Review: 80031 Mei's Dragon Car
Posted by CapnRex101,
Modern themes, including NINJAGO and Monkie Kid, frequently feature varied vehicles belonging to one character. Establishing harmony between designs is therefore important and Mei's unique selection of vehicles undoubtedly illustrates that desirable consistency.
80031 Mei's Dragon Car continues the aesthetic already established by 80006 White Horse Dragon Bike and 80020 White Horse Dragon Jet, featuring the same colour scheme and angular bodywork. Furthermore, the model includes new fluorescent yellow accents. This colour is used sparingly but offers interesting potential.
Minifigures
Monkie Kid experiences frequent design changes, matching the ninja from NINJAGO in that regard. The latest minifigure retains his traditional flame yellowish orange and red colour scheme which looks brilliant, but introduces greater detail than ever before. The arms now feature decorative stripes and symbols on each shoulder, while the dual-moulded legs feature intricate printing as well.
This updated Mei minifigure also resembles her previous appearances, including the same impressive hair component and layered armour. However, her torso is moulded in the new fluorescent yellow plastic, which is certainly eye-catching! The accompanying metallic gold detailing looks good, but I find the clash between fluorescent yellow and teal too strong. This colour scheme might appeal to some though.
Both minifigures are also available in 80033 Evil Macaque's Mech, although Mei's sword is unique. The dragon hilt looks superb and I like the crackling blade. Monkie Kid's accessories appear throughout the new range, comprising a map to the locations of the Fire Rings, a printed compass and his requisite staff. This map should have been printed, since it appears in several sets.
Shadow Monkeys are seemingly the primary antagonist this season, following Evil Macaque's appearance in 80024 Flower Fruit Mountain. The leader is not included here though, instead represented by Rumble and Savage. These two minifigures are identical which is surprising because their torsos could easily have been distinguished by different armour designs or their heads could have been reversible with unique faces.
Nevertheless, their black and red colours, with yellow eyes, certainly appear intimidating and closely resemble Darth Maul. I particularly appreciate the red ears, which stand out against the Shadow Monkey's black hair. Their spiked shoulder armour looks superb too, while the torsos feature a corrupted version of the Monkie Kid symbol.
Both minifigures also include moulded tails and appropriate weapons, wielding a double-bladed sai and a grapnel hook. The black elongated hilt only appeared in bigger and more expensive sets during 2021, so I am pleased that it becomes more widely available in the newest wave.
The Completed Model
Mei's aerodynamic Dragon Car undoubtedly appears striking, displaying the threatening angles which have characterised the heroine's previous vehicles. The colour combination of white and teal corresponds with 80006 White Horse Dragon Bike and 80020 White Horse Dragon Jet too, while the cockpit position looks absolutely excellent.
Unfortunately, viewing the model from above reveals some problems. Considerable gaps are present around the front wheels and the surrounding shape seems decidedly odd, lacking the flowing bodywork which is otherwise prevalent. The proportions are attractive though, while the length of nearly 22cm, excluding the rear-mounted blades, feels suitable for play.
While the different tyre profiles are effective, I think the shaping around the front is the weakest aspect of this vehicle. The simulated claws should have been positioned much further forward, as though grasping the wheels and forming decorative armour. Instead, the wheels seem very exposed and the Technic elements behind them are conspicuous, which is disappointing when neighbouring sections are richly detailed.
Furthermore, the transition between the bodywork along either flank and those protruding sections around the wheels appears incomplete. This is also where the fluorescent yellow elements are placed. The new colour is undoubtedly interesting, but seems out of place here, particularly because these stripes are isolated without matching colours elsewhere.
This colour is incredibly bright. Here it is shown between bright light yellow and yellow pieces, demonstrating the dramatic difference between shades. While their inclusion in 80031 Mei's Dragon Car was perhaps unnecessary, I look forward to building some upcoming City sets and seeing how successful this colour appears there.
Even though the wheels appear awkward, the dragon's head between them looks marvellous. The shaping around the jaw and nostrils features great detail and I like the inset eyes, which stand out beside teal and white elements. Additionally, a large missile launcher is situated underneath and raising the head slightly will activate the missile, which functions nicely.
The cockpit looks splendid too, especially inside. The seat seems remarkably elaborate and features tan upholstery, supported by 1x1 plates with two bars that were introduced in 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper Van. The steering wheel also seems appropriate for such an advanced vehicle, represented using a printed video game controller mounted in front of the driver.
Shaping continues to improve towards the rear, where panels are beautifully angled to match the ridges between them. The stickers look brilliant as well, but my favourite detail is definitely the seamless integration of the cockpit canopy and these 1x8 rudder pieces on each side. Both elements originate from LEGO Star Wars, but I have never identified their perfect compatibility.
Two trans-bright green blades are connected underneath the panels, maintaining their dramatic angle. This piece was developed for NINJAGO and previously appeared in 80020 White Horse Dragon Jet, so they appear equally fitting here. The sticker applied between them is welcome too, displaying Mei's golden dragon emblem.
Another vehicle is provided for Monkie Kid, albeit much smaller. This skateboard, dubbed the Cloud Board, seems relatively simple, but includes studs to accommodate a minifigure and a conical thruster towards the rear. The attached cloud component looks perfect too, with lovely moulded texture.
The opposing Shadow Monkeys drive a rugged trike, with an interesting colour combination of black red and trans-purple. Those trans-purple highlights look superb and I love the fork, with spikes at the front. The ray guns cleverly integrated beneath the handlebars are also effective, forming some mechanical detail which continues down either side.
I dislike the angled headlight though, that points downwards to accommodate the handlebars. However, the reddish brown seat looks good and I think these wheels are suitable, since this trike should be prepared for off-road driving. The splayed exhausts are spectacular as well, including trans-purple flames which are only otherwise found on Evil Macaque's Staff.
Overall
Despite sharing impressive consistency with Mei's previous vehicles, I find 80031 Mei's Dragon Car somewhat disappointing. The shaping through the centre looks fantastic, but conspicuous gaps are present towards the front and certain sections appear unfinished. Technic elements remain particularly exposed around the front wheels, which is surprising. Refining these areas may have guaranteed a model to rival 80020 White Horse Dragon Jet.
However, the angular ridges behind the cockpit look excellent and I love the trans-bright green blades extending from the rear. The minifigures appear individually appealing as well, although none are exclusive. Moreover, the price of £34.99, $49.99 or €39.99 feels slightly too expensive, so I would recommend focusing your attention elsewhere within the new Monkie Kid range.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group, but the review represents an expression of my own opinions.
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19 comments on this article
@DavidBrick said:
"Do these 2022 sets come with the new paper bags for the pieces?"
None that I have assembled so far include paper bags.
Thanks @CapnRex101
I too wasn’t convinced by the addition of the new colour in Mei’s otherwise excellent scheme. It’s great you’ve shown some of the uglier angles too; while I like the concept of the front and a lot including how the wheels are attached, it’s definitely not going to be to everyone’s taste.
I’m so glad I opted for 80020 as my Mei’s vehicle. It’s a fantastic design and great value in my opinion.
My MK team is going to be limited to one vehicle each, so I don’t go overboard like I’ve done with Ninjago ;)
None of the LAN members on YouTube who've posted unboxing videos for their Monkie Kid review shipments have included 80035. Did Brickset get a copy of 80035 to review? That's the only one of the sets that really catches my interest, though I keep saying I want to get a few of these trans bright green X-wing canopies from Bricks and Pieces.
I am very curious to see how well this highlight yellow works in the other sets. I find Mei's color scheme eye catching although the yellow accent tampered that effect. I love her color scheme so much that I was quite drawn to her first set even though I hate oversized bikes. What is really doing this theme a disservice is the higher prices.
On a somewhat related note, is there any news on the availability of the next Monkie Kid polybag? I figure Americans will probably only be able to access it from lego.com, but I was hoping they might have changed that.
Good review.
For me this set sort of falls into the same issue as last year's White Dragon Horse Jet—a good vehicle for one of my favorite characters that is, nevertheless, one of the less essential sets of the wave. Like that one, this set has no exclusive minifigures or collectibles that you wouldn't get by picking up the larger sets that DO have exclusive content of one form or another.
That said, I did end up getting the White Dragon Horse Jet last year purely on the strength of its design. And while this one isn't quite as flawless as that one was (as you mention, the neon yellow isn't necessarily integrated the best and the front wheel attachment feels unfinished), I do like the dragon head and the construction of the rear of the vehicle, so I might end up picking this one up anyway if I'm still in need of a Monkie Kid fix after picking up the other sets.
I do also hope that maybe this one gets a better spotlight in the show than the jet, which only appeared briefly in a one-off gag. Mei's dynamic appearance wielding all three of the new flame rings in the Macaque mech set gives me hope that this season might give her more time to shine.
I agree with the review, I love pretty much all of the vehicle apart from the front, the uk price is good, and the figs are amazing. But the macaque mech gives the same figs plus more, and the build is amazing. Price is alright, but I also want to know about the paper bags. We where meant to get them in 2021, and seeing that they still arnt included in 2022 is disconcerting to say the least. Damn I wish we could have them ASAP, I’m starting to get really guilty about buying sets. Looking at the ninjago city gardens….
It feels like there’s been a decline when it comes to evil minions in unlicensed themes. One design is made to serve for multiple characters, or there are only slight variations between them. Ninjago in particular has fallen far from the days when each wave of villains featured several very visually distinctive antagonists. Mass-produced grunts aren’t the worst, but it is a tad unsatisfactory when they try to market them as distinct characters with individual names.
@SearchlightRG said:
"It feels like there’s been a decline when it comes to evil minions in unlicensed themes. One design is made to serve for multiple characters, or there are only slight variations between them. Ninjago in particular has fallen far from the days when each wave of villains featured several very visually distinctive antagonists. Mass-produced grunts aren’t the worst, but it is a tad unsatisfactory when they try to market them as distinct characters with individual names."
I think a big part of that has to do with the amount of story media rarely meriting that many unique minions. Back in the early days of Ninjago, skeleton or snake minions only really got distinct characterization in tie-in novels or comics that weren't actually part of the main "canon". Whereas in the show they were pretty much only used as interchangeable goons. And that was back when the theme could get up to 26 22-minute episodes of the show in a year! For a cartoon like Monkie Kid or the recent Ninjago seasons (which tend to be more like 10 to 13 11-minute episodes), there's less room to establish a wider range of minions—especially when the more important named villains leading them need to be established and developed. I do sometimes miss the days of media proliferation of Bionicle or early Ninjago, when things like interactive online games and tie-in storybooks allowed for multiple expressions of the theme with deeper "lore", but I get why that kind of thing has fallen out of fashion with Lego—it's a lot of development work that gets comparatively less engagement than a TV show or streaming series.
Now, in the case of these particular villains. they seem like they might be an evolution of sorts of Macaque's "shadow clones" that he used to fight in his debut episode. So it doesn't entirely surprise me that they're more or less identical. Double-sided heads (so that they could emote individually) certainly wouldn't hurt, though.
I don't mind identical bad-guy troops: soldiers tend to wear identical uniforms, after all! I agree they ought to have double-sided heads.
@AHYL88 said:
"Hmm, I wonder if the price has been hampered by the use of the new very bright fluorescent yellow pieces and the relatively large wheels and tyres. Because although it's got a decent amount of parts, the 80020 White Horse Dragon Jet has even more and thus is more complete and smoother looking, and has an extra side build despite costing the same.
I prefer car builds like these usually, and I like the off-the-wall over the top designs the theme brings, but it'll be tricky to choose this over the better valued White Horse Dragon Jet. "
The Jet is actually $10 more, but I do agree that it provides much more value than the car.
@Alltimefol said:
" @AHYL88 said:
"Hmm, I wonder if the price has been hampered by the use of the new very bright fluorescent yellow pieces and the relatively large wheels and tyres. Because although it's got a decent amount of parts, the 80020 White Horse Dragon Jet has even more and thus is more complete and smoother looking, and has an extra side build despite costing the same.
I prefer car builds like these usually, and I like the off-the-wall over the top designs the theme brings, but it'll be tricky to choose this over the better valued White Horse Dragon Jet. "
The Jet is actually $10 more, but I do agree that it provides much more value than the car."
No it isn’t :), both are £35, $50- not sure where you got that from :)
@DavidBrick said:
"I really dislike what I'm calling neon yellow. Looks great on the torso but it's really ugly on the vehicle. "
It’s quite an ugly colour really.
Also, petition to call it Stabilo Yellow.
Neon yellow is the one colour I've been waiting for. Bring it on!
@Terreneflame said:
"No it isn’t :), both are £35, $50- not sure where you got that from :)"
Jet is €45 in NL, this car will be €40 so there are regional differences.
Even bigger differences will exist like the Moon Cake set being €50 vs $70 for example.
I think the Jet will go better with the Spaceship and Mooncake set, and is a more interesting looking vehicle.
However kids like big wheeled vehicles that roll easily so I understand those products in LEGO's lineup.
I do like the red monkeys and the monkey bike in the car set as well.
@Lyichir said:
"For me this set sort of falls into the same issue as last year's White Dragon Horse Jet—a good vehicle for one of my favorite characters that is, nevertheless, one of the less essential sets of the wave. Like that one, this set has no exclusive minifigures or collectibles that you wouldn't get by picking up the larger sets that DO have exclusive content of one form or another."
I think Mei is the character who keeps getting shafted in each wave -- she's always the smallest set, yet it's not quite small enough, as the floor for MK is much higher than other series. That might make sense for Lego's strategy in Asia, but not so much in the US, I don't think.
"I think a big part of that has to do with the amount of story media rarely meriting that many unique minions."
I'm curious exactly how much of Lego's sales are driven by their content. Probably more than I'd like, but less than the influence on their product line warrants. I guess we watched the Lego Elves series out of a sense of obligation, but my kids and I generally find it more interesting to make up our stories based on the sets rather than v.v. IMO the ideal set tells its own story without needing an outside reference point. (So I really only collect Lego original IP, which up until MK was also more economical)
I feel TLG missed an opportunity here: instead of naming one of the characters "Savage", he could be called "Frenzy", one of them could be blue instead of red, and TLG could refuse to say which is which... :D
@Lyichir can’t say I’m a fan of exclusive Minifigures or collectibles, at least not in large/expensive sets. I get that it adds incentive to purchase said sets, but being either forced to do so or spend unreasonable amounts on the aftermarket for particular elements doesn’t sit too well with me.
@Padmewan at least Mei is getting actual sets and not just being shoved into ones focused on other characters like an afterthought, or left out of ones she’s well-suited to appear in.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @Lyichir can’t say I’m a fan of exclusive Minifigures or collectibles, at least not in large/expensive sets. I get that it adds incentive to purchase said sets, but being either forced to do so or spend unreasonable amounts on the aftermarket for particular elements doesn’t sit too well with me."
I dunno, I feel like exclusivity of some sort tends to be inevitable even beyond their tendency to incentivise bigger sets. It's rare that there's enough sets in a wave for every fig to be available in multiple sets, and larger sets often tend to make a better home for rarer figs if for no other reason than them getting more figs in general (meaning that even if they include a number of "main characters" there can still be room for others).
It's nothing nefarious, and generally if you do want to get a fig who's only in a bigger set, you can get them on their own through Bricks and Pieces for much cheaper (at least for a non-licensed theme like this).
The car looked much better from the official images and I am slightly disappointed that exposed Technic elements plague this set like many others unfortunately. Towards the rear, as you said, the design improves, but the front is still quite a bit too flawed for my liking. Also, none of the minifigures are exclusive so I may just buy other sets from this new wave!
By the way, it's WDH: White Dragon Horse, not White Horse Dragon!
I can understand the confusion though :)