With Easter on the way, it’s the perfect time to take a look at one of the most interesting of the new LEGO® Monkie Kid sets. The Monkie Kid theme began as a way to connect to the growing popularity of the LEGO brand in the far east. Based on the legendary tales of the Monkey King’s Journey to the West, the LEGO take on this ancient story has seen a number of unique sets released. With each wave of sets, things get even more unique and I’m sure you’ll agree a bunny-piloted rabbit mech spaceship and a space bakery are pretty unique. The set is inspired by the story of Chang’e, the goddess of the moon. She lives on the celestial body with her rabbit companion. In the LEGO take on the Monkey King tale, Chang’e runs a mooncake bakery on the Moon. So is this space-based build worth picking up? Here’s a look at the Chang’e Moon Cake Factory.
Product Details
Get children excited about a Chinese legend with this delightful LEGO® Monkie Kid™ Chang’e Moon Cake Factory toy playset (80032). It features Chang’e’s brick-built Moon base, with her live-streaming platform, moon cake factory production line, carrot-shaped rocket toy to export the cakes, and a stud-shooting bunny mech. There are also 3 new-for-January-2022 minifigures, Mo the cat and 2 bunny figures, plus weapons and accessories, including the blue Fire Ring to inspire imaginative play. Digital building tools
This set makes a cool gift toy for trendsetting kids aged 8 and up and comes with step-by-step instructions to build each model. And check out the digital instructions on the LEGO Building Instructions app, with zoom and rotate viewing tools. Legends reimagined
LEGO Monkie Kid sets reimagine epic tales from the classic Journey to the West novel, offering parents and grandparents a great way to educate children and help them develop creative skills through building and play
- Set Name: Chang’e Moon Cake Factory
- Set Number: 80032
- Pieces: 609
- RRP: £44.99/$49.99/49.99€
- Number of Bags: Bags x 6 + loose elements
- Stickers: Sheet x 1
- Instructions: Booklet x 1 + LEGO Building Instructions App + Instructions Plus
- Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online
As mentioned, the LEGO Monkie Kid sets are inspired by the ancient Chinese fable, Journey to the West. This follows the story of the Monkey King, who was born from a stone egg on a legendary mountain. Although the LEGO sets are based on this story, they have a lot in common with previous ‘in/out’ and ‘Big Bang’ LEGO themes which take story-driven adventures and build inventive sets around them. Monkie Kid sets have always featured interesting looking sets but this latest wave of releases have to be the most intriguing yet. The set features 6 numbered bags, along with a sheet of stickers. You can also build it using Instructions Plus, which offers enhanced 3D instructions. Or you can build it the old fashion way with the paper instructions, which are also available in digital form.
The set features three unique minifigures along with a number of buildable sections including a rabbit-shaped craft, a bakery pod and a carrot-shaped rocket. But the build kicks off with a small hover platform. This may be a small build, but it’s quite detailed with a pair of screens connected to the platform. Plus a cool combination of discs to create the four legs. This is perfectly sized to touch down on the small pad found on the Moon Cake Factory building.
The next section of the build is probably the most exciting and something many has focused on. Rightly so, why shouldn’t a rabbit-shaped space mech, piloted by rabbits peak people’s interests? One thing I didn’t expect from the ship is how weighty it is. Unusually the body of the ship is quite solid, with only a small section at the front to hold the detachable rabbit pod and an even smaller area hidden within the rear of the mech. This can be accessed by removing the back ‘tail’ panel. The other rabbit-like features include a pair of leg-like landing gears and a pair of long ears. Considering it’s just a craft for two rabbits to blast about in a pretty substantial build and one that looks very cool when complete. It reminds me a little of the ship from the LEGO Worlds game.
The final aspect of the set is a little Moon Cake Factory complete with a rocket launch pad. Despite its colour of white, blue and orange, it’s rather reminiscent of the early Classic Space sets. The raised structure features a small production line inside. A pair of curved tiles nicely capture a conveyor belt churning out mooncakes ready for delivery in a unique rocket. One side features studs and on the other side of the machinery are the perfectly crimped confections, represented by printed tiles. The bubble-like window on the front of the factory adds to the space-like feel of the set. On the roof of the factory is a small landing pad and on the side is a small launchpad for the rocket mentioned above.
The mooncake delivery rocket may not be shaped like an animal but it is inspired by a carrot. Yes, that iconic famous vegetable, which incidentally is loved by rabbits, is perfectly suited to be a rocket. One of the side panels of the rocket is mounted on a hinge and cleverly held in place with a 1×2 plate with a lip. It’s such a simple connection, I’m surprised it’s not been used elsewhere. Flipping this panel down reveals the hull of the rocket and space to stack up to four boxes of mooncakes. It’s just a fun addition to the set, simple yet effective as well as nicely tieing into the whole rabbit theme of the set.
The set features three Minifigures which are all unique to this set. They include a Pigsy in his space suits, which compliments the rest of the gang found in the Galactic Explorer set. Pigsy is a great minifigure anyway but his space-faring form is particular fun. He’s joined by Mo the cat, which is the same element as previous versions.
One of the best things about the various iterations of the Journey to the West stories is how they interpret the classic characters in new ways. Chang’e is a goddess who lives on the moon, in the world of Monkie Kid, she is an entrepreneurial vendor of mooncakes. Her minifigure use a unique hairpiece, which features a crescent moon-shaped grip in it. Her outfit is quite detailed with little nods to both the moon and rabbits. In the Monkey King legends, Chang’e is accompanied by a Jade Rabbit. The LEGO take on that is the Lunar Rabbit Robot. This robotic rabbit uses the bunny ear hat, used on other humanoid rabbits. Although his torso is fairly minimal, the headpiece features a pixel-like blue happy face on one side and an angry black and red face on the other.
Review Round-up
Original story-driven themes really allow the LEGO Design Team to get creative and this set is a particularly great example of this. As more sets are added to the Monkie Kid line-up, it continues to deliver even more creative and fun builds. I love this set, it looks great, was fun to build, includes great minifigures and is equally as impressive as The City of Lanterns.
For
+ Great use of parts to create some unique structures
+ Evokes memories of Classic Space
+ Perfect example of how inventive original themes can be
Against
– Quite a lot of stickers
Shop Now: UKIrelandUSCanadaGermanyDenmarkAustraliaNew Zealand
This set was requested and provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
