Monkie Kid

Monkie Kid's Cloud Jet

A loud, red-and-yellow flyer with a motorbike hiding in the cockpit.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 80008 · 2020

Pieces529

Minifigs4

Year2020

Set number80008

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The verdict

The bit that got me is the cockpit, because it pops off the jet and becomes a proper little speed bike, and that swap is genuinely fun to do over and over.

This is play-first LEGO through and through, packed with disc shooters and adjustable wings and four minifigs, but it is not a display piece and the ketchup-and-mustard colour scheme will not be for everyone. If you or a kid in your life watches the Monkie Kid show, this one earns its shelf space. If you want a sleek thing to admire from across the room, look elsewhere.

Best for: Monkie Kid fans age 8 and up who want a swooshable jet with real play functions

The full review

What it is

The first thing I did when this jet came together was pop the cockpit off, and that is exactly what the set wants you to do. Monkie Kid's Cloud Jet is a 529-piece flyer from the 2020 launch of LEGO's Monkie Kid line, and the whole design is built around one lovely trick: the front section detaches and turns into a little speed motorcycle for Monkie Kid to ride off on. I have built plenty of vehicles that promise a play feature and then bury it under fiddly steps, but this one nails it. The split is satisfying, it snaps back together without a fight, and I found myself doing it far more times than a grown adult probably should admit to.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the caveats, because there are a few. The colour scheme is the big one. It leans hard into bright red and yellow, and if that combination makes you wince on sight, nothing about the finished model is going to win you over. There are also some honest gaps where the motorbike section meets the body of the jet, the kind you notice from a three-quarter angle and cannot quite unsee once you have spotted them. And the price is the other thing. At 59.99 dollars for 529 pieces you are paying a bit of a premium, partly because it was an Amazon exclusive in the US and partly because Monkie Kid sets have always run a touch dear. The value is fine. It is not the reason to buy this.

Who it's for

So who is this actually for? Kids age 8 and up who love the Monkie Kid show are the obvious answer, and honestly the play value here is high enough that I would point any function-loving builder toward it regardless of age. The disc shooters, the adjustable wings, the twin engines, the detachable bike, it all adds up to a toy that begs to be swooshed around the room. If you build purely for display, or if you are chasing rare parts and clever engineering for its own sake, this will feel a little thin and a little loud. But as a play set it delivers, and the four minifigs give you a proper cast to play it out with. It retired at the end of 2023, so if it calls to you, it is a secondary-market hunt now.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this one is more varied than I expected from a vehicle. The symmetric parts of the jet go quickly and never get tedious, and then the wings throw you a genuinely interesting curveball with construction that leans on Technic to hit its angles. The variable-geometry landing gear rests on the body using a Technic ball with cross axle, which is a neat solution, and the motorbike section is elegantly put together in its own right. It is the kind of build that keeps handing you a small surprise every few bags rather than settling into repetition.

On the parts front, do not come in expecting a treasure chest. New Elementary noted that for such a high-profile line there are surprisingly few new moulds or recolours across the whole 2020 range, and this set is no exception. The one piece worth flagging is the lightsaber 2.0 handle, which has quietly useful potential for SNOT work: place a tile on each end and the space between sits exactly five plates high, handy for inverting studs. Beyond that you are mostly getting a good mix of practical elements in a lot of red and yellow, plus the disc shooters and the parts for Red Son's brick-built twin fire jet pack. It is a solid parts pack for a builder, just not a landmark one.

Fun facts

01Monkie Kid was the first LEGO theme ever inspired by a Chinese legend, drawing on the Monkey King and Journey to the West, and it launched on 16 May 2020 alongside an animated series.
02In the US the Cloud Jet was sold as an Amazon exclusive.
03The set includes four minifigures, two of them unique to this set, led by Monkie Kid with the Golden Staff and Red Son with a Power Glove.
04It was available from May 2020 through the end of December 2023 before retiring.