a waterfall should look chaotic, and therefore it works.
We have seen so many new curved slopes during the last two years, so I was disappointed that none actually feature in the carps. It feels as though the fish could have been designed 3–4 years ago and postponed for later release. Whereas this makes the model less attractive as a parts pack, I ultimately think that it is not a problem for the overall design.
In fact, the carps are quite perfect: they have brick-built scales, the right amount of detail, and an appropriately chunky but still elegantly curving shape. I have noted before that the set designers love to use the thin mudguard element (49097) in creature models, and it works perfectly here as the carp's whiskers. I also like how all the three fish are differently coloured, while still being realistic and forming a harmonic whole.
The Dragon Gate is angled in a way that the carps can indeed leap over it and dive under it; the Pythagorean triangle is used to capture the angle within LEGO System. The detailing is pretty.
The biggest shortcoming is the function, which I assumed would be more dynamic. There's a crank in the back that directly rotates gears that, in turn, rotate the "banana gears". The weights of the wheel and the carps are not equally balanced and there are no counterweights on the other side of the wheel as it would have been impossible to add them.
As a result, the function takes some force to work, meaning your other hand is needed to prevent the model from wobbling around. This gives an impression of the fish slowly progressing over the dragon gate, instead of a heroic leap over it.
Honestly, it does not look too bad in the video, as it's easier to enjoy the show while not turning the crank yourself, which is located inconveniently on the back, requiring a Twister-style positioning with your arms.
This must be worse for children, with their shorter arms and potentially less dexterity than adults – this set is marked 9+, after all. I wonder if rotating the transmission 90° with a couple of gears would have helped, probably also speeding up the leap with gear teeth differentiation? However, additional transmission always adds friction, so even more force would be required.
Furthermore, they could have added extra weight to the base to help with the wobble. Unfortunately, they don't make those 2x6x2 boat weights (73090a) any more.
I can't blame the designers too much on this one, as the transmission seems to be as elegant as possible. For personal tweaks, removing the rubber tire from the grey support wheels makes the mechanism easier to rotate, but then the wheel is a bit less stable. Removing the white axle connector behind the crank helps to decrease the wobble. It's still difficult to operate without the other hand holding the base, though, and requires removal of the 5L lift arms bracing the mechanism.
Conclusion
I can recommend this set to fans of fish and translucent banana gears. While not overtly exciting from a New Elementary perspective, it is a cute and delightful model, well composed and featuring a lovely subject. The numerical value of US$59.99/ £44.99/ 49.99€ for 736 parts gives a great price per piece of US 8.2¢/ GB 6.1p/ EUR 6.8¢, especially by 2026 standards. The difference between the US and Euro pricing is notable.
The mechanism is far from perfect, but has no apparent design errors. As I previously mentioned, the model symbolises achieving one's aspirations through perseverance and determination. This is fitting: if you turn the crank determinedly enough, the beautiful carp will eventually leap over the Dragon Gate.
US$59.99/ £44.99/ 49.99€/ AU$89.99
READ MORE: Review of Luigi & Mach 8 from LEGO® Super Mario™ Mario Kart™
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As a Chinese, I cannot see the appeal of these Chinese sets....
ReplyDeleteSeeing some Identity Disc potential in the trans-blue gear racks.
ReplyDelete