Peppermint_M

LEGO Monkie Kid 2023

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Discussion of the 2023 sets can continue here. If anyone has posts they would like moved over, please bring them to my attention.

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Thank you for finally starting a 2023 topic! Long overdue (and I say that as one of the many people who maybe could've started one but kept on putting it off).

I ordered the new Monkey King Ultra Mech first thing in the new year, but it's probably not going to arrive until the 9th (one of the major drawbacks of no longer being able to buy the sets in a store when they first become available). I'll probably put in another order for the Team Hideout when a new GWP is available later in the month.

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4 hours ago, Killian said:

Wonder when we'll see a trailer or info on season 4 of the cartoon?

Probably not too long now. From what I can find the trailer for Season 2 was released at the start of February, and the trailer for the third season was January 9th. So assuming that trend continues we'll probably get a trailer in the next month or so!

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I suppose there’s no word on the polybag that I may have missed? Trends show it’s gonna be a GWP & I’m guessing it’s not gonna be this month. I need to know how long I have to refrain from buying the Hideout. :tongue:

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My Ultra Mech arrived yesterday, and I couldn't resist building it right away!

I love it—it's a great improvement on the original Monkey King mech, in its aesthetics and especially in its durability. It no longer relies on large fabric/foil pieces to cover up unfinished areas on the back and hips. Gone are the flimsy single-clip connections for the fingers, flags, and flaps that were so easy to inadvertently knock loose when handling the figure, and the cockpit hatch is similarly much more durable and less prone to lose parts if gripped in the wrong way. The shaping and proportions of the limbs are a lot better, too. The ability to use the jet as a jetpack is the icing on the cake—I modded my original copy of the set to wear the Cloud Jet as a jetpack, but it was in no way equipped to bear that extra weight in the long term. But the new version stands strong even with extra weight added to it.

The new figs are great too. I didn't realize from the pictures that the Yellow Tusk Elephant's ears/trunk are slightly rubbery. The Azure Lion's hairpiece is amazing—the thick, wild look of it feels very anime. And Tang looks fantastic, despite the lack of dual-molded legs.

As a side note, it occurred to me that it's remarkably easy to complete Tang's staff and Pigsy's rake with extra pieces from other sets (since both the lightsaber hilt and 3M bar commonly come as extras, and I've acquired MANY over the years). Mei's sword and Sandy's crescent staff are a little harder to complete, but only slightly (the gold dragon hilt piece and candlestick necessary to complete them are fairly common but don't come as extras by default). Luckily, I ordered extra gold candlesticks several years back, and have more than enough extra dragon sword hilts from Ninjago sets!

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12 hours ago, Lyichir said:

My Ultra Mech arrived yesterday, and I couldn't resist building it right away!

I love it—it's a great improvement on the original Monkey King mech, in its aesthetics and especially in its durability. It no longer relies on large fabric/foil pieces to cover up unfinished areas on the back and hips. Gone are the flimsy single-clip connections for the fingers, flags, and flaps that were so easy to inadvertently knock loose when handling the figure, and the cockpit hatch is similarly much more durable and less prone to lose parts if gripped in the wrong way. The shaping and proportions of the limbs are a lot better, too. The ability to use the jet as a jetpack is the icing on the cake—I modded my original copy of the set to wear the Cloud Jet as a jetpack, but it was in no way equipped to bear that extra weight in the long term. But the new version stands strong even with extra weight added to it.

The new figs are great too. I didn't realize from the pictures that the Yellow Tusk Elephant's ears/trunk are slightly rubbery. The Azure Lion's hairpiece is amazing—the thick, wild look of it feels very anime. And Tang looks fantastic, despite the lack of dual-molded legs.

As a side note, it occurred to me that it's remarkably easy to complete Tang's staff and Pigsy's rake with extra pieces from other sets (since both the lightsaber hilt and 3M bar commonly come as extras, and I've acquired MANY over the years). Mei's sword and Sandy's crescent staff are a little harder to complete, but only slightly (the gold dragon hilt piece and candlestick necessary to complete them are fairly common but don't come as extras by default). Luckily, I ordered extra gold candlesticks several years back, and have more than enough extra dragon sword hilts from Ninjago sets!

To add on, the articulation in the arms are my favorite improvement. The lack of it in the old one made it feel stiff. I’m not on one side or the other on the foil parts. They do feel, in a way, more authentic. I definitely prefer them on the head of Ultra as they’re ribbons & the old looked more like antennae. Ultra really is better in nearly every way. I say nearly because I liked the ability to move the head up & down on the older one. But the one new has the look & feel of just being an appropriate & bulky upgrade. And the addition of the jet components is just amazing. It really feels complete with them attached. This is now the closest we’ve come to having Gundam in LEGO.  The two Titan mechs from Ninjago were close. 

Edit: One more thing about the Ultra(mechs in general), knees. After we got them in Zane’s Titan mech it makes ones without a little lacking. Minor gripe.

Also, Azure Lion’s hair is amazing! It’s certainly a stand out in that set. I too gave Tang his staff. Then I ended up making the full complement of weapons...which are now in the hands of Garmadon. 

Edited by Vindicare

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Finally built the Hideout:

/damn, my pics are too big.

If anyone is interested, here`s the link to a german forum where I posted some pictures:

https://forum.rocketbeans.tv/t/lego-und-andere-klemmbausteine-eure-geschichten-erinnerungen-ii/102920/1500?u=neithan

I really love the modular experience so it is easy to combine with the City of Lanterns. The MK theme really is my favorite Theme with great Sets to display or to play with - or both. :)

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On 1/9/2023 at 6:57 AM, neithan said:

Finally built the Hideout:

/damn, my pics are too big.

If anyone is interested, here`s the link to a german forum where I posted some pictures:

https://forum.rocketbeans.tv/t/lego-und-andere-klemmbausteine-eure-geschichten-erinnerungen-ii/102920/1500?u=neithan

 

I really love the modular experience so it is easy to combine with the City of Lanterns. The MK theme really is my favorite Theme with great Sets to display or to play with - or both. :)

I see you paired it with Lanterns, but what about mixing & matching per the back of the instructions? To me, it looks a bit strange as I don’t really see them going well together. It’s kinda like old world & new but doesn’t flow like it does in the Ninjago Modulars. 

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Yeah, I`m not happy how it looks right now, but I didn`t have the time to really blend the two sets together (and I am not very creative...)

But as it looks the little stores and marketplaces can be swapped. When I find the time, I`ll try to fit it together.

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On 1/10/2023 at 1:57 AM, neithan said:

Finally built the Hideout:

/damn, my pics are too big.

If anyone is interested, here`s the link to a german forum where I posted some pictures:

https://forum.rocketbeans.tv/t/lego-und-andere-klemmbausteine-eure-geschichten-erinnerungen-ii/102920/1500?u=neithan

 

I really love the modular experience so it is easy to combine with the City of Lanterns. The MK theme really is my favorite Theme with great Sets to display or to play with - or both. :)

It's a lovely set! To me it looks better on its own!

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On 1/12/2023 at 6:04 PM, Lemerbrix said:

Do you think the hideout would pair well with flower fruit mountain?

I think it would. The taller part has the same kind of look as parts of the Mountain. The other section may stick out a bit as it’s more modern but as that whole set looks good together I’m sure it’ll work as well. 

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I bought the Monkie Kids Team Hideout and it's great, I combined it with City of Laterns and although some building don't go that well together (especially the forge), most will! Really waiting for the GWP 30656 Monkey King Marketplace was hoping it would come online today. Anyone know when it will get released?

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Apparently the new season has dropped in China! Hopefully not too long until the international release. The tweet above includes the new intro.

While Amazon Prime's ability to keep up with the series in the U.S. has been a joke, recently the free VOD channel "Kabillion" announced that they'd be carrying Monkie Kid in the future as well. No dates yet, but maybe they'll be better about actually making newer episodes of the series available without having to wait a year or more.

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Wasn't expecting the animated versions of the Eagle, Lion and Elephant to be so cute. Good to see DBK and Macaque back. Looks like there's a lot more variation in the Ink Demons in the show than there is in the sets. Good to see the combo mech featuring prominently. And Pigsy has his hat, yet Lego thought the minifigure looked better with no hat and an exposed stud 🙄

This had better be good. Which I'm sure it will be, I mean this is Flying Bark

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The large looming figure with the 3 minions in the new opening credits looks to be dressed like a Chinese Emperor and at least one of the 3 minions seems to be Nezha. So maybe it's the Jade Emporer, Erlang, Nezha and maybe Taishang Laojun? Maybe Sun Wukong is taking on Heaven's forces again?

The lion, elephant and eagle seem to be allied with Sun Wukong and DBK. Maybe they're from the group that the Monkey King made peace with in one of the early chapters of JTTW? DBK was among them in the novel.

Surprised fan favourite character Red Son isn't with the good guy group in the opening credits

Edited by Killian
reticulating splines

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So, I just watched episode 1 of season 4 and a 2 minute clip from another episode.


 

Spoiler

 

Episode 1 : 

We have Yin and Jin attacking the city with various artefacts from the JTTW novel. MK and Mei defeat them pretty quickly using set 80040 and set 80041, but MK feels like power is corrupting him. MK takes the artefacts to Flower Fruit Mountain for safekeeping and discusses the fact that he feels that all the dangers Megalopolis has faced are due to MK's mistakes. His hair aided The Spider Queen, his staff helped DBK and LBD etc. Sun Wukong talks about how he himself acted foolishly and selfishly before he was enslaved by Guanyin and Tang Sanzang and set on the path to enlightenment. He says that all the good MK has done in his short career as the Monkie Kid is greater than everything The Monkey King achieved in his millennia as an immortal.

MK screws up again by opening the scroll and the ink demons ooze out. They absorb some monkeys into the scroll and berate SW for betraying Macaque and causing chaos in Heaven etc. by taking the form of ink versions of various characters from JTTW like Taishang Laojun, Nezha, The Golden Winged Eagle, DBK, PIF, Spider Queen etc. 

SW blocks the ink from striking MK, saying that there's always someone looking to bring up your past mistakes and that MK needs to seal the scroll right before SW is absorbed into a paragraph of writing on the scroll.

MK flees Water Curtain Cave and the magic of the waterfall contains the ink demons.           

It's unclear why no ink came out of the scroll when it opened at the end of season 3, maybe it needed MK's touch specifically?

 

2 minute clip :

MK is in the Memory Scroll in a Dojo or Temple with the immortal from JTTW who first taught Sun Wukong before he was defeated by Buddha. MK wants him to teach him how to save his friends, break a spell and avert the current doomsday. He seems to be suggesting that MK isn't as ordinary as he believes himself to be and wants him to think back to his childhood, parents and true origin. MK is hesitant, but gets flashes of a stone breaking, reminiscent of SW's birth as the stone monkey from the stone egg. He remembers arriving as a small muddy child at Pigsy's Noodles and being taken in. 

We see SW looking at the stone before it breaks (or perhaps after it's been put back together, it's unclear) suggesting that MK possibly came from the stone? We see a female Buddha or deity (possibly Guanyin) creating various stone animals; Bull, Rat, Horse, Turtle, Rabbit, Pig, Bear, Goat/Sheep and monkey. MK is taken to see the unbroken stone and there is a broken stone monkey nearby.

I don't know what's going on. Was SW trying to make himself a son from the stone monkey but it broke and created a human boy with no memory of his origin? I need so much more context!  Looks like I was right about MK and Co going into the scroll, though it's unclear if that will be the basis for most of the season or just part of the story.

 

 

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On 1/20/2023 at 1:32 PM, Killian said:

So, I just watched episode 1 of season 4 and a 2 minute clip from another episode.


 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Episode 1 : 

We have Yin and Jin attacking the city with various artefacts from the JTTW novel. MK and Mei defeat them pretty quickly using set 80040 and set 80041, but MK feels like power is corrupting him. MK takes the artefacts to Flower Fruit Mountain for safekeeping and discusses the fact that he feels that all the dangers Megalopolis has faced are due to MK's mistakes. His hair aided The Spider Queen, his staff helped DBK and LBD etc. Sun Wukong talks about how he himself acted foolishly and selfishly before he was enslaved by Guanyin and Tang Sanzang and set on the path to enlightenment. He says that all the good MK has done in his short career as the Monkie Kid is greater than everything The Monkey King achieved in his millennia as an immortal.

MK screws up again by opening the scroll and the ink demons ooze out. They absorb some monkeys into the scroll and berate SW for betraying Macaque and causing chaos in Heaven etc. by taking the form of ink versions of various characters from JTTW like Taishang Laojun, Nezha, The Golden Winged Eagle, DBK, PIF, Spider Queen etc. 

SW blocks the ink from striking MK, saying that there's always someone looking to bring up your past mistakes and that MK needs to seal the scroll right before SW is absorbed into a paragraph of writing on the scroll.

MK flees Water Curtain Cave and the magic of the waterfall contains the ink demons.           

It's unclear why no ink came out of the scroll when it opened at the end of season 3, maybe it needed MK's touch specifically?

 

2 minute clip :

MK is in the Memory Scroll in a Dojo or Temple with the immortal from JTTW who first taught Sun Wukong before he was defeated by Buddha. MK wants him to teach him how to save his friends, break a spell and avert the current doomsday. He seems to be suggesting that MK isn't as ordinary as he believes himself to be and wants him to think back to his childhood, parents and true origin. MK is hesitant, but gets flashes of a stone breaking, reminiscent of SW's birth as the stone monkey from the stone egg. He remembers arriving as a small muddy child at Pigsy's Noodles and being taken in. 

We see SW looking at the stone before it breaks (or perhaps after it's been put back together, it's unclear) suggesting that MK possibly came from the stone? We see a female Buddha or deity (possibly Guanyin) creating various stone animals; Bull, Rat, Horse, Turtle, Rabbit, Pig, Bear, Goat/Sheep and monkey. MK is taken to see the unbroken stone and there is a broken stone monkey nearby.

I don't know what's going on. Was SW trying to make himself a son from the stone monkey but it broke and created a human boy with no memory of his origin? I need so much more context!  Looks like I was right about MK and Co going into the scroll, though it's unclear if that will be the basis for most of the season or just part of the story.

 

 

I have already watch the entire season but it was in chinese so I didn't understand that much of the plot. 

To the interested ones to watch the season I found it yesterday searching on Twitter but beware because there's already a lot of spoilers in there.

 

Spoiler

Regard the 2 minute clip, to what I understand, it is implied MK is one of the four stone monkeys or even the fifth one. The goddess that create him is most likely Nu Wa.

 

Edited by Bloquerto

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If monkey king is mk’s father I will explode, I watched a bit, and let me just say, I thought LBD was terrifying for a kids cartoon…

also, rip monkeys

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15 minutes ago, Lemerbrix said:

If monkey king is mk’s father I will explode

Wouldn't surprise me. MK could lift the staff in the first special and SW had children in the sequel novel

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Assuming the summer wave will have three sets like the last time, I saw some things in season 4 that we didn't got in the winter wave and I hope TLG make.

Big Spoilers ahead:
 

Spoiler

1. Lion Camel Ridge. In season 4 we see this location a few times and I think this could be the perfect chance to give us a bad guys location set.

2. The Jade Emperor Throne. In the final episode of season 4 we see a confrotation between Azure Lion and the Jade Emperor. The emperor looks so cool and I think this would be an excellent complentary set to the Heavenly Realms set.

3. New Sandy vehicle. Also, in episode 10 of season 4 we have a look to the new Sandy's vehicle of the wave. It looks really cool and I can see this being the flagship set.

 18258260_MK2023.jpg.265542ff1d36890d33ae66a6c700e325.jpg

 

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On 1/15/2023 at 10:31 AM, LilRed said:

I bought the Monkie Kids Team Hideout and it's great, I combined it with City of Laterns and although some building don't go that well together (especially the forge), most will! Really waiting for the GWP 30656 Monkey King Marketplace was hoping it would come online today. Anyone know when it will get released?

I don’t expect it to be anytime this month. There was a picture floating around here earlier in the month with the GWP’s for January & the MK polybag wasn’t on there. I’m watching for it too, I want it to put without The Hideout(which I’m waiting to buy once the polybag is available). 

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Just a small observation I made recently—it occurred to me that one reason they used teal for the Azure Lion instead of one of the actual azure colors might've been to avoid people mistakenly associating them with Sandy and Mo (who already use Medium Azure for their face/body color and have a slightly similar hair color). The darker teal color and bright yellowish orange hair also does resemble his portrayal in the classic 1986 TV adaptation of Journey to the West.

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So, as someone who hasn't seen the season, what new characters are introduced and how likely are they to appear in sets? I'm hoping to get as many characters from JTTW/Chinese mythology in minifigure form as possible, personally

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