Monkie Kid

Yellow Tusk Elephant

A brick-built elephant with a mech folded inside it, and yes, the trunk waggles.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 80043 · 2023

Pieces851

Minifigs5

Year2023

Set number80043

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The verdict

This is one of those Monkie Kid sets that sounds ridiculous on paper and then completely wins you over on the table.

You build a chunky, poseable elephant, and tucked inside its body is a whole little mech that unfolds, which is the kind of hidden-feature engineering I always fall for. It is sticker-heavy and the legs get repetitive, so it is not a relaxing evening build. But if you or a kid in your life loves the show, or you just want a genuinely playable big creature, it delivers.

Best for: Monkie Kid fans and anyone who loves a big poseable creature with hidden play features

The full review

What it is

The Yellow Tusk Elephant is the big season-four villain build from the Monkie Kid line, and the first time I got the finished model standing on its four legs I actually laughed out loud. It is a chunky, brick-built elephant with a spiked wooden platform and throne up top, a movable trunk, shooting functions, and a carriage cage trailing behind for the captured Pigsy. The whole thing reads as bulky and imposing in exactly the way a story villain should, and it is genuinely fun to pick up and march around. What got me most, though, is the secret folded inside its body. There is a whole mech tucked into the elephant that unfolds out, and that little bit of hidden engineering is the reason I would recommend this over a lot of flatter creature builds.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the parts of this build that test your patience. The trunk and the four legs are repetitive, the kind of section you build once and then repeat while your mind wanders. It is also a sticker-heavy set, and a few of the stickers are the sort that need slow hands and good light to line up cleanly, so budget some calm time for those. The trunk is the other honest caveat. It stays floppy at the joints and settles into one resting position rather than holding whatever pose you bend it into, which took me a beat to make peace with until I found the trunk-waggle feature. At around 80 dollars for 851 pieces plus five figures, the value is fair rather than remarkable, and the theme is niche enough that this only makes sense if you actually like Monkie Kid.

Who it's for

So who should get this. If you or a young builder in your house watches the show, this is an easy yes, because it is the only place to get the Yellow Tusk Elephant character and it is packed with play features. If you love big poseable animals and creature builds with hidden gimmicks, you will get a real kick out of the folding mech. If you are chasing a calm, elegant display piece or you have no connection to the theme, I would point you elsewhere, because the stickers and the repetitive legs will feel like work rather than joy. For its intended audience, though, it is a lively, characterful set that plays as well as it looks.

The parts story

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

Building this is a playful, quick-moving experience more than a technical marathon. It comes together in around an hour and a half, and most of that time is spent giving the elephant its bulk. The legs and trunk are the repetitive stretches, but the payoff sections, the head with its waggle mechanism and the mech that folds into the body, keep things interesting. A Technic L-beam sits just behind each ear, and pushing it wiggles the trunk, which is a small mechanical delight that makes the floppy trunk design suddenly make sense.

The headline piece is a completely new mould: the minifig neckwear elephant ears, trunk and tusks, here in white, worn by the exclusive Yellow Tusk Elephant character and found in no other set. That alone makes the box interesting to parts collectors. Beyond it, the set leans on printed and stickered detail rather than rare recolors, and the five minifigures carry a lot of the value, with Mei in new power-up armour, a captured Pigsy, two ink enemies and the elephant villain himself. For roughly 80 dollars you get 851 pieces and a genuinely playable creature, so the part-count value is reasonable rather than a steal.

Fun facts

01The Yellow Tusk Elephant minifigure actually rides a smaller upright elephant mech that then slots into the back of the big elephant, a build within a build.
02The set is the only place to find the new white elephant ears, trunk and tusks element, worn as minifig neckwear.
03It debuted in January 2023 and retired around December 2024 after a roughly two-year shelf life, and its resale value has crept up since.
04The elephant is drawn straight from season four of the Monkie Kid TV show, where it appears as an iconic villain.