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80030 Monkie Kid's Staff Creations LEGO Review - Monkie Kid, 2022

TL;DR:

  • Original Price:  $39.99
  • Pieces: 309
  • Minifigure(s): Monkie Kid (white vest), Monkey King (bright orange robe)
  • Sticker Sheet: No
  • Pros: Unique MK fig, 15 dark turquoise "Round 1 x 2 with Hollow Studs and Open Center with Bars" pieces
  • Cons: Common Monkey King fig, build elements not as flexible (combination-wise) as could be wished



Assembly: 

Bag #1 - Monkie Kid, Monkey King, race car

Bag #2 - Fighter plane

Bag #3 - Mech


Leftover Pieces

 
  • Interesting Techniques:
    • Like other set, 2024's Creative Vehicles, this set makes considerable use of the same pair: "Round 1 x 2 with Hollow Studs and Open Center with Bars" (this time in dark turquoise) onto which are clipped two 1x1 plates with vertical-grip clips. You can tell that this is an older set, however, because the elements aren't quite as refined, somewhat limiting the possible combinations—as described below.
  • Interesting Pieces:
    • Though it's hardly a new piece this is as of right now the only set that has the stud shooter in pearl gold. Oddly enough, it also came pre-assembled with the trigger piece in place:
  

  • Pain Points:
    • The tail fins on the jet are angled with hinge plates, which is a nice enough technique. The problem is that there are almost no other white pieces in these builds, and having the exposed hinge brick bases stand out so starkly makes their color feel more like a mistake than a design choice 


    • The design of the wing tips also give rather an unfinished feel to the wings


    • At first glance, it looks as though there is a good assortment of sub-elements...


 

    •  In toting them up, however, you can see that there are 3 cockpits (bars on all sides):


    • ...9 clip-only pieces (four in left/right pairs):


    • ...and only two clip/bar combos:


    • In other words, not as flexible an assortment as one might think. This is remedied somewhat in the Creative Vehicles set from two years later (which also adds several sub-elements to space things out, like the two clip/bar combo pieces above)
  • My Modifications:  
    • Because there are no double-clip pieces, there's no way to combine the cockpit units; so instead I opted to combine the elements as randomly as I could, which was a fun little exercise.
 


In all, this is a fun-enough set. It's less refined than the Creative Vehicles set, which clearly drew on the experiences of designing this to make a better overall experience, but for a first (as far as I know) attempt at utilizing this method of making customizable vehicles, it's not bad. I like the fact that each of the three main vehicles references Monkey King's as-you-will staff, though it feels a little bit tacked on (though I can't think of how it might have been integrated better). I also appreciate the printed slope pieces, which only appear in this set.

While the Monkie Kid figure is unique to this set (or rather, his torso is, since the legs are just plain black and the head is in 10 sets) the Monkey King figure is in 4 sets; still, it's nice to have another tail piece, and the robed torso is useful for figbarfs. 

The shortcomings of this set, like the Creative Vehicles are primarily due to a lack of flexibility in terms of combining elements, and secondarily due to some odd design choices (though funnily enough it's not quite as drastic in this set as it is in the later one, since the colors here stick to the yellow/red/dark turquoise color palette, with gold and black accents).

Score (out of 5 🧱):

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

Lego Instructions: here

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