Review: Minions Kung Fu Training
Posted by Huw,
While we continue to wait for Minions: The rise of Gru to hit the big screen, LEGO is releasing another movie tie-in set, 40511 Kung Fu Training, that might just be the only Minons set you need to buy, because it contains most of the main characters from the film.
It packaged in a blister-pack in the shape of a minifig which is similar to other 'battle packs' released recently.
It contains four minifigs: Gru, Belle Bottom, Bob and Kevin, plus an assortment of martial arts weapons, and a martial arts dummy.
Bob and Kevin are attired in their classic blue dungarees, which is far more preferable to the orange that they are kitted out in in some of the other sets.
I'd not encountered minion minifigs before so if you've not either, this is how they go together.
Belle Bottom is the main antagonist in the film, the leader of the Vicious 6 supervillain group, which the young Gru wishes to join, so it's perhaps surprising that she is unique to this set.
Her colourful pink and purple clothing, complete with gold chain, have been faithfully reproduced here.
Gru too looks like he does in the film, with scarf and buttoned up jacket, but given he's only a kid in it, surely it would have been more appropriate to have used shorter legs.
Both have alternate expressions and printing on their backs.
The martial arts dummy provides a modicum of building, but it's largely superfluous: people will be buying the set solely for the minifigs.
Overall, it provides the best and least expensive way to acquire a couple of the yellow underlings in their classic attire, plus the two other main characters in the film.
I believe it will be released on July 1st and assuming a pricing similar to other sets of this type, will cost $14.99, £13.49, 14.99€.
Here are the figures in a Wicked Brick 4x1 wall-mounted minifigure display case that we reviewed earlier, with front cover removed to avoid reflections.
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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29 comments on this article
It's a great entry point for kids (always a concern given Lego's expense) but I think it's really butting up against the limitations of the medium. Gru and Belle look like their movie counterparts, but only just. Still worth picking up, though.
And now you can have a full legitimate army of minions at your basement!!!!!!
$15 for a couple minions and two main characters without having to buy a set you don’t want ? I’m in!
This is a nice assortment of important characters. I love the weapons they come with.
Considering it's just a little side-build, that dummy looks pretty good.
This looks pretty great! I'm assuming it's a LEGO Store exclusive???
@blackdeathgr said:
"And now you can have a full legitimate army of minions at your basement!!!!!!"
Next step: Aquire volcanic island.
Wish I would have known about this set before purchasing 75549.
There's sadly just no way you can adequately depict Gru without a nose... it's his most defining physical characteristic!
Looks like Bob _still_ has the same expression as every other instance of the character. Five appearances so far, and the only changes are his eyes and one alternate outfit (Stuart got three). Kevin didn’t get updated either. They didn’t even get new eyes. Gru looks unchanged from 75549, as well, which means Belle Bottom, theme completeness, and maybe some of the loose parts, are the only reasons to buy this set if you’ve been buying the five larger sets. This late rollout makes you wonder if they’ve got anything else planned that they may be holding back until closer to the much-delayed movie release. I can’t think of any other theme where the sole villain was given such an odd, limited release.
@sideswinger:
I haven’t checked online, but I’ve never seen these minifig blister packs stocked to any other stores. I expect they will also be available at LEGOLAND stores, but I think it’s been over two years since I set foot in one of those.
that's a lot of hair and dust on those figs, you might wanna watch it lol
@jkb:
You don’t already own 8637?
@sideswinger
@purpledave
I may be mistaken, but I thought I bought 40418 on LEGO.com, so that might be good news about the availability of this set.
@PurpleDave said:
" @jkb:
You don’t already own 8637?"
: D
Earlier today I was looking at this set
@Schmopiesdad:
LEGO Stores and LEGO.com are the retail and online branches of LEGO Brand Retail. There are a few notable differences, but the only three things I know of that are exclusive to the physical stores are PAB by the cup (online you pay by the piece), Build-A-Minifig, and store-exclusive GWPs. All of these minifig blister packs have been available online. It’s just other chains, like Target and Walmart, that don’t carry them. When I said I haven’t checked online, I was specifically referring to Amazon, or the online storefronts for Target or Walmart. Most of the big D2C sets end up being released to them for internet sales. The Elf Clubhouse has even been stocked to some physical Target stores. But while they have been bending the rules for big-ticket items, I suspect this will remain a LEGO exclusive.
Here’s the tricky part. If that’s true, the only way to amass a huge quantity of these, besides resorting to the secondary market, will be to hit the physical stores repeatedly. There will be a strict lifetime limit imposed on LEGO.com sales, but it will only be a per-person daily limit in LEGO Stores, and I have no idea what the policy is for LEGOLAND stores.
I would like to get this pack since it's the least expensive way to get a couple of Minions. You never know when a MOC will need one! ;-)
Housekeeping note: The set page for 40511 lists the theme as "Minions" while all the other Minions sets have a theme of "Minions: The Rise of Gru." However, the card with blister pack says "Minions: The Rise of Gru" right on the top. It's probably an import issue from Lego.com?
"Gru too looks like he does in the film, with scarf and buttoned up jacket, but given he's only a kid in it, surely it would have been more appropriate to have used shorter legs."
Given the supposed-to-be-tiny minions are more or less the same height as the minifigs, not sure proportion has paid a visit to this set
@PurpleDave
My apologies for misunderstanding your earlier post. At least now it is clarified, in case anyone else made a similar mistake.
You are mentioning 'battle packs', but what happenend to 'people packs'?! They are gone for ever?
@Brickalili :
I’m not sure you’re aware of this, but: Toy Story. Green Army Men from TS3 are as tall as Gaby from TS4, who is shorter than Lotso from TS3. Woody, Jessie, and the Green Army Men each exist in two different scales between TS3 and TS4. Bo Peep should be taller than Zurg, but is quite a bit shorter due to the elimination of long limbs post-TS3. Scale issues are just part of LEGO life.
@Schmopiesdad:
I’m not sure why you’re apologizing. I could have been clearer, so I clarified.
I still think Gru should have a moulded head. Without his characteristic nose he just looks like a generic minifig.
I don't know what Gru's accessory is supposed to be - quite a dinky mallet compared to the gold weapons. Maybe the movie will reveal what it is?
Belle's hair should have been part 49362.
I can't help but feel this theme has been a massive flop due to the movie being delayed. However, the Minions have some nice pieces which could appear elsewhere. The heads could be round snot bricks, used to attach pontoons to bottoms of helicopters and submarines, like part 6042. The hair stalk could be used for foliage. The minion pieces would work well for more NPCs in the Mario theme, particularly the villain Fawful.
@Norikins:
Bob’s “weapon” is easy to identify, even if it’s one of the most misunderstood combat tools of Japanese culture (contrary to what TMNT and Marvel’s Elektra would have you think, the jitte and sai were used to catch and pin sword blades, but aren’t sharpened to cut or pierce). Kevin’s...whatever that is, looks like something you’d see in a martial arts film, but I have no idea what it’s supposed to be. Belle just has a chain, which seems rather lazy. Gru’s hammer thing is the only weapon that’s not gold, so it’s probably something technological, and yes, will probably be explained in the movie (hopefully Kevin’s weapon will, too).
The theme is probably being hurt by the two-year delay of the movie’s release (still one year to go!), but the pandemic is probably having more of an effect. Adults have been buying high end sets for themselves, but how many parents are splurging on tons of toys for their kids, especially if they didn’t know they existed in advance?
@chrisaw said:
"I still think Gru should have a moulded head. Without his characteristic nose he just looks like a generic minifig. "
I agree
Two things irk me with this set. For one, the proportions of the Minions versus the regular characters just don't fit at all.
Secondly, like others have said, Gru needs a molded head, like they did with the Simpsons minifigs. A standard minifig head just doesn't capture his likeness at all imho.
I have quite a few of the MegaBloks sets for the Despicable Me franchise, and the figures in those look far better.
I've wanted some Minions figures for a while, but I didn't really want any of the sets. I don't collect licenced sets or figures but I find Minions very funny so I would like to hide some on my modular street. I'll definitely get this when I can.
The 'human' figs will come in useful for parts for people on my street too.
now I regret buying 75549
First: love these type of sets (swear one day: I'm going to get some plaster of paris, take the 'tray' that the sets come in, and make a big minifigure statue...well, 'big' to a minifigure).
Second: 'Scale' is a tough thing to nail down with things like cartoons...but that doesn't mean it should be abandoned; Gru should have gotten mid-legs (still 'bend' like reg-legs, but a wee bit smaller), and Kev...instead of that massive head part, they could have used Bob's and added a pair of plates (with printing on one for the smile)...just some thoughts...
Oh; almost forgot, Third: Yes; Gru should've gotten a molded head, because...well...that nose man...seriously, the reason I never got 'the Flintstones' set is because they don't look like 'the Flintstones' (and believe me, you don't live 'down the road' from a "Bedrock City", and not know what 'the Flintstones' look like...)...and, like 'scale'; if it's a cartoon...well, take 'the Simpsons' approach...