Monkie Kid is a LEGO theme that was released in 2020. It is a spin-off of the well-known Chinese novel, Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en.
The series first premiered with Monkie Kid: A Hero is Born on May 29, 2020 in China, before eventually getting its full English release on June 13, 2020. The series was then renewed for two more seasons ahead of the premiere of the first season[5].
The second season premiered on March 27th, 2021 and the third season premiered on April 17, 2022. The series was also renewed for a fourth season, which premiered in March 3, 2023. Season five premiered on June 28. 2024.
The series was initially broadcasted on TV3 in Malaysia, and was eventually released in other territories a year later. The series can be watched on various streaming services.
Official descriptions[]
LEGO.com descriptionThe tale begins when an ordinary boy, Monkie Kid, finds Monkey King’s legendary staff, and he becomes the chosen one. Together with his brave and loyal friends, Monkie Kid begins his quest to stop the Demon Bull King and his army of Bull Clones from taking over the city. LEGO® Monkie Kid™ – A New Legend Is BornA long time ago, the great Monkey King ruled and protected the land. Until one day, the Demon Bull King attacked and tried to destroy everything in his path. But the Monkey King was clever. He used his magical staff to trap the demon inside the Flower Fruit Mountain, forever. And the world has been safe to this day. But when fate leads MK, a noodle delivery boy, to find the Monkey King’s long-forgotten staff, his life spins into an epic adventure he could never have imagined. A new legend is born.[6] HappyKids/LEGO Channel descriptionBased on the centuries-old Chinese legends of The Monkey King and The Journey to the West, Monkie Kid creates a world of traditional heroes.[7] Kabillion descriptionLego Monkie Kid is an exciting new show that follows the adventures of a young teenager, MK, as he comes into terms of his mission to save the world. With a clever and witty writing style, the show is sure to keep you entertained from beginning to end.[8] Max descriptionInspired by great Chinese mythology and literature, LEGO Monkie Kid is a fun and fast paced show about creativity, teamwork, friendship and discovering the true power that rests within us all.[9] TVNZ descriptionTeenage hero MK and his friends must save their city from the Demon Bull King, in the LEGO adventure inspired by classic Chinese stories.[10] 9Go! descriptionInspired by the classic Chinese story Journey to the West, the series follows the adventures of a young teenager, MK, as he comes into terms of his mission to save the world.[11] |
History[]
Monkie Kid was conceived in 2018 in the LEGO Shanghai Hub by a group of concept designers. The show was created to tap into the Chinese market and to create a unique twist into the popular Journey to the West story.[12]
In May 2018, Simon Lucas was asked by The LEGO Group to create a theme that celebrated Chinese culture. While LEGO had an audience in China and had previously released Chinese New Year sets, this was the first time the company had considered an entire product line based on a Chinese theme. He gathered a small team of concept designers, including Xiaodong Wen, Dennis Fong, and Alex Boudon. They traveled to China to meet up with their colleagues in the LEGO Shanghai Hub.[13] There, they decided between different Chinese legends, that the Monkey King from Journey to the West resonated well with all of China. Lucas then suggested they create the next chapter of Monkey King, which was a challenge the group accepted.[12]
The sets and show were being created by an international team of select people from the United States, Denmark and China. Starting in 2019, the team had six months to design the sets and story before being shown in a consumer test. Jeremy Adams was then brought onto the team to study the culture and write for the show. Flying Bark Productions was chosen for handling the storyboards and animation after LEGO was shown several studio pitches.[14] After Neville Lin and Star Zhu disapproved the first animatic of the pilot episode, Xiaodong was promoted as producer of the series and brought into the team to help revise the overall story.[12]
Once the sets were finished by the deadline, consumer tests with Chinese children needed to be proven successful. The tests passed and Monkie Kid was prepared for launch on May 15th 2020, with the series eventually premiering in China on May 30th.
The series first premiered in English in Malaysia, before making its debut in the United States on Amazon Kids+ and Prime Video. Season 2 would appear next year on Prime Video, with Season 3 later becoming available on Kabillion[15].
Later in time, Season 3 and the early premiere of Season 4 in the original English version would appear on platforms owned by Future Today Inc., such as HappyKids.
Due to several economic factors involving the previous animation studio Flying Bark Productions, Season 5 onward will be produced and animated by WildBrain Studios.[16][17]
Episodes[]
Sets[]
Comics[]
Opening sequence[]
Cast[]
Names in other languages[]
Language | Name | Translation, etymology, and notes |
---|---|---|
Arabic | مونكي كيد | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Bulgarian | Монки Кид | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Cantonese | 悟空小俠 | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Hebrew | לגו מונקי קיד | Translates to Lego Monkey Kid. |
Japanese | レゴ モンキーキッド | Translates to LEGO Monkie Kid. |
Korean | 몽키키드 | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Mandarin (China) |
悟空小侠 | Translates to Monkie Kid. |
Mandarin (Taiwan) |
悟空小俠 | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Persian | پسر میمونی | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Russian | Манки Кид[18] | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Serbian | Manki Kid | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Thai | เจ้าหนูวานร | Translates to Monkey Kid. |
Vietnamese | Tiểu Hầu Vương | Translates to Little Monkey King. |
Trivia[]

- The original logo for Monkie Kid, which was released December of 2019 on Justia Trademarks, has the word "monkey" spelled the correct way, instead of the current "monkie".[19]
- According to Jeremy Adams, Monkie Kid isn't a direct representation to Journey to the West, as it would give the characters and plot more development for the show, and help people learn more about the Chinese novel.
- This explains why most of the characters from Journey to the West have their names and/or history altered in the show.[20]
- Simon Lucas elaborated in an interview that in their tests, they discovered children loved the idea of telling the next chapter of the legend they were already familiar with, but they were more interested in it being set in the distant future, not the past.[21]
- When asked if there would be a Monkie Kid game in the future, Simon Lucas said he would like to see that.[22]
- Twelve brand new LEGO elements were designed for Monkie Kid's initial wave.[23]
- "Here comes Monkie Kid" is used as the LEGO Group wanted a slogan similar to Ninjago's "Nin-ja-go!"[12]
- In "A LEGO Journey to the East" LEGO group designer, Bebe Wang compared the action of Monkie Kid to She-ra and He-man, and the transformation aspect to Ultraman. Concept artist Xin Chen, compared the transformation of the Monkey Mech to Sailor Moon's transformation sequence.[12]
- Several animation studios sent in pitches to work on Monkie Kid, some of which were even CGI.[24]
- The series is often released in the Chinese Mandarin dub first due to LEGO's main target market for the IP being in China. Despite this, the show's original language is English.[27]
- Majority of the voice actors record their lines together in the same studio. During the Covid-19 pandemic, lines were recorded over Zoom together.[28]
- The voice cast is unionized. [29]
- The show's artstyle slightly changed between "Monkie Kid: A Hero is Born" and "Revenge of the Spider Queen", with the characters being generally rounder and their eye-highlights being larger and more centered. Some changes are more specific to each character, such as Mei's highlights becoming thicker and Monkey King's pupils changing from white to pale yellow.
- This change is reflected in the characters model-sheets as well.
- The series' audio is recorded at NYAV Post.
- There are sound effects from the Journey to the West (1986) present in Monkie Kid.[30]
- The show's soundtrack is composed by The D.A's Office. Traditional instruments were recorded and given a contemporary twist.[31]
- The font style used for the show's title cards and credits is Tournedos, created by David Kerkhoff.
- Majority of vehicles in the series are CGI and designed by Ned Rogers.
References[]
- ↑ Flying Bark Productions' Twitter
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ SHOWS | Kabillion
- ↑ LEGO Monkie Kid Comes To Amazon Kids+
- ↑ Flying Bark Productions to produce two news seasons of LEGO’s Monkie Kid
- ↑ LEGO® Monkie Kid™ | Themes | LEGO.com Kids - LEGO.com US. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023.
- ↑ HappyKids description
- ↑ Kabillion description
- ↑ HBO Max Description
- ↑ TVNZ description
- ↑ 9Go! description
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 A LEGO Journey to the East
- ↑ 纵哥 (2020-05-31). 乐高悟空小侠系列动画《英雄出世》正式发布!看乐高如何讲好中国故事! (Article). -《悟空小侠》专访内容 -. MOCOZONE. “In May 2018 I was given a brief from The LEGO Group – could I create a LEGO IP universe and Play theme that celebrates Chinese culture. The first thing I did was assemble a very small team of concept designers including Xiaodong Wen, Dennis Fong and Alex Boudon. We traveled to China to collaborate with our LEGO colleagues in our Shanghai Hub where we started to explore the idea of creating a theme based on Chinese legends.”
- ↑ LEGO Monkie Kid / with Jack De Sena & Villads Spangsberg
- ↑ Monkie Kid Promo
- ↑ Barkel, Christian (2024-05-10). Thank you Monkie Kid fandom! #lmk #monkiekid (Post). Twitter.
- ↑ Harper, Sarah (2024-05-10). Sarah's Letter to MK Fans (Post). Twitter.
- ↑ "Monkie Kid" Cartoon Network SEE Promo (Russian)
- ↑ Justia Trademarks "Monkey" Kid 2019-12-26
- ↑ Adams, Jeremy (May 16, 2021). It is not a direct 1:1 representation to JTW by design. It gives us more freedom with stories and characters and hopefully points people to search and experience JTW themselves (Reply). Twitter. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022.
- ↑ 纵哥 (2020-05-31). 乐高悟空小侠系列动画《英雄出世》正式发布!看乐高如何讲好中国故事! (Article). -《悟空小侠》专访内容 -. MOCOZONE. “What we discovered was that children were incredibly inspired by the idea of telling the next chapter in the 500-year-old legend and setting it in the distant future and not the past.”
- ↑ 纵哥 (2020-05-31). 乐高悟空小侠系列动画《英雄出世》正式发布!看乐高如何讲好中国故事! (Article). -《悟空小侠》专访内容 -. MOCOZONE. “I can’t comment on whether or not we will be making a game right now, but I can definitely see great potential! I would love to battle demons as The Monkie Kid in a video game!”
- ↑ LEGO Monkie Kid Theme Fun Facts – BQ50I on The Brothers Brick
- ↑ LEGO Monkie Kid / with Jack De Sena & Villads Spangsberg (Timestamp 6:33)
- ↑ Brickjitzu-Cast: LEGO Monkie Kid Behind the Scenes (Timestamp 6:33)
- ↑ Flying Bark Productions on assembling LEGO Monkie Kid’s animated series "Monkie Kid never had an extensive development period, really. At least on the Flying Bark’s side. After the initial test we did back in December 2018, we essentially went into production a few months later."
- ↑ Sheh, Stephanie (2022-03-20). I just wanted to say cuz I see this posted over and over again. #MonkieKid is recorded FIRST in ENGLISH. We are not the dub, all other languages are dub. I know the ENGLISH version sometimes comes out later, but we record it FIRST. Please watch it on @PrimeVideo (Tweet). Twitter.
- ↑ WATCH PARTY - Lego Monkie Kid with the voice of Red Son (Timestamp 1:03:44)
- ↑ Sheh, Stephanie (September 23, 2022). We cast Emi Lo from TX as Chang’E in Lego Monkie Kid a union original animation show. (Reply). Twitter.
- ↑ 纵哥 (2020-05-31). 乐高悟空小侠系列动画《英雄出世》正式发布!看乐高如何讲好中国故事! (Article). -《悟空小侠》专访内容 -. MOCOZONE. “We have actually been able to use some sound effects from the 1986 TV series in The Monkie Kid animated series – its great to set the reaction of people who grew up with the show when they hear those familiar sounds.”
- ↑ The DA's Office (2021-03-18). Monkie Kid is @lego‘s take on a new, untold chapter of the legendary ancient tale of The Monkey King and Journey to the West. To capture the epic sound of this centuries-old Chinese tale, we recorded traditional instruments including erhu, dizi, bawu, guzheng and lion drums and then gave our compositions a contemporary spin by mixing them with elements of future bass. The first episode of this sensational animated series by the brilliant @flyingbarkproductions has officially dropped in Australia! Check out Monkie Kid on @channel9 NOW. (Post). Instagram.
- ↑ Niblock, Logan (2021-03-19). Monkie Kid crew shirts arrived! Monke got that drip!! 🐒🐉 #MonkieKid (Tweet). Twitter.
- ↑ Blum, Steve (2023-03-06). Whooohooo! Just happened to be wearing this today! (Reply). Twitter.
- ↑ Yoshioka, Aya (2024-07-18). Monkie Kid Season 5 Crew Shirt (Tweet). Twitter.