LEGO Monkie Kid 2021

[Lyichir]

31 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Honestly, if strong spider was piloting the mech instead of Sandy I think it would have sold a lot better. An exclusive big fig, plus Mei and MK would have sold this set I think, although personally I prefer the Sandy mech.

Eh, I think Sandy suits the mech itself well. I just wish he'd had another bigfig to square up against. A Strong Spider with brick-built spider legs would have felt more like a worthy foe.

What especially stinks about not getting Strong Spider is that he'd have been a great opportunity to reuse the new bigfig head from the new Thanos. You wouldn't even need to recolor it! He'd just need a new hairpiece mold (that could also potentially be used for characters like Hulk in the future), and possibly a different body (though he could probably get away with just building his legs into the spider base like Spider Queen did last year, which would be cheaper and easier and allow another option for displaying him without the spider legs).

Edited June 9, 2021 by Lyichir

[Lego David]

4 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Eh, I think Sandy suits the mech itself well. I just wish he'd had another bigfig to square up against. A Strong Spider with brick-built spider legs would have felt more like a worthy foe.

Or they could have introduced a new variant of Sandy, for that matter. Not a new mold, that would be way too expensive, but maybe a recolor of the current mold with a different facial expression, could have made the set a little more desirable. 

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

Or they could have introduced a new variant of Sandy, for that matter. Not a new mold, that would be way too expensive, but maybe a recolor of the current mold with a different facial expression, could have made the set a little more desirable. 

Yeah, I'd kind of hoped for that too after a S2 episode featured him in magenta track pants with white stripes instead of white track pants with black stripes (a change like that would keep his color scheme mostly the same, just rearrange it somewhat). But ultimately I'm more disappointed with the villainous side of the set than the heroic one. After all, at least Mo gets a new print in this one, and the mech itself is a pretty decent-looking build (even if being a bigfig-scaled power loader is the only really new thing it brings to the table).

But even compared to Sandy's speedboat from last year, the narrative aspect of this one feels... off. In that set, having Pigsy in the set captured by the Spider Queen (a new villain at the time) made for a compelling story starter that made the oversized speedboat feel narratively justified, with the conflict coming not so much from the battle but from a "race against time" to get Sandy's friend out of danger. In this one, the pacifistic Sandy is given a huge mech suit... and for what? Two villains from previous sets who Sandy could probably fight off bare-handed if he had to? There's not really a compelling motivation for the conflict, and the result is a product that feels oddly incomplete.

A bigfig-scaled foe for Sandy to face wouldn't be the ONLY way to resolve that—a more formidable mech or vehicle for the bad guys or some additional characters and set dressing that could add a non-combat angle to the conflict would also work. I don't know. I suppose I could potentially talk all day about what could have been, without having any real insight into what constraints the set was under or what options were available. But ultimately I guess I'm just talking through why a set that I generally like most of doesn't quite feel as satisfying to me as the other two sets.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Lyichir

[Lego David]

4 hours ago, Lyichir said:

A bigfig-scaled foe for Sandy to face wouldn't be the ONLY way to resolve that—a more formidable mech or vehicle for the bad guys or some additional characters and set dressing that could add a non-combat angle to the conflict would also work. I don't know. I suppose I could potentially talk all day about what could have been, without having any real insight into what constraints the set was under or what options were available. But ultimately I guess I'm just talking through why a set that I generally like most of doesn't quite feel as satisfying to me as the other two sets.

And It  it's not like LEGO has never done sets with more than one bigfig before. You might think including another bigfig to an already expensive set would make the set's price skyrocket... but sets like Hulk Vs Red Hulk included two bigfigs while the price being just slightly higher than this one (50$ it is, right?)

[Lyichir]

8 hours ago, Lego David said:

And It  it's not like LEGO has never done sets with more than one bigfig before. You might think including another bigfig to an already expensive set would make the set's price skyrocket... but sets like Hulk Vs Red Hulk included two bigfigs while the price being just slightly higher than this one (50$ it is, right?)

I think Hulk vs. Red Hulk is one of the only examples I can think of, unfortunately (unless you go back to older "bigfigs" like the Castle giant trolls). But yeah, despite how mocked that set sometimes is among Super Heroes builders I feel like it's a really solid idea for a dramatic conflict scenario in a set.

Of course, Hulk vs. Red Hulk got away with it in part because it didn't actually use new molds (using two different Hulk molds from previous sets). Strong Spider would probably require at least a new bigfig-sized hairpiece, if not a new torso. So there's a not insignificant chance that it just wasn't in the cards from the get-go.

[Fenghuang0296]

Myself, I think Strong Spider should have been done using a brick-built body (maybe with that big torso they used in Nexo Knights and for Steppenwolf), a normal minifig head, and bigwig arms/hands. Hell, the colours for the arms and hands already exist thanks to Thanos, they only would have needed to make a new print for the face and an uncoloured purple torso part. But we’ll probably never get him at this stage. Oh well. 

[Lego David]

3 hours ago, Lyichir said:

I think Hulk vs. Red Hulk is one of the only examples I can think of, unfortunately (unless you go back to older "bigfigs" like the Castle giant trolls). But yeah, despite how mocked that set sometimes is among Super Heroes builders I feel like it's a really solid idea for a dramatic conflict scenario in a set.

There was also the set 76131 Avengers Compound Battle, which included both the Hulk and Thanos Bigfigs. So I don't think there is any reason to assume LEGO has a problem with putting more than one Bigfig in a single set (perhaps only as long as they are pre-existing Bigfig molds, though). 

[Takanuinuva]

How much is Sandy's Power Loader? Perhaps they couldn't do 2 bigfigs as they had to meet a price point.

[a guy from somewhere]

8 minutes ago, Takanuinuva said:

How much is Sandy's Power Loader? Perhaps they couldn't do 2 bigfigs as they had to meet a price point.

$54 USD and £40 UK and $69.99 CAD

Edited June 10, 2021 by a guy from somewhere

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

There was also the set 76131 Avengers Compound Battle, which included both the Hulk and Thanos Bigfigs. So I don't think there is any reason to assume LEGO has a problem with putting more than one Bigfig in a single set (perhaps only as long as they are pre-existing Bigfig molds, though). 

Another factor (minor though it might be) is that I don't think Lego has EVER made a set that had bigfigs but no standard minifigs. So if that indicates a reluctance, that might be a factor in why we got Huntsman and Syntax as foes in this set.

[Lego David]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

Another factor (minor though it might be) is that I don't think Lego has EVER made a set that had bigfigs but no standard minifigs. So if that indicates a reluctance, that might be a factor in why we got Huntsman and Syntax as foes in this set.

I mean, I don't see why you couldn't have two Bigfigs, but also throw in a few extra normal characters in the mix. Like have Sandy, the enemy Bigfig, and maybe two more normal minfig bad guys. If you want, you could also throw in a Monkie Kid minifigure to balance out the heroes and villains more. 

[Meaf]

If I remember right the Hulk vs Red Hulk set was similar in price to the Sandy Mech, so I think the reason they didn't end up making it come with two bigfigs is because a new one was just outside their budget for this wave (or year, I'm not sure how it's divided up). Either way it's a decent set as is but I do feel like it rides a little too hard on the novelty of being a bigfig mech, as opposed to having a lot of interesting characters or features.

[Lyichir]

https://www.brothers-brick.com/2021/06/13/lego-monkie-kid-80028-the-bone-demon-review/

Brothers Brick uploaded their review of the Bone Demon set! Looks fantastic.

[Ninja_whip]

Just dropped a review on the Sandy Mech! Hope you all enjoy!!! Thanks!  https://youtu.be/reudWpPf7wA

 

[Lyichir]

11 hours ago, Ninja_whip said:

Just dropped a review on the Sandy Mech! Hope you all enjoy!!! Thanks!  https://youtu.be/reudWpPf7wA

 

Okay, the spinny staff looks INCREDIBLY satisfying in that video.

A part of me is a little less whelmed by the punchy fist than I thought I'd be, though. I wonder if it'd be more interesting if the rubber band were attached to the back instead of the front (so that instead of springing back into place after a punch, you could pull it back to have the fist shoot forward).

[Ninja_whip]

59 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Okay, the spinny staff looks INCREDIBLY satisfying in that video.

A part of me is a little less whelmed by the punchy fist than I thought I'd be, though. I wonder if it'd be more interesting if the rubber band were attached to the back instead of the front (so that instead of springing back into place after a punch, you could pull it back to have the fist shoot forward).

Thank you! 

[Takanuinuva]

3 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Okay, the spinny staff looks INCREDIBLY satisfying in that video.

A part of me is a little less whelmed by the punchy fist than I thought I'd be, though. I wonder if it'd be more interesting if the rubber band were attached to the back instead of the front (so that instead of springing back into place after a punch, you could pull it back to have the fist shoot forward).

Might be able to mod it to do that. 

[a guy from somewhere]

So I have the choice between the monkie mech, or the secret HQ. As I’m incredibly indecisive, I wanted to get your opinions on this matter. What do you guys think? 

[Lyichir]

52 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

So I have the choice between the monkie mech, or the secret HQ. As I’m incredibly indecisive, I wanted to get your opinions on this matter. What do you guys think? 

Personally, when I had the choice I opted for the Monkey King Warrior Mech. I'd consider the monkey mech, with its height and plethora of gold parts, a bit of a better display piece, while the Secret HQ feels a bit more like a playset with multiple features only being visible if you open it up to display the interior. General Ironclad is exclusive to those two sets but the Warrior Mech is also one of only three sets to include Monkey King himself (all fairly expensive), and one of only two to include him in his battle armor (Mo the cat was originally exclusive to the Secret HQ but has since then appeared in several cheaper sets). The Monkey Mech also pairs well with several other sets—it looks great displayed in a face-off with the Demon Bull King or the new Bone Demon set, and the building with MK's apartment and Pigsy's noodle shop can connect to the Panda convenience store in 80011 Red Son's Inferno Truck or the gatehouse in 80006 White Dragon Horse Bike.

That said, eventually I ended up getting both sets (the lure of the monkey was just too strong!), and I don't regret getting either.
 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Lyichir

[TeriXeri]

1 hour ago, a guy from somewhere said:

So I have the choice between the monkie mech, or the secret HQ. As I’m incredibly indecisive, I wanted to get your opinions on this matter. What do you guys think? 

For the same budget as the Secret HQ I'd prefer the Flower Fruit Mountain, I know that wasn't a choice here, just my opinion, which is a bit biased toward locations.

Similar to the Monkie King mech budget ,i'd prefer the Flaming Foundry. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

For the same budget as the Secret HQ I'd prefer the Flower Fruit Mountain, I know that wasn't a choice here, just my opinion, which is a bit biased toward locations.

Similar to the Monkie King mech budget ,i'd prefer the Flaming Foundry. 

This is getting a little off track from the question that was asked, but it's interesting to me that you'd prefer the Foundry to the mech, since the Foundry feels more to me like a mobile base like the Fortrex from Nexo Knights than a typical "location" build, whereas in terms of locations really love the apartment/noodle shop in the mech set (which to me feels perfectly sized—big enough to feel like a realistic setting alongside figs but small enough that the giant mech still towers over it). Not that your preference is wrong or anything—like the Ocean HQ, while I passed on it originally I eventually ended up picking it up anyway, and I love the architectural style (which suits the Iron Bull Clan wonderfully) and the way it folds around the included dump truck for mobility!

On a completely different note, I'm hopefully going to get out to the Lego store later today to pick up the new Bone Demon set and Pigsy's Noodle Tank! I've been looking forward to these since they were revealed and can't wait to get to build them for myself. I think I'll wait on Sandy's mech for now, though as my last two posts go to show, that doesn't always mean I won't get them in the long run.

[DanieLewa]

On 7/6/2021 at 6:49 AM, a guy from somewhere said:

So I have the choice between the monkie mech, or the secret HQ. As I’m incredibly indecisive, I wanted to get your opinions on this matter. What do you guys think? 

Either one offers tons of value for the money. I would say that the Monkey King Warrior Mech set encapsulates more of what makes this theme what it is. Also, it is stellar on display and quite striking with all the lacquered gold. That being said, the Secret HQ is stuffed with awesome features and is super fun. 

Also, the BONE DEMON looks impeccable on display next to the Monkey King mech so if you are a sucker for good display potential I would pair those two in a heartbeat.

[Technicallism]

Hi guys,

Check out my latest speed build review video at our channel about newly launch Monkie Kid set 80025, a cool set with nice giant-minifigure and the mech…thanks 

https://youtu.be/H-bqP-pk26U

[karrit]

Haven't read through this entire thread so I don't know if anyone else has heard anything official regarding this theme continuing or not next year.  I  finally went to my two nearest Lego stores yesterday.  In one of them I noticed a sign above the Monkie Kid sets that said Last Chance.  I questioned the one guy I know who's worked there for many years and he told me they are going to become Asian regional product due to low sales elsewhere.  I know this goes against the no regional exclusives policy that was started a few years back so didn't know if anyone else has heard anything similar to what I was told.  I guess they could always limit them to online only sales in other countries rather than devoting limited shelf space to them in the Lego brand stores.

[Takanuinuva]

Debating on going for the Bone Demon Mech or Adventures with Luigi in August.

I am going to get both. But which would be better to wait on for a Christmas gift from my family?

There is also the fact I would get free shipping on the Bone Demon Mech. But not on Adventures with Luigi?