reviews

Monkie Kid on a Budget: 80040 Monkie Kid’s Combi Mech/ 80041 Mei’s Dragon Flyer [Hands On review]

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One of the criticisms offered to the early waves of Monkie Kid sets is the relatively high prices, compared with other playsets, for what is essentially an in-house IP. The sets themselves have not been bad value, more tending towards the higher end of the spectrum, with the initial wave featuring no sets for less than $50AUD. As such, I was quite excited to see that there were a couple of playsets in the upcoming 2023 wave with sets retailing for the much more palatable 32.99AUD. That’s right: Not one, but two!

80040 Monkie Kid’s Combi Mech and 80041 Mei’s Dragon Jet. Both sets are great standalone sets, but they also have the capacity to join together to form a larger vehicle: in part serving to introduce the target market to the idea of mixing and merging LEGO sets together.

Both Mei and Monkie Kid have fairly distinctive colour blocking in all of their sets: MK’s are red, gold, teal, and yellow, while Mei’s vehicles are almost all white, lime green, teal, bright green and lime green (which a touch of vibrant Yellow.) The near exclusive use of these colours, with the exception with grey and black elements for joints and hinges leaves me thinking back to the space themes of the 80’s and 90s, where themes were defined by a specific palette, although in this case, we have parallel streams representing different characters.

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80045 Monkie King Ultra Mech [Rambling Review]

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For a theme steeped in classical Chinese mythology, Monkie Kid continues to bring us some of the LEGO Group’s best homegrown Science Fiction type content: mechs, flyers and drivers, along with more organic elements, including animals and landscapes. The latest wave is no exception. Now entering its fourth year/season we see a refresh of the original 80012 Monkie King Warrior Mech. Manifested through sheer willpower by MK, it makes sense that as he develops his powers, the mech will become upgraded. I initially started thinking about this set as MK Ultra… and then I was reminded about the use of this designation for the CIA’s experiments into mind control in the ’60s and ’70s.

I was excited when the opportunity to take a pre-release look at this set came along, and I appreciate the LEGO Group sending it over for an early review.

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10497: Galaxy Explorer – Redefining an Icon. Rambling Review

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When I first saw images of the new 10497: Galaxy Explorer, while preparing for LEGO Con, I found myself both a little excited and apprehensive. Excited because, like many LEGO Space Fans of a certain age, this set told us that the LEGO Group recognises the importance of Classic Space to its older fans, and there had been so much clamouring for proper Space Sets: sets not tied in with different third party licences like Super Heroes or NASA, and not linked into the increasingly complicated lore behind Monkie Kid and Ninjago. We have seen sets buying into the idea of Classic Space – exploration, team work, free of conflict – in LEGO City over the years, BUT while there might be ‘equivalent’ sets, they strive to be too realistic- insisting on putting visors on every helmet, windows and air lock doors on the moon base and insisting on astronauts only being able to drink a cup of coffee when in their standard overalls. So, to see the look of Classic Space preserved and revisited is more than welcome.

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The Muppets – 71033 Collectable Minifigures: Rambling Review

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Across generations, the Muppets have maintained their popularity for over 40 years. Be it in the original The Muppet Show (1976 -1981) or The Muppets (2015) or any of the multitude of movies in between, these characters created by Jim Henson have a place in the hearts of people, transcending generations. And so, when the news arrived that the Muppets were going to get their own collection of Collectable Minifigures, the world seemed to become just a little bit more excitable.

Like recent CMF series, this series contains 12 of the series most endearing characters, although there are a couple of notable ommissions. Does this leave scope for a future series, or other projects? We can speculate on that I am grateful that the LEGO Group sent a box of these figures for review – there are some long anticipated characters, and we have been excited to see how they would translate to minifigure form.

The figures will be officially released on May the 1st, although they have already started to show up in some parts of the world.

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80030: Monkie Kid’s Staff Creations: New Elements, New Techniques

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Last week, the new Monkie Kid sets for 2022 were revealed at LEGO.com. Across the range, we see a mashup of old-school space, along with an appearance from classic town. This compares with Ninjago, which often brings more of a mashup of science-fiction/Space and medieval fantasy/Castle vibe to the picture.

Over the next couple of months, I’ll bring you reviews of most of the sets coming up in the new Monkie Kid wave – and it looks like it will have something for everyone.

Today, I’d like to start with 80030 Monkey King Staff Creations. This set has 309 pieces and will retail for $49.99 AUD; $34.99 USD;$44.99 CAD; £24.99 GBP; €29.99. It comes with 2 minifigures: Monkie Kid/MK and Monkey King.

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40488 Coffee Cart Gift With Purchase now Live [Hands On Review]

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The start of November is a funny time for shopping for LEGO: many AFOLs are waiting to see if there will be great value around Black Brick Friday, with all its associated offers, after the United States celebrates Thanksgiving. Others are holding out to see if there will be an extra special Christmas Gift With Purchase available. Of course, we only have a limited budget for buying LEGO sets, so people want to take advantage of the most relevant offers. When the offers are running in a different direction to local Certified LEGO Stores and more general Toy Shops – I’m looking at you Bricktober! – it can be downright confusing.

And so, on the 8th of November 2021, the LEGO Group has released a new Gift With Purchase, 40488 Coffee Cart. It is available from the 8th November until the 14th, with purchases from LEGO.com or LEGO Brand Retail stores over $140 AUD (just $9 short of the free shipping threshold); / £65 / $65 USD / $90 CAD/ 65€.

So… Is it worth spending something now, or waiting a few weeks, on the off chance that the next GWP will make it worth your while? Let’s take a look.

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In Color! 76188 Batmobile ’66 Hands On Review

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It was 1977. Already the series was a decade old, and it was screening after school in melbourne. My family had just bought their first colour television, and the theme music started pulsing through the house. The title card promised that the program would be in colour… and it was. I was still of an age where I was somewhat disappointed to discover that the characters were all ‘Live Action’ after the animated titles. But never mind. This was the program that introduced me to the cliffhanger episodeic ending….Tune in Tomorrow: Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. The program was about as serious as eight year old me could deal with.

But there was, undoubtedly, one thing that made this series realy cool: and extended into the world outside the living room: The Batmobile. This modified Ford Futura allowed Batman and Robin to leap over the door, and into their respective sets. Thank heavens it was never raining in Gotham City! But the really awesome thing was the Corgi Batmobile car: gloss black, with small figures of batman and Robin, as well as an image of Batman embossed on the bottom service of the car. But it had other great play features: push on the radar on the hood, and a blade would flick out ( of course, it was not sharp enough to inflict actual injury) and the rocket launcher. I have no idea what the actual rockets were like that came with the toy. My friends had long lost theirs. Instead, we used matchsticks. It was all fun and games, unless somebody loses an eye…

Source: Wikimedia, user PDpH under Creative Commons.

I never owned that car. That’s OK. With Mint in sealed Box versions going for thousands, and well played with, but restored versions selling for many hundreds, I can live with it. However, I’d be lying if I were to say I was not in any way excited when I discovered this set amongst some that the LEGO Group had sent over for me to take a look at.

The Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile has 345 parts, 2 minfigures and will retail for $USD29.99/ €29.99 / £34.99. It will be available from the usual sources from April 26, 2021. Read on after the break to see how the build comes together.

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Spider Man Swings Into Action In 2021 (Hands On Reviews)

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There is no doubt that Spiderman is a popular hero. Indeed, he is the LEGO Marvel equivalent of Batman. What I don’t really understand is why he seems to be almost always presented in LEGO form with some form of vehicle or another. There are three new sets containing the traditional Spiderman figure, each with vehicles.

We are going to take a look at 3 of the sets released on January 1 2020, with a variety of villains, allies and vehicles. Some of which feel appropriate. Others less so…

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Is this City Xtra set a low key tribute to the LEGO® 6000 Ideas Book?

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This year, we have been commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Publication of the 6000 Ideas Book. First published in 1979, this book tells the story of two minifigures: known to some as Mary and Bill, others as Indigo and Polka-Dot. This story unfolds through the town they live in, a visit to a moonbase, and finally visiting a jousting tournament at an ancient castle. All the way, providing inspiration for construction using a six colour palette, and the minifigures you have on hand.

One of the features of this book is the double spread sticker sheet, providing everything from the Minifigures torso designs used by our heroes, as well as signage used around the town.

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Rambling Brick: Far From Home

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I’m off travelling for a few weeks: After attending the Fan Media Days in Billund, I am heading to a conference via Hamburg and LEGOLAND Germany, before attending the Fan Weekend at Paredes de Coura, in Portugal.

The Fan Media Days are over now, and I will write up more from then soon, but I a feeling a little far from home.

One of the surprising things at LEGOLAND Billund, is that often new release sets hit the shelves a few days early, and it was here that I found some of the new minifigure packs for the second half of the year, which is almost upon us. They don’t take up too much space in my luggage… so I picked a few up.

Today, I’d like to look at set 40343 – Minifigure Pack. Stop now if you don’t want any spoilers from Avengers Endgame.

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