LEGO® Monkie Kid parts review + MOCs: 80036 The City of Lanterns

Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.

2022 brought us a whole new wave of LEGO® Monkie Kid sets, a theme that caught our attention several times before with its creative builds and interesting pieces. Today we are shining a light on the inventory of LEGO® Monkie Kid 80036 The City of Lanterns, which launched January 1st.

The City of Lanterns costs £114.99 / $149.99 / 129.99€ and comes with 2187 pieces which makes it the Monkie Kid set with the highest part count to date. Colourful and filled with little details to explore, its architecture reminds me of Ninjago City and especially its latest addition, the LEGO® 71741 Ninjago City Gardens. Not only do we find several shops with brick-built ad signs, but they overflowing with LEGO references, which we will cover another time. Today's article is all about the interesting parts, and my original builds using them!

New elements in 80036 The City of Lanterns

The LEGO world finally discovered a new way to eat. After the introduction of the spoon in 2017 and the fork piece last year, it’s now time for a new chopsticks element.

Six of the new Chopsticks in Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan (6361361 | 79735) are included in the City of Lanterns. The new element is not limited to Monkie Kid sets and comes in LEGO® City and Friends 2022 novelties too.

This little piece has only one legal connection with one stick that fits in a clip, but thanks to the tapered shape of the sticks they allow for many illegal connections.

This Flame with Clip (6375788 | 79735) is another new mould appearing in 2022 Monkie Kid sets and is a collectible scattered over the range in different colours. We spotted them in LEGO® 80035 Monkie Kid's Galactic Explorer before and The City of Lanterns features one in Transparent Bright Orange/ Trans-Orange.

New recolours in 80036 The City of Lanterns

Some interesting recolours can be found in this big Monkie Kid set:

• 1x Minifig Neckwear Bracket (6372264 | 28974) in Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise

• 32x Ingot 1 x 2 (6331867 | 99563) in Earth Green/ Dark Green

• 10x Fence 1 x 4 x 2 Ornamental Asian Lattice with 4 Studs (6370679 | 32932) in Reddish Brown

• 6x Window Round 3 x 3 x 2 (6377674 | 73878) in Sand Blue

• 4x Roller Coaster Track, Curve (6372724 | 25061) in Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise
• 2x Roller Coaster track Straight 8L (6372726 | 26022) in Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise
• 1x Roller Coaster Track Straight 16L (6372727 | 25059) in Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise

• 3x Roller Coaster Car 4 x 5 (6372728 | 26021) in Bright Red/ Red
• 3x Slope Curved 6 x 4 x 2/3 Quad Curved with 2 x 2 Studs (6365748 | 98281) in Light Purple/ Bright Pink

Jonas Kramm's LEGO chopsticks MOCs

Inspired by the new chopsticks element I put together a few builds making use of them.

The piece reminded me of a pointy bird beak, so I first put together a Great White Egret with two majestic wings and white leaves as tail feathers. 

The tall legs are made from the old pantographs with finger hinges (2880) from the 1980s.

In a smaller scale the chopsticks turned into poles from a wooden jetty and so this little Ninjago docks scene came to life. 

To connect the chopsticks I used Tiles 1 x 1 Half Circle (6251070) in Transparent Light Blue/ Trans-Light Blue, which form a hole with just the right size.

Small elements in muted colours are often very useful when building minifigure furniture so the chopsticks became table legs in an Asian temple inspired scene. The new Monkie Kid flame also makes an appearance here.

Closing thoughts

I’m glad chopsticks finally made it into the LEGO world. With many Asian-inspired LEGO themes like Ninjago, Monkie Kid and the Chinese Festive Sets it is quite surprising it took so long. Roller coaster fans will also like this set which features recolours of both tracks and cars, and the new colours for ingots and the neck bracket are not to be missed. If you're buying this set, please consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'.

What ideas do you have with the new chopsticks element, and what other pieces from LEGO 80036 The City of Lanterns do you like?

Editor: Chris Baginski

READ MORE: More Monkie Kid MOCs: Simon Liu glows in the dark

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