While browsing the web in search of more information about LEGO BrickHeadz, one day I came across information about the LEGO Monkie Kid - Tencent Promo set. Some fans maintain that it’s the rarest BrickHeadz set, even rarer than Nonnie Inside Tour 2017. What is this set, and is it really the hardest to get of all BrickHeadz?
There’s practically no information about this set. Or maybe there is, but not in the English-language part of the Internet, and I don’t know Chinese, so searching content in that language is very troublesome.
source: facebook.com
What may be most surprising are the rumours about how many of these sets were actually made. Depending on the source, I found information that there are 3, 8 or 11 of them. The number 3 comes from the fact that LEGO’s Chinese branch organised a competition in which exactly three such sets were up for grabs. Lars Conrad also spread the information on his Instagram (details below) that only three sets exist (and he owns one). A member of one of the BrickHeadz groups on facebook.com, Paul Stein, maintains in a comment on my post that there were two competitions, one with 3 sets to give away and the other with 5, which gives a minimum of 8 sets in total. What’s more, like Lars, he owns one of these sets and knows for sure that several others exist. However you count it, everything points to this really being the rarest BrickHeadz set.
But is it really BrickHeadz? Looking at the blurry photos, you can’t help getting the impression that the resemblance to our favourite series is striking. You could speculate for a long time and opinions will be divided, so it’s best to go to the source, which is LEGO itself.
That’s what the previously mentioned Lars Conrad did, and he’s certainly keenly interested in being sure that he owns the complete BrickHeadz collection. On Instagram, under a photo of his collection, a comment appeared from none other than Paul Stein (even before he himself had more information about this set) saying that Lars was missing the Monkie Kid - Tencent Promo set. In reply, Lars posted a long comment saying that yes, such a set exists, but it’s definitely not BrickHeadz. Lars had asked the BrickHeadz “boss” himself, Marcos Bessa, and he stated that the set in question is definitely not BrickHeadz. Marcos added that the figures don’t follow their BrickHeadz design guidelines. Lars relies on this information and points out that since Macros himself says so, there’s not the slightest doubt as to whether the Monkie Kid set is part of the series. What’s more, Lars adds that the BrickHeadz logo doesn’t appear anywhere in the whole set.
Does that convince you? Well, officially it isn’t BrickHeadz. At the same time, it’s the only LEGO-branded set that doesn’t carry the BrickHeadz logo and yet keeps a striking resemblance to the figures from this series (update 2023-01-20: today we already know that there are also other such sets). If I had to choose between it and, for example, Nonnie Inside Tour 2017, I’d certainly choose the latter, but I won’t hide that I’d most like to have both in my collection. Either way, we can justify ourselves with the official information: Nonnie continuously holds first place among the rarest BrickHeadz figures.
I don’t know the official LEGO number of this set. Until now I thought every set without exception had its own number, yet none of the information or photos I found reveal it.
Update 2023-01-20
Today I came across additional information about this set that I’d like to share with you. According to what you can read here, the set was released on 20 April 2021. The site suggests that only three sets are available, all based on information about one draw in which that many sets were given away. There’s still no confirmation in the materials I found that at least one more draw took place. We also have a user of Chinese TikTok (over there it’s called Douyin) with the nickname ming666 mentioned, who owns one of these sets.
I also came across official announcements of this set, and on weibo.com (something like Chinese Twitter) there’s talk of a draw of three sets among users who were to follow the LEGO and Tencent profiles and also repost the original message about the draw. The previously mentioned user ming666, in a comment on the photos he posted, says that the set came into his hands precisely through a lucky draw. So I think this finally settles the discussion about how the set could be obtained: it was an ordinary draw, and the “competition” in some sources is probably a translation mistake.
What’s especially interesting is that even though this set is such a rarity, on 30 October 2022 it was sold on eBay for just under $700. I’m not saying that’s little, but personally I’d have expected a higher amount for something so unique.
Below is the official graphic promoting the whole event:
Finally, I’ll leave you two links that further describe or refer to those events and the set in question:
1. Tencent’s announcement of the set, I can’t describe it any better because the translator copes exceptionally poorly with translating this content
2. Announcement of the draw results
