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80031 Mei’s Dragon Car LEGO Review - Monkie Kid, 2022

TL;DR:

  • Original Price:  $49.99
  • Pieces: 456
  • Minifigure(s): Monkie Kid, Savage/Rumble (shadow clones of Macaque), Mei
  • Sticker Sheet: Yes
  • Pros: Lots of otherwise rare shapes/colors, creative and sturdy vehicles
  • Cons: Non-exclusive minifigs, awkward pilot positioning



Assembly: 

Bag #1 - Monkie Kid, Savage, Air skateboard, Evil bike


Bag #2 - Rumble, Dragon car core


Bag #3 - Dragon car head & tail

Bag #4 - Mei, Dragon car wheels & cockpit

 Leftover Pieces


  • Interesting Steps:
    • Step 24 has us use clip-and-bar pairs with cheese slopes and an ingot to make a nice looking pilot's chair.
  • Interesting Techniques:
    • Sometimes builds require pieces to be used in unusual ways, and other times they're just for show. The latter is the case here: the motorcycle's front fork is attached to the body by a click-hinge, but ray guns are affixed to the axle hubs on the top, to make it look like shock absorbers
    • While Mei's cockpit in the dragon car has her almost reclining, the motorcycle's seat does a good job of providing tail room for one of the monkeys (provided the tail is mounted in the up position, as shown below)
    • The use of stepped dormer pieces (2x1 double/inverted 45° slopes) for the dragon-horse car's spines is a simple but effective technique
    • Using a game controller for the car's steering yoke is both a fun idea and absolutely fits with Mei's character.
  • Interesting Pieces:
    • Trans bright green panels and cheese wedges give a classic Space set feel to the build
    • Also trans-bright green are the 14L propeller/sword blades used as jet trails to great effect, and the cyber texture makes this quite a versatile part (I could see it being used for energy barriers, for example)
    • The neon yellow pieces add even more vibrancy to the car, which matches Mei's costume in this set: dark turquoise and white leading to gold and neon yellow

  • Pain Points:
    • As mentioned before, Mei's position in the cockpit is so reclined as to make it almost impossible for her to see what's ahead of the car. On the one hand, it does make for a sleeker-looking vehicle, but on the other hand it could have been arranged differently (I've seen other builders who reconfigure the cockpit, basically reversing the cover and re-angling things so she has a more upright position). 
  • My Modifications:  
    • As also mentioned before, one of the great things about the tail pieces used for Macaque's shadow clones is that they can be mounted on minifig legs either facing up or down; you can see this in the minifig lineup picture above.

The main play feature of the car (apart from rolling) is documented on the box: when you push down on the neck, a green bolt shoots out from under the mouth. It's well-integrated into the build, giving the dragon head an aggressive angle, but also being easy to activate. Hinges are used on the side panels to further accentuate the angles of the vehicle, which really makes for a cohesive whole.

Car aside, the rest of the set is ok. There are some great pieces (especially the purple and orange Samadhi flames) and getting two shadow clones is a nice bonus. It would have been nice to have a little set piece (like the temple in the Nine Headed Beast set) to give some context to what is otherwise a 3-vehicle chase. Another awkwardness is that there are two shadow clones, but only room on the motorcycle for one.

Score (out of 5 🧱):

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

Lego Instructions: here


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