Review: LEGO Monkie Kid's Staff Creations 80030

LEGO 80030 – Monkie Kid’s Staff Creations

RRP AUD $49.99 – CA $44.99 – EUR €29.99 – UK £24.99 – USA $34.99
309 pieces
Available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from 26th Dec 2021 for China and 1st Jan 2022 everyone else.

General Monkie Kid 2022 Overview

Monkie Kid is back and ready for action! A new year means a new wave of sets and stories to be told. But the question is, is this theme stagnating? Is the idea stretched too thin? Well, admittedly I was thinking this before we got our hands on the Monkie Kid 2022 sets, and this may very well be one of the strongest waves yet.

We’ve got a multitude of sets to rip through and talk about, so over the next few days we are going to be reviewing these bad boys one-by-one, with the links to all other reviews at the end of the article. We’re gonna start our way small and build up. So follow us along for the journey as well delve back into the world of Chinese mythos and explore Monkie Kid 2022.

It’s worth noting that a few parts will be copied/pasted for minifigures if the characters overlap numerous sets of this wave.

Introduction

Monkie Kid 2022’s smallest set of the year is ‘Monkie Kid’s Staff Creations’. Which, if you didn’t know, directly correlates to the power of the staff that the main character wields, that can take on any form of his choosing.

In previous waves, we have seen small flyers, cars and jets come from the staff. But this little small set takes it up to the next level, by having the whole set centred around this feature.

But the real question is whether a set like this is a welcome addition, or is just a dud?

The Build

The build can be broken down into what I would call 3 sub-models. A mech, a car and a jet. Each part of these models connect to each other using a mix of either mixel joints or vertical clips, allowing for easy creative intermixing between the built parts.

The Mech

The parts that make up the mech is a staff arm, an arm with stud launcher, two fixed angled legs, and the body. Each one of the limbs for the mech sport a new fixed bend in each of the ligaments, further enforcing LEGO’s hate of knees on any kind of mech.

The build for the lower half of the body is a rinse/repeat formula of small mech building that has been used for years, and the arms don’t add to much to that either, if anything, fixed bent arms make it worse.

But here is a good point to point out the 5+ age on the box.

The mech also comes with the newer designed stud shooter. Which I very much prefer over the older one. It looks bulkier, more heavy duty, and I would give it to a figure to imply a futuristic deadly weapon.

The Car

If the staff motif in each of the builds wasn’t obvious before, this little car will certainly do the trick. Although this model doesn’t exactly sport the most thrilling of modules, its luckily very versatile with the other parts of the other builds. I would admittedly have to say this is the weakest of the three. There are no play features at all other than the fact it rolls forward. The jet at least has an openable cockpit.

The Jet

Sporting a streamline design and giant turbines primed under each wing. The jet hits the nail on the head. The simplistic build is very clearly a 5+ age group design but definitely comes with the best parts to interchange around on the build. Whether it be giving away the wings to another build or strapping things to it, this is the epitome of modular and the heart of the set.

Mix and matches

The full playability of this set comes from a bit of mix and matching. Between clips and pegs, you are encouraged to use the power of the staff to make your own creations. A flying car seems pretty logical!

Minifigures

The two minifigures that come with the set are Monkie Kid and the Monkey King.

Monkie Kid is an exclusive minifigure for this set, purely based on his torso. The facial expressions and accessories are very common, but this guy this time around is one of kind in his training uniform. An unexpected surprise.

The Monkey King’s design is the exact same as last years version, with the same faces and outfit of the cheaper sets – if you still haven’t got yourself one of him, here’s your chance.

Closing Thoughts

This is a quick build and rebuild set. It’s designed to be simplistic on purpose and be easy to follow for younger demographics.

Being a parent myself, the ease of having a child simply take a part off and stick it back on somewhere else with relative ease makes my job a heck of a lot simpler on the LEGO-repairing front.

This is not a set for big people and to judge it as that is a bad move.

But, that price tag. Oof. It is a bit steep and that might be due to the new moulds in the mech. But it still is a criticisable fault. Imagining myself as a parent or family member by a gift for a young child, the price is a bit high, but I would be able to push past it to see the potential for the child in mind.

And if you can do that too, then this is a great set for someone else (and not you!)