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Can Monkie Kid Give Us Sets as Great as Ninjago City?

Brickset recently ran a fun competition, asking members to vote and advocate for the best LEGO set in the past 20 years. It was a process that took several days and much discussion, but ultimately four LEGO sets made it to the top; the #70620 LEGO Ninjago City, the #21309 LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V, the #10243 LEGO Creator Parisian Restaurant, and the #21310 LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store. Amongst those four, Ninjago City emerged as the winner in the final rounds. You can read about each round of the competition as well as the results here.

As far as why Ninjago City ended up winning, this quote by Brickset fan, Brainslugged, who advocated for the set in the final round, summarizes it best (you can read the full review here): “I’m not a big fan of Ninjago. I could possibly work out most of the main characters’ names. I’ve never seen the TV show and have only seen part of the movie. My two little girls know even less about Ninjago than I do. And yet, my favorite set of all time is Ninjago City. It has nothing to do with the subject matter, but everything to do with it being the absolute epitome of what LEGO represents. Every inch is an explosion of color and vibrancy and absolutely dripping with love and detail. It looks less like an official LEGO product and more the sort of fan-made creation you’d only see on the pages of a LEGO fan site or at convention.”

And this has been my experience with the set as well. While it may look a bit confusing on the box art, once you start building, you get filled with joy and wonder at every building step. Also, I don’t remember every studying the building instructions of any other set so intensely. The pages are full of creativity, wonderful artwork, and never-before-seen building techniques that you can use for your own models. If you built the set already, you know exactly what I’m talking about, and if not but you would like to try, unfortunately you missed out as it is retired recently. (You can still get it on the secondary market, but prices are high.)

This raises the question; will LEGO release an awesome set similar to Ninjago City? LEGO Ninjago is still a currently running theme, so there is a possibility of another slice of the city, although this would probably not happen so close to retiring the original. However, other current themes might also be able to support a large, old-mixed-with-new, real-mixed-with-fantasy type city, perhaps even with an Asian flair. The most obvious candidate is the fresh new theme, LEGO Monkie Kid.

LEGO Monkie Kid is loosely based on the ancient Chinese legend of the Monkey King in a modern-mixed-with-fantasy setting. There is a TV show related to the theme, and the story is focused on the conflict between the good guys (Monkie Kid and friends) vs. the badguys who ride vehicles that look like bulls and wear bull armor. So far, the sets mostly included mechs, jets, tanks, and trucks, but there are also a couple of buildings. And most notable, the artwork on the set boxes depict and entire city.

The two buildings already released are a small 2-story shop/apartment from the #80012 LEGO Monkie Kid Monkey King Warrior Mech, and another small store from the #80011 LEGO Monkie Kid Red Son’s Inferno Truck. Both buildings have attractive colors-schemes, lovely details, and nice decorations. In fact, LEGO fans and reviewers have been highly praising them both and wanting more. Unfortunately, the second wave of the Monkie Kid sets that was just released did not include any more buildings. However, the theme is still fresh and there is room for a lot more.

Looking at the box art of the Monkie Kid, we can see what a potential “Monkie Kid City” would look like. The #80008 LEGO Monkie Kid’s Cloud Jet depicts the city from above; Asian-style roofs with lovely curved corners, as well as a mix of traditional and modern architecture. The best street-view of the city is on the box of the #80009 LEGO Monkie Kid Pigsy’s Food Truck. Again, traditional and modern buildings side-by-side with Asian-style details – similar to what we got in Ninjago City. And, the box art of the #80012 LEGO Monkie Kid Monkie King Warrior Mech gives us a more vertical view of the city, with taller buildings towering over smaller ones. (As this is one of the two sets that have an actual building, you can also see how it blends in with the artwork.)

As I mentioned above, LEGO fans are already in love with the two small buildings that we got so far. JANGBRiCKS did a video demonstrating the two buildings next to each other and combined with some of the similarly sized LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets (watch below).

The buildings from the LEGO Monkie Kid sets can also be seamlessly combined with the buildings from the LEGO Ninjago sets. Take a look at this hugely expanded Ninjago City by LEGO fan Keith Fisher. (You can check out more angles and larger pictures of the city at Keith’s Flickr gallery by clicking on the link.)

We don’t know whether LEGO will consider releasing another Ninjago City type set, but as the Brickset poll and the appreciation of the Monkie Kid buildings demonstrate, there is clear interest in architecture that’s more whimsical, different, and exotic than the usual LEGO City and LEGO Creator sets based on European and American building styles. I feel that LEGO Monkie Kid can certainly give us as set as great as Ninjago City, or I hope that at least we will get some more add-on buildings like the two we got so far so we can build our own cities. If you haven’t checked out the Monkie Kid sets yet, visit the LEGO Monkie Kid section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? Would you like LEGO to release another set similar to Ninjago City? Would you like it to be based on Asian architecture, or some other style/theme? And how about more buildings in the LEGO Monkie Kid collection? Do you think the theme could support the release of a whole city? Would you be interested? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!

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{ 16 comments… add one }
  • The Brick Lot August 10, 2020, 12:03 PM

    Even if it could (which I highly doubt) it’d cost like $450 instead of the $300 the Ninjago one did.

  • Adam III August 10, 2020, 12:16 PM

    I would LOVE to see a Monkie Kid city! I think it could be even better than Ninjago City. One thing I would like is to make it forward-facing instead of a corner. Or, if they make it a corner, give us four corners.

  • hushpuppy August 10, 2020, 12:57 PM

    I would also like to see a city or at least a larger building in Monkie Kid. I was expecting that they will add some in the second wave, but sadly, they didn’t. I like the colors and the stickers.

  • Legostuff14 August 10, 2020, 1:26 PM

    I think it could work. However, Ninjago city is on water and what I would do is making Islands separate and put the buildings from Monkie Kid on a separate Island but able to somehow attached Ninjago City and /or ninjago city docks. Partly because the monkie kid headquarters is a boat. So it will need some place to dock. Keep mind just like Ninjago the monkie kids sets has land vehicles too.

    • Thita (admin) August 10, 2020, 10:09 PM

      Hm… I like your idea of islands! I haven’t thought of that! 😀

  • Martin August 10, 2020, 2:08 PM

    I was following the Brickset poll for a while and even voted in some of the rounds. I don’t think it was the best way to vote for the best set of the last 20 years, but it was fun nonetheless. Ninjago City is a great so I’m glad it won, but as someone pointed out in the poll, relatively few people own it compared to other popular sets.

  • Henry August 10, 2020, 2:19 PM

    That city you posted at the end is amazing! I’m so jealous! 😀

  • Keith Fisher August 10, 2020, 5:57 PM

    I read this agreeing with everything you said, then hoping like you for some more Monkie Kid city buildings. And I scrolled some more and saw my own city get a mention! Thanks 😀
    I love the cyber-punk/video game direction they took Ninjago in in the last but one wave. I hope they feature some more sets like that. I’m excited to see a third Monkie Kid wave too.
    The best bit about the Ninjago wave though was the sticker sheets that contain extra, graffiti-like stickers. I added a few to my city and they really help give it life. Lego should do that more often, it adds creativity and allows for more customisation and flexibility. Normally stickers are a bad thing with Lego, but with this idea they made them add value.

    • Thita (admin) August 10, 2020, 10:08 PM

      Hey, Keith! Nice to have you over! I love your city, so that’s why I sneaked it into the article. 🙂

      I totally agree with you on the stickers in the Ninjago City sets. So many awesome options!

    • yoladiel August 11, 2020, 11:39 AM

      Wow! Love your stuff! It’s the best set mashup I have seen!

  • j.j. August 10, 2020, 10:56 PM

    That city at the end is so cool! It seems like they integrated the monkie kid ship into docks? I would love to see more pictures of that section!

    • j.j. August 10, 2020, 11:10 PM

      I looked at the pictures on flickr. The city has so many fantastic details. Too bad there aren’t more pictures. And to answer my own question, in case someone else is interested, the containers are removed from the ship and placed on the docks.

      • Keith Fisher August 11, 2020, 4:29 AM

        thanks j.j. – I’ll try to add some more! There are more at my IG page @keith_lowry (check out the Ninjago City story highlights on my profile page) 😉

      • Håkan August 11, 2020, 3:47 PM

        Maybe I’ve seen too many movies, but I get a little wary by seeing closed containers on the docks…

  • ThePook03 September 20, 2020, 3:25 AM

    Would most definitely buy monkie kid buildings! Love your city! How can I get side builds without forking out the big bucks. Not interested in Mechs or The vehicles in these sets? 😀

    • Thita (admin) September 20, 2020, 4:38 PM

      Here are a couple of options I can thing of. Download the instructions for the sets and build the buildings from whatever you got, then use them as patterns for further buildings. You could also purchase the sets, keep the buildings, and sell the mechs and whatever else you don’t want. 🙂

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