An impressive tower in which to be imprisoned...
TL;DR:
- Original Price: $139.99
- Pieces: 1621
- Minifigure(s): Monkie Kid, Nuwa, Mei, Mr Tang, Sandy, Kitten Mo, Pigsy, Li Jing
- Sticker Sheet: Yes
- Pros: Creative build techniques, unusual pieces & colors
- Cons: A little repetitive, awkward interior spaces
Assembly:
Because I had already built the set once, to write this review I actually unbuilt it, following the instructions in reverse. I'll be describing the process in the reverse of that reverse—in other words, from step one to the end—but some of the pictures might be confusing without that knowledge.
Bag #1 - Monkie Kid, Nuwa, peach tree, fountain
Bag #2 - Basement level
Bag #3 - Mei, stairs and ground floor
Bag #4 - Mr. Tang, first floor left side
Bag #5 - First floor right side
Bag #6 - First floor roof, second floor ceiling
Bag #7 - Second floor and balconies
Bag #8 - Third floor
Bag #9 - Fourth floor and balcony
Bag #10 - Sandy, Mo, Pigsy, fifth floor
Bag #11 - Li Jing, sixth floor
Bag #12 - Seventh floor and finial
All Together
- Interesting Steps:
- 53: Using a normal 7x4x6 stair piece for the structure, and then building over it for aesthetic purposes is a good idea.
- 83: A cute little table using 1x1s with scrolls for a decorative look, repeated for the other side of the room with step 105.
- 163: Two Ming-style vases, simple and elegant, using bright light blue 1x1 flower pieces to add a bit of color to their pristine surface.
- 179-183: Bookcase—the use of 1x1 round bricks to evoke the look of scrolls is simple but effective, and using stacked 1x2 round plates to not only stagger the bricks' apparent lengths, but also to keep things in place is a smart solution. It's unfortunate that there's no way to secure these assemblages within the bookcase; as you can see, they're dropped into place while the bookcase is on its back, and only stay put by virtue of friction (you can push down on the uppermost scroll of each trio to press the other two out against the bookcase's walls for a slightly more snug fit).
- 187-191: A writing desk, complete with a drawer and turned legs.
- 245: A throne. Though at first they don't look quite stylistically appropriate, the pink 1x2 on the front and the dark green ingot on the back—as well as the golden claw pieces on the sides—are a reference to the 100-Eyed Demon. This centipede-like demon (with a pink belly, green back, and golden legs) is also imprisoned in the Celestial Pagoda, and manifests in the little 1x1 round pink eye printed tiles that are scattered around the build. In the series, he enters the minds of the other prisoners whenever they look into one of his many eyes and makes them relive buried memories.
- 265: The use of 1x6 tiles to cover the edges of the fence pieces (here used horizontally), leaving only the central circles visible is clever and efficient—if a bit fragile, being only held in place by the one stud at the top.
- Interesting Techniques:
- The peach tree and fountain side-builds are designed with 1x2 Technic bricks with two holes, as are several other Monkie Kid sets (for example, the Monkey King Marketplace), to allow for modularity.
- Throughout, this set uses 1x4x2 ornamental Asian lattice fence pieces sideways to create the windows. This is a brilliant use of the piece and really elevates the look of the build. The only downside is that the attachment points are few and the windows are quite fragile (until locked into place with the top plates). This is also part of what makes this set rather repetitive to build: with so many of these windows to place, and very specific arrangements of other pieces to frame them in, it feels more like work than play. But the effect is still worth it.
- An elaborate Technic build is used to angle SNOT brackets and a tile so that wall paintings of Monkey King's history can be hidden behind the 45° doors. Not sure if it was necessary but it's pretty sturdy and puts the tile right up against the inside of the door.
- Another sideways build, this one putting a door in the floor of the second story. The 1x4 panel's lip just barely catches on the edge of the 3x3 bright light blue double-concave slope piece, but it's enough to keep the door from falling in.
- These 1x1 plates with bar handles on both ends are used to secure the different sections together: when the middle part of the tower is placed on the bottom part, these are flipped up from the lower part and inserted into matching clips on the upper part. The dark turquoise 1x1 round tiles not only provide spacing when in place, but also look nice when flipped down, like a turquoise and mahogany wall ornament.
- In addition to the clips holding the sections together at the back, the front of the third floor has 1x2 plates with door rails (red) that slot into 1x4 bricks with channels (black). This makes for a very secure hold when both techniques are combined.
- The Monkie Kid series makes use of clouds quite often—appropriately-so, given both the Somersault Cloud that Monkey King uses to travel in Journey to the West as well as the stylized cloud forms so often found in Chinese art—which not only resulted in the development of these cloud gust pieces in white and gold but also "White Tile, Modified 2 x 2 with Studs on Edge, Rounded Corners and 1 x 1 Half Circle Extension" (the 2x2 tiles with a rounded cloud-like end used in the build below). Both are evocative and delightfully-styled, and help to give the final build a feeling like it's floating in upper realms, swathed in magic.
- In yet another way to use the fence pieces, here one is sandwiched between pairs of 1x2 plates with clips, which then attach to 1x2 plates with bars to hold it in place. The plates with bars at the top have gold ingots placed on them, which makes for a nice little ornamental awning over the window.
- Interesting Pieces:
- In contrast to the printed tile that was used in previous Monkie Kid sets, we now have a 3-d peach piece that's found use in other sets both as fruit and even as decorative elements (for example, the Milky Way Galaxy set).
- These Monkie Kid color stone molds (called "Trans-___ Rock Faceted Pointed with Molded Pearl Gold Base Pattern" in BrickLink) are beautiful, and reminiscent of previous color-coded MacGuffins like the Moonstones in the Monster Fighter line or the circular "Keys" from 2010's Atlantis line.
- The Technic pin with stud holder is interesting and unusual, despite being released in 2010. I could see these used as micro-scale Mario pipes, as well as being useful for structural purposes as they are here.
- Pain Points:
- The trap door is only loosely secured, and it's easy to nudge axle and cause it to fall—especially when you're trying to pose a minifigure on it.
- The fourth floor balcony's inward-curving corners look stylish, but—as you can see in the photo—pinch off any walking space. I realize we're not building up to any sort of code here, but I still like having a bit of realism in how I place structures and furniture and such.
- Overall:
The build is broken into 4 main pieces (the seventh floor and finial are attached in step 305 on top of the 2x4 double jumper plate plate placed on the sixth floor in step 264), which can make it easier to store than a 2' tall fragile monolith. The sections mount together securely, though I might have liked it if they were divided up by floor, like Modular buildings, perhaps with matching footprints to allow them to be swapped around, encouraging more play and also evoking the confusing, maze-like nature of the pagoda in the show.
The interior spaces of the lower levels are well decorated, with many pieces of furniture that can be quite useful in other builds (in the first picture you can also see how the attachment clips look when disengaged, left, and engaged, right):
One frustration is that this set gives you the whole MK gang in their prison sweats...except for Monkey King! He's only available in that costume in the Nine-Headed Beast set. Another issue, as you can see in the above photos, is that as the pagoda rises, each floor has a smaller footprint, and a shorter height: the upper levels actually combine two external floors into one interior space. This makes sense from a design point of view, to work forced-perspective magic. At Disneyland they might be able to use smaller bricks, smaller windows, smaller everything for the upper levels of the castle or the shops along Main Street, but with LEGO bricks that illusion has to be accomplished by entirely-structural means, making the bottom portion look as big and heavy as it can, and tapering heights and widths down until the very top, which should look as petite and light as possible. It does work, but at the cost of that interior space.
The use of color bands and repeated elements help to unify the whole and keep it from looking chaotic. Color also comes into play with the unearthlyness of pale blue roof tiles and lavender brickwork, as well as the prodigious use of gold. While I didn't decide in the end to keep it intact, it has provided a wealth of raw materials in those colors to create my own (at some point in the future) otherworldly structures.
The price is a bit higher than I usually prefer (after all, I don't have infinite money to devote to my love of LEGOs), but given the abundance of unusual colors and pieces, the elaborate and well-designed structure, and the finely-detailed minifigs, I'd say it's a fair price and worth the money.
While there were one or two problem points and opportunities for different solutions, as described above, on the whole this was an excellent build, with many surprises in the creative techniques used and a great deal of pleasure in seeing such a massive structure rise above my worktable. An easy five brick rating.
Score (out of 5 🧱):
- Price: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Process: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Presentation: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Play: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Pieces: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Total: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
Lego Instructions: here
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