40472 Monkie Kid's RC Race LEGO Review - Monkie Kid, 2021

 

A small set at a high price.

TL;DR:

• Original Price:  $12.99
• Pieces: 57
• Minifigure(s): Monkie Kid, Mei, Bull Clone Bob
• Sticker Sheet: No
  
• Pros: 2 Exclusive minifigs, creative micro vehicles
• Cons: Micro-scale part count

Assembly: 

 Leftover Pieces

• Interesting Techniques:
• MK car built vertically, with the SNOT 1x1 studs-on-all-sides bricks allowing for mirrored sides and a finished-looking top to the final car. Sadly the wheels don't actually turn, but then only the front wheels on the DBK car rotate, so we're not going for accuracy here.

• Interesting Pieces:
• The box itself is pretty interesting. I've seen these before but have never had one myself: the plastic is firm and sturdy, and could possibly make for a nice display (eg, filled with minifigure heads or random bricks, or else turned into a sort of dimensional shadowbox for a favorite figure). As you can see in the picture below it comes out of the cardboard sleeve without any glue and with nice rectangular flashing.

The set comes with two exclusive minifigures: Monkie Kid and Bull Clone Bob. The twist is that what makes them exclusive is their torsos (their legs are just plain solid red), which are printed with identical racing gear prints. They look good, but nothing to write home about. Mei does come with a nice jacket printing (highlighting the dragon and the horse of her dragonhorse role in the MK group), which apparently is only otherwise available in the large and expensive set 80011 Red Son's Inferno Truck.

There is also a printed 2x2 brick for the first place stand, but otherwise the pieces are pretty basic, and the three minifigs don't seem special enough (given the plain legs on all of them and the duplicate torsos on two) to justify the high price. You could actually use the instructions and build your own cars in your own colors without putting much of a dent in your parts bin.

The MK RC car is designed to evoke Monkie Kid's Cloud Roadster, while the DBK RC car is modeled after the similarly-massive Iron Bull Tank. Both designs do a good job of shrinking them down to minifig-toy scale, which is always nice to see. For what they are, these microbuilds really are the stars of this little show...I just wish there were more to the set to justify the price (perhaps a few plates to make into a track, for example, which would also up the play score).

As it is, I can only recommend reading the instructions online and building the micro car and tank yourself, and saving your money...unless you really want one or more of the minifigs.

Score (out of 5 🧱):

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

• Total: 🧱🧱

Lego Instructions: here