The LEGO Auspicious Dragon is aptly named. Unlike in the European tradition, which imagines the dragon as a fearsome monster with fire-breathing capabilities, the Asian dragon is a symbol of luck, prosperity, and harmony. It aligns with the element of water, which gives it power over the air—as one with the clouds—and over the Earth—as one with the sea.
This set is part of LEGO's annual Lunar New Year push, which in the past has depicted Chinese village-wide celebrations and that year's zodiac animal—usually with a cute, cartoonish stylization. This year, however, is the Year of the Dragon. And rather than just giving us a chubby lizard with wide eyes and rounded paws, the LEGO designers decided to go for something a little more authentic and imposing.
The LEGO Auspicious Dragon is a traditional depiction of a Chinese dragon, complete with a snake-like body and four short appendages, each ending in a claw. Its color scheme is gold, green, and red, with the gold elements (symbolizing wealth and prosperity) standing out most predominantly. It is posed and mounted on a rock, with waves crashing against its sides. In one claw, the dragon is clutching a pearl, which underlines the symbolic values of prosperity and harmony embodied by the dragon itself.
The build is divided into 10 distinct phases. First, you build the rock and water that the dragon will rest on. This is the most straightforward part of the build, accomplished with standard building techniques. The LEGO designers visualized the water and mist via curled building elements, to mimic the fanciful depictions of air and water in traditional Chinese art. They also incorporated the dragon's claws into the foundation of the rock itself, a clever way of ensuring the set's durability.
Then you set the rock aside, and you begin building the dragon. It is a somewhat fussy process, filled with small elements that each have to be turned and twisted, in just the right way, to create a seamless, cumulative effect. The designers reappropriated leaf elements from other builds into fins and spikes on the dragon's back. You build the body in segments, which then snap together to form the serpent whole.
One thing I really like about the body's build are its finishing elements. There are no stickers; instead, there are multiple tiles with printed scales on them, designed specifically for this set. Rather than laying these pieces down side-by-side to one another, you lay them down in an overlapping pattern, to better create the illusion that this is a creature with a protective, natural layer of armor.
Then comes the head, with a jaw that you can open and close to your liking, And lastly, you mount the dragon onto the rock, via three large ball joints that you push and snap into place.The plaque on the front of the build roughly translates to "Auspicious Dragon Brings Good Fortune."
I'm a third-generation Chinese American, which means my grandparents were born in the old country, and my parents were born in the States. It also means that we didn't follow a lot of Chinese traditions, although we went hard on the ones that we did follow, to the point that it felt like we were making up for the others. And one of those traditions was our celebration of the Lunar New Year.
I built this set with my nine-year-old son in the lead-up to February 10. And I kept thinking that I would have loved this build as a child; I love it now, even as an adult. My wife and I have already decided that we're going to put it on display in our home, as a decorative piece on a mantel or shelf. Despite my ethnic background, it occurred to me that we have no dragon iconography anywhere in our home. But it's never too late to fix that.
The LEGO Auspicious Dragon, Set #80112, retails for $89.99, and it is composed of 1171 pieces. It is available now at Amazon. And while listings are also live at Target and the LEGO Store, it's currently sold out at both retailers.
For more, check out our roundups of the best LEGO sets for kids, as well as the best LEGO Ninjago sets.
Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He's also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.
