80056 Nine-Headed Beast LEGO Review - Monkie Kid, 2024

Specialty pieces and colors may have contributed to this set's smallish feeling.

TL;DR:

• Original Price:  $99.99
• Pieces: 757
• Minifigure(s): Monkie Kid, Monkey King (prison jumpsuit), Mr. Tang, Nine-Headed Beast, Mei (dragon bag)
• Note: this is the only set that has this Monkey King fig, which is missing from the full cast lineup in the 80058 Celestial Pagoda set
• Sticker Sheet: Yes
• Pros: Unusual pieces in unusual colors, creative bird-y monster build
• Cons: Feels like a small set for the price
  

 

Assembly: 

Bag #1 - MK, Monkey King, mini mech

 

Bag #2 - Mr. Tang, mini temple

 

Bag #3 - Nine-Headed Beast, beginning of body

 

Bag #4 - Mei, wings & small heads 

Bag #5 - main head & tail

 

Bag #6 - legs

 Leftover Pieces

• Interesting Pieces: Pearl Gold Tile, Modified 2 x 2 with Studs on Edge, Rounded Corners and 1 x 1 Half Circle Extension (what I'm calling the "double-cloudlift tile" based on the Greene & Greene craftsman stylistic element) & Monkie Kid Color Stones in blue and red
  

• Pain Points: 
• Bag 3, step 3 doesn't make it clear how the stickers should be oriented, the scales need to point downward 

• Bag 5, step 75, the printing and similar colors make it hard to distinguish the bright green 2x2 with clip from the dark turquoise 1x2 - 2x2 bracket

• Stickers. I know most AFOLs will agree that stickers are one of the least fun parts of assembling a new Lego set, but a pair of needle nose reverse tweezers (the kind that stay closed unless you squeeze them) can help with placement, and a sharp craft knife can help with lifting poorly-positioned stickers for a second try. As you can see in the picture, I'll often put pieces on a larger piece (here a 1x4 bracket with a 1x2 brick) to make it easier to grip, and so I can make sure the stickers are aligned the same on matching pieces.

• My Modifications:  As was mentioned in my Monkey King Marketplace Review, the Technic pins and brick-with-two-holes can be used to combine builds

 

This build was interesting, with some unexpected twists and results, but was ultimately less satisfying than it might have been. The design of the nine heads was creative, especially making use of the same printed tiles (thankfully those 18 pieces weren't stickers!) at the different scales of head, and the wing flap feature (via two red 1x3 Technic liftarms) is effective if simplistic.

The temple (more of a shrine, really) was effective at the scale, and will be useful to add to other builds, but the rest of the set will end up distributed to my parts bins.

Score (out of 5 🧱):

• Price: 🧱
• Process: 🧱🧱🧱
• Presentation: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
  
• Play: 🧱🧱🧱
• Pieces: 🧱🧱🧱🧱

• Total: 🧱🧱🧱 
  

Lego Instructions: here