Time to Spill the T.E.A.

A brief review of Monkie Kid set 80038, Monkie Kid's Team Van.

While Monkie Kid sets can definitely be hit or miss, this set nails the bullseye for coolness and playability. The vehicle, known as Monkie Kid’s Team Van on Lego.com or the Total Environment Automobile (or T.E.A.) on the Monkie Kid show, is a surprisingly large build. The red van base of the build is large enough to qualify as its own set by my standards. That section alone has space for all the hero (and cat) figures of the set, with one chair left open for figures from other sets. The two containers stacked on the van open, like many other Monkie Kid builds, to provide a practical space that lends itself to play and storytelling. With the area for ping-pong games, cooking, and even storing Mei’s hover vehicle. The villain's vehicle is cute, but rather outmatched; personally I find that it is a better compliment to MK’s tuk-tuk from Red Son’s Inferno Truck (set 80011).

The figures are a fairly lucrative line up, with versions Sandy, Mo, and Pigsy, all of which were exclusive to three different sets prior to the release of this set. The Sandy, making his third appearance in figure form, has a fantastic amount of detailing and stands out from any other figures in the set. Mo has a fresh look that adds a good deal of charm to the set, plus provides Sandy with his loyal companion. Pigsy isn’t that impressive, but the amount of torso detailing leaves him looking very battle ready. Mei is, I believe, the exact same figure that came with several of Monkie Kid’s Revenge of the Spider Queen sets, and I personally would have preferred to get the more modern Mei variant from Evil Macaque’s Mech (set 80033) or Mei’s Dragon Car (set 80031). The MK, as per usual, has a fantastic amount of detailing, but other than his head piece is the same figure as what has been in the past 2 waves of Monkie Kid sets.

On a whole this is an impressive and fun set worth acquiring whenever or if ever the opportunity presents itself.

QUICK OVERVIEW

Theme: Monkie Kid™

Set Name: Monkie Kid's Team Van

Set Number: 80038

# of Pieces: 1406

Released: 2022

Degree of Difficulty: Hard

Mini-Figures: Sandy, Pigsy, Mei, MK, Rumble, and Savage

Specialty Pieces/Elements: Samadhi fire ring, map element, MK headphones, Mo the cat, gold shoulder armor, orange mohawk, monkey tails, metallic shoulder pads

Link to Lego site: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/monkie-kid-s-team-van-80038