LEGO Monkie Kid The City of Lanterns and Monkie Kid’s Galactic Explorer Review

Both of these sets are incredibly intricate and fun builds that will take the average builder around 4 hours to complete. Monkie Kid sets have impressed us in the past with their unique, imaginative translation of Journey to the West imagery, through a colorful sci-fi and urban punk lens; these sets two continue that trend in spades.

Starting off with the Galactic Explorer, this set leaves you with the Galactic Explorer itself, a boarding station, and 7 minifigs: Monkie Kid, Mei, Mr. Tang, Sandy, Robot Mo, and two cronies of the demon Macaque, Rumble, and Savage. The rocket itself is super bright and colorful, done up in primary yellow, red, turquoise, and gold. Being Monkie Kid’s flying vessel, there is a cloud motif spread across the fins. Very nice attention to detail! Speaking of detail, there are quite a few stickers to apply, so keep a steady hand. The cockpit and top hatch can be opened to find a hidden jetpack, or place minifigs inside. There’s also a little cloud rover, which is very cute.

Now let’s look at the big boi: the City of Lanterns. This set is visual overload in the best way possible! It perfectly captures the organized chaos that is a living city. You can find a couple restaurants, a boba tea shop, a convenience store, karaoke lounge, and even a LEGO store. Very meta. Pigsy even has his own tram that slides along the circular track. Every single inch of this set is covered in colorful detail, and we are here for it. Even some of the mascots have a bit of articulation! The City of Lanterns includes 9 minifigs: Monkie Kid, Han, Mei, Huang, Mr. Tang, Taxi Driver, 2 Citybots, and Pigsy.