Review: The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain
Posted by Huw,Flower Fruit Mountain, or Mount Huaguo, is a key location in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, in which Sun Wukong -- aka the Monkey King -- is a prominent character. Within the mountain range is Shuilian Cave, whose entrance is hidden behind a natural waterfall.
Several significant events in the story occur on the mountain and in the cave, and it is these that this model depicts.
So, unlike other sets in the Monkie Kid range which have little to do with the story other than taking inspiration from it, 80024 The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain brings the novel to life.
My review is almost as long as the book...
Journey to the West, a book based upon a real-life journey of a 7th Century monk, is considered to be one of the four classics of Chinese literature, but it's not well known to me. However, I have enjoyed finding out a bit more about it and if you wish to do the same you might find the Wikipedia article interesting.
I am indebted to Allen at The Brick Fan who asked his mum to translate the Chinese text on the stickers for me. I am told, though, that it is not straightforward converting them into English because there aren't exact literal translations of many of the phrases.
Minifigures
The minifigure selection is nothing short of spectacular, with six brand-new figures and two updated ones, so let's take a look at them first.
Baby Monkey King
The set contains four different versions of Sun Wukong, depicting him at different stages of the story.
The youngest is him as a baby, so it's perhaps surprising that he has regular-sized legs when his siblings, as you will see below, do not. I guess this must have been to enable a leafy 'loin cloth' to be printed on them.
All the figures have alternative expressions on the reverse of their heads. On one side he looks to be asleep and dribbling, and on the other wide awake. His eyes are printed with gold ink, as indeed they are on all the versions of him: 'Fiery golden eyes' they are described as in the book.
A new flat tail element has been produced for the monkeys. The Monkey King in last year's sets utilised a cat tail which protrudes at right angles to the back.
Brother and Sister monkey
This cheeky looking pair play on the mountain, eating flowers and fruit. They share the same combined hair/ear piece as the figure above but this is the first time it's appeared in regular brown.
The sister is covering her modesty with a bright red cloth which continues onto the rear of the torso.
This pair is fitted with the 'cat tail', which I think was first used for Scratchy in the Simpsons collectable minifigures.
Monkey King and Apprentice Monkey King
These figures depict Sun at later stages of the story, as an apprentice (right) before becoming king (left). Both feature intricately printed and attractive torsos and legs. Note how the thin front face of the tail piece has been printed light orange to match the colour around his waist.
I won't attempt to interpret their expressions. To be honest I don't find them very attractive or endearing on these, or on any of the monkeys.
Battle Monkey King
The final version of Sun is as king in battle attire. Printing-wise, it's identical to last year's version of the character but this one has the new style of tail.
Evil Macaque
The Evil Macaque, who is also known as the fake Sun Wukong, is a major antagonist in story. He's said to be as powerful as the real Sun. His full name is the “Six Eared Macaque" so there appear to be four missing on this minifigure interpretation!
The black hair/ear part and black tail are unique to him.
His alternative expression looks suitably fierce!
His robes consist of two pieces of cloth affixed around his neck. They look great from behind but a bit bulky from the front.
Monkie Kid
Finally, we have the Monkie Kid and to be honest he seems a bit superfluous given he does not feature in the original story.
This version of him has a new torso and head print. He's ditched the headphones usually found around his neck, which have been replaced with a hood.
Construction
I'm not going to dwell on the construction process because this review is long enough as it is. Suffice to say that parts are divided into 18 numbered bags and the instructions across three books, which enables the three sections of the model to be built concurrently should you wish to share the fun.
A transparent sticker sheet provides decoration for the waterfall and mountain faces, and also Chinese text for signs that are dotted throughout the model.
The completed model
In the preface to the instructions, designer Lin Li-Yu reveals that the design of the mountain takes inspiration from traditional Chinese landscape paintings, Shanshui, which aim to capture the essence of a scene rather than provide a realistic or life-like impression of it.
It looks to be a serene place, with sheer rock faces and lush vegetation, high up in the clouds. A tall and powerful waterfall dominates the vista, covering the entrance of the Shuilian Cave.
Six scenes from the story are depicted in chronological order within the model, starting at the right, which I thought was slightly odd because Chinese text is generally written left to right, the same as English. The red banners you can see scattered across the model explain what they are.
Overall the model measures about 70cm wide, 35cm tall and 22cm deep. Lin explains that it's been designed with a long horizontal footprint so that it can be displayed on a shelf.
It's a vibrant model, full of bright greens, pink foliage and blue water, and really quite striking and beautiful: that's not something you can say about many LEGO sets.
The story of the Monkey King begins on the mountain, and I quote, "Sun Wukong is born from a magic stone that sits atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The stone develops a magic womb, which bursts open one day to produce a stone egg about the size of a ball. When wind blows on the egg, it turns into a stone monkey that can already crawl and walk." [1]
The magic stone sits at the top of the right-hand side. It's hollow to allow the infant Sun minifig to be placed inside.
Operating a simple mechanism at the back causes the stone to open to reveal the child.
The banner, the first of the six, reads "Released from the rock".
The remainder of the right-hand side depicts what I presume is another scene from the story in which Sun and his young siblings play, and eat fruit and flowers. The banner in this area reads "Playing on Flower Fruit Mountain".
The stairs are constructed using several 1x2 plate with ladder, a part that was originally designed for use as steps on trains, mounted at an angle. It's simple, but very effective.
Moving on to the centre of the model, one of the most important chapters in the book is realised.
This is where Sun bravely rushes through the waterfall into a cave behind and in doing so is crowned Monkey King.
To enable that to be enacted out here, the rock in the centre can be pressed downwards to part the curtain of water. The banner reads "Charges into the Water Curtain".
The shimmering transparent light blue panels should have stickers on them, but they are far too good to have them applied, and they look just fine as they are.
A bird, a crane perhaps, is perched in a tree at the top of the mountain. I'm not sure of its significance in the story, but I do know that it's been rather well-designed, using a droid arm to form a slender and elegant neck.
At the back of the cave a circular staircase leads to another chamber behind the waterfall.
The left-hand section of the model portrays three more scenes from the story.
A small raft, chained to the side of the mountain, appears to be used by apprentice Monkey King during his journey. The banner translates to "Going exploring".
Note the logs and axe on the right, perhaps used to construct the raft.
The penultimate scene involves the fake Monkey King, the evil Macaque. Here the banner reveals that the "Real and fake Monkey King" battle for supremacy, and by mounting them on rotating bricks linked via splat gears below, they can be twisted and turned in unison to clash staffs.
The Monkie Kid doesn't have anything useful to do in the set, so he might as well get on and defeat the 6-eared imposter. I think I should have positioned the figures the other way round, with the fake king on the darker, right-hand side.
Finally, presumably having defeated the Macaque once and for all, the king sits upon his throne at the top of the mountain. The banners here, one of which has been cropped out of the photo below, read something along the lines of "Another name for the Monkey King" and "Golden Staff".
The tree behind the throne and others on the model are peach trees which, according to the book, bear fruit every 3,000 years. Eating the flesh bestows immortality and The Monkey King is said to have devoured nearly all the ripe ones.
There's an interesting detail underneath: a small temple that introduces a new part for its roof. You'll find a better photo of it below.
The model is built in three sections that are connected together by bars and clips mounted in their bases, so in the next part of the review I'll take a look at each and point out any details that I've not yet mentioned.
Right-hand side
Bags 1-6 provide the parts for the right-hand side of the model.
It's dominated by the rock 'womb' and a staircase, which look to be at the peak of a mountain that's piercing through the clouds.
Arches, bricks with bows and other curved parts are used throughout the model to give it an organic look. I particularly like the use of bright green heart plates to provide interesting shapes and contrast, as seen at the bottom of the stairs here.
Yellow 1x1 flower elements provide splashes of colour on the mountainside.
Other than the mechanism for opening the stone egg there's nothing of note at the back of this section.
Centre
Bags seven to 13 contain the elements needed for this section.
The most notable among them are the transparent blue opal parts which shimmer in the light and look spectacular.
The colour was introduced last year and the curved one at the top was used for waterfalls in two of the 2020 Friends sets, but the 1x4x3 panel below is new in this set.
The water panels should have stickers on them, and so should the tall vertical slopes at the side of the falls. I thought they looked fine without them, though, so didn't apply them.
The red text on the stone tablet to the left of the falls reads "Happy Land of Flower Fruit Mountain" and "Cave Heaven of the Water Curtain", as described in the book, although from what I can tell Sun discovers the inscription behind the waterfall, not in front.
There's not much in the cave behind the water other than the stairs that I've mentioned already.
The largest tree in the model can be found to the left of the falls. II like the contrast between ts lavender and dark pink foliage and the waterfall.
Left-hand side
The final six bags contain parts for the left-hand side of the model.
This new piece, 6338499, is used for the roof of the small temple. The side profile matches that of the new curved slope first seen in 10278 Police Station.
There are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore in this section of the mountain, which is linked to the central part by a rope bridge.
A small waterfall cascades down the mountain side by the small temple, which I guess given the darker colour palette in that area of the build must have something to do with the fake Monkey king.
There's barely a straight line or right-angle in it.
Verdict
The more I've read about the book and its characters, the more I've realised how many references to it the model contains, from the rock womb to the type of fruit growing on the trees: it's clear that a lot of thought, by someone who knows the story well, went into it.
It's an eye-catching and outstanding set, the likes of which we rarely see. I imagine it's what fans of the Journey to the West story hoped they'd see when they heard LEGO was producing models based upon it.
It is therefore likely to be very popular in Asia, but I can't see it selling particularly well in other regions, other than to discerning AFOLs like you and me. That's not because it's not desirable, but because we are not that familiar with the story, it's expensive, and there are myriad other equally desirable and expensive sets competing for our LEGO spend.
That said, anyone looking for an unusual building experience that yields an interesting, out of the ordinary and attractive display model, one that's accompanied by a superb selection of minifigs, will find much to like here.
Despite trying, I can't really find fault with it. I can grumble about the price and the fact it'll never be reduced because it's only available from LEGO directly, but that's about it.
It will be available at LEGO.com on March 1st, priced at around $170 / £160. I suspect it will be one of the first to sell out.
When the monkeys are away...
The mountain goats come out to play!
Unfortunately, no goats are provided in the set, so perhaps I can find fault after all...
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
246 likes
92 comments on this article
Monkie Kid: his namesake theme’s answer to Kai.
What a fantastically fun review to read.
LOVED IT!!!
Not my thing, but it still looks nice
This is one of very few sets that looks like a painting transformed into a building experience. I think this set is very beautiful and in my opinion is a must-have for anyone who likes to combine Lego and art together...
...But if I had to point out a fault, it would have to be the back side. Seeing those Technic bricks uncovered on a set like this is distracting. They could at least add some details to cover them up or integrate bricks into the back for a smoother transition.
holy cow i need it.
Man, those goats just get everywhere, don't they?
While Chinese text is now written from left to right like English, it was traditionally written vertically (as is seen in the sticker text), with text columns proceeding from right to left. Thus one would read going down the first column on the right side, continue with the next column to the left, etc. The front cover of older Chinese books corresponds to the back cover of English books, with the spine on the right side.
Ahhhhh this is so good! Pretty ideal playset scale with room enough to move & pose minifigures about without requiring an entire dining room table to hold the whole story. The horizontal layout with the flat back is indeed excellent for display, and it looks great in that form. I can imagine plenty of people giving this a shelf and putting a sky background behind it. Thanks for all of the work for this review and the many clearly shot photos.
This is really expensive and I want an interior
@legoninjago69 said:
"holy cow i need it."
holy goat i need this
FTFY
An absolute must have for me
@LegoRobo said:
"G.O.A.T.S.
That’s about the only fault with this set."
I know, this on itself is a great set for scenery.
It's a very colourful, nice set but - who is it for ?
Is it for AFOLs ? If so, it's a bit too "playable" set.
Is it for kids ? If so, they went crazy with the 249.99 CAD before tax.
Too many mini figures ruined it (for me) as they look the same and adds to the price. I wish Lego would do more "mini figures pack" for all themes in case you want to boost it, like they did with pirates and knights back then.
For me it's a skip, sadly, just because of the ridicules price. I can afford it, but won't support it. For others, might be a good foundation for a MOC.
This looks amazing and I cannot wait to get it. I also love that LEGO has entrusted the largest set of each wave of Monkie Kid so far to a woman designer.
I'm also glad I'm not the only one who doesn't add stickers to those marvellous transparent blue opal parts in reviews!
Edit: But I think it needs sloths....
I'm amazed how the waterfall looks so great without any sticker.
The fault here is obviously those, shudder, transparent stickers...
No monkie kid set has appealed to me at all.
And then this one comes along...
The backside of the normal Monkey King torse actually should work with medieval pretty well, might even jive with Tournament Knight as like a squire. Bricklink time. :)
Sort of looks like a good parts pack, and I don't see any BURPs? If I could get it cheap enough and sell off the minifigures for enough I'd pick it up.
Absolutely gorgeous. This will probably be the only Monkie Kid set I buy--then again, since it encapsulates most of the lifespan of the Monkey King, it doesn't need anything else, really!
If there is one Monkie King set I buy, it will be this one. An outstanding set. I could see giving this set an A+ after building it.
It's expensive and expensive sets deserve extra scrutiny. But this looks like it will live up to that.
What an incredible set! I didn't realize just how faithful it is to the original story. It would've been nice to get another monkey or two though, considering that four of the figures are for one character.
@Huw :
The sister still isn't wearing any pants, so she's only doing slightly better than Donald Duck in regards to her modesty.
The banners probably aren't supposed to represent anything that would be found within the story, but the way text labels would be added to a traditional Chinese painting, hence why the sign that Sun Wukong finds behind the waterfall makes perfect sense being located out in front for this set.
And while I may not have ever read the story, I've watched AMC's Into the Badlands, which is loosely based on this story. So, while pretty much none of the story told by this set is familiar to me, several of the Monkie Kid characters are.
@LordDunsany :
Yeah, that sounded odd to me as well. I didn't know that modern Chinese is written like most western languages, but I was taught that pretty much all eastern languages were written top to bottom, right to left instead of left to right, top to bottom.
@GoldenNinja3000:
It's worth noting that this is based on just the first section of the original text. The story is about Tan Sanzang. Sun Wukong is just one of the companions he picks up along the way (the others being Zhu Bajie the pig-man, and Sha Wujing the ogre-esque guy), although he is the first character to be introduced, ironically.
Not for me, but it's nice to see how many people already appreciate this set. Thanks Huw, can't wait to see that corner slope element in higher quantities.
I wish I could afford this.
I really love 2 of the 3 sections of the mountain, but I really don’t care for the section with the throne. Won’t be buying it unfortunately
I don't feel like there's an issue with the price at all, $170 for just shy of 2,000 parts is not a bad deal by any stretch, and clearly the build doesn't disappoint. Big price =/= bad price
@Huw , Thank you for a great review and set of pictures!
The bird is almost certainly a crane as you surmised. They are allegories for longevity/immortality in traditional Chinese art.
The British Library has an illustrated 18th century edition of ‘Journey into the West’ that anyone (or at least any adult) can view by special appointment if you let the librarians know in advance. You will need to wait until after lockdown of course. It covers the events featured in this set and beyond.
The model is already beautiful enough, but all those monkeys! Thanks to the combination of BIONICLE and Space fan in me I adore it when LEGO introduces new species, and we've got a plethora of great monkey figs here!
I'd really like to get this and some of the old Chima sets to create an anthropomorphic animal paradise. I think it would look quite gorgeous
Haven't heard of Lin Li-Yu till now, is there already a designer list? Because, damn, that set is great.
A great review and a great looking set!
I really like the waterfall parts just like in the Friends sets last year. However I do not collect the theme and the sets in it is expensive even if this is one of the better priced ones and the best looking one, but I won't buy it.
If it came with a flock of goats grazing in the mountains instead of monkey king minifigs I would buy it in a heartbeat, man that would be an amazing set :P
hashtag BringBackTheGOAT
@GSR_MataNui said:
"The model is already beautiful enough, but all those monkeys! Thanks to the combination of BIONICLE and Space fan in me I adore it when LEGO introduces new species, and we've got a plethora of great monkey figs here!
I'd really like to get this and some of the old Chima sets to create an anthropomorphic animal paradise. I think it would look quite gorgeous"
I reckon that sets with lady Liberty in it will get a resurgence.
Ok this set is not as cool as I imagined.It looks good but... It's just visuals??
Why people call this amazing?
The back has no builds inside? FOR THIS PRICE????
@chrisaw said:
"The fault here is obviously those, shudder, transparent stickers..."
Huh? IMO transparent stickers are the only good stickers, because they don't develop cracks and peel off.
A lot of the first wave actually *did* get discounted here in Australia. Target got way too much stock and sold it at 50% off. Fingers crossed they make the same mistake twice
Good to know that Lego provided us with FIVE goats in this set.
I’d buy it if it had goats rather than monkeys...
Seriously though, I’m not keen on the larger pieces that make up the mountainside, but it’s hard to see a better way of doing it. The UK price seems okay - as Jang would say, I’d like to see it £20 cheaper.
It is a fabulous set - more than anything the depth of the model makes it more appealing to me than, say, Joker’s Mansion. Watching the 360 at Lego.com really makes me appreciate it.
More than that it’s inspirational- it makes me want to rummage in the nippers Lego boxes with them and make our own version!
I can appreciate that this for the Chinese market - there are so many ‘Big ticket’ sets already this year that wallet fatigue must be setting in early for a lot of folks!
@Zordboy said:
"Man, those goats just get everywhere, don't they?"
Didn’t you hear? Goats have just invented teleportation.
"I won't attempt to interpret their expressions. To be honest I don't find them very attractive or endearing on these, or on any of the monkeys."
Minifig faces with noses will always be slightly weird.
@magmafrost said:
"A lot of the first wave actually *did* get discounted here in Australia. Target got way too much stock and sold it at 50% off. Fingers crossed they make the same mistake twice"
Sadly its a Lego exclusive most places, so basically no discount.
Which is a shame as I just don't want to pay rrp for any of the sets
Looks amazing. I'm invested enough in this series to justify the expense, but I'd be happy for anyone who could get it.
@huw , Can we see the double bike set next or the lion guardian?
Interesting set - maybe I will buy it - sell the apes and replace them with forest men
Does the story go right-to-left because it's a journey into the West?
I thought the numbers on the bag with the new font and the white band were the new type, to replace the old large font. I am surprised that after many years both type are still in circulation...
Great review. I was already looking forward to this set, even more so now. I'm familiar with various adaptations of the original text and of course the fantastic tv show from the 70's. This set is exactly what I was hoping for from this line. Can't wait.
For $280 I want it to cook my breakfast and iron my shirts as well.
@mediAFOL said:
"Does the story go right-to-left because it's a journey into the West?"
You could look at it that way, but Chinese script is also read right to left.
pretty cool figs pack
I think we need the five pillars of wisdom set...
@Huw :"starting at the right, which I thought was slightly odd because Chinese text is generally written left to right, the same as English."
It is "Journey to the West" so right to left make geographic sense.
I had an idea to build a traditional Chinese painting as a LEGO sculpture but never quite got it to work - this set seems to nail it. Great use of elements & really nice the way organic forms are presented.
I love the figures & the storytelling aspect of the set. Makes me want to learn more about the story. Would be a great set for family story-telling, too. While it's clearly aimed at a Chinese Market, and seems to incorporate a lot of Chinese cultural elements, it seems to also really encapsulate a lot of what I think of Lego standing for.
I'm really tempted.
This is a fantastic set, full of references.
I've read the book a few times (as well as watched the '70s tv series & the more recent one) so it's nice to see this shiwing the story, rather than the rest of the theme's 'inspired by'.
The peaches are a nice touch. The monkey king eats some in heaven while gardener to the Jade Emperor & also finds some on his travels, granting lots of immortality
I want it, just for the figures, although the set is just a hollow shell.
Actually, the baby monkey king has full sized legs because, in the story, he emerged from the stone egg fully formed.
Thank you for your kind comments and observations.
I did wonder whether the right-to-left arrangement was a metaphor for travelling from east-to-west, and yes, @Alltimefol , that's probably why he has adult-sized legs. The Wikipedia article suggests he's born as "a stone monkey that can already crawl and walk".
Certainly in the opening credits for Monkey, which I enjoyed watching on YouTube yesterday, he's a fully formed adult primate!
Unique and interesting set. Great display piece and potentially fun playset, even manages to squeeze a bit of education in there.
Lots of monkeys for the kids and some great topography and landscape for me. Perfect family build time. Day 1 purchase.
And I'm not sure what the issue is with the price.
Using the now adopted (in my house anyway) Jangs "by amount of stuff" measurement, it represents perfectly adequate value.
Ah crud, the goats ate the peach’s, now they’re immortal!
@Graupensuppe:
Got that right. And they're also not color-locked, so you can use them wherever you want. But you do have to be a bit more careful about how you apply them. If you do it with dirty fingers, you're just going to trap dirt underneath. If you don't carefully adhere them, and press them down, you might trap air bubbles under them. The same holds true for white stickers, but it's less noticeable when you do a sloppy job of putting the stickers on.
@mediAFOL:
This part of the story takes place before the titular journey even starts.
@merman:
I think it depends on the size of the bag, and how often it's used. Notice that all of the white banded bags are full-size, and that it's primarily smaller bags in the old style. They probably buy the material used to make the bags in giant rolls, several at a time. Depending on how regularly they use that size/number of bag, they could have some numbers that haven't been reordered since they switched to the white band. I also can't remember if they've ever done smaller numbered bags in that style or not.
This is really striking. I love that the style was inspired by Chinese art and I think that comes across really well.
It's neat to know that this set includes background information and trivia about the model in the instructions. I had sort of recognized the resemblance of this set to those sorts of traditional Chinese landscape paintings, but having a name to go with that helps me to better compare and appreciate that.
Are the translations of the Chinese inscriptions also from the manual? If so that too is greatly appreciated. Back when the Exo-Force theme used Japanese text as decoration on the stickers, the sticker sheets included rough translations of what they meant, but since then there's been relatively little of that sort of convenience. Chinese in particular can be a challenging language to translate for those who aren't fluent, since the appearance of the various characters can be highly variable depending on whether it's traditional or modern as well as what sort of "font" it uses, and since it uses a non-Latin alphabet it's hard to just type into Google Translate for a rough translation.
What a magnificent set. This is exactly what I wanted the Monkey Kid line to bring out when it was first announced. I bought the Ninjago Temple of Resurrection a few years ago after finishing a read-through of the unabridged Journey to the West because it reminded me of a cave demon fortress from the novel. It goes without saying that this is a must-buy.
@Lyichir said:
"(...) it's hard to just type into Google Translate for a rough translation."
Google Translate has a camera function where you just point your phone camera at the text and it translates in-image. I use it extensively on Chinese electronic components; it works very well and is a life-saver!
@Lyichir said:
"Are the translations of the Chinese inscriptions also from the manual? "
No, Allen 'The Brick Fan' Tran's mum translated them for me!
@bananaworld said:
"
@Lyichir said:
"(...) it's hard to just type into Google Translate for a rough translation."
Google Translate has a camera function where you just point your phone camera at the text and it translates in-image. I use it extensively on Chinese electronic components; it works very well and is a life-saver!
"
Yes, I've made use of that feature as well... but it can still be finicky in instances where text is stylized instead of plain text. For example, the sign for Pigsy's Noodles in 80009 and 80012 is in a bold, outlined text, and the character for "noodle", ?, is stylized to make it look even more like chopsticks pulling noodles out of a box. And the logo for the Iron Bull Clan stylizes ?, the character for "bull" or "ox", to more closely resemble bull's horns. Both gave me a bit of trouble when trying to translate them myself, and I had to puzzle them out somewhat through other means. And of course, even when the text can be recognized, automated tools like Google Translate aren't always the best at recognizing context that could help point to the most accurate translation.
Beyond that, I just feel like providing translations in the instructions or on the borders of the sticker sheet would be helpful for making these sets more accessible to non-Chinese audiences, plus help educate those audiences more about the subject matter. It's not a huge thing, for me—I'm certainly willing to put in the effort to translate elements of a theme I love—but I'm mindful that things like that could be convenient for others who might not otherwise bother understanding the context of what elements of the set represented.
Not a fan of this theme but at least this set try to follow some of the original source of "monkey king". Most of the other sets are just following the footsteps of Ninjago of including sci-fi and machines/vehicles in them which looks ridiculous from the original classical literature. Of course I am aware they did that for sales.
This is just how to pack the whole classical novel in one compact set.
Fabulous!
I want too see goats in each review now. :)
quote“ which I thought was slightly odd because Chinese text is generally written left to right, the same as English. ”
well it’s not odd for the ancient Chinese text is written from right to left, and up to down.
@GHED said:
"This is just how to pack the whole classical novel in one compact set.
Fabulous!"
Well... hardly the WHOLE novel. Almost all of these scenes (apart from the Monkey King's showdown with Macaque) are drawn from the the Monkey King's "origin story", all of which takes place before the titular "Journey to the West" even begins. Only after the Monkey King has been born, become king of the monkeys, and gotten into all grades of heavenly mischief that ends with him trapped under a mountain does he finally meet up with Tang Sanzang and his other travelling companions.
Which isn't a bad thing, by any stretch. There's no way that the entire Journey to the West story could ever be encapsulated in a single set. Indeed, the sheer amount of stories and adventures in Journey to the West is part of what gives this theme so much potential, since there's no shortage of heroes and villains to draw from and update for a modern team of heroes!
@Lyichir:
I don't know how much of the novel this encapsulates, but give it another ten years and I suspect we'll have seen our first $1000 set. I very much doubt they would, but at that point, they just might be able to pull off the entire novel in one set. Especially if they go for translations that trimmed a lot of material.
@Huw
Excellent review as always.
Just an FYI, the placard that says "Another name for the Monkey King" is read as 'Qi Tian Da Sheng' in Mandarin. It's one of many commonly used names to refer to Sun Wukong. It literally means "Great Sage, Heaven's Equal".
Much better with the mountain goats which sadly I have none of and likely never will at the current prices.
"Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty apes!"
Sorry Charlton, just kidding. Awesome review of a great set.
@AustinPowers said:
""Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty apes!""
"Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty monkeys!"
FTFY; no apes in this set ;-)
(Unless Monkie Kid is human. Has that ever been established...?)
@Huw , During the 80's "The Monkey King" chinese animated movie from 1960's was shown several times on swedish television and became a childhood favorite. It's here with swedish speaker for anyone to check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTmJj1jVhnM
The movie is about the first 600 pages of "Journey to the West" where the Monkey King rebels against the Jade Emperor.
Ah, saw that you seen it already, it's a very cool movie!
Thanks for the great review! It looked attractive already, and now I really want it. All this seductive goats also made me get the Mill Village Raid set (edit: since TLG was said to mention that the goat moulds are gone, we may not see new ones for the coming years.)
But what a curious new part, no. 6338499. Other pieces that could be made would come to mind first. Although it could be nice for bumper parts for cars.
Great set, I like the internal platforms behind the waterfall as that was not expected, and there are a lot of mini-figs. The price is fairly high, but could provide lots of entertainment for the kids if they are into all the adventures or create their own. Only concern is that the transparent teal is not very transparent and the waterfall does look better with the stickers in the official photos to hide this problem.
You could actually buy the friends sets to make the flower fruit mountain even bigger!
The only thing I dislike about this set is the lack of at least some interior detail. You know, just something more for the minifigs to interact with. Other than that it's a premium set.
When it comes to Monkie Kid sets, this one is the G.O.A.T. ;)
This is what I was hoping for in this theme.
The novel was wonderful, Stephen Chow's films were fun, and Damon Albarn 's work with Chen Shi-Zheng and Jamie Hewlett was nice too. I'm going to have to look for those videos.
Question I just thought of for @Huw, since he has the set in hand: can the new Monkey King tail piece hold minifig accessories? It looks just about the right size, and if so it could be interesting to have him hold his staff that way or hang from an appropriately-sized branch or pole!
@ambr:
That's because it's not a regular transparent color. It's an opal color, and it's supposed to look like that.
hope this set will cause a drop of prices for goats on bricklink. At the moment one goat cost around 45+ euros
Many thanks for the high-res photos, hope to see that in more reviews.
Thank you very much for this wonderful review!
@Bricksrunner said:
" @sanders2221 said:
"hope this set will cause a drop of prices for goats on bricklink. At the moment one goat cost around 45+ euros "
Uh, you know there are no goats with this set, right ? The goats are here as a running joke within the community.
Goats (and the set they come from) are currently one of the fronts in the scalper/"investore/"reseller" vs collectors war (with prices up to $150 for a single goat coming from a $69 set containing two), thanks to the release of the smithy, same as Ninjago City/Docks (motivated by the release of the Gardens), Dinosaur Skeletons (motivated by high demand and limited availability) and the various GWP produced lately in surprisingly limited quantities.
But hey, maybe you'll get an ice rink as a consolation prize."
well I just read the start of the article and then go fast through photos. I didn't realized first that goats was added just for fun :D . I am planning to get blacksmith as well if some decent promo come up. Also would like to see some nice castle in future to go nicely alongside with blacksmith and some goats would be welcome addition , but price is just too much at the moment for goats :) . My parents could not afford any big sets during my childhood so I had a lot of smallest ones and a few low price ranges and couple of mid ones :) . But from 2016 I am collecting again , so I am back with my lego hobby :)
Wow, Huw, this is a great review with fabulous photos. You've really outdone yourself with this one! I really feel like I understand exactly what the set has to offer after reading it and looking closely at the pictures.
The goat shot at the end got me again! I get totally into the review every time and completely forget that some frolicking goats are about to appear. Thanks for the laughs and the stellar review:)
If this set had two goats in it TLG would sell out faster than fast.
As it is.....
I need this set on day one ..... and that is not something I usually say.
Any Fan of the Classic Monkey TV series will want this .....
the fans of Monkey Kid will have to fight them for it. :)
@LordDunsany said:
"While Chinese text is now written from left to right like English, it was traditionally written vertically (as is seen in the sticker text), with text columns proceeding from right to left. Thus one would read going down the first column on the right side, continue with the next column to the left, etc. The front cover of older Chinese books corresponds to the back cover of English books, with the spine on the right side."
Traditional Japanese writing (inspired by Chinese) was also written top-down and right-left with the spine of the cover on the right.
For some purposes, e.g. comics, books are still with the cover on the "back".
@TheInfamousBobaFett said:
"Am I the only one who hates the figures??"
Yes, no one should hate these great figures
Just wondering if it looks purdy without the minifigs as an adult display piece....
Impressive set - and I can't help but wonder if anyone is going to use it as a base for a Rivendell moc...
Started building it this past week-end. Finished the first 2 sections. I must say it's a very pleasant building experience so far, and the result is really striking. A must have.