80045 Monkey King Ultra Mech announced!

Ooh that new elephant headpiece looks interesting.

In the upper chest, there's a print that includes a target reticle which looks like it may be printed on transparent plastic. If so, that's probably the cockpit.

Oh man, I JUST bought the other Monkie King Mech… :(

This makes me think of that particular space marine style of armor with the more flexible-looking small interlocking plates. I personally prefer the more distinct, chunky, samurai-inspired armor of the original monkey mech.

This still looks cool though!

That staff rocks, awesome minifigs, looks like a neat build, but the mech seems a bit odd to me. Hopefully there's some nice sets on the smaller end!

Have the old one. Not really interested in this one.
For me 80012 issue are fabric cape and plastic "sales" (sorry, idk how they are properly named by LEGO - the pieces of skirt of old model and "ears"/"wings" of the new one). Here they have same plastic "sales" but in the different places. New hulkbuster is more desired than this one.

Still want more Monkey Kid sets (and Nexo Knights:((() as they look the most compatible with godlike Ninjago City.

It doesn't quite reach the (very) high bar of 80012 but I still like what I'm seeing so far.
Although the color blocking is a little messier than usual.

Still, the Monkei Kid line has been LEGO at its most creative (even more than Ninjago, imo) and they don't seem to be slowing down :)

Looks like it has light brick now but pearl gold has mainly replaced drum lacquered pieces.

Win some, lose some I guess.. at a higher same or higher price than 80012

Excited to see all of the new MK sets come out. They have turned into my “must collect” theme lately in spite of the cost.

I think this mech looks great but I’d love to see more angles and closeups of the figures. Hopefully soon!

OHHHHHHHHHH YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

So good to see MK still going on, and thankfully now I'm able to get the sets. This is a must buy as soon as it is released!

you see that blurry thing behind the mech? is a part of the mech like untouchable jetpack or vehicle sidebuild?

Despite being smaller, this seems almost like an upgrade to 80012 and I really enjoy that. The absolute chaos of a colour scheme fits the theme more, if ya ask me :)

@Metalizer7734 said:
"you see that blurry thing behind the mech? is a part of the mech like untouchable jetpack or vehicle sidebuild?"

Imagine it as something like Optimus Prime's pony trailer. It splits into smaller builds that you can then add to the mech as upgrades.

Not a bad set, and definitely not targeted towards me. But what’s with legos obsession with mechs? There are so many mechs and it seems like another come out every couple months

Because the previous one still wasn't big enough.

Another one?!

The outer surface seems very messy with all of the small pieces. I don't think I like it.

Another mech? Snore…

Thanks Lego, Cant wait to NOT get it!
SO HUGE AND EXPENSIVE! Yesss this is exactly what kids want! A toy they can hadly play because shit keeps falling apart in hands!

looks to be about £80, but considering how all over the place prices have been..

I really need a side-by-side to understand what value this brings. Is it much bigger? Smaller? Hard to tell with that photo.

I’ll let you know what I think when I see it all and the sticker price…until then I am cautiously optimistic he said with a question mark?

@Lyichir:
While Bowser isn’t a mechanical construct, the same principles apply once you start sculpting them in LEGO bricks. I’d also count the ginormous AT-AT as a mech, even if it’s not a humanoid shape. Voltron is arguably where the pioneered techniques that even make these larger constructions possible, though it sounds from your comment like they’ve refined that design with successive uses.

Betcha the aircraft attaches to the mechs back...which would lead to jokes about 'The Wizard of Oz' and the Wicked Witch's hench-beings...:D

@PurpleDave : I've always looked at 'Mechs' under the formulation of: does it operate as a vehicle (with a pilot/operator/driver) and does it 'walk'. So under that: AT-ATs, AT-ASs, AT-PTs count, as do a lot of other things...even Ripley's exo-skeleton/'Loader' from 'Aliens'...of course w/Lego, they've done a bunch of mechs over the last little bit; to greater or lesser success (*COUGH*KNEES*KNEES*)...

Is Chima making a comeback?

@brick_r said:
"Betcha the aircraft attaches to the mechs back...which would lead to jokes about 'The Wizard of Oz' and the Wicked Witch's hench-beings...:D

@PurpleDave : I've always looked at 'Mechs' under the formulation of: does it operate as a vehicle (with a pilot/operator/driver) and does it 'walk'. So under that: AT-ATs, AT-ASs, AT-PTs count, as do a lot of other things...even Ripley's exo-skeleton/'Loader' from 'Aliens'...of course w/Lego, they've done a bunch of mechs over the last little bit; to greater or lesser success (*COUGH*KNEES*KNEES*)... "
As mechs are (mostly) the stuff of fiction that spans multiple franchises, there’s no ultimate definition of what they are. There’s a core definition upon which most would agree, but a periphery that’s pretty fuzzy. To me - and this is admittedly idiosyncratic - a mech is a piloted/driven robot that emulates the general morphology of the pilot/driver. So a Jaeger, Hulkbuster or AMP Suit is a mech, but an AT-AT isn’t.

@Brickodillo said:
"Is Chima making a comeback? "

I would actually be pretty happy if it were.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Lyichir:
While Bowser isn’t a mechanical construct, the same principles apply once you start sculpting them in LEGO bricks. I’d also count the ginormous AT-AT as a mech, even if it’s not a humanoid shape. Voltron is arguably where the pioneered techniques that even make these larger constructions possible, though it sounds from your comment like they’ve refined that design with successive uses."

Oh, for sure—Voltron was another step forward (among other things, its shoulder construction went on to inform the designs of the 2020 Monkie Kid mechs). Bowser is an interesting case since while his arms are hinged similarly to modern mechs, his legs are designed "loose" so they can move realistically as you puppet him around.

The hip construction of the earlier Monkey King mech owed a lot to the hip design pioneered in the Lego Ninjago Movie sets—and on further examination, this new set seems to use the same design rather than the more compact design introduced for Optimus Prime's hips that are used here for the shoulders. That will give this mech's hips a bit more strength despite being a bit bulkier. And like most large mechs, this one sadly lacks articulated knees (which can be a point of failure on larger mechs like this). Nya's Samurai X mech from this year pulled off knee articulation at a large scale, but it required the knees to be wider and significantly less streamlined.

@brick_r:
The year my Pizza Planet truck won Best Earthcraft at Brickworld Chicago, one of the other MOCs it went up against was an AT-AT. There’s also a Best Mech category.

@Zander:
So if we strapped a horse into an AT-AT, or a chicken into an AT-ST, they’d qualify as mechs? How many posts have you ever read about a “spider mech”? Rules are created specifically to exclude Star Wars, and then set aside as soon as the discussion turns to pretty much any other IP or original creation.

@moishe11 said:
"looks to be about £80, but considering how all over the place prices have been.."

okay, £140 really?!!!!!!!!!!!

When does anyone think official images will be up?

Maybe next week?

looks like a good set, but doesnt do anything for me that other mechs havent

@Lyichir:
So, going back to Bionicle, which is when they really started to nail the constraction figure, Pohatu was the only character with foot-based action. The other Toa Mata/Nuva all had arm-based action, some of the Rahi didn’t even have legs, and while legs from the Rahkshi on did get improved articulation, they were never the focus of the sets. Going back even earlier, the Throwbot legs were very awkward to pose. Post-Bionicle, the Jelly Bean Knights all had left-handed attacks.

There are legitimate reasons for a lot of this. I mean, the Throwbots just had a really bad leg design, but the Jelly Beans were designed with right-handed kids in mind. They knew that kids would most likely pick the knight up in their right hand and use their right thumb to control the thumb wheel that actuated the attack arm. If the right arm was attacking, it’d constantly hit them on the knuckles, plus their fingers would collide with the other kids’. Move the attack to the left arm, and there’s more clearance for the action to take place.

Similarly, the legs become unimportant as soon as the kid picks up a character. They’re going to focus on upper body and head action, and the legs become a handle, if anything. Pohatu is the exception that proves the rule. How difficult is it to hold him and actuate the play feature? Are you blocking the mask from being struck? There’s also the issue of what you do with him. He includes a soccer rock to kick around, and beyond that he could sorta hit the Manas’ masks at an oblique angle. So, if the legs aren’t likely to be a focal play feature, and adding complicated articulation to them makes it difficult to pose the model without it falling over, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that sets that need to pass stability tests would be released with legs that don’t do much. As they figure out solutions that can be applied to leg joints going forward, or they design models that need articulation there, we’ll start to see further advancements. That’s part of why Bowser was so shocking. The construction used there seems like it’d have to be original, and there wasn’t any specific need for that type of articulation. It’s also not likely to be reused on other sets.

I haven't bounced around from region to region on lego.com, but the official images are presently on the Canadian site (en-ca).

I only got the original mech because of a great sale and because I was so impressed with its scale and look in real life. I can't imagine getting this one as well. But, maybe the same thing will happen again?

I do like big mechs. I cannot lie!

@PurpleDave said:
" @Zander:
So if we strapped a horse into an AT-AT, or a chicken into an AT-ST, they’d qualify as mechs?"
Nope. A horse or chicken isn't a pilot/driver. They lack the required cognitive ability. However, an equine-shaped vehicle designed for and driven by a Houyhnhnm would be a mech. It would remain a mech even if a human somehow took control as the intention of the designer is important ontologically.

" @Zander:How many posts have you ever read about a “spider mech”? Rules are created specifically to exclude Star Wars, and then set aside as soon as the discussion turns to pretty much any other IP or original creation."
I would exclude an arachnoid vehicle from qualifying as a mech unless it had been designed for a similarly shaped, intelligent creature. Others may disagree. I have nothing against Star Wars or its vehicles and am not unfairly seeking to exclude them. To me (and again, this is idiosyncratic), a mech amplifies (in size, or speed, or strength, etc - in any combination) the physical characteristics of the intended pilot/driver.