Review: LEGO 40707 Year of the Snake GWP
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It’s almost time to usher in the Lunar New Year, and to celebrate 2025 being the Year of the Snake, we have a new addition to the long-running LEGO Chinese Zodiac collection – 40707 Year of the Snake. Here’s a quick review of the set, and at the end of this article, a look at the complete collection of LEGO Chinese Zodiac Animals!
40707 Year of the Snake is a free gift with purchase (GWP) which you’ll receive when you spend US$70 / AU$115 / £65 / €70 on LEGO.com from 8-13 January 2025. In Australia, the promotion will run until 19 January and is also available from Myer or Legoland Discovery Centre’s Chadstone store.
This is the 11th edition of LEGO’s Chinese Zodiac animal models, which first began with 40148 Year of the Sheep in 2015. LEGO have then released a new one each year corresponding to the Chinese Zodiac Animal. There are 12 Zodiac Animals in total, so we’re just one away from completing the entire collection – a 12-year long pursuit!
When the series first began in 2015, I remember thinking what a huge time commitment and wait it would be to collect all 12 Zodiac Animals, and whether LEGO would commit to seeing the cycle through, but we’re finally here at the Year of the Snake, one animal away (Horse!) from completion! This year is also special to me, as I was born in the Year of the Snake (giving away my age here), so I’ve been waiting 11 years for my Zodiac Animal to be represented in LEGO!
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Here’s a look at the 40704 Year of the Snake box, which comes in the same flip top box, that has been consistent since inception. There’s a section to address this as a gift, as LEGO have envisioned this as a fun gift for the festive season, plus it also comes with a Year of the Snake Red Envelope on the inside!
The back has a diagram on how you’re meant to open the box, fill the red envelope with money, and give it to a child.
Each of these LEGO Chinese Zodiac Animal GWPs come with a Red Envelope featuring the year and photo of the set. Red Envelopes are an important Lunar New Year tradition where elder, married couples give these envelopes (also known as hongbao) filled with money to unmarried, typically younger individuals as symbols of good fortune and prosperity.
I also really love the back of these red envelopes, which has a cool embossed shiny diagram of the set.
Here’s the completed LEGO Year of the Snake model! It has a cute chibi look to it, with those large 2×2 eyes that are consistent with all the other LEGO Chinese Zodiac Animals. As a reptile, it also has a unique place in the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals along with the Dragon as they’re not mammals!
Technique-wise, the Year of the Snake is the most finessed out of all the animals, with some really neat techniques used in the build, such as how the eyes are angled, and how the body and neck are constructed.
There are ears on the side of its head, represented by Jumper Plates, but this is technically anatomically incorrect as Snakes don’t have external ears, but do have an internal ear structure which allows them to perceive sound!
Here’s a look at it from the back!
One of the downsides of the Year of the Snake, is that unlike some of the earlier Chinese Zodiac animals, the current models are static, and do not have a turntable to swivel their heads.
It’s kind of a shame as that was a feature that I really liked, but there seems to have been a recent change in design philosophy as the Tiger, and Dragon were also static models.
Longtime LEGO fans who have been collecting these LEGO Chinese Zodiac GWPs since 2015’s Year of the Sheep will be glad to add the 11th Zodiac Animal to their collection – here’s a look at all the boxes together, with a bonus Rat that somehow snuck into the photo!
And here are all 11 LEGO Chinese Zodiac Animals, with the Year of the Snake added to the lineup! The Snake’s green colour does inject a burst of green to the collection which is quite nice, and now that we almost have all 12 Zodiac Animals, the collection does look great to see them all together like this!
Of course, the Year of the Sheep infamously looks out of place amongst all the other Zodiac Animals, which have a distinct design language to them, so I think there’s a very high chance that there’ll be 2 more years to collect, with LEGO remaking the Year of the Sheep to be in line with the rest of the collection.
For those born in the Year of the Snake and those faithfully collecting the series, 40707 Year of the Snake is a great addition to the collection. It’s definitely the most fun to build, and I think is a big step up from previous LEGO Chinese Zodiac Animals.
I’m totally biased because I was born in the Year of the Snake, but this is my favourite out of the series with my only complaint being that I wish its head could swivel like the others!
40707 Year of the Snake is available now as a free gift with purchase (GWP) when you spend US$70 / AU$115 / £65 / €70 on LEGO.com from 8-13 January 2025. In Australia, the promotion will run until 19 January and is also available from Myer or Legoland Discovery Centre’s Chadstone store.
What do you think of the Year of the Snake GWP? Have you been collecting the entire series?
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