Set Review ➟ LEGO® 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech
I thought it might be fun to build a mech.
My kid is mech crazy, and with each new wave of product, if a new mech set comes out, that’s always the first thing he wants. So there are mechs in the house. Lots of mechs. Lots and lots of mechs. And after the 857th mech, you kind of stop paying attention to the nuances of mechs. Well, maybe after the third or fourth mech. Anyway, I digress. Note that I’ve build MOC mechs, because of aforementioned kid, but I hadn’t built a big mech from a kit and was curious about that experience.
Along comes Monkey King Mech. I’m clueless to all things Monkie Kid, and I’m near clueless to mechs, so this seemed like an opportunity to discover a little about both. And, voilà, here’s a review.
Monkey King Warrior Mech comes in a Monkey King-sized box. The box is oversized, and the 12 bags of parts, stray parts, instruction books, sheet plastic, stickers, cloth, good intentions, and aura of mystery would fit in a box five-eights the size, but I guess marketing warranted that an oversized box was necessary given the price point of this set.
The Build
The build is essentially broken into two parts. Part one is pretty much everything that is not the mech and is covered in instruction book 1. Book 2 covers the “mountain”, a few minifigs, and the big warrior mech.
The instruction books are embellished with some humorous and fun illustrations: starbursts, Monkie Kid upside down to indicate turning the model over during the build process, Monkie Kid holding the sticker sheet, and Monkie Kid walking across the bottom of each spread in a kind of progress bar. I was a little disappointed to note that progress bar Monkie Kid illustration repeats itself page after page instead of it being a series of illustrations where the figure would change position slightly on each page providing the illusion of movement flip-book style. But note this is a small disappointment, and after a pint or three of Ben and Jerry’s and a couple months of intensive psychotherapy I should get over it.
First up in the build is a mini mech piloted by a bull soldier minifig. The box says the figure’s name is Growl. I’ve never heard a bull growl…they snort and bellow…and honestly I have no idea what all the pig and bull motif going on in the Monkie Kid line is about, but I suppose a growling bull piloting a mini-mech is a thing I should just accept without further question.
A much larger conundrum than a growling bull is the proper positioning of the cockpit cage on the mech. The minifigure attaches by the heels to studs on the back of the cockpit. The instructions seem to show the top points of the cage touching the bumps on the back of the cockpit. The cage is nearly infinitely positionable and my inclination would be to put it in a specific fixed position which would be determined by the limit of movement of the parts. However it appears that the suggested position is a non-specific somewhere. Trying to place the cage at a fully “closed” position causes interference with the minifig. I’m going to need a second pint of Ben and Jerry’s.
Minifig attachment point at the ankle.
The cage guess-placed
as instructions show.
The cage fully closed…
Grr! Stop poking my horns!
The little mech has a stud shooter arm. If you put the stud bullet into the shooter you literally shoot yourself in the eye—you know, like the picture in the instruction warns you not to do—every time you attempt to reposition that arm. Some time later my son informs me that one never puts studs into a stud shooter because of this.
Leg positioning on the mini-mech is a bit restricted by the codpiece (or being a bull maybe it is a pizzlepiece?). And if you haven’t blinded yourself with repeated stud-bullets to the eyes you can now attest that this is a handsome little model.
Monkey King
Next up is a quick assembly. Monkey King rides on a cloud made of bricks propped up on a clear stick. Overall the construction is pretty stable in that it doesn’t tip over easily, but that cloud sure does wobble.
Monkey King
Now you know what a wobbly cloud looks like…when standing still.
Hi-ho silver lining! Away!
Pigsy’s Noodle Store
Following the cloud is Pigsy’s Noodle Store. That is a sentence that shouldn’t be taken out of context. Pigsy doesn’t appear to be found in this set, but we have a character named An holding a fish. Because fish are sold at a Noodle Store? Somebody is really going to have to explain this Monkie Kid mythology to me. Anyway. Back to An. With a lovely fish and an expression like that on her face I wonder why this character wasn’t called Joy.
An. Err…Joy?
The first floor of the store is quite nice and offers patrons a selection of treats. The interior has a stove and a fire extinguisher. Two things of note beginning with this part of the build. First, while the footprint of the Noodle Store is small, smaller than the that of the modules of the Creator Townhouse model I reviewed earlier, the space on each floor is far more accommodating to minifigures. Second, the model becomes sticker happy at this point. There are 31 different sticker designs resulting in over 40 stickered pieces total. The stickers definitely add to the character of the set, but it is a lot of small sticker sticking and if you aren’t diligent it will be very easy to get some of them applied upside down.
The second floor of the building is a bedroom. A selection of fish hangs outside the bedroom window by the head of the bed. Who wouldn’t want to smell fish outside their bedroom? Also, if I were building a store I would definitely place my fish rack outside on the second floor where a ladder or a Monkey King flying on a cloud would be required to access them. That would show those neighborhood cats who’s the boss. Definitely.
What’s that outside my window?
Fish so conveniently placed!
There is a ton of fun detail with this building. The fan, the vent, the rooftop raised bed and billboard, store signage, graffiti, and pumpkin lamp are all colorful distinctive touches. Additionally the vent pipe is a gimmick which turns and knocks out the side wall of the bedroom. Next to the building is a simply wonderful power pole with transformers and signage. Beneath are a video game (sure it runs on electricity, rain won’t bother it any) and a menu for Pigsy’s.
This concludes the build out of instruction book 1. Frankly, if we stopped right here and sold this content as a set it would be a great little set all by itself. There is enough variety of elements and opportunity for play to last well beyond the build time. The Noodle Store is fun and super funky, the cloud wobbles, and you can shoot your eye out with the stud shooter. If that isn’t a full afternoon’s worth of adventure I don’t know what is.
The…mountain?
The build in instruction book 2 starts with Monkie Kid and Flower Fruit Mountain. I guess “mountain” was redefined when I wasn’t looking. This little lump of land barely reaches minifigure shoulder height. But, okay, mountain if you say so.
Yep. Flower Fruit Mountain could give P.T. Barnum’s Ivy Island a run for its money.
Monkey King Warrior Mech
Monkey King Warrior Mech is the pièce-de-résistance. This mech is stunning. That may be an understatement. It is definitely an understatement. Definitely. But everything this Mech has going for it in terms of looks it pretty much lacks in terms of play. Let’s take a closer look.
Monkey King Warrior Mech is a big mech. It’s not the biggest Mech, but it is big. And there isn’t any other LEGO® mech that can compete with MKWM’s level of detail and ornamentation. MKWM makes use of elements die cut from a dual-bonded silver-gold plastic sheet, gorgeously printed with teal, red, gold, and black detail. Several brick elements have stickers which also add detail.
While I’m not a particular fan of LEGO’s “metallic” gold as its paint tends to scuff and wear off, often revealing a dark ugly inner reality, its use here provides a matte textural counterpoint to the shiny red plastic. Add the plastic sheet pieces and a cloth cape into the mix and you have four distinctly different sheen surfaces which together are simply stunning. The ribbed cylinder bricks used for MKWM’s staff add yet another texture. Pictures really don’t capture the real-life effect.
Monkey King Warrior Mech size comparison with Voltron.
Posing the mech
A welcome detail we have seen a few times before with mechs is the inclusion of a tire in the base of each foot. This tire provides friction resistance with a floor surface and prevents the mech from sliding around…where you place MKWM, it stays.
With all of the accoutrement on MKMW, it is a bit difficult to grab hold of him to pose him. The gold fins at the ankles and the shoulders are held only by skeleton arms and tend to come off easily, fall to the floor, skitter about and hide. As these pieces happen to be the painted gold pieces one can expect some scuffing and smudging and dinging to accumulate if the mech is handled much. The flags attached to the back of MKWM also tend to move about as they are clip-and-bar connections at the flag sticks and a small ball-and-socket connection at the back. The long horns attached to the head have similar issues staying put.
Wheel in foot.
Skeleton arm clips don’t provide much clutch to big fins.
Flag attachment assembly.
Head
The head attaches to the body with a small ratchet hinge pin coupling. There is a piece immediately behind the hinge which prevents the head from tilting back. If the head is rotated to the side, however, the obstructing piece is no longer in play and the head gains additional range of movement.
Head up straight.
Head down straight.
Head up to the side.
Arms
While MKWM’s shoulders will rotate a complete 360 degrees, his arms cannot be placed close to his side. A bar on the underside of the arm prevents the arm from swinging down, presumably to prevent dislodging of the underside piece of the “circle” that surrounds the shoulder assembly. This gives the shoulder pivot up-and-down a range of about 45 degrees.
Shoulder rotation.
Shoulder rotation.
Shoulder pivot and bar limiter.
The mech’s elbows pivot about 85 degrees but don’t rotate. The wrists don’t pivot, but do rotate a full 360 degrees.
The staff attaches to the hands with ball-and-socket pieces. Because of the angles involved, attempts to remove the staff from the hands more often than not results in the wrist becoming detached from the arm while leaving the staff attached to the hand. Actually getting the staff off the hand also usually results in detached fingers. The angles at which the staff can be held are limited. There is an alternate “collapsed staff” build option which is more posable but not necessarily less problematic when it comes to removing the staff from the hand.
Staff attachment.
Uh-oh!
Torso
The only real special treat MKWM has to offer is an opening chest cavity which accommodates a minifigure. It is nice how the positioning of elements line up such that when closed the minifigure’s head is looking out through the circular port hole. The torso does not rotate at the waist.
Tail
The mech has a posable tail composed of multiple segments joined with small balls-and-sockets.
Legs
Okay, somebody tell me what the hell is it with LEGO and its apparent institutional bias against knees? Minifigures: no knees. Giant mechs: no knees. Little mechs: no knees. Bionicles: okay, so maybe half of them have knees. Undoubtedly the presence of knees was what ultimately killed the Bionicle line. I am sure.
So. Monkey King Warrior Mech has no knees. Well, Monkey King Warrior Mech has no bending knees. Monkey King Warrior Mech has the illusion of knees, but no real knees. Number of mechs in this set: two. Number of knees: big fat zero. I would like to see kneeless warriors battle for real as I suspect the entertainment value there to be something in excess of America’s Funniest Home Videos hilarious. Combine that with the fact that your staff stays stuck in your hand while your hand disconnects at the wrist. That right there my friends: absolute. comedy. gold.
Now that we have covered knees sufficiently for me to not need a third pint of Ben and Jerry’s, let’s talk about what the legs do have: hips and ankles.
The hips articulate both front-to-back about 90 degrees; backward positioning is limited by the position of the ratchet joint. Sideways motion is outward limited by a ball joint used to secure the plastic sheet skirt; inward movement has a much greater possible range. Warrior Mech can click his heels but cannot do a split.
Hip assembly.
Hips from rear. Plastic sheet attached on right.
The ankles are click-ratcheted for front-to-back movement and restricted by brick placement. They have full 360 degree rotation, also click-ratcheted. Pins into the holes of the click-ratchet brick provide side-to-side pivot, so side-to-side the movement is fluid and loose…and also limited by adjacent brick placement. LEGO has previously used this same general concept for ankle/foot attachment in larger mech designs.
Inside of ankle.
Outside of ankle.
Legs and feet are heavily ornamented. This is, no doubt, to distract you from the fact that the knees don’t bend. I would usually say something like: “the legs are wonderfully decorated in an aesthetically pleasing manner” but on this model I assure you it is about the lack of working knees. I am almost certainly doubly sure because the back sides of the legs are detailed and decorated, then hidden with the long cape.
Oh, so very pretty!
…all the more reason to hide it?
Given the loose ankles, restricted hips, and absence of knees…basically, if MKWM isn’t posed like a bowlegged cowboy with a bad case of diaper rash and sunburned armpits, he is fairly wibbly wobbly. If his legs are straight up-and-down he absolutely makes Chubby Checker very, very proud. That’s right! Even without being able to twist at the waist or bend at the knees.
Monkey King Warrior Mech can’t really sit down either. He sort of rests on his tailbone and his heels. That’s gotta be painful. Given that he has no knees, I don’t know how he would either get into or out of a sitting position. If he has a case of diaper rash I seriously doubt he’d want to sit anyway.
My ass will not touch the ground!
One next-to-next-to-last-thing
At two seemingly inexplicable somewheres in the process of assembling Warrior Mech, we also assemble two additional minifigures: General Ironclad and Jia. Here are some pictures. I’m not sure if that thing Jia is holding is supposed to be a ball of sticky rice or a blancmange. It has a swirly top, so I’ll go with blancmange.
General Ironclad.
General Ironclad.
Jia. Blancmange anybody?
Jia.
Finalement
Monkey King Warrior Mech is beautiful. Buy him, assemble him, put him on a shelf and admire him. Do not taunt Monkey King Warrior Mech for his lack of knees. Do not. The balance of the set is fun and great for playtime. Monkey King Warrior Mech, however, should not be trifled with. He should be adored. Set him up and leave him the hell alone. Dust him every once in a while. Don’t get his gold scuffed up. He is a heavy fragile glorious beauty. My son will shortly whisk away Warrior Mech to join the uncountable number of other far less glamourous mechs in that wasteland of teenage odor, unfolded clothes, and crumpled unfinished homework known as his bedroom. The other mechs will be envious of Warrior Mech’s gorgeousness, and rightly so.
Props to LEGO for sending the kit. Good gracious, photographing for and writing these reviews all by myself is exhausting. Where’s the ice cream?
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