I sometimes forget Monkie Kid is still going: they're a rare sight outside of LEGO Stores in Australia. Not interested in any of these.

This doesn't quite hit the level of detail that some of the amazing Ninjago sets do, but I'm expecting it to happen on occasion in the future and I love it. Give me more stuff for my city!

Of course, I can certainly surmise there must be a market in China, and this is why these continue to be pumped. But I would be very surprised if the Chinese market could not accommodate other themes just as well (I mean, I'm aware Ninjago is perceived as being too Japanese for Chinese customers, but given Chinese knock-off reproductions of Ninjago sets, I'm not even sure how true this is). After all, Monkey Kid is just Chinified Ninjago.

I wonder if the Nezra Fire Ring Mech has a transform feature. The two giant wheels at the back are very conspicuous...

Is it just me or does 80056's beast only have 8 heads?

@whiteghost said:
"Is it just me or does 80056 's beast only have 8 heads?"

One of the small heads seems not visible in the picture, it has 3 tiny heads each side, 2 medium heads and 1 large.

Interestingly those wing cloth/vinyl type parts have heads too, so does that make it an 11 headed beast :)

This is very rare for me, but I actually really like that Monkie Kid mech. Only I don't mean the giant fire one, I mean the tiny one he's in that looks perfectly to scale with bigfigs. One hundred Hulkbusters in, you'd have expected one of them to be Hulk-sized.

I appreciate that 80056 is continuing the trend of multi-headed dragon sets (the new one, plus 9450 and 70679) all having the exact same boxart composition

@Goujon said:
" @oukexergon said:
"Of course, I can certainly surmise there must be a market in China, and this is why these continue to be pumped. But I would be very surprised if the Chinese market could not accommodate other themes just as well (I mean, I'm aware Ninjago is perceived as being too Japanese for Chinese customers, but given Chinese knock-off reproductions of Ninjago sets, I'm not even sure how true this is). After all, Monkey Kid is just Chinified Ninjago."

Thats not how.... maybe take some time to research what you criticise please. (for the record, me, it's me, im the one buying all the MK sets!) "

Oh, what am I to research? Because you didn't say anything at all.

Oh, I'd love to see a second CMF (or DnD?) Gorgon figure using that new snake headdress!

It's really regrettable that they're not selling it widely here in Europe and the only way to get the sets is to put up with LEGO's terrible online store. I'm pretty certain the pagoda and nine-headed beast would sell well to Ninjago fans.

Amazing sets, I am glad this time has been very alive.

Love that the bad guy in the truck set has a little centipede mech. Creative and grandiose stuff from Monkie Kid, as always!

The IP of the sets doesn’t interest me, but the sets do look good ( most of the time ) We only own the small monkie kid mech from last year? , but I knocks all other IP’s mechs out of the park!( star wars , marvel, nexo knights, ninjago ) very sturdy and with knee articulation! Too bad most MK sets are in a higher price range.

@iwybs said:
" @oukexergon said:
"Monkey Kid is just Chinified Ninjago."

Tell me you know nothing about the source material without telling me you know nothing about the source material."

LOL, right... Monkey Kid is so true to source material and not just... everything Lego does with Ninjago to appeal to the Chinese market directly based ever-so-indirectly on Monkey King mythology. I was excited for and eagerly bought the original Monkey King CMF. But the theme mixing far-east and modern architecture, hi-tech vehicles, scary baddies, mechs, dragons, and tons of close-combat weapons? It's just completely Ninjago redux.

But most importantly: who cares? Apparently people can express their own views online about a Lego line-up and about how Lego divvies up its creative and investment resources. It's flabbergasting!

@CDM said:
"IMO Monkee Kid is an even thematic mix of Ninjago and Dreamzz and my kid loves all three. It's really wild to think someone looked at the above 4 sets and then immediately suggested creative energy could be better spent rehashing what's already been done. "

Blur your eyes just a little bit and you will see... four potentially interesting Ninjago sets. That's how.

@Andrusi said:
" @oukexergon said:
"After all, Monkey Kid is just Chinified Ninjago."

How's that work, exactly?"

Chinjago, obviously!

(I'm just making wordplay, I love that both Ninjago and Monkie Kid themes are apparently doing well and selling in markets around the world even if I rarely get them myself.)

I buy these as well. MK continues to be my favorite LEGO theme, and the single largest part of my annual budget.

I had been hopeful for Dreamzzz when it was first announced, but most of the dreams sets seem to be essentially hollow.

MK sets consistently have interior detailing and npu that approaches even Ninjago City sets.

It also helps that I am familiar with the source material (both Journey to the West and the MK cartoon), and personally love the style of the show. If you haven't checked it out the 2D but clearly LEGO minifigure and construction style is one of the most unique things out there.

@oukexergon said:
" @iwybs said:
" @oukexergon said:
"Monkey Kid is just Chinified Ninjago."

Tell me you know nothing about the source material without telling me you know nothing about the source material."

LOL, right... Monkey Kid is so true to source material and not just... everything Lego does with Ninjago to appeal to the Chinese market directly based ever-so-indirectly on Monkey King mythology. I was excited for and eagerly bought the original Monkey King CMF. But the theme mixing far-east and modern architecture, hi-tech vehicles, scary baddies, mechs, dragons, and tons of close-combat weapons? It's just completely Ninjago redux.

But most importantly: who cares? Apparently people can express their own views online about a Lego line-up and about how Lego divvies up its creative and investment resources. It's flabbergasting!"

I apologize for the snark. I deleted my own comment, but not quickly enough to keep people from seeing it.

Since some folks are asking. Lego announced in August 2021 that they would be removing the Monkie Kid line from Lego store shelves (outside of China). While not announced, Lego also ended its exclusive Monkie Kid partnership with Amazon. Amazon has continued to clear out old stock for several years.

@oukexergon said:
"Who is buying this theme? It would seem to me that all this energy could be spent on other themes that will have wider markets. These sets don't even make it to stores, do they?"

I am also. I especially love the White Dragon set series featuring Mei. And I have bought all the mechs up to this point.

@yellost said:
" @oukexergon said:
"Who is buying this theme? It would seem to me that all this energy could be spent on other themes that will have wider markets. These sets don't even make it to stores, do they?"

I do. I find Monkie Kid to be the most creative theme LEGO has in its roster right now. The designers really go crazy in some of the sets. Although Dreamzzz is starting to give it a good competition...
But it is a bit sad that outside of China, it's a realy badly marketed an a pain to find.

Even the tv show is fantastic !!"

It may be sad, but it would result in Lego eating into its own--parents like myself (my daughter is getting into Ninjago now) would have to ask their kids, "which Dragon set do you want?" or "which of these two big mechs do you want?" between a MK and Ninjago version. Heck, even adults have to decide, do I buy the colorful, futuristic far-eastern city build from Ninjago or the one from MK? So instead, we could have better designs and exclusive parts for Ninjago and other lines, shifting the effort that goes into this. My whole point in this is to both acknowledge the sheer amount of creativity and production value that seems to go into MK and lament the fact that it's a redundancy in theme and target audience.

@iwybs said:
" @oukexergon said:
" @iwybs said:
" @oukexergon said:
"Monkey Kid is just Chinified Ninjago."

Tell me you know nothing about the source material without telling me you know nothing about the source material."

LOL, right... Monkey Kid is so true to source material and not just... everything Lego does with Ninjago to appeal to the Chinese market directly based ever-so-indirectly on Monkey King mythology. I was excited for and eagerly bought the original Monkey King CMF. But the theme mixing far-east and modern architecture, hi-tech vehicles, scary baddies, mechs, dragons, and tons of close-combat weapons? It's just completely Ninjago redux.

But most importantly: who cares? Apparently people can express their own views online about a Lego line-up and about how Lego divvies up its creative and investment resources. It's flabbergasting!"

I apologize for the snark. I deleted my own comment, but not quickly enough to keep people from seeing it."

I've been there!

Gotta have that tower.

Will suspend judgment upon the rest until I see more. There's a LOT going on there.

The Celestial Pagoda looks beautiful! Is that the return of the Ninjago snake tail piece??

MK sets are very creative and often tend to go over the board (in a good way) ; landscapes are absolute wonder. The pagoda is a nice addition to them. The bird looks great too. I wonder how the robot will stand compared to Mei's one earlier this year. Nezha's ring vehicle a few years ago was a very interesting model.

I like the celestial pagoda, but I wonder how much it will cost.

@Vindic8ed said:
"I hope LEGO continues to expand by bringing on new designers as well as trying out new themes rather than making X-wing v2738921 and Hulkbuster v26174."

I actually agree with this, which is why I'm looking forward to more D&D sets; and it's actually precisely my point. You may prefer these to the Ninjago sets, and that's fine, TLG is pouring a ton of resources into making these spiffy. But take a look at the lineups here and with Ninjago. Both have: a tall Pagoda building with a big lineup of protagonists, an imposing big winged ridable beast/dragon, a big tall mech wielding a huge sword with a minifig riding the head, and the similarities don't end there, but I'll just move on; the random vehicle thing here could be a distinction, but it could just as well be done for City. In short, my point is that this theme is redundant, and not actually creative. It's got a ton of creative energy and immense production value poured into it, but the result for the most part isn't something distinct from what's being offered elsewhere, even if some people prefer this or that variation. It's not this Hulkbuster, but rather THIS Hulkbuster!

Spectacular sets, o m g. If only my pockets were not so shallow...

80058 Celestial Pagoda is an eye-catcher - it's quite beautiful (just as is, or with a few tweaks to better fit into other themes like Ninjago or Dreamzzz)

This is cool, but imagine how much cooler it would be if it was more solid, wider, all black, and had a flaming eye on top...

@oukexergon said:
" @iwybs said:
" @oukexergon said:
"Monkey Kid is just Chinified Ninjago."

Tell me you know nothing about the source material without telling me you know nothing about the source material."

LOL, right... Monkey Kid is so true to source material and not just... everything Lego does with Ninjago to appeal to the Chinese market directly based ever-so-indirectly on Monkey King mythology. I was excited for and eagerly bought the original Monkey King CMF. But the theme mixing far-east and modern architecture, hi-tech vehicles, scary baddies, mechs, dragons, and tons of close-combat weapons? It's just completely Ninjago redux.

But most importantly: who cares? Apparently people can express their own views online about a Lego line-up and about how Lego divvies up its creative and investment resources. It's flabbergasting!"

You can say whatever you want but don't get offended when people point out your ignorance.

@Butteredwaffles said:
"You can say whatever you want but don't get offended when people point out your ignorance. "

Would love to have someone try. No one has, least of all you? Care to disabuse me of anything?

@LegoMKB said:
"White Tower of Orthanc isn't real, it cant hurt you

White Tower of Orthanc:"

I actually thought of Orthanc, the moment I saw the Pagoda!

@oukexergon said:
"But take a look at the lineups...Both have: a tall Pagoda building with a big lineup of protagonists, an imposing big winged ridable beast/dragon, a big tall mech wielding a huge sword with a minifig riding the head, and the similarities don't end there, but I'll just move on; the random vehicle thing here could be a distinction, but it could just as well be done for City."

IMO, you can make similar arguments with nearly every theme LEGO has. Friends is a redundant theme. We already have shopping malls, houses, and cars within City. Classic Space (or any space theme) is redundant while Star Wars in production.

"Both have: a [base on a planet] with a big lineup of protagonists, an imposing big winged [spacecraft]", etc.

Yet, the overarching story and themes are different. For all we know, Ninjago doesn't sell well in China while MK on the other hand, has clearly taken off, as it's now in it's fourth year. The sets are getting more elaborate most likely because they are dedicating more resources to it, as you suggested. They're also most likely dedicating more resources to it because of the sales.

Even if it's only popular in one market (China), no matter how "redundant" it is to other available themes, that market is exponentially larger than every other market there is and probably dwarfs the sales of some of these other themes.

@oukexergon said:
"Who is buying this theme? It would seem to me that all this energy could be spent on other themes that will have wider markets. These sets don't even make it to stores, do they?"

LEGO now has stores in China and Japan. These markets are much different than yours.

@Vindic8ed:
"IMO, you can make similar arguments with nearly every theme LEGO has. Friends is a redundant theme. We already have shopping malls, houses, and cars within City. Classic Space (or any space theme) is redundant while Star Wars in production."

This is not even close to reasonable accuracy. I made very precise comparisons *within this summer wave*. Could be done with any wave, reliably. They are parallel, almost indistinguishable from each other. As I said to someone else, blur your eyes a bit, and these could very well have been Ninjago sets. City does not typically have shopping malls or family homes. Where was the last Friends Fire Station or Police Helicopter set? Classic Space does not have anything seen in Star Wars, nor does it, well, exist. These analogies do not work on a more important level: target audience. The themes you linked are each a niche theme. However, synchronously, you have Ninjago and Monkey Kid making basically the same sets for the exact same target audience.

"Yet, the overarching story and themes are different."

Of course they have different stories/characters, how else to justify their existence?

"For all we know, Ninjago doesn't sell well in China while MK on the other hand, has clearly taken off, as it's now in it's fourth year."

Ding ding ding! That is the true reason for the theme's existence, which is what I said earlier in this thread. Still does not justify it continuing on with the amount of energy poured into it, it certainly does not justify an evergreen status (as I said, when other things were not made evergreen).

"Even if it's only popular in one market (China), no matter how "redundant" it is to other available themes, that market is exponentially larger than every other market there is and probably dwarfs the sales of some of these other themes."

That is 100% not true, no matter what others have insinuated or said in this silly, silly thread. In fact, I think China isn't even the third largest market after the German/US markets, which dominate TLG sales. Can't find the data, but it wouldn't surprise me if China fell behind other European countries in sales numbers, possibly even lower than Canada. All in all, China is still a small portion of TLG's global sales. It's a potentially big market, which is why TLG is pushing so hard with this theme (and other things), but that's all it is, a *potential* big market. Ironically, as of the last available statistics I did find, the Asian market is the only one in actual decline in terms of sales for Lego and it's consistently relatively small compared to the European and American markets.

BTW, I love this thread, some folk love to say, "you ignorant man!" but have no idea what they are talking about, don't even understand why the question of "who is buying this" was raised to begin with. TLG should review how much it is spending on this theme where it could reroute efforts to make mainstay offerings better or solidify new efforts for a global, not merely a Chinese market.

@oukexergon said:
"This is not even close to reasonable accuracy. I made very precise comparisons *within this summer wave*. Could be done with any wave, reliably. They are parallel, almost indistinguishable from each other. As I said to someone else, blur your eyes a bit, and these could very well have been Ninjago sets. City does not typically have shopping malls or family homes. Where was the last Friends Fire Station or Police Helicopter set? Classic Space does not have anything seen in Star Wars, nor does it, well, exist. These analogies do not work on a more important level: target audience. The themes you linked are each a niche theme. However, synchronously, you have Ninjago and Monkey Kid making basically the same sets for the exact same target audience."

My point is: nearly every theme has cross over. Why have multiple themes (IE, Friends, City, Creator) for the same subject matter (modern civilization)? Because people have different tastes, even if there are obvious similarities to something else they don't fancy as much. The current city/space theme (which has classic space elements to it) and Star Wars both have mechs, they both have spaceships, and they both take place on foreign planets.

Blurring your eyes to make two pagodas seem similar is no different than blurring your eyes to make City and Friends buildings appear to be from the same theme. I believe some of the ignorance people have mentioned is directed at this. To the Asian market, who have this building style throughout their country, they are different enough to justify them.

@oukexergon said:
"Ding ding ding! That is the true reason for the theme's existence, which is what I said earlier in this thread. Still does not justify it continuing on with the amount of energy poured into it, it certainly does not justify an evergreen status (as I said, when other things were not made evergreen)."

You answered your original question then. I don't mean to sound disrespectful, I genuinely want to understand. How do you *know* it doesn't justify the effort? What makes you such an expert? Do you *know* how much effort is dedicating to the theme? For all we know only 2 designers are assigned to MK. Do you know how many designers LEGO has and how they divvy up those resources for each theme? You cannot justify your stance without those answers.

@oukexergon said:
"It's a potentially big market, which is why TLG is pushing so hard with this theme (and other things), but that's all it is, a *potential* big market."

Then what's the issue with pushing multiple themes, no matter how redundant it may seem, to tap into into that market? Aside from the time/resources argument talked about above?

@oukexergon said:
"TLG should review how much it is spending on this theme where it could reroute efforts to make mainstay offerings better or solidify new efforts for a global, not merely a Chinese market."

How do you know they aren't constantly reviewing where their resources are going? LEGO didn't become the largest toy company in the world by simply winging it. They have teams of people that are obviously doing something right.

Focusing on the global market isn't always the best approach. A recent example that comes to mind is the bank HSBC. After they pulled out of the US and Canadian markets, their profits went up 30% (I don't recall how long a time span that was). Dedicating certain resources to *smaller* markets can be more beneficial than targeting a large broad market with vastly different preferences.

@oukexergon said:
"Who is buying this theme? It would seem to me that all this energy could be spent on other themes that will have wider markets. These sets don't even make it to stores, do they?"

Go cry elsewhere, you aren't their target audience.

I'm impressed with these sets.

@oukexergon said:
"Who is buying this theme? It would seem to me that all this energy could be spent on other themes that will have wider markets. These sets don't even make it to stores, do they?"

China. As many said its enough.
I hate fact these MK sets are nit in Lego stores while 18plus alop takes like half of a shop

Sorry to hear the (unfortunately familiar) grumbles about this theme. Some slightly rambling notes on the topic from me:

1) You don’t have to approve of Chinese government policy or practice to respect Chinese history and culture, same as you don’t need to love your politicians in the UK or US to feel connected to those places. Everywhere can has fascinating stories, and we shouldn’t let a regime we disapprove of cloud that.

2) The theme makes so much more sense if you watch the Tv show. I have a daughter the right age, so I’ve seen a lot of it. It’s a hugely inventive but very respectful twist on the classic source literature. It’s this connnection that makes some of us feel more positive about it than simply ‘it’s Chinese Ninjago’. And if it makes people go pick up ‘Journey to the West’ then we all win, because that subversive masterpiece is just an engine for generating better people.

3) On the whole, the ‘level’ of these sets has been sky high throughout the theme. Details and techniques that seem to go beyond what we see elsewhere. I guess that’s what some people are complaining about — that this level should be seen in other places. It’s very conceivable that internal design talent migrated to this theme due to the likely profitability in Chinese markets. But I think they also brought in a number of Chinese designers who have really excelled, and who also get to bring their talents to other themes. So there is benefit brought to the wider portfolio. It also brings new colours and parts to the whole portfolio.

4) Prices in this theme has been very up and down in the UK, with some sets feeling super cheap and others a bit crazy. Hard to say whether what seems like lavish expense invested in the theme makes financial sense based in the prices we see in the west, and the limited availability and marketing. But as others have said, it is presumably working out for Lego.

5) The TV show, which really does drive all this, is written and recorded in English first and made with a western audience in mind. Such a shame that it hasn’t been a big hit, and I mainly blame Lego for not managing this correctly (set launches and product availability seem disconnected).

6) Upcoming Legoland in Shanghai and Sichuan has a whole Monkey Kid zone, which is awesome and suggests the theme will be around for a while.

From publically availiable info, I can conclude:
- LEGO wanted to expand more into China, so they specifically tailored the Monkie Kid line towards it
- As time went on, the theme primarily shifted to large sets, which shows that they sell very well and it has paid off