Since it was launched in 2020, the LEGO® Monkie Kid theme has been releasing increasingly interesting sets. Despite them being rather difficult to find, with most LEGO stores no longer stocking them, new sets continue to be released. One of those sets is the Dragon of the East, another reimagining of a classic tale from the ancient Chinese stories of the Sun Wukong or the Monkey King. In the Journey to the West stories, the Monkey King obtains his magical staff from Ao Guang – the Dragon of the East. The character is introduced during the third season of the Monkie Kid TV series. This is the only set to feature the Dragon of the East so let’s take a closer look at the set.
Product Details
Youngsters can take a deep dive into the Dragon of the East legend with this LEGO® Monkie Kid™ toy playset (80037). The set reimagines classic Dragon of the East tales as underwater adventures and features a posable dragon with 2 spring-loaded shooters, a green Fire Ring, plus a detachable toy submarine with 2 stud shooters. There are also 4 LEGO minifigures, including a new-for-June-2022 Dragon of the East character, Monkie Kid and Mr. Tang with diving accessories. Monkie Kid’s stud-shooting, Golden Staff-shaped submarine and Savage’s manta ray underwater jet adds to the battle play possibilities.
Imaginative play
Collectible LEGO Monkie Kid toys help children learn classic tales from the Journey to the West novel in a new and exciting way.
- Set Name: Dragon of the East
- Set Number: 80037
- Pieces: 880
- RRP: £54.99/$59.99/59.99€
- Number of Bags: Bags x 7 + loose elements
- Stickers: Sheets x 1
- Minifigures: Monkie Kid, Mr. Tang, the Dragon of the East and Savage
- Instructions: Booklet x 1 + LEGO Builder App + Instructions Plus
- Availability: LEGO Online, Plus LEGO Stores & Amazon in limited regions
As mentioned above the LEGO Monkie Kid theme is a reimagining of the centuries-old Chinese fables known as Journey to the West. As with many classic tales, they are kept alive by being handed down through generations and along the way the stories are retold with a twist. The latest incarnation of the legend of Sun Wukong follows a noodle delivery boy known as MK. He discovers a magical staff and gets caught up in an ancient battle between good and evil. In his adventures, MK meets the Monkey King and together with Pigsy, Sandy and Mei help to fight the Bull Demon King.
This is the latest set to introduce another legendary character from the Journey to the West stories. As with previous sets, the character is reimagined to fit the modern-day style of the Monkie Kid setting. The Dragon of the East is featured in both his human form and as a dragon, thanks to his underwater craft and submarine craft. Within different versions of Journey to the West, characters are tied to various creatures and although they are mostly depicted in human form, they often transform into their animal counterparts. In the Monkie Kid sets, the characters’ animal forms have inspired their various vehicles and mechs. So the Dragon of the East’s craft is a dragon-like mech, which acts as a platform to transport a detachable mini-sub.
The build for the Dragon is quite interesting as the body of the dragon is sort of like a disc-like platform. This is to allow for a small bubble-like craft to nestle on the back of the creature. It can easily be detached to become a separate mini-sub. I love the colour scheme used for the dragon. Like many of the characters in the Monkie Kid theme, they have pretty bold identities portrayed by their colouring. The Dragon of the East uses whites, pink and turquoise, which is an unusual mix of colours but they work well together. I also like how coral pieces have been used to add extra detail to the dragon part of the craft.
As well as the Dragon craft, the set also includes a pair of smaller crafts for MK and Savage. Plus a piece of underwater scenery. MK’s vehicle is another little sub, which has been manifested from his magical staff. This nicely connects the sub to other sets, in which many of MK’s vehicles have traits of the magical staff.
Savage’s craft is an underwater scuba jet, which looks very much like a manta ray. This is quite a small and simple build but it looks quite cool and the black and red colouring easily identifies its evil connections. The final buildable element is a small piece of scenery. This continues with the underwater theme and features a sort of goblet-like pedestal, which holds a green Fire Ring.
As impressive as the buildable aspects of the Monkie Kid sets are, the minifigures continue to provide unique takes on classic characters. There are four characters in the set, three of whom are unique to this set. The only common character is Savage, who is a member of the Evil Macaque’s army. It’s basically a generic evil-looking ape, with the same minifigure being used for a differently named character in other sets. One of the set’s best characters is the human form of the Dragon of the East. He’s best described as a Zeus-like character, with his robe-like outfit matching the colours of his dragon. It also uses a unique new hairpiece. This is a combination of a hair and beard, just a sidenote here, the piece included in my set has a fault and only one of the horns in the hair has been given the gold-colour detail.
Both MK and Mr Tang have appeared in other sets, but their appearance here offers unique versions of them both. Mr Tang is particularly different from his previous forms, with him sporting an old fashion swimming outfit. I also love his sleepy face. Monkie Kid has appeared in many sets and he looks very similar to his main appearance but his head is unique, with the alternate face featuring scuba goggles. Both MK and Mr Tang are also equipped with flippers and breather gear.
Review Round-up
I really enjoy the inventiveness of the Monkie Kid sets, despite being a ‘young’ theme it didn’t take long for the theme to start offering really cool builds and characters, which is the case with this set. The fact that the theme isn’t connected to a licence gives it the freedom associated with story-driven ‘In/Out’ themes. The visual impact of this set is garnered from both its colour scheme and the actual dragon creature. It’s just a shame the theme as a whole doesn’t appear to be getting the push it deserves. I understand it was created to cater for the Asian market but it really is a great theme and sets like this are evidence of this.
For
+ Great & Unique Minifigures
+ Dragon is an interesting build
+ Minibuilds add to the set’s playability
Against
– Limited availability
– Sticker alignment could be tricky
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This set was requested by BricksFanzand provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. 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.
