We continue the tour of the 2021 novelties of the LEGO Monkie Kid range with a quick glance at the contents of the set 80020 White Dragon Horse Jet, a box of 565 pieces sold at the public price of 39.99 € since March 1st.

Once again, this set which allows to assemble a ship with a resolutely futuristic look draws cheerfully from traditional Chinese culture and from the legend of the Monkey King by directly referring to the White Dragon Horse (Bai Long Ma), a major character of the popular tale of which Mei is a descending wave for the needs of the very free adaptation in LEGO version.

The ship she is piloting here is therefore a machine that appropriates some attributes of dragon and horse with an aesthetically rather interesting result. Scales on the wings and on the back, nose vaguely reminiscent of a horse's head, two Spring-Shooters with their ammunition hidden in the wings, two Stud Shooters sides at the front, a sword tear already seen in other colors in several sets of the Ninjago range at the back, it's consistent and this jet has allure.

The assembly of the jet is very pleasant with interesting techniques to form the nose which is in two parts with a colored band in the center and a nice overlap of Nexo Knights shields on the two steerable wings which are neither too thin nor too loaded. The few golden touches bring a little tinsel to the fuselage, it is successful.

We will also remember that Mei is piloting her ship a little blind, she is quite simply lying under the canopy in Transparent Bright-Green, here in reverse position compared to the more classic use of this element, which will perhaps bring back memories to the fans of old ranges which put this shade in the spotlight. For those who would ask the question, the Tile the pad printing with vintage accents used for the cockpit is the one already seen in 2020 in the sets 10273 Haunted Houses et 10274 Ghostbusters ECTO-1.

Mo also has a flying machine with a platform in colors matching the animal's fur and crest. The character really finds his place in this box thanks to this small flying machine which will allow him to truly take part in the action imagined by the happy owners of the set and not to find himself confined to the role of simple pet.

As in several other boxes in the range, the designer here tries to create a little context by adding a piece of sidewalk with a floor lamp and a drink dispenser. This additional construction is very interesting, it is even functional with a very simple mechanic identical to the one seen in the LEGO Ninjago set 70657 City Docks : All you have to do is insert a Tile 2x1, here Si's smartphone, in the slot provided to release a can. The spider web attached to the machine serves to create the stake of the product with Mei tumbling down to free the friendly civilian from the clutches of Spider Queen's henchman and the accompanying spider drone.

The drink dispenser is decorated with several stickers but the lids of the different drinks are pad printed. This mini-scene would have in my opinion deserved to be associated with a few other street elements with for example a longer sidewalk with a more successful finish, a bench, or even a shop but it will unfortunately be necessary to be satisfied with this modest setting. situation.

As I said a few days ago, I find that this range lacks a bit of urban elements that could have been used to create a real context. In my opinion, we are not immune to a Monkie Kid's City in the years to come in the manner of what LEGO did very well in the Ninjago universe. There is potential.

In front of Mei and Mo, we therefore find a Spider Queen henchman and a spider drone. Not really enough to balance the clash between the forces of good and those of evil, but it will still be possible to have a little fun while waiting to be able to be offered something more consistent to put in front of the jet.

The character endowment here is pretty decent despite the absence of the main hero of the range with Mei and Mo on one side, the Spider Queen henchman with his drone on the other and a civilian who had nothing asked in the middle. As I said above, Mo takes here a real foreground dimension thanks to his flying machine which allows him to really participate in the fight.

The pad prints are as usual in this range overall very successful with a level of detail to make some of the characters of external licenses regularly offered by LEGO fade. If you have a feeling of déjà vu with the civilian's torso, this is normal: this element is far from unheard of and it has already been used in the CITY sets. 60290 Skate Park (2021) 10273 Haunted Houses (2020) and Hidden Side 70435 Newbury Abandoned Jail

The double-sided head with its (very) scared expression on one side and rocker hair are common items in the LEGO inventory. Mei's minifig, delivered here without her helmet, is an assembly of items seen in many other sets in the range and that of Spider Queen's henchman is also available in sets 80021 Monkie Kid's Lion Guardian et 80023 Monkie Kid's Team Dronecopter marketed from the beginning of the month.

I think we have here a reference that brings together the best of what LEGO can do: in my opinion, it is a creative product with a slick design, solid, equipped for fun and which offers as a bonus some challenges interesting in terms of assembly. All this for € 39.99 with a handful of minifigs, we're not going to complain too much, LEGO doesn't always do as well in this range or in others.

A small update concerning the animated series which serves as context and marketing support for these derivative products: The first season is now available online via various video on demand services but you have to go through a VPN to be able to watch the 12 episodes and it is essential to master a little English. I tested a viewing via New Zealand service TVNZ going through NordVPN with location in New Zealand, it works.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at April 4th next at 23pm. 

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.

Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO set 80021 Monkie Kid's Lion Guardian, a box in the soft underbelly of the Monkie Kid 2021 range with an inventory of 774 pieces, five minifigs and a retail price set at 74.99 €.

On the menu, a rather imposing mech, a mini modular arcade room and a mechanical spider that serves as a battle station for the big villain of this second season, the set tries to create a little context and opposition around the mechanical guardian lion who is in principle the star of the product.

The idea of ​​the guardian lion converted here into a robot does not come out of nowhere: in Chinese culture, Fo lions are statues that guard the entrance to buildings and other important places in the city thanks to the protective powers that the popular belief attributes to them. The lion is also celebrated on the occasion of the Chinese New Year holidays through a traditional costume dance that would attract good luck. The set therefore draws frankly from these Chinese traditions and adapts them to the context developed by LEGO in the Monkie Kid universe. The stone lion and the colorful lion of the parades become an over-equipped robot who helps the young hero take on the Spider Queen.

The mech is not uninteresting even if it is in my opinion a bit messy in its realization. This mechanical lion gets lost a bit in the mix of colors and the many decorative touches that struggle to hide the lack of finish of certain parts of the animal. From some angles the robot looks great, from others it feels a bit like the designer has taken a few creative shortcuts to move on faster. The machine is perfectly matched to the mech of the set 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech (2020) from which he borrows the assortment of colors and some decorations, once again I salute the visual consistency of the range.

Special mention for the head of the animal which is really very detailed with a movable jaw and eyes embodied by a Technic bullet with an unprecedented pad printing. The skin of the side drums is also pad printed with a pretty, very successful pattern that gives allure to the whole. These two drums hung on the sides of the mech conceal Spring-Shooters and you have to push on the black rim placed at the back to fold down the two white discs and release these projectile launchers.

So there is something here to have a little fun trying to aim the Spider Squeen minifigure perched on his mechanical spider. Of the 24 stickers to stick in this box, 8 take place on the lion, at the level of the legs and the two hoops placed on the back.

The animal's tail is arguably the most fragile element of the model, it only fits on a simple clip and it is a bit difficult to stay in a raised position. It often bends under its own weight when it does not come loose during handling. Other elements such as the black rims clipped on the robot's neck are also likely to come off easily, you will have to be careful when gripping the model. This lion also has many articulations at the level of the legs which allow very diverse poses, it is always taken for those who would like to exhibit this mech in an advantageous position on their shelves.

In addition to the guardian lion, the set allows you to obtain a small modular arcade room whose walls unfold to allow you to enjoy the two attractions installed inside, with on one side a reproduction of the rhythm game Dance Dance Revolution and on the other a clamp machine (probably rigged) which allows you to try to win one of the two copies of the golden microfig. The machine is "functional" in the sense that it can be fed through the hole placed on the top of the attraction and the wheel placed at the back allows the clamp to tilt to try to eject a microfig.

The presence of this minimalist arcade in this box may seem a bit off topic but it should be enough to tip many fans who are reluctant to invest the 75 € requested by LEGO for this product. The construction concentrates the rest of the sticker sheet delivered in this set for a very 80s result and the whole should fit quite easily into a retro-futuristic diorama.

The third notable construction in the set is the mechanical spider that Spider Queen rides on. The accessory equipped with two Spring-Shooters will not replace the big spider in the set 80022 Spider Queen's Arachnoid Base I told you about a few days ago but it will at least allow young fans to wait until the opportunity to be offered another large box of the range presents itself. It's a detail, but I find very interesting the solution used which makes it possible to embody the eyes of the spider via the tips of the two ammunition integrated in the projectile launchers.

As always, without precise reference to the context of the events described here, it will be necessary to show imagination to integrate all the elements of the sets in a timeline which will lead to the confrontation between the Monkie Kid and the Spider Queen.

As for the minifigs provided, the endowment is balanced with on one side the Monkie Kid, Mei and Lu and on the other the Spider Queen and his henchman. As for the rest of the range, the pad prints are of a high standard and I just note a printing defect on the right leg of the Monkie Kid with a white mark which has nothing to do there at the level of the thigh. This task is not present on other copies of this minifigure that I have seen in various reviews of the set, so it is probably an isolated problem.

Note that Lu's pretty torso is not new, it's Poppy Star's in the LEGO CITY set 60271 Main Square (2020). The character's head also comes from the CITY range, it is available in the set 60262 Passenger Airplaine (2020). The elements that make up the minifigs of Mei, the Monkie Kid, the Spider Queen and her man tomorrow are also available in other sets, nothing exclusive here.

In the end, this set is arguably not the best of the second wave of products in the LEGO Monkie Kid range. It offers several varied constructions and it allows you to have fun without having to checkout again, which is already a notable advantage over other LEGO products. The design of the lion-robot is not the best barrel but the whole remains visually very consistent with the other mech marketed last year and collectors should find their account.

I regret a little that LEGO does not insist more on the presence of shops or homes in this range, just to create a more consistent environment to showcase all the robots and other devices provided in the different boxes. The small arcade would undoubtedly have deserved an additional floor and a real roof, just to make it a successful building and not to remain at the stage of a simple independent module which we do not really know what to do with.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at March 29, 2021 next at 23pm. 

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.

Today we quickly tour the LEGO Monkie Kid set 80022 Spider Queen's Arachnoid Base, a large box of 1170 pieces sold at the public price of 109.99 €. This product allows us to assemble the very imposing and colorful mobile headquarters of Spider Queen, the service villain who takes over from the Iron Bull King this year.

And this is precisely what is wrong here: the mobility of the imposing machine (44 x 34 x 25 cm) that we have to assemble. Before looking more closely at the contents of this box, I had imagined a spider with interesting possibilities. It is (almost) nothing, this mechanical spider with rather well-matched colors is unfortunately content with the minimum union in terms of integrated features.

After a few minutes of assembly, we quickly realize that the designer has not provided any mechanism to put all the legs in motion when moving the machine. Even though the Technic beams with their casters placed on under the spider's body sell the wick from the first pages of the instruction booklet, I expected something in the spirit of what LEGO was offering in the sets. 76163 Venom Crawler (2020) et 76114 Spider-Man's Spider Crawler

Here it is only possible to set in motion two of the eight legs of the mechanical spider via a central lever to be moved in the desired direction to lift one leg, the other or both and two of the remaining six legs can loosely be oriented to reinforce the impression of movement. It's a little thin for a toy at 110 € which features a necessarily mobile device.

Aesthetically, the structure that holds this heavy spider on its legs is not in the best taste, but it was undoubtedly the price to pay to be able to offer a machine of this size which remains stable on its legs and does not bend under the weight. piece weight. The beast's abdomen hides a laboratory in which Spider Queen makes its robot-spiders, a cell and some arrangements that will undoubtedly amuse the youngest and allow them to store their minifigs there between two sessions. This is rather well done even if the two movable portions do not clip together to keep the abdomen closed.

The balance of power is embodied by the micro glider piloted by the Monkie Kid and which takes the design of the stick seen in the hands of the mech of the set 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech (2020). The wink is appreciable and the consistency of the entire range is only reinforced.

This secondary machine is probably only there for reference and it will be necessary to associate this product with a strong opponent like the drone of the set. 80023 Monkie Kid's Team Dronecopter to really have fun. I had also hoped to be able to associate in one way or another the container with the assorted colors delivered with the giant drone to this spider, but nothing is planned to hang or embark the accessory.

There is no escaping a gigantic sheet of stickers in this box and some of the stickers are to be stuck on curved pieces. The youngest or the most clumsy would be well advised to get help so as not to disfigure their large mechanical spider.

The endowment in minifigs is interesting here even if it will be partly redundant in the eyes of those who will invest in the other sets which allow this year to obtain a copy of Spider Queen. We can at least count here on the presence of Pigsy with a torso decked out in a tactical vest of the most beautiful effect, derived from his outfit seen last year in the sets 80010 Demon Bull King et 80013 Monkie Kid's Team Secret HQ. Pigsy is on foot in this box, a flying sausage would have been welcome but you can't have everything for 110 €.

The rest of the inventory reunites the Monkey King without his armor and as he also appears in the set 80024 The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain, the Monkie Kid with his new jacket, the Spider Queen and one of his henchmen already seen in the set 80023 Monkie Kid's Team Dronecopter and a civilian in a colorful shirt who is there to be imprisoned and then released.

Once again, it is difficult to really immerse yourself in the context developed by this line of derivative products. The animated series is not broadcast in our regions, it will be necessary to show imagination even if the good guys and the bad guys are easily identifiable.

In the end, I want to use the usual expression "All that for this"and I am not sure that this box is of the level of what one would have hoped for in terms of functionality in a toy at 110 €.

This big mechanical spider is too static for my liking and the front of the model is a bit too messy to convince me with an interesting trio of colors a bit confused by the addition of a lot of gray pieces. The fact remains that this is a rather attractive big colorful toy that begs to be paired with other products in the range to really have fun with.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at March 25, 2021 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.

Today we are quickly interested in the LEGO Monkie Kid set 80024 The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain, the biggest box of the second wave of products from this range freely inspired by the legend of the Monkey King. It should also always be borne in mind that these products target a very specific clientele who is familiar with the context to which the content of this box makes a particularly strong reference.

No futuristic spaceship or machine in this set of 1949 pieces, this large box strives to pay homage to the very popular tale in Asia with a staging directly borrowed from the art of shanshui, a pictorial style that highlights natural landscapes. Mountains, waterfalls, clouds, vegetation and calligraphy are generally in the spotlight in these works and the LEGO version takes all the codes to offer a rather impressive diorama.

This set is also and above all the cultural guarantee of the range, it is responsible for convincing parents that the Monkie Kid universe draws deeply from Chinese culture despite the accumulation of over-armed robots, over-equipped mechs and futuristic-looking machines. that compete on packaging. Thus convinced that the Monkie Kid universe is a good reference to the legend they know, parents will undoubtedly be more inclined to go to the cash register to please their children.

In all fairness, I don't think the substance of the product is too exciting to put together, but the shape on the other hand is quite satisfactory. The pleasure of assembling something other than a ship or any mechanical device quickly takes over and a certain poetry finally emerges from this Mountain of a Thousand Flowers (or Fruit-Flower Mountain). A few stickers and other large pieces are necessary to obtain this playset with limited functionality, but the end result seems to me sufficiently interesting from an aesthetic point of view to forgive the shortcuts.

The construction of nearly 70 cm long by more than 30 cm high is divided into three sub-sections connected to each other by Technic pines and we quickly realize that we mainly get a half-mountain, the back of the playset contenting itself with the bare necessities with its exposed Technic beams and minimalist finishes.

Unlike the other boxes in the range which feature clashes between the Monkie Kid and his various enemies using futuristic machines and weapons, this product focuses exclusively on the legend that serves as a common thread. this range by offering the different stages that led Sun Wukong to become the Monkey King.

There is therefore a logical progression in this diorama, starting with the birth of the one who will become Sun Wukong. Each of the six milestones in the story is illustrated by a small gold panel adorned with a sticker on a red background that describes (in Chinese) what takes place there.

According to legend, the young monkey came out of a rock located on the Fruit-Fleur mountain and we therefore have here a dedicated space which allows to stage the character in his stone egg and to "explode "the rock to free the child. A tab is installed at the foot of the cavity in which the minifig is installed, just pull it to open the rock and reveal the one who will then be nicknamed the Stone Monkey.

The story continues with the crossing of the waterfall which allowed the young monkey to gain the respect of his peers and to discover in passing a wonderful place then occupied by the future king and his congeners. It is possible to vaguely replay the scene by pressing a lever which moves two of the uprights of the waterfall covered with stickers on a transparent background.

Here too, the functionality is disarmingly simple, but the solution used always works and the waterfall easily separates into two parts. There is no complex mechanism, it will be necessary to close the cascade manually. We then continue with the learning and training phase of the young pretender to the throne with the raft on which he traveled for ten years before meeting Soudhobi of which he became the disciple.

The obtaining of the title of King of the Monkeys by Sun Wukong is embodied here by the presence of the throne at the top of the left part of the mountain. Some might wonder why the story progression is right to left on the diorama. The explanation is simple, the staging here respects the traditional meaning of reading still used in China for certain content.

We also have a feature to replay the clash between the Monkie Kid and the Six Ears Macaque, the cunning and jealous alter-ego of the Monkey King. Nothing crazy, it is actually pedestals on which we install the minifigs and two notched wheels which allow the supports to rotate to create a little movement.

The endowment in minifigs of this big box which allows to accumulate the monkeys plays on two tables: on the one hand, it is responsible for providing us with the different versions of Sun Wukong which are necessary to stage the birth and the evolution from the character until obtaining his status of Monkey King and on the other, she makes the link with the animated series by adding the inevitable Monkie Kid who makes a detour through the mountain in question on the screen.

So we get a Monkey King in a newborn version, in a teenage version, in an apprentice version and in his usual form with his shiny armor. These minifigs come with the Monkie Kid and the Six Eared Macaque, a deceitful and ill-intentioned character with whom the young hero chooses to train. The villain briefly seizes the powers of the Monkey King but then loses them in a clash with the "real" king. The inventory is completed by two young monkeys with mischievous looks and short legs.

Let's face it, this big mountain sold for 170 € which offers few real fun possibilities will not appeal to everyone. The public targeted directly by this range will find themselves there with an original incarnation of the Fruit-Flower mountain, very present in the popular legend of the Monkey King. Those who have not been lulled by this tale may find it a little difficult to grasp all the subtleties of this diorama which draws its inspiration from the art of shanshui and will ultimately only see a mountain that is a little rough and much too expensive.

In Asia, the first opinions on this box are however unanimous and the product seems to reach its goal. With us, it will probably be less obvious, but I remind you that this range of products is only distributed elsewhere than in Asia because LEGO is committed to no longer geographically limiting the distribution of its "general public" products. . We cannot therefore blame the manufacturer for developing products on themes that are not particularly familiar to us.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at March 20, 2021 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.

Today we quickly follow up with another 2021 novelty from the LEGO Monkie Kid range: the set 80023 Monkie Kid's Team Dronecopter (1462 - 139.99 €) which offers us, as the title of the product indicates, to assemble a drone capable of transporting the young hero and his friends.

And the model actually looks like a drone with its four propellers that the designer has chosen to present in a protective arch like, for example, a Helicarrier. The colored drone can take the two containers which serve as a mobile den for the Monkie Kid and his friends and we find here the principle of modular playset already seen in the large box of the range marketed since 2020, the set 80013 Monkie Kid's Team Secret HQ (1959 - 169.99 €). The two containers open to free access to a living space and an arcade room, you can also store a few minifigs.

A third container is included, it hides a cannon under the orders of Spider Queen. LEGO provides the minimum union in terms of opposition in this box, it will be necessary to invest in the set 80022 Spider Queen's Arachnoid (1170 - 109.99 €) to obtain an enemy machine at the height of this very large drone.

Be careful with the game phases with the two containers attached to the drone, they only hold via two simple clips at the CLuch Power a bit hit and miss. While handling the product, one of the two containers of the copy presented here, for example, came off.

It is possible to easily remove the four legs of the drone to play without being encumbered by these appendages. I often criticize LEGO for not providing a suitable exhibition solution for certain products, I will not complain here that I find something to present this drone in a more interesting position than to let it rest on the edge of the wings and on the integrated handle at the back.

The machine is a bit heavy, especially when it loads the two containers, but the designer has planned everything to facilitate the handling of the thing. As for the apparatus of the set 80019 Red Son's Inferno Jet (299 - 29.99 €), this drone is both a vehicle for minifigs and a handgun. The large black handle placed at the back of the construction makes it possible to grab the drone and use it like a pistol thanks to the trigger integrated under the body of the machine which triggers the expulsion of the two ammunition placed in Spring-Shooters.

The functionality seemed very interesting to me on the Red Son jet but the two ammunition here seem too undersized to really stick to the wingspan of the machine which measures 40 x40 cm. Projectiles identical to the one seen for example recently in the LEGO Marvel set 76170 Iron Man vs. Thanos would have been welcome.

One can ask the question of the interest of transforming machines for minifigs into weapons on a human scale via the integrated functionalities. We know the success of the product line that Hasbro marketed under the NERF name that turns lethal weapons into colorful children's toys, and LEGO is clearly trying to go into that field with these sets.

The look of these handguns in the LEGO version is obviously much more diluted so that they do not look like machine guns or shotguns but the principle of the grip and the trigger remains present and clearly visible. Whether this drone or the Red Son jet goes too far in this area or not is up to everyone to see, knowing that for many children the functionality will be immediately understood and used extensively.

The assembly phase of the model is rather pleasant, we alternate between a little repetitive sequences and construction of the a little more complex mechanism which allows to put the central turret in rotation and to trigger the firing of the ammunition. The instruction booklets are also really very well designed with readable perspectives and extremely detailed assembly sequences which increases the number of pages in the process. We feel that LEGO wants to take care of its new Asian clientele by fine-tuning these types of details.

We do not escape a very large sheet of stickers but most of them are easily applied and even if they greatly contribute to the aesthetics of the model, it is possible to do without some of these stickers without disfiguring too much. the machine.

The grip of the drone also makes it possible to manage the orientation of the upper turret via the integrated dial just above the handle. It is well done, the wheel falls just under the thumb even with children's hands. My son immediately thought of NERF's Terradrone with which he had fun for a long time tracking my dog ​​through the apartment.

The minifig endowment is fairly balanced with Monkie Kid, Mei, Mr Tang, Fei, Sandy and Mo the cat on one side and Spider Queen, Huntsman, Syntax and Red Son on the other. There is plenty of fun without having to go back to the cash register immediately even if Spider Queen seems a little helpless without her mechanical spider.

As with the other sets in the range, LEGO deploys all its know-how in pad printing and molding here. The usual technical faults such as the pallor of certain white pad-printed areas on dark parts are there, but the finish is generally very satisfactory. The Spider Queen cape is a rigid plastic element, the rendering is and the lifespan of this accessories take advantage of this technical choice.

Again, it will be difficult to really get attached to the different characters without seeing the animated series that features them and develops their personality a bit. As it stands, we understand who the good guys and the bad guys are, but the real issues will no doubt escape the youngsters beyond the relationship between the forces of good very colorful and those of evil with darker and threatening hues.

The products in the Monkie Kid range are also a bit expensive and you will have to pay 140 € to afford this box. Note that this wave of sets will not be marketed in LEGO stores, it will only be sold online and only on the official store.

It's creative, the subject dealt with here is interesting and it mimics a modern machine rather well converted to make a transport drone more attractive than the usual ships or classic planes. The modularity allowed by the fixing of the two containers on the sides of the drone will appeal to the youngest even if the fixing system seems a little light to me. Now it's up to you to see if the barely "hidden" function of this drone fits your philosophy when it comes to children's toys.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at March 12, 2021 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.