LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout review

Expanding on an already impressive build, LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is another diamond in a never-rough range.

Despite the vast differences in environment and layout, 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is designed to combine with 80036 The City of Lanterns thanks to its modular sections. However, the massive LEGO Monkie Kid playset for 2023 is more than capable of standing on its own as a visually stunning, detail-filled and great-value experience – for the most part.

Treating the team to a new base of operations and reflecting character growth in the face of a new trio of villains, 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is worth considering, even for those not usually interested in LEGO Monkie Kid.

— LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout set details —

Theme: LEGO Monkie Kid Set name: 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout Release date: January 1, 2023

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Price: £89.99 / $139.99 / €99.99 Pieces: 1,582 Minifigures: 6

LEGO: Available now

— Where to buy LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout

80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is, like all LEGO Monkie Kid sets, available at LEGO.com since the theme’s distribution was scaled back. Times have changed though and you may be able to find this model in some physical LEGO stores too, as Brick Fanatics can report finding the theme’s biggest builds in flagship locations. To play it safe, we’d advise heading to LEGO.com for 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout in all regions.

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— LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout build —

Despite appearing to be one interconnected landscape of a village, mountain, temple and other decorations, 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is made up of individual models for the foundations and the various buildings and stalls. These are designed to separate and rearrange as you wish, moving the mountain to either side, placing the temple at the top of stairs and whatever else you desire, though the suggested arrangement on the box looks great without any changes.

One positive aspect of this separating feature is that 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is an extremely easy model to move, with little to no danger of any parts falling off, or being hard to balance as you carry it from one room to another. This huge LEGO Monkie Kid mountain excels in both form and function.

The village section is packed with references and details, though mostly relating to the set itself rather than the wider theme or even the history of the LEGO Group – those Easter eggs come a little later on. The modular sections here include Pigsy’s noodle shop, Mei’s blacksmith and another market stall.

Not all of them are equal in terms of both size and attention to detail, and it can be difficult to line up any of the segments to fit on the diagonal position, but once you’ve done so a few times you’ll spot a pattern. All of these sections serve to populate the village section, making it appear busy, but not unorganised when on display. Despite that, you’ll struggle to fit any more minifigures on the foundation than is provided in the set.

However, it stands on its own well enough too and only complements the mountain when placed next to it. The angled orientation of these two modules can be counteracted by removing the two angled plates on either side and not using the connecting well segment. This may make it easier to place on a thinner shelf, and is easy enough to do, though it’s not the intended design.

The mountain section is more impressive, at least from the rear. While the village’s interior section features the inside of Pigsy’s noodle shop with its own features and a fishmonger (with a glowing fishtail skeleton), the mountain serves as the team’s base of operations. Everything from launching the noodle delivery bike through the hidden bamboo doors to a working LEGO abacus can be found inside.

For LEGO Monkie Kid and general LEGO fans, this base is a treasure trove of references to appreciate. Some examples include the iconic wooden duck, a theory board with silhouettes of the three new villains and a miniature – and meta – LEGO Monkie Kid set. There’s room to pose minifigures in here for play and it’s all nicely contained behind the mountain’s shape for display purposes too. There’s evidently been a lot of thought put into the design of this section, as well as the entirety of 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout, and it shows.

There’s more to discover in 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout but we won’t spoil every surprise here. Rest assured the build is challenging but not difficult, detailed but not repetitive and contains a multitude of stickers to apply, so keep the included brick separator handy.

As for how it combines with 80036 The City of Lanterns, the two models have vastly different landscapes between the rising urban structure and the natural mountain layout. You may also need to remove some parts of modular sections before placing them on either set. The option to combine two of the biggest LEGO Monkie Kid sets is interesting, to say the least. Thankfully, this function doesn’t detract from the quality of the 2023 creation, instead building on an existing framework and improving both with this array of accessible options.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news: the attack modes of the various buildings in 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout ultimately don’t have any major effect on the appearance of the set when combined. It’s disappointing as it would have been interesting to see a more dramatic transformation of this huge set.

— LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout characters —

There are six minifigures included in 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout, some far more detailed than others and only a few of which are unique. It’s great to see (nearly) the entire team in relaxed clothing following the theme’s recent narrative, and it blends with the calm, natural creation well. It’s worth noting that the minifigures and the rest of the set reflect how the characters have grown over the first few years of LEGO Monkie Kid, with Mei being the most prominent example, now embracing the Samadhi Fire in her blacksmith’s forge.

None of these minifigures are must-haves, though Sandy’s updated form is currently exclusive to 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout, even accompanied by a miniature Mo. Once again, there’s a downside to this selection as Mr. Tang and Monkey King are excluded. Instead, both are limited only to the biggest LEGO Monkie Kid 2023 set, 80045 Monkey King Ultra Mech. Their exclusion doesn’t detract from the appearance of this model, however, and they’re likely only going to be missed by the theme’s biggest fans.

— LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout price —

While reviewing 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout we didn’t know exactly how much the 2023 set would retail for, but after building it, we determined that no more than £120 seemed fair. Since then, it has been officially revealed that 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout‘s RRP is only £89.99. That’s a phenomenal price for this creation, and based on that alone it’s worth considering adding it to your wish list.

However, while 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is only €99.99 in Europe, the US price of $139.99 simply isn’t worth it, at least not compared to 80036 The City of Lanterns for only $20 more. To put it simply, there’s just not enough volume to this creation to justify the comparable price point. While we recommend waiting for a sale in the US, readers in other regions should feel free to jump at the opportunity to pick up this set at an astounding RRP.

— LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout pictures —

— LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout pros and cons —

LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout combines great value (in most regions) with incredible display potential, has plenty of options to remix it during play and comes with an array of desirable minifigures to boot. We’d love to call this set a diamond in the rough among LEGO Monkie Kid’s massive playsets, but to be honest, they’ve all been amazing in their own way – and this one even complements 80036 The City of Lanterns. The fact that all five of the new golden weapons and their pieces are included is just the cherry on top.

80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout pros80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout cons
Incredible value for moneyTwo missing team members
Lots of LEGO and Monkie Kid references to appreciateCan be challenging to move modules given the necessary part removal and diagonal positioning for some
Combines with 80036 City of Lanterns, but isn’t reliant on it

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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— LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout FAQs —

How long does it take to build LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout?

We found that 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout took around three hours and 40 minutes to put together, but with it being split into multiple segments, that build time is easy to split apart across multiple evenings.

How many pieces are in LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout?

There are 1,582 pieces in 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout, which is just 200 shy of the more expensive 80045 Monkey King Ultra Mech for £30 less.

How big is LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout?

At 27cm high, 47cm wide and 20cm deep, 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout isn’t hard to fit on a shelf, but can be separated into sections if you’re having a challenging time.

How much does LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout cost?

LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout is only £89.99 / $139.99 / €99.99, with all but US fans able to enjoy this build at a fantastic price.

2 thoughts on “LEGO Monkie Kid 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout review

  • 15/12/2022 at 05:52
    Permalink

    How about combine with The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain?

    Reply
  • 14/12/2022 at 15:55
    Permalink

    Can you show pics of it combined with City of Lanterns?

    Reply

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