80020 White Dragon Horse Jet LEGO Review - Monkie Kid, 2021

The sidebuilds might be a bit lacking, but the main jet is creative and colorful.

TL;DR:

• Original Price:  $49.99
• Pieces: 565
• Minifigure(s): Si (generic citydweller), Mei, Mo, Huntsman
• Sticker Sheet: Yes
  
• Pros: Beautiful colors and creative jet design
• Cons: lackluster sidebuilds

 

Assembly: 

Bag #1 - Si & vending machine

Bag #2 - Mei, Mo, Huntsman & glider, spider, beginning of fuselage

Bag #3 - cockpit

Bag #4 - engine

 

Bag #5 - right wing

Bag #6 - left wing

• Interesting Steps:
• Step 9 uses three stacked SNOT brackets to attach plates vertically, it's good to remember how different shaped and sized brackets (I name them: black "L" 2x2, bright light orange "7" 2x2, and light grey "L" 2x2, because they look like the letter L or the number 7 when in place)

•  The front of the gachapon dispenser uses printed 1x1 tiles slid into a 1x2x5 transparent clear brick (step 19) to mimic the look of pods in the machine, ready to be dropped down for the next customer. It's a neat technique, that was also used with two dark green snake heads as decorative window grilles in the jewel shop of 80054 Megapolis City

• Steps 57-77 make use of a 3-length yellow Technic axle to link the two halves of the nose piece, resulting in a smoother look than if it had been brick-built vertically, especially given the stripe running down the middle

• Steps 91, 92 (right wing) and 119, 120 (left wing) have a 1x4 spring shooter hidden behind a 1x3 arch brick, keeping the shooter brick from being visible once the build is completed, but not impeding the projectile arrow

 

• Interesting Techniques:
• The gradient of colors used (lime, bright green, turquoise) is particularly satisfying, with each step being more or less equidistant. It also shows up on the wings, making use of 2x3 pentagonal tiles
  

 

• Interesting Pieces:
• This set comes with several large and unusual pieces in white: the 6x8 wedge with pointed cutout and the 8x1x3 slope 25 (I assume that means it runs at a 25° angle)

• Pain Points:
• While the gachapon vending machine is a neat idea, in practice it doesn't function quite as flawlessly as I'd have liked. You're supposed to be able to stack all of the pods (a 1x1 printed tile on top of a 1x1 transparent round brick) in from the top, and then have the minifigure stick his phone into the slot to dispense one. That said, I often had to use Mei's sword instead, and it really only works with all four pods loaded, meaning you have to reload the dispensed one to dispense the next one; they also like to all slip out too easily.
• Where most sets disperse minifigures across bags (usually the main figure in the first bag, a secondary on in the second bag, and so on), this set dumps them all in bag 2 (apart from Si, a generic townsperson), resulting in the remaining four bags being just progressively adding more to the jet. I get that this is the main feature of the set, but it would have been nice to have one for each bag, with Mo and his glider being in one and Huntsman's spider in another, to spice up the rest of the build process and leave a bit of a treat for each bag.
• Steps 96 (right wing) and 124 (left wing) have you slide two gold harpoons through two gold 1x1 cones and into the front studs of a 1x2 grey brick. They fit so snugly, however, that I actually had to use my tabletop to push them in, and had to wrap a rubber band around each cone to have grip enough to pull them out without damage.

As a whole, the set fits well with the other Monkie Kid vehicles: the jet's design is creative and unique, and really makes good use of Mei's dragon-horse color palette. Other reviewers have remarked on how the cockpit design makes it so any minifigure riding inside can't actually see out the front, and I agree...but her head printing also has a little heads-up display, so it's possible she's flying it more like a Jedi Starfighter. Apart from Si—who is exclusive to this set but mostly just useful to part out—the minifigs appear in several other sets each, and the vending machine side build looks good, but isn't as fun as it might be. On the whole, my favorite part of this build was the color use and unusual parts. I plan to do an all-white minifigure-scale house at some point, and this set's pieces will definitely be useful.

Score (out of 5 🧱):

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

• Total: 🧱🧱🧱

Lego Instructions: here