Monkie Kid

Monkey King Ultra Mech

A gold-armored giant with real presence, if you can forgive stiff legs.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 80045 · 2023

Pieces1,715

Minifigs6

Year2023

Set number80045

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The verdict

This one is all about the gold.

It's a big, proud, shelf-commanding mech that looks like it stepped straight out of the Monkie Kid show, and it comes packed with six minifigures including the Monkey King himself. The catch is that it's more display piece than poseable action figure, so if you want a mech that struts around the tabletop, you'll feel the stiff legs pretty fast. Fans of the theme and anyone who just wants a striking gold robot on the shelf will be very happy here.

Best for: Monkie Kid fans who want a big gold display mech and a strong minifig lineup

The full review

What it is

Let's talk about that gold, because it's the whole personality of this LEGO® set. The Monkey King Ultra Mech is a 1,715-piece giant that takes the old 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech and gives it a full glow-up, swapping the theme's usual bright yellow for warm gold armor plating. It stands over 15 inches tall and about 10 inches wide with its arms down, and when it's finished it has a real character of its own, distinct from the mech it's based on. This is actually the first Monkie Kid set that's a straight revamp of an earlier one, and honestly the redesign earns it. The colors are gorgeous, the head sculpt is expressive, and there's a light-brick Golden Sight feature tucked inside so the eyes can glow. For anyone who follows the show or just loves a big dramatic robot, it hits the mark on looks.

The catch

There are a couple of things you deserve to hear straight. The biggest one is playability. For a mech this size and this heroic-looking, the leg articulation is disappointingly limited, so it doesn't run, crouch, or strike poses nearly as well as its silhouette promises. Reviewers were pretty consistent on this: if it could fully move and pose like a lot of other LEGO mechs, it'd be an easy winner, but it mostly wants to stand there and look impressive. The weapons-to-jet transformation is the other soft spot. It's a fun idea on paper, but in practice it leaves something to be desired and feels more gimmick than genuine feature. And you should know going in that there's a chunky sticker sheet, 34 stickers across 18 designs, doing a fair amount of the surface detailing, which not everyone loves at this price. Speaking of price, it launched at $159.99 (or 119.99 pounds), which the Brickset reviewer felt was fair for what you get, though on the secondary market values have actually dipped rather than climbed.

Who it's for

So who ends up happy with this one? If you're into the Monkie Kid theme, or you just want a bold gold mech that owns a shelf, this is a really satisfying pick, and the six-minifigure lineup sweetens the deal a lot. If you're buying it hoping for a fully articulated, poseable action mech you can play out battles with, temper that expectation, because the stiff legs will let you down. Think of it as a display model with a great cast attached rather than a toy that moves, and you'll get exactly what you came for. It's set to retire around mid to late 2026, so it's not urgent, but it also won't be around forever.

The parts story

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

The build breaks down into the sections you'd expect from a mech: legs and feet first, then the bulky torso and core, then the arms, and finally the head with its light-brick eye feature. The torso is where most of the interest lives, with layered gold armor plates going on over a hidden internal frame. There's a nice bit of parts logic here: the bright yellow bricks that usually define the Monkie Kid look have been demoted to the internal structure, with gold pieces taking over everything you actually see. It's a smart, tidy way to hit the color scheme. The pacing is steady rather than thrilling, and the legs in particular are more about bulk than clever engineering, which is part of why they end up so stiff. The staff and transforming weapons round things out at the end.

On parts, gold is the headline. There's a generous helping of gold armor and curved elements, including some curved pieces exclusive to this set among the January Monkie Kid releases, which makes it a decent gold-parts donor if you build your own creations. The light brick that powers the Golden Sight is the standout functional piece, and the Monkey King's staff has been redone with golden ends and accurate little swirls. Printed detail is a mixed story: the Monkey King has his circlet printed right onto his head, which is lovely, but a lot of the mech's surface graphics come from that 34-sticker sheet rather than printing. At roughly 1,715 pieces for $159.99, the part-count value is fair without being a steal, and the real draw is the color palette plus six minifigures rather than raw piece math.

Fun facts

01This is the first Monkie Kid set to be a full revamp of an earlier model, rebuilding 2020's 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech with new gold armor and updated functions.
02The whole theme reimagines the classic 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, with the Monkey King based on Sun Wukong and Mr. Tang based on the monk Tang Sanzang.
03The set hides a light brick inside the head to power the Monkey King's glowing Golden Sight, and Monkie Kid's minifigure wears a red headband echoing the Monkey King's circlet.
04Instead of the theme's usual bright yellow, the visible armor is molded in gold while the yellow bricks were relegated to the mech's internal skeleton.