Lego Looks to the Monkey King for Latest China-Inspired Collection

The toymaker's new Sun Wukong-inspired sets have led to mixed reactions

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8:56 PM HKT, Mon May 18, 2020 1 mins read

It feels like decades ago now, but we still remember getting very excited when Lego unveiled a special Spring Festival set way back in January 2019. That excitement continued as the Danish toymaker released various China-inspired products from dragon boat races to an entire temple fair.

Amid all that, we wondered when we’d get to see a Lego Journey to the West set centered around the adventures of the legendary Monkey King. Well, Lego have just unveiled a new “Monkie Kid” series, inspired by Sun Wukong and co.




And this is no one-off seasonal special — it’s a whole new series of sets that’s come with special influencer livestreams on social media and a dedicated animation series (the full version of which is due for release later this year):

The new series has been garnering mixed reviews so far online, with some comparing it unfavorably to previous lines and decrying it as a “Ninjago rip-off.” Maybe that’s in part because Lego already put out a Monkey King minifigure last year and the assumption was that any Journey to the West series would simply be an expansion on that theme:

 

Instead, the new Monkie Kid sets — billed as “the next chapter of the legendary Monkey King story” — have gone for a more “warrior mech” look:

The set featured above incidentally, will set shoppers back almost 200USD. It’s one of eight designs that have been revealed for the series and that are currently available on Lego’s official site.

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Pour yourself a stiff one, we'l