The story is based on the 500-year old Chinese fable Journey to the West but with a modern twist, "authentic to local culture". The press release is not shy about making clear that this is TLG's first big foray into the Chinese market: "Never before has the LEGO Group launched a theme inspired by one culture and with so much attention to local details, values and traits."
Paul Huang, General Manager of LEGO China is quoted as saying: “The launch of Monkie Kid is another important milestone in our journey to provide the creative LEGO play experience to many more Chinese children. Deeply rooted in Chinese culture, the new theme line is created with inspiration from China, for China…”
What are, of course, getting our attention here at New Elementary are the new parts. The press release says there are 12, including the minifigure elements.
These are the main characters. Lots of baddies it seems.
Including a cat with a mohawk, of course. (A recolour of The LEGO Movie 2. Thanks Skye.)
And of course recolours too! Most notably....
What sets are in the LEGO Monkie Kid theme?
80006 White Dragon Horse Bike
259 pieces, RRP: CNY 299,00/EUR 29,99/USD 34,99
80007 Iron Bull Tank
430 pieces, RRP: CNY 449,00/EUR 44,99/USD 49,99
80008 Monkie Kid’s Cloud Jet
80009 Pigsy’s Food Truck
80010 Demon Bull King
1,051 pieces, RRP: CNY 799,00/EUR 79,99/USD 89,99
80011 Red Son’s Inferno Truck
1,111 pieces, RRP: CNY 999,00/EUR 99,99/USD 119,99
80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech
1,629 pieces, RRP: CNY 1.299,00/EUR 129,00/USD 149,99
80013 Monkie Kid’s Team Secret HQ
1,959 pieces, RRP: CNY 1.599,00/EUR 169,99/USD 169,99
LEGO Monkie Kid will launch worldwide on May 16th on LEGO.com, in LEGO Brand Retail Stores, LEGO Certified Stores, LEGOLAND and LEGOLAND Discovery Centers with early access for:
- China mainland from May 15th in LEGO Brand Retail and LEGO Certified Stores, LEGOLAND Discovery Centers, and TMall Flagship stores only.
- Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong from May 15th in LEGO Certified Stores, and LEGOLAND Discovery Centers only.
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Big up to our 'Vibrant Coral' patrons: Iain Adams, Geppy, Chris Cook, London AFOLs, Gerald Lasser, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Huw Millington, Neil Crosby, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Sue Ann Barber & Trevor Clark, and Kevin Gascoigne. You're all awesome!
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These are amazing! I can't wait :)
ReplyDeleteThe green wheel appeared in silver in Marvel sets earlier this year, and the 3x3 curved quarter circle brick was on last year’s X-Wing. The cat with mohawk was introduced in the LEGO Movie 2 Minifigures series!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost like I didn't spend much time researching this!
DeleteThe wheel is a Superheroes element and on the bikes that are out (76142 for example).
ReplyDeleteOK I guess 12 elements was true then :D Thanks
DeleteThe horns on the Demon Bull King are also new molds!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the same horns as the Minotaur from way back (Series 6)?
DeleteThe giant mech horns are new, I think
DeleteYeah, those were the ones I was referring to. The smaller goons use cow horns like the minotaur (but in a new color).
DeleteNo, the horns are recolored trunks from the mammoth in 60195 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base.
DeleteHa! I didn't think about the mammoth trunk! That's not new after all then... but definitely a nice parts usage.
DeleteSome of this stuff gives me kind of a Ninjago vibe (which is to be expected given they are both Asian-inspired themes).
ReplyDeleteThe orange and green blades aren't new molds, they're recolors of Nexo Knights parts
ReplyDeleteAre those Metalbeard's beards as the bull mech's toes?
ReplyDeleteAnd on its jaw, and on several other sets! A part of me would chalk it up to trying to make the most of the limited number of building elements available in Titanium Metallic... but the NPU is appreciated either way.
DeleteYes. It's not the first set to use Metalbeard's beard as something other than Metalbeard's beard, however. 70602 Jay's Elemental Dragon uses one in dark-blue for the front of the lower jaw. All seven other instances have been used for the original intended purpose.
DeleteOkay, so a lot of parts have been established as _not_ being new, but there are still supposed to be twelve new molds, right? Here's what I can identify (without a limited amount of research):
ReplyDelete1. Monkie Kid's hair
2. Monkie Kid's headphones
3. Monkie Kid's/Monkey King's staff tips
4. Red Son's hair
5. Pigsy's head (looks like the chef's hat is separate, which is good)
6. Mei's hair (I didn't actually think it was, but Brickset lists it as one)
7. Princess Iron Fan's "bullhorn" hair
8. Bull helmet
9. Sandy's bigfig body
10. Giant bull horns
11. ?
12. ?
I had not previously seen the motorcycle fairing, but that's been released in two City sets. The fender pieces on Pigsy's truck are definitely new, but they've been used on a 2020 Disney Wars set, so which theme created them? I also can't match Monkey King's shoulder armor...but I was shocked to see just how many "shoulder armor" molds they've made over the last decade or so (seriously, do they make minifigs that don't have shoulder armor anymore?).
So, if the shoulder armor and the fender brick were designed for this theme, I think that covers the full list. Four hairs, two "body wear", a head, a helmet, a bigfig, and three more general-use parts.
The fender pieces on Pigsy's truck actually debuted in 2019 with the Rise of Skywalker X-Wing, so probably not designed for this theme. Monkey King's shoulder armor is from the 2018 "Sons of Garmadon" arc of Ninjago, so also not new.
DeleteI also am not sure whether Sandy's torso is being counted as one or two molds, since like most bigfig torsos, it's preassembled, and unlike some, both the top and bottom "halves" are unique to this fig.
According to Bricklink, that's a 2020 set, which is why I raised the question of which theme gets credit for the new part. This is not always an easy question to answer. The Bionicle Toa sets were all based around the same Toa gearbox, but that part actually debuted the year before with the Technic Stormtrooper. In the US, we wouldn't see the first wave of Bionicle sets for half a year, so it might seem logical to assume it was created for the Stormtrooper and just happened to be developed into all six of the main characters in a new and unrelated theme. However, in Europe, they got the six Toa sets and the mask pack at the start of the year, which meant they were released right around the same time as the Stormtrooper.
DeleteI did find the armor, now. I had searched for "shoulder" and forgot that Bricklink queries don't allow for pluralized words. This is one of a handful that includes "shoulders" in the description, which won't show up if you just search for "shoulder". I originally learned this after finding out that you could eliminate search results by adding a "-" in front of a word you wanted to weed out. The very first thing I did with this was add "-sticker" to a query, only to find out that I still got results including "stickers".
Sandy would be counted as one. Dual-molded elements are counted as one piece. Minifig torso and leg assemblies are counted as one piece. Accessory packs that are formed by a single mold and prepacked together like those in the original Batman theme are counted as one piece. Any part that's assembled from multiple components, whether they're made in a single mold or not, would be counted as a single piece if that's how it's sold.
So there's at least one, maybe two new parts that aren't on my list. Any ideas?
The big bull horns are not a new element, but the trunk from the mammoth. New is the golden colour they appear in here first.
DeletePolitical.
Delete@Jonas:
DeleteWell, I guess we're back down to 9 or 10 new elements.
I know it's been a long time since this discussion but given the "second wave" of Monkie Kid sets, which released only a few months after the first, the last two molds were likely the hair/horn combo from the Gold and Silver demons and the spider crown from the Spider Queen.
Delete