Monkie Kid

Monkie Kid's Cloud Roadster

A sleek little race car carrying a genuinely gorgeous parts haul.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 80015 · 2020

Pieces659

Minifigs5

Year2020

Set number80015

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The verdict

The Cloud Roadster is the set I keep coming back to when people say Monkie Kid was just a flash in the pan, because it quietly does so much right.

The car itself is a clean, low, good-looking build, and the box is stuffed with parts you cannot easily get anywhere else. It is not the most inventive engineering LEGO put out in 2020, and the price per piece stung when it was on shelves. But now that it has retired and climbed hard on the second-hand market, it makes a lot more sense as a want than a casual buy.

Best for: Parts collectors and MOC builders chasing dark turquoise and exclusive prints

The full review

What it is

The first thing that got me about the Cloud Roadster is how sharp the finished car looks. It sits low and sleek, done up in white with dark turquoise and gold accents, and it does not read like a kids' play set parked on a shelf. There is a spinning cloud engine at the back, two spring-loaded shooters up front, and a second little demon vehicle with a compartment that can actually trap a minifigure. For a set aimed squarely at eight-year-olds, it carries itself with real style, and I found myself genuinely charmed by it before I had even opened the parts bags.

The catch

I will be straight with you about where it stumbles. At its original 69.99 dollars for 659 pieces, the price per piece was close to 11 cents, which is on the steeper side, and you feel it because the build itself is not doing anything clever. It is a standard studs-up vehicle with some Technic reinforcement, and apart from the repeated engine pods there is not much here to challenge you or teach you a new trick. If you build for the engineering, for that little jolt of surprise when a section comes together in a way you did not expect, this one plays it safe. The shooters also stay locked in a fixed forward position instead of retracting flush with the chassis, which a few builders found more awkward than it needed to be.

Who it's for

So who walks away happy here. If you are a parts person, and I mean someone who buys sets to plunder them for MOCs, this is an easy yes even now. The colour palette and the exclusive prints make it a little treasure chest. If you love the Monkie Kid show and want the roadster and its cast on display, you will be delighted too. The people I would steer away are pure play-feature-per-dollar shoppers, especially at anything near the inflated retired prices, and builders who need a set to keep their hands busy with something intricate. For everyone else, this is a very good set with its eyes open about what it is.

The parts story

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

Building the Cloud Roadster is a relaxed, breezy few hours. The instructions move quickly, the car takes shape in satisfying big sections, and the most interesting stretch is the pair of engine pods at the rear, which are fiddly in a fun way rather than a frustrating one. Nothing here will stump an experienced builder, and that is rather the point, it is meant to be a smooth ride that a younger builder can finish proudly on their own. The Technic spine keeps the finished car reassuringly solid once it is all locked together.

The parts, though, are where this set quietly earns its keep. You get two pairs of rubberised Technic wheels, the smaller pair new for 2020, and exclusive 6x6 dishes with gorgeous prints, including a white one with a teal stripe and a black one with a gold and silver yin-yang. Dark turquoise elements turn up here that were genuinely hard to source elsewhere at the time, alongside flat silver fezzes, pearl gold dome bottoms, and six of the cloud and dust elements when most sets give you just one. Add the two Horn Demons on entirely new torso, head and horn moulds, and the little box punches well above its 659-piece weight for anyone who values the bricks themselves.

Fun facts

01The set was designed by Nick Vas and Xiaodong Wen and released in August 2020 as part of the first wave of the Monkie Kid theme.
02Wang's hairpiece had appeared only once before, in set 75967, and her teal legs are rare within the Monkie Kid line.
03The Gold Horn and Silver Horn Demons use torsos, heads and horns that were brand-new moulds exclusive to this set.
04It retired in December 2021 and has since climbed roughly 80 percent above its original price on the second-hand market.