[LEGO Review] 80024 – The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain

“Epic Waterfall.”

First of all, a big thank you to LEGO for sending us this awesome set for review. I suppose everyone (at least in Asia) is aware of the Journey to the West tales. This set depicts the Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain where the Monkey King was born from a stone that absorbed the power of the Sun and Moon. This iconic mountain is priced at €169.99 with a part count of 1949 pieces. Let’s see what’s inside this set.

The box is pretty huge with the Monkie Kid banner at the top. The background is very peaceful looking with clouds and mountains. The one thing that catches my eye is actually the flying crane in the picture which I will further elaborate in this review.
I’m pretty sure this serene and idyllic scene of a mountain range with waterfalls and mist with cranes flying across is influenced from standard landscapes in many Chinese paintings. I attach one digital print found on Amazon below.

The back of the box shows us the playability of the set and the back of the mountain which I think its pretty sparse but provides ample space for play.  There are six vertical scrolls (red stickers on pearl gold 1×4 tiles) placed at 6 areas of the mountain which describe the 6 different compartments or story scenes set at the mountain. Parts of the mountain can also be interchanged(modular) and you can make different configurations of the mountains to fit your display space or aesthetics.

The side of the box shows us the 1:1 Baby Monkey King minifigure which emphasises that the set depicts the origin story of the Monkey King.

Sticker sheet. These are well printed stickers but my suggestion is for LEGO  to at least give us the story titles printed on the golden tiles. Okay, rant aside, the waterfall and vine stickers really added a lot of detail and life to the set.

I have taken the liberty to enlarge the stickers for each story at the side of the review pictures.

Each of six mountain compartments comes with a golden 1×4 tile where we apply the stickers with traditional Chinese words as the title. The first story 【仙石化靈猴】This translates into “fairy rock turns into a monkey” which refers to the baby monkey king here. This part looks like a high mountain with clouds and a cracked rock on top of it. This is the exact rock that gave birth to the Monkey King according to the legend. There is a simple mechanism to ‘crack’ the rock open.

Second title 【嬉遊花果山】”Happily roaming around the Flower Fruit Mountain” Here, the mountain is ‘illustrated’ (using LEGO bricks) like a little playground for brother (the bottom monkey) and sister monkey (the one with the red apple). The bottom of the mountain is also decorated with a nice cloud build and the top is decorated with a nice overhanging branch of an apple tree.

The stairs here is my favourite build in this set as it is using only the 6285244 Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Ladder attached on with a clip at the bottom and then placed diagonally onto the main build.

The third build will be the core of the mountain which is beautifully designed! 【勇闖水簾洞】translates to “Bravely rushing into the cave inside the waterfall” with the literal translation describing the waterfall as a water curtain in front of a cave. The base comprises of blue plates as a water pond under the waterfall and a mechanism to open up the water curtain to reveal the cave inside. Push down the middle rock and the two sides will separate smoothly.

At the 2nd level of the waterfall, there is a rock “engraved” with the name of the flower fruit mountain in Chinese 【花果山福地，水簾洞洞天】Both 6299884 Panel 3 x 4 x 6 Curved Top and 6290571 Windscreen 6 x 2 x 2 with Bar Handle in Satin Trans Light Blue applied with stickers looked so beautiful.

The 6316325 wave Rounded Swirls with Pin (Cloud / Wind Gusts) are also placed at both sides of this part of the mountain as great aesthetic additions.

The back part of the waterfall is shown above. It is quite vacant to let u place some monkeys to play inside. There is a winding stair in sand green at the first level of the mountain to let you gain access to the second level. The trunks of the trees here are mostly attached with ball joint for more flexible ‘posing’ of the leaves.

This crane truly looks like a MOC using table scraps. I love the crane build especially the 6326748 Minifigure, Utensil Posing Stand, Bar with Hollow Stud as the connector of the wings to the body. This part first appeared as the trans clear posing stand for the DC Comics Collectible Minifigures. This light bluish grey 6326748 version also comes in set col21-7 Beekeeper, Series 21 as the nozzle of the spray. I believe the versatility of the part will make a lot of mini/micro builds possible. In Chinese tradition, cranes represent health and longevity.

The fourth part of the story 【雲遊求仙道】translated as “Wandering around the path to become a god”. Here we can see the apprentice Monkey King on his raft. I think this is actually a place for the apprentice Monkey King to do his training before he becomes the real Monkey King. There is a little woodcutting play feature here.

The raft is a simple elegant build with a 6294551 Tile, Modified 2 x 3 Pentagonal (Metallic Gold) and stickers depicting a tattered and repaired flag/sail on the raft.

The fifth part of the story. 【真假美猴王】translates as “The real and fake Monkey King”. Here I think the Evil Macaque comes to the mountain pretending to be the Monkey King for a fight with the Monkie Kid. The platforms are attached to 6238331 Plate, Round 4 x 4 with 10 Gear Teeth / Flower Petals and 6328186 Plate, Round 2 x 2 with 6 Gear Teeth / Flower Petals so that we can make them fight by turning those gears at the back of the mountain to spin them around.

The final part of the mountain. 【覓得金箍棒】This translates as “Found the Golden Rod” as the main weapon of the Monkey King. Here we can see he is on his throne back in his home after he finishes his training and becomes the Battle armoured Monkey King. The additional banner【齊天大聖】is directly translated as Monkey King by google translate but it actually means that the Monkey King is on par with the sky/heavens. If you zoom in to the mini waterfall you can see the tail of a green dragon. I don’t know what that signifies exactly but maybe its Mei hiding in the waterfall to help Monkie Kid in his battle?

There is a mini pagoda build at the back of the build here. 6224825 Minifigure, Weapon Sword Hilt with Dragon Head in Pearl Gold as the decoration of the roof and 6338499 which is a new part act as the roof of the pagoda. I like how LEGO put special little details at the back of the build.

Fight, Monkie Kid, I gave you my power not to watch you just standing there. Haha.

Haha (Evil grin)..

The final majestic, legendary and iconic build of the Flower Fruit Mountain! They are all connected to each other with Technic pins. All six parts combine and imagine displaying it on your shelf. Perfect!

The minifigures adds much life to the mountain. I can’t take my eyes off of it.

A different view of the mountain. The waterfall is so eye-catching.

Minifigures

Brother Monkey. There are two types of tails for these monkeys throughout the set. One is the long one 6341808 (the tail in this picture) Minifigure, Costume Tail Cat and the other is 6342023 which is a new part with flat type of tail which we will see below. I believe this brother monkey likes to eat as he has a facial expression of his tongue licking his lips.

Sister Monkey. Here you can notice there are pink prints on her cheeks to determine that she is a female monkey. She also comes with two facial expressions.

Baby Monkey King. This is the monkey king that sleeps inside the rock absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon and finally break out from the rock. Here we have his sleeping expression and I suppose the other one is him yawning. However I’m thinking if the heart shaped fur on his chest is intentional or not, perhaps there’s a legend of that somewhere in the numerous Monkey King stories. Here he comes with the new type of flat tail which is coded 6342023.

Monkey King. I suppose this one is in his teenage era where he is quite easily agitated. The prints are very nice as the side of the legs also printed. Here he is holding a peach which is printed (well done LEGO). I love the colour scheme of yellow red and black here.

Apprentice Monkey King. I think at this age, he is ready to learn his magical tricks which makes him powerful at the end of the training. We see him dressed like a student holding an oar. He also has two Facal expressions one look determined in chopping the wood with one canine tooth showing and the other surprised look with his mouth wide opened. I like the sand blue outfit.

Monkie Kid. Our main character in the animated series. Exclusivity aside, he is a very nicely done minifigure with very vibrant orange jacket with a Chinese word ‘SKY’ at the back. Here he has already inherited the golden hoop on his head which according to legend helps to control the mischievous nature of this “beast”

Battle Monkey King. He is now well equipped with his golden chest plate and red cape along with his 44740 Red Minifigure, Plume Ribbon / Tassel / Streamer. He comes with a battle face and a happy face. The torso and legs prints are excellent! I really love the metallic gold 6294553 Minifigure, Weapon Hilt Smooth Extended.

Finally the Evil Macaque. Macaque is actually a medium-sized, chiefly forest-dwelling Old World monkey which has a long face and cheek pouches for holding food. They are quite aggressive when provoked. Here he is evil and has the evil laughing face and a ‘my evil plan is brewing’ face. The torso chain mail and the legs are very nicely printed too! He has the grey and black version of the stick so I think he has the ability to change his appearance to impersonate the real monkey king.

Happy Family! Spot the imposter. (Hint : the one on the left is from Collectible Minifigures Series 19 and not from the set)

Here I include a simple review of the Monkey King, Series 19 code col19-4. It looks as though this CMF was created for this mountain set. His golden plated armour is magnificently printed and the arms are dual molded with red and gold. I am “so” putting him inside the mountain as well. Haha

Comparatively, we can see both are great minifigures but each with their own special essence. The old CMF version has dual molded arms, golden head band, and a more 3D tail. However the latest version comes with metallic gold staff and pauldrons and more detailed/opulent leg prints. I love them both!

Verdict

I give this set a 5.0/5.0 score as the design of the mountain is so majestic and iconic. This set is priced at €169.99 with 1949 pieces and 8 minifigures. The minifigures are currently almost all exclusive to the set and when paired with the mountain, this set is a MUST HAVE! I really am falling in love with this mountain set and nothing can persuade me otherwise. It has to be in your LEGO display. Haha..

They are available in stores starting on the 1st day of March 2021!

This is Mr. Beast and I hope you enjoyed my review. Thank you!

The set used for the review was sent to us by The LEGO Group for the purpose of a review. Provision of sets do not in any way influence or guarantee a positive review.