Monkie Kid

Iron Bull Tank

A blocky little war machine that plows through the fun without taking itself too seriously

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 80007 · 2020

Pieces430

Minifigs4

Year2020

Set number80007

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The verdict

This one won me over through its play features, not its looks.

The tank itself is boxy and sticker heavy, but the cattle guard, the rotating turret, and especially that oil barrel release mechanism are the kind of thing you keep triggering just to watch it work. Add in Sandy as an honestly impressive bigfig and this becomes a set I'd hand to a kid who wants to smash things together, not one I'd put on a shelf to admire. If you're chasing pure display value, look elsewhere in the Monkie Kid line. If you want a toy that plays as good as it looks basic, this earns its keep.

Best for: kids and parents who want an actual play set, not a shelf piece

The full review

What it is

I went into this expecting another forgettable licensed vehicle and came out actually enjoying myself. The Iron Bull Tank is not a good looking set at first glance. It is boxy, dark, and leans on stickers to cover a front end that would otherwise be pretty flat. But once I got it moving, the appeal clicked. The minifigure cockpit lifts up and releases oil barrels rolling out the front, the cattle guard doubles as a battering ram, and the turret spins with a 6 stud rapid shooter on top. None of it is complicated engineering, but it is the kind of tactile, repeatable fun that makes a play set actually get played with.

The catch

The honest caveats are about looks and audience. This is not a set that photographs well next to the sleeker Monkie Kid vehicles, and the sticker sheet does a lot of heavy lifting on the front panel that I'd have rather seen printed or built from color blocking. At 430 pieces for around fifty dollars at original retail, the piece count is fair but not a steal, and there is very little here to challenge an experienced builder. This is a kid's toy first, and it knows it.

Who it's for

Get this one if you or your kid are already collecting Monkie Kid and want the villain side of the story, or if Sandy is a figure you've been missing from the lineup, since this is the cheapest way to get him. Skip it if you're building a display shelf of good looking vehicles or you want a build that will occupy an adult afternoon. This is a toy box set, and it delivers exactly what that promises.

The parts story

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

Building the tank itself is quick and straightforward, more about assembling functional mechanisms than working through clever techniques. The turret rotation and barrel release both use simple, sturdy connections that a younger builder can put together without much trouble, which fits the set's whole personality. Sandy the bigfig takes a bit more care since his frame has more going on than a standard minifig, but it's still an approachable build.

The standout piece is honestly Sandy himself. He's molded, not printed, across his orange mohawk, beard, and the beads around his neck, with only his eyes, eyebrows, and track pant stripes actually printed on. That's an unusual amount of tooling for a bigfig and it shows in how much personality he has on the shelf. The set also includes a black 8x5x2 windscreen piece that had only shown up before in the Steamboat Willie set, plus a pearl gold chakram blade that was still a new color for 2020 despite appearing in a few other sets that year. Small details, but the kind that make parts hunters take a second look at an otherwise plain looking box.

Fun facts

01This set is the cheapest way to add the Sandy bigfig to a collection, since he doesn't appear in any less expensive set
02Sandy's mohawk, beard, and neck beads are all molded plastic in their actual colors rather than printed, which is unusual for a bigfig this size
03The black windscreen piece included here had previously only appeared in 21317 Steamboat Willie
04Retired sets now sell for around 86 dollars sealed, up about 72 percent from the original 49.99 retail price