LEGO Monkie Kid 2021

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, Takanuinuva said:

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?

It could end up coming down to which one is available to you. If the Luigi set's demand is anything like what Mario's was when it first came out, it might end up sold out in a lot of places very soon after coming out (at least until those places can restock it and the initial demand has leveled off some, which could potentially take a couple weeks). Whereas I don't think you're likely to have the same issue with the Bone Demon, especially since it will have been available for a month by then.

I got the Bone Demon (along with the Noodle Tank) last week and can vouch for it being a very good set. I had some minor issues (the Monkie Kid mech is tricky to pose on the cloud board so that it's balanced and secure, and I swapped the single stud attachment for Lady Bone Demon on top of the casket for a 2x2 tile with two studs so she'd attach a little more securely). but those issues aside the main build is breathtaking and very sturdy.

[DanieLewa]

3 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

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?

Bone Demon no question.

[Takanuinuva]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

It could end up coming down to which one is available to you. If the Luigi set's demand is anything like what Mario's was when it first came out, it might end up sold out in a lot of places very soon after coming out (at least until those places can restock it and the initial demand has leveled off some, which could potentially take a couple weeks). Whereas I don't think you're likely to have the same issue with the Bone Demon, especially since it will have been available for a month by then.

I got the Bone Demon (along with the Noodle Tank) last week and can vouch for it being a very good set. I had some minor issues (the Monkie Kid mech is tricky to pose on the cloud board so that it's balanced and secure, and I swapped the single stud attachment for Lady Bone Demon on top of the casket for a 2x2 tile with two studs so she'd attach a little more securely). but those issues aside the main build is breathtaking and very sturdy.

My local Walmart still has a bunch of Adventures with Mario. So I'm pretty sure they'll still have Luigi's. That and I can get it from Lego.com

Plus like I said. Bone demon will give me free shipping and I can buy it now.

Luigi isn't until August.

There is also the fact that I really just want the electronic Luigi and all those larger Mario parts will get unused.

 

[Lyichir]

16 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

My local Walmart still has a bunch of Adventures with Mario. So I'm pretty sure they'll still have Luigi's. That and I can get it from Lego.com

Plus like I said. Bone demon will give me free shipping and I can buy it now.

Luigi isn't until August.

There is also the fact that I really just want the electronic Luigi and all those larger Mario parts will get unused.

 

Oh, don't get me wrong, most stores did eventually restock plenty of the Adventures with Mario set—they kind of had to, since as the only "starter set" up to now it was kind of essential for selling all the other sets. But in the month immediately following its release it could be somewhat hard to find. I remember my nearest Lego store being out of them along with stores near me like Target and Walmart. Luigi will probably be a little less popular (since he's not the only option for playing the game and doesn't have that huge debut craze going for him), but it's still possible that some places will sell out temporarily.

In negative news, I've seen rumors that at least some U.S. Lego stores will be phasing out stocking Monkie Kid sets on shelves (potentially making them online exclusive in this country). It's really frustrating to see increasing evidence that Lego might've ended up bungling the international launch of one of their best current themes.

[Takanuinuva]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

Oh, don't get me wrong, most stores did eventually restock plenty of the Adventures with Mario set—they kind of had to, since as the only "starter set" up to now it was kind of essential for selling all the other sets. But in the month immediately following its release it could be somewhat hard to find. I remember my nearest Lego store being out of them along with stores near me like Target and Walmart. Luigi will probably be a little less popular (since he's not the only option for playing the game and doesn't have that huge debut craze going for him), but it's still possible that some places will sell out temporarily.

In negative news, I've seen rumors that at least some U.S. Lego stores will be phasing out stocking Monkie Kid sets on shelves (potentially making them online exclusive in this country). It's really frustrating to see increasing evidence that Lego might've ended up bungling the international launch of one of their best current themes.

Well thankfully I'm Canadian. And either way I was going to order online.

And I will get the Bone Demon Mech in August. Free shipping and better PPP.

Probably will find a decently priced Luigi stand alone on Bricklink

[a guy from somewhere]

23 hours ago, karrit said:

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.

This isn’t good. I will admit, while I’ve had a major interest in this theme since it began, budget and the extremely high prices have prevented me from picking up a single set, but I’m planning on getting the bone mech and the monkie mech now, and I’m certain I will be picking up both. This may be the case for the US, but I’m hoping it isn’t for other places around the world (excluding China obviously). Here in the UK I haven’t been able to get to any Lego stores, and if TLG is gonna stop selling the monkie kid sets, it will be most likely in store only. The sets will probably be available online, and the only reason they aren’t going to be in stores is probably because unless you know what your getting, most of the prices are too high to justify a “yeah I’ll get it because it’s there” purchase. I doubt they will stop selling them online, although I will admit that Lego have kinda shot themselves in the foot by not allowing sales through other retail stores. This means that a large majority of people won’t even have seen it unless they have gone into a Lego store, and those are far fewer than Tesco’s or Walmart’s. 

[TeriXeri]

Low sales wouldn't surprise me , full price for multiple waves of sets just isn't going to cut it against other sets/themes that have for me.

And full price doesn't just mean 100% retail price, but also shipping costs, and other things, sure LEGO.com has VIP which effectively mean 5-10% off , and GWP , but those are hard to compare to themes that can get up to 30-40% off.

Even if Price per part is good , I feel that measure is used too easily to determine value.

No low price sets to really impulse buy/army build either.

 

It's kind of annoying that LEGO exclusives are happening in City and Creator 3-in-1 now too.

Edited July 14, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Lyichir]

4 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Low sales wouldn't surprise me , full price for multiple waves of sets just isn't going to cut it against other sets/themes that have for me.

And full price doesn't just mean 100% retail price, but also shipping costs, and other things, sure LEGO.com has VIP which effectively mean 5-10% off , and GWP , but those are hard to compare to themes that can get up to 30-40% off.

Even if Price per part is good , I feel that measure is used too easily to determine value.

No low price sets to really impulse buy/army build either.

 

It's kind of annoying that LEGO exclusives are happening in City and Creator 3-in-1 now too.

Which Creator 3-in-1 sets are exclusive? In the U.S. City has had Lego exclusives before (mostly the big multi-subject street scenes that I think used to more commonly be Toys R Us exclusives before they went under), but I hadn't been aware of any 3-in-1 sets being made exclusive in the same way.

To be honest, Monkie Kid becoming online-exclusive wouldn't be the absolute worst (if Lego hadn't reversed their decision on having regional exclusives a couple of years ago, it's not implausible that the theme might never have made its way west whatsoever, so I'm grateful at least that the theme has been as easy to get as it has). But it feels like a real bummer that as of last year I was hoping for the theme to get a wider release once the TV series started airing here, and now a year later not only have we gotten no hint of the TV series being made officially available here but it's looking like even the Lego store availability it had been enjoying is being scaled back. I know that whatever has caused the holdup in the TV series probably wasn't planned on Lego's part at all, but absent any kind of communication one way or the other about what's going on with it, it can't help but feel like this theme's promotion was something that could have and should have been handled better.

[TeriXeri]

11 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Which Creator 3-in-1 sets are exclusive? In the U.S. City has had Lego exclusives before (mostly the big multi-subject street scenes that I think used to more commonly be Toys R Us exclusives before they went under), but I hadn't been aware of any 3-in-1 sets being made exclusive in the same way.

Right now, for 3-in-1 in my country,  the new Castle and Aquarium are, and the Crocodile (not the train) is also still limited but has bigger % discount.

As for City, the 2020 Police Brick Box, the Safari Jeep, the Mail Plane were exclusive as well, and for 2021 the Car Transporter, Police Boat and Shopping Street, LEGO seems to have the put some rules on discount there, because if they are sold outside of LEGO.com there are either no or very small discounts only.

As for other themes like IDEAS/18+/Winter village and such, also seems to be a rule of maximum 15% discount, after a certain period of LEGO.com exclusivity.

 

The other City/3-in-1 sets appeared much wider since their launch, and that means 20%+ discount on those isn't rare.

It's hard to compare countries, as each country has different store chains and web shops, but in the last 5 years I bought 99% of my LEGO online.

Also prices still can vary a lot, even just western europe, prices between Netherlands/Germany/Belgium/France etc can vary €5,€10 or even €20 for the same sets which is kind of odd, it's not just the difference in VAT%.

 

As  for theme competition, Ninjago having good prices to begin with, and then fairly large discounts on top, makes it a hard competitor for Monkie Kid's full prices.

Edited July 15, 2021 by TeriXeri

[a guy from somewhere]

To anyone that has the monkie mech, what’s it height? I’ve seen 40cm on the Lego website but I feel like it comes under what I call the land bounty effect, where Lego artificially increases the dimensions of a set by some sort of large sail hanging off the back, or a massive flag, or in the mechs case, the giant feathers/ribbons (what are you even meant to call them?) on the top of the head. I’d also like to see it in comparison to the bone demon if anyone has those two sets. I’m loving the theme so far, and I’m really hoping we can see some play set style things next wave. As the hero’s are on a “journey to the west”, I’d love to see some massive ancient temples and landscape builds, maybe a smaller add on to flower fruit mountain? There’s so much! And if Lego really want to chuck a vehicle in, they could make some sort of ancient mech armour for the kid to pilot. Although the current wave is pretty mech heavy to be honest. 

Edited July 16, 2021 by a guy from somewhere

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, a guy from somewhere said:

To anyone that has the monkie mech, what’s it height? I’ve seen 40cm on the Lego website but I feel like it comes under what I call the land bounty effect, where Lego artificially increases the dimensions of a set by some sort of large sail hanging off the back, or a massive flag, or in the mechs case, the giant feathers/ribbons (what are you even meant to call them?) on the top of the head. I’d also like to see it in comparison to the bone demon if anyone has those two sets. I’m loving the theme so far, and I’m really hoping we can see some play set style things next wave. As the hero’s are on a “journey to the west”, I’d love to see some massive ancient temples and landscape builds, maybe a smaller add on to flower fruit mountain? There’s so much! And if Lego really want to chuck a vehicle in, they could make some sort of ancient mech armour for the kid to pilot. Although the current wave is pretty mech heavy to be honest. 

So the Monkey King mech, excluding the two ribbons and the flags/banners, is about 13 in / 33 cm tall from the feet to the top of the head. The bone demon is roughly the same height if you exclude the large bones/antlers extending from the back. Here's a picture I took of the two together:

As far as next year's sets are concerned, I'm not quite sure what to expect—but in terms of the "journey" I get the feeling that might end up justifying just as many vehicles if not more—I doubt the journey will be taken entirely on foot in a theme like this. That said, there could be plenty of opportunity for new settings as well—not just temples but also villages and other sorts of landmarks.

One idea I've had (that might not be likely, but is fun to think about and could be great inspiration for a MOC if nothing else) is that since obviously China is more developed than it was when the original Journey to the West was written, it's possible that at least a small leg of the journey (perhaps the first portion of it before they get into more mystical territory) could be taken by train! China has some neat rail infrastructure in the modern day and there are a lot of possible options for a Monkie Kid themed train set—perhaps a multicolored cargo train with an aesthetic like the Ocean HQ, or a sleek high speed train themed around Mei and the White Dragon Horse family, or even a rugged, industrial coal or diesel-powered train themed around the Demon Bull Clan (Red Son could potentially be persuaded to begrudgingly let even his one-time enemies hitch a ride).

Edited July 16, 2021 by Lyichir

[a guy from somewhere]

1 minute ago, Lyichir said:

So the Monkey King mech, excluding the two ribbons extending from the head, is about 13 in / 33 cm tall. The bone demon is roughly the same height if you exclude the large bones/antlers extending from the back. Here's a picture I took of the two together:

As far as next year's sets are concerned, I'm not quite sure what to expect—but in terms of the "journey" I get the feeling that might end up justifying just as many vehicles if not more—I doubt the journey will be taken entirely on foot in a theme like this. That said, there could be plenty of opportunity for new settings as well—not just temples but also villages and other sorts of landmarks.

One idea I've had (that might not be likely, but is fun to think about and could be great inspiration for a MOC if nothing else) is that since obviously China is more developed than it was when the original Journey to the West was written, it's possible that at least a small leg of the journey (perhaps the first portion of it before they get into more mystical territory) could be taken by train! China has some neat rail infrastructure in the modern day and there are a lot of possible options for a Monkie Kid themed train set—perhaps a multicolored cargo train with an aesthetic like the Ocean HQ, or a sleek high speed train themed around Mei and the White Dragon Horse family, or even a rugged, industrial coal or diesel-powered train themed around the Demon Bull Clan (Red Son could potentially be persuaded to begrudgingly let even his one-time enemies hitch a ride).

Wow, thanks for the pic. That bone mech is certainly imposing! As for the train, I feel like that could actually work as the drone copter is the only surviving vehicle the crew have, seen as MK's powers are gone and he can't create vehicles, i'd say part of the journey could be taken by train as the drone copter carries cargo containers, and trains could work as a method to transport the pods if say the drone copter also had to be ditched. It's certainly going to be interesting.

[Lyichir]

I just realized I hadn't shared the Twitter thread where I shared some of my assorted thoughts on the Bone Demon set (along with plenty of pictures), so here:

 

[a guy from somewhere]

Thanks for the pics, I didn't realise you could create more skeletons! Wow this set is amazing, its definitely on my watchlist now. 

[a guy from somewhere]

Ok, some kinda big news. If you head over to Amazon.com, (American), go to the official Lego store, and go down to themes, you will find monkie kid! It has a banner saying “coming October 2021”. This may be it folks, monkie kid may finally becoming more widespread!  
 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/B41B3D58-F543-4384-B111-A2E5D72957AC?ingress=2&visitId=a4f5f3c6-0290-45df-8327-eaeb8054d69a&ref_=ast_bln

big thanks to My brick opinions for breaking the news!

wether this could mean potential new sets or not, I doubt it. But hopefully they will get discounted on Amazon. Still no word on other stores or the UK store (or any other country’s to be honest)

Edited July 22, 2021 by a guy from somewhere

[Lyichir]

5 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Ok, some kinda big news. If you head over to Amazon.com, (American), go to the official Lego store, and go down to themes, you will find monkie kid! It has a banner saying “coming October 2021”. This may be it folks, monkie kid may finally becoming more widespread!  
 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/B41B3D58-F543-4384-B111-A2E5D72957AC?ingress=2&visitId=a4f5f3c6-0290-45df-8327-eaeb8054d69a&ref_=ast_bln

big thanks to My brick opinions for breaking the news!

wether this could mean potential new sets or not, I doubt it. But hopefully they will get discounted on Amazon. Still no word on other stores or the UK store (or any other country’s to be honest)

Definitely feels like good news, if way, way overdue! I wonder if it's only Amazon that will be stocking the sets or if other retailers will be getting them as well. I'm also curious whether Amazon will just be getting the latest few waves or if there's still somehow enough of the year one sets that people who missed out on those while they were Lego exclusive could get a chance at them this way.

Either way I can only hope that this will lead to the show being released in the U.S. as well. Perhaps if the sets are being released on Amazon, the series could be made available on Amazon Prime Video? That wouldn't necessarily be ideal (since I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Amazon as a company and the series being exclusive to them would probably reach a more limited audience than if it were on TV as well), but it'd still be far better than the status quo of the series not being legitimately available here at all.

[Takanuinuva]

Bone Demon Mech came in yesterday. I would show it off. But I need to wait on a bricklink order for some minor mods to it.

For now Enjoy Skull Sorcerer next to Lady Bone Demon. 

 

[Lyichir]

19 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

Bone Demon Mech came in yesterday. I would show it off. But I need to wait on a bricklink order for some minor mods to it.

For now Enjoy Skull Sorcerer next to Lady Bone Demon. 

 

Nice!

I only made one extremely minor mod to the Bone Demon mech, swapping out the 2x2 jumper on top of the crypt for a slightly more stable 2x2 tile with two studs. That way when the mech is assembled, Lady Bone Demon can be a bit more secure there which helps for positioning the hinged sections on the head.

[Takanuinuva]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

Nice!

I only made one extremely minor mod to the Bone Demon mech, swapping out the 2x2 jumper on top of the crypt for a slightly more stable 2x2 tile with two studs. That way when the mech is assembled, Lady Bone Demon can be a bit more secure there which helps for positioning the hinged sections on the head.

I wasn't going to mod the Bone Demon mech that much originally. But I didn't like how loose the head was when attached. So I modified it to be on a mixel ball joint. 

Lady Bone Demon can't be put under it anymore. But I prefer her controlling the mech from the box in the chest.

Also made the swords a bit bigger.

One last thing I might attempt. Giving the Bone Scorpion the walking gimmick that the Spiderman and Venom crawlers have. (With supports for combined mode of course. )

[DanieLewa]

This is so sad: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-is-discontinuing-monkie-kid-in-stores/

So far it just looks like this is affecting European store locations, my local US LEGO store still has a large section dedicated to Monkie Kid as of August 7, 2021. If they are discontinued in stores I hope the LEGO Group will at least keep selling MK sets on their website for those of us outside Asia. 

As a huge fan of LEGO Monkie Kid, it blows my mind, as the theme is so wonderful, dynamic, and fun.

I know there are a lot of reasons for all this but it begs the question...

WHY IS MONKIE KID FAILING??????? 

[a guy from somewhere]

21 minutes ago, DanieLewa said:

This is so sad: https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-is-discontinuing-monkie-kid-in-stores/

So far it just looks like this is affecting European store locations, my local US LEGO store still has a large section dedicated to Monkie Kid as of August 7, 2021. If they are discontinued in stores I hope the LEGO Group will at least keep selling MK sets on their website for those of us outside Asia. 

As a huge fan of LEGO Monkie Kid, it blows my mind, as the theme is so wonderful, dynamic, and fun.

I know there are a lot of reasons for all this but it begs the question...

WHY IS MONKIE KID FAILING??????? 

It is sad, I will have to see if I can get to my (not so) local Lego store and see if they have any deals. I’m waiting for brickset to publish a review off the bone demon before I bite the bullet but I’m fairly set on it. My main issue with the theme has been the price, especially for someone like me who doesn’t have a whole lot off budget. I’ve only been able to afford the hydro mech from this summers Ninjago wave, but I’ve saved up for the demon now. Especially the first wave of sets, which is far and away the best wave from a set point off view. However the sets were greatly overpriced from their release, and unfortunately the best sets in my opinion are always the largest, sets like flower fruit mountain and the monkie mech, the HQ and the bone demon.
The smaller sets are fine, but don’t have the same charm as the big ones. Another issue is the fact that the sets aren’t widely available, only being able to be purchased through Lego. It means that I can’t just walk into a store and pick a set up, like I can do with Ninjago. That’s why I prefer Ninjago, it’s cheaper, has great builds and is widely avalible. Hopefully though the fact that monkie kid may be coming to Amazon will help boost the sales and also discount some of the pricier sets. I think despite the bad news, monkie kid will turn to be a theme that a lot more people can enjoy. 

Edited August 9, 2021 by a guy from somewhere

[a guy from somewhere]

So I went to the Lego store today (Cardiff), with the intent of picking up either the legacy bounty or the bone demon. My worst fears where confirmed when I saw the monkie kid sets on sale. Only the flaming foundry and the cloud roadster where left, and I was going back and forth on the roadster set, it was £43 but I decided I’d spend the money on the bone demon. But this does mean something. It looks like lego is pulling all monkie kid sets from stores. Internationally (minus China obviously). However the monkie kid banner still remains on Amazon.com but not on Amazon UK so I’m wondering if they are going to do a trial run on Amazon US (obviously because of the large population) and see how it sells on discount, with more availability. I urge anyone that may get the chance to buy some, to show lego that Monkie kid can be successful. I’m pretty disappointed that I was too late and didn’t get the bone demon, and a bit more disappointed that I didn’t get the roadster. But on the upside, I do still have the money. (If anyone was wondering, I didn’t get the bounty either).

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

So I went to the Lego store today (Cardiff), with the intent of picking up either the legacy bounty or the bone demon. My worst fears where confirmed when I saw the monkie kid sets on sale. Only the flaming foundry and the cloud roadster where left, and I was going back and forth on the roadster set, it was £43 but I decided I’d spend the money on the bone demon. But this does mean something. It looks like lego is pulling all monkie kid sets from stores. Internationally (minus China obviously). However the monkie kid banner still remains on Amazon.com but not on Amazon UK so I’m wondering if they are going to do a trial run on Amazon US (obviously because of the large population) and see how it sells on discount, with more availability. I urge anyone that may get the chance to buy some, to show lego that Monkie kid can be successful. I’m pretty disappointed that I was too late and didn’t get the bone demon, and a bit more disappointed that I didn’t get the roadster. But on the upside, I do still have the money. (If anyone was wondering, I didn’t get the bounty either).

Despite the disappointment of Monkie Kid being discounted and removed from shelves in the UK and Europe I'd hesitate to declare that that's internationally the case. I visited a U.S. store yesterday and while some older sets like the Roadster and Flaming Foundry were discounted (as you'd often expect for year-old sets), the sets from this year (both the earlier winter wave and the current summer wave) were still on shelves at their normal prices. The clearances seen in Europe may simply apply to that region, or they may be a decision being made on a store-by-store basis worldwide (as I've heard that there are certain European stores that have yet to make those changes, and conversely it's possible that certain U.S. stores may be clearancing the sets as well if they aren't performing well in those individual locations).

[Lego David]

I have been hesitant to rush and buy any of the Monkie Kid sets at their full price, but given the fact that they are now finally getting a discount and may be soon pulled from shelves, I figure the time has finally come for me to act.

I'm gonna visit my Local LEGO Store later today, and I'll check to see what they've still got available and for how much.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Lego David

[a guy from somewhere]

41 minutes ago, Lego David said:

I have been hesitant to rush and buy any of the Monkie Kid sets at their full price, but given the fact that they are now finally getting a discount and may be soon pulled from shelves, I figure the time has finally come for me to act.

I'm gonna visit my Local LEGO Store later today, and I'll check to see what they've still got available and for how much.

That has been my main thought process for most of the themes existence. Sadly When I reached the Lego store all they had were the flaming foundry and the cloud roadster, and all of the other sets where nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t a “monkie kid” section or anything, so I headed over to the Chinese New Year section and one of the display boxes listed sandys speed boat as “out of stock”. That why I think they are pulling the monkie kid sets over here in the UK.