Monkie Kid

Monkie Kid's Team Van

A rolling clubhouse stuffed with secrets, and honestly one of the best value figs of its year.

Brick Rated Score

4.1/5

Set 80038 · 2022

Pieces1,406

Minifigs6

Year2022

Set number80038

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is the LEGO® set that finally made me get the whole Monkie Kid theme, and I resisted it for ages.

It's a chunky food truck that opens into a full team hangout, packed with more play functions than felt reasonable for the price. If you have a kid who invents stories, or you're a builder who loves fiddly mechanisms and rich Journey to the West detailing, this one earns its shelf. Collectors chasing sleek display models should look elsewhere.

Best for: story-driven kids and grown-up fans of the Monkey King mythology

The full review

What it is

I'll be straight with you, I passed on Monkie Kid for years because I couldn't tell where the theme ended and the toy aisle began. This set is what changed my mind. It's a big food truck that belongs to MK and his friends, and it opens up into basically a rolling clubhouse. The oceans of little functions are what got me. There's a button under one seat that flips out Pigsy's dumpling-shooting blaster, a back door that drops down into a ramp so Monkie Kid's go-kart can deploy, and two whole pods on the roof you can lift off and play with separately. Those pods hide a spring-loaded shooter, Mei's dragon-horse hovercraft, Pigsy's little kitchen, arcade cabinets, even a ping-pong table. It's the kind of set where you keep finding one more thing tucked into a corner.

The catch

Now the caveats, because there are a few real ones. This set loves stickers. Across 1,406 pieces that's a lot of careful placing, and if crooked stickers ruin your afternoon, know that going in. There's also a genuine design quirk that a few reviewers flagged and I noticed too: the cab doors and the kitchen door are set so far forward that you can't actually slot a minifigure through them, which is a funny thing to get wrong on a set built entirely around play. And the elephant in the room is that it retired in December 2023. The launch price was $129.99, which was fair for the piece count and the six figs, but the average resale price has drifted up past $150 and it's still climbing, so you're paying a retirement tax now.

Who it's for

Here's who I'd point toward it. If you've got a kid who narrates their own adventures, this is a treasure chest of set pieces, and it'll survive years of being knocked off a table. If you're an adult fan who loves the Journey to the West mythology and doesn't mind a busy, colorful build over a clean display piece, you'll grin the whole way through. The one crowd I'd steer away is the sleek-display collector who wants something to sit still and look elegant. This set is loud, playful, and a little chaotic, and that's exactly the point. It won me over slowly, and I don't think it'll be any cheaper next year.

The parts story

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

The build runs about 3-4 hours and it's paced nicely, because it's really several small builds stacked into one. You start with the chassis and cab, then work back through the box section with its big side doors and pull-out seating, then finish with the two rooftop pods that are almost mini-sets on their own. That structure keeps it from ever feeling like a slog, and the interior detailing (the kitchen, the arcade nook, the fold-out weapon rack that holds everyone's gear while they ride) gives you a steady drip of little payoff moments. It's a fiddly, mechanism-heavy build rather than a technique showcase, so expect a lot of small clips, hinges, and greebly interior work.

On parts, the headline is the minifigures. Six of them, and two (the near-identical Savage and Rumble monkeys) are exclusive to this set, plus Mo the cat as a bonus figure. Monkie Kid and Mei both have dual-printed faces, and the accessory haul is genuinely fun: MK's staff and a golden flaming toilet seat, Mei's dragon-hilt sword, Pigsy's red fork, Sandy's blaster, and a monkey with a saw. For everyday parts, the box gives you a big helping of useful bright-light-orange, medium-azure and dark-turquoise pieces that are handy for custom builders, plus a stack of hinge and clip elements. At 1,406 pieces and a $129.99 launch price it landed at a solid per-part value for its year, and the six figs are what really tip the value in your favor.

Fun facts

01The whole Monkie Kid line was developed over two years of collaboration with children and parents in China so the sets would feel authentic to local culture.
02The theme reimagines the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, casting the legendary Monkey King as a mentor and MK, a humble noodle delivery boy, as the new hero.
03The set carries a 4.3 out of 5 on Brickset, and the two rooftop pods are designed to lift straight off and be played with as standalone builds.
04It retired in December 2023 and has since gained roughly 17 percent in value, now trading around $150 on the secondary market.