Elegoo made an emoji 3D printer for World Emoji Day (yes, really)

We’ve seen some strange corporate crossovers in our time, but a 3D printer teaming up with the emoji people is a new one, even for us. Somewhere in a boardroom, someone pitched “what if the printer itself was 😀” and everyone said yes. Weird? A little.

But the Elegoo x emoji Centauri Carbon 2 Combo for $429 (was $489) with code 717EMOJIDAY at checkout to celebrate World Emoji Day.

Don’t let the glow-up fool you. This is a genuinely excellent multicolor 3D printer that smashed our workshop tests, only now it’s wearing a silver-and-clear costume covered in grinning faces. In the UK, the emoji-themed Centauri Carbon 2 is now £378 (was £415), too.

Strip away the emoji branding and this is mechanically the same machine as the standard black Centauri Carbon 2 Combo, which we reviewed and rated 4.5 out of 5. We called it “one of the cheapest and most reliable multifilament printers on the market”, praising the Canvass system’s four-filament setup as genuinely easy to use.

In our testing, dimensional accuracy stood out as a particular strength, with tight tolerances across a range of test targets and clean color separation on multicolor prints — an area where cheaper multifilament machines often struggle with bleed between colors. The fully enclosed chamber and 350°C nozzle also mean this isn’t limited to basic PLA; it handles engineering filaments like ABS, ASA, PC, and nylon, which is unusual at this price point.

Image 1 of 4

The emoji edition itself is purely cosmetic on top of that foundation: the silver-and-clear look, emoji decals across the chassis and build plate, and the bundled 17-color emoji PLA set are the only differences from the standard Combo. If the novelty aesthetic doesn’t appeal, the regular black version is typically the cheaper option — but if you’ve got kids (or a desk that could use some personality), the tie-in isn’t just a gimmick slapped on top of a bad product.

A couple of honest caveats carried over from the standard model: filament reels sit exposed on the outside of the machine rather than in a dry box, so humidity and temperature swings in a garage or workshop can affect print quality more than on pricier enclosed systems. Multicolor prints also still produce some purge waste as the Canvas system swaps filaments between colors, which is standard for this class of printer but worth planning for if you’re printing frequently.

Whether you’re in it for the genuinely capable multicolor 3D printer underneath or the sheer novelty of a printer plastered in 😂 faces, $429 / £378 with code 717EMOJIDAY is a good price for either.