Lego Review -- Arctic Ice Crawler (60033)

Set: 60033

Pieces: 113

Theme: City (Arctic sub-theme)

RRP: $20AUD

Build Time: 30 min



THE BACKGROUND

I've really taken a shine to Arctic sub-theme that came out last year. All of its sets are worth owning, and while it's territory Lego has covered in years past, it's been more than a decade since the last Arctic sets, and I think it's now being covered in much better fashion. Today I look at one of the smaller sets in the series, which I received as a Secret Santa late last year (thanks TK!) -- the Arctic Ice Crawler. 

THE MINIFIGURE

The Arctic male minifigs appear to use a generic body, with only the face different from figure to figure. They don't appear to have individual names, so feel free to make up your own. This guy has a green visor, a slight smile and stubble on his face, so I suppose Professor Green should be as good a name as any.

Professor Green comes with two accessories -- an icepick and circular saw. Obviously, he can also use the crane, the ice block and the mysterious crystal too.

THE BUILD

The build is quite simple, but it's still very entertaining. The little details, like the rear-view mirrors, the radar and the down-facing lights on top of the cab are all a lot of fun, really enhancing what could have just been a basic block on tank treads.

The set has a great, chunky feel, somewhat akin to a Tonka trunk. This beast looks like it would definitely be able to stand up to the demands of Arctic terrain, crawling across the snowy plains in search of great treasure, lying deep beneath the ground.

As might be expected, the crane is one of the set's best features. It's not quite articulated enough to pick the ice block straight up and dump it on the back of the truck, but it's close enough to fudge it. The hook doesn't hold the ice block particularly tightly, but this the same across the board for all the Arctic sets that feature a hook. Play carefully!   

Just a side note -- though the truck cab has doors, the minifigure is actually most easily slotted in by removing the roof. You could probably fit two figures in the cab, but I don't think you'd be able to get them clicked in together. The interior makes it primarily a solo vehicle, though I'm sure ambitious customisers could kit it out to seat more.

OVERALL

The Arctic Ice Crawler is a great addition to the Arctic subtheme. It's available at a good pricepoint, and it's also entirely possible to use it as an "army builder" of sorts -- there's no reason why your Arctic expedition couldn't make use of several of these vehicles. So if you've been hesitating, I'd say you should definitely take the plunge.


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Lego City – Arctic Snowmobile (60032)

Assembly time: 15-20 minutes

Pieces: 44

Year: 2014

Theme: City

RRP: $9AUD

THE BACKGROUND

City is Lego’s widest spanning theme, covering situations that run the gamut from the mundane to the borderline fantastic, all presented in the unique Lego fashion.  But I’ve never bought much from the theme – in recent years, only a Creator Treehouse that could pass as part of the City series. My interests always tended more towards things like Castle and Pirates, rather than the real world. Nonetheless, City is Lego’s best-selling theme, and the sets are consistently well-designed and of high quality, even if they’re not usually my cup of tea.

But I may soon be changing my tune, thanks to the recent release of the Arctic sub-theme of City. Not only does it combine the extreme cold and science – Lego have accidentally recreated Jon Carpenter’s version of The Thing in block form!  

THE MINIFIGURE

The minifigures for this range don’t appear to have been given distinct names – most City stuff is just a blank slate for kids (or adults) to project whatever they want onto. So this is just a guy— presumably some kind of scientist – who’s working out in the middle of the Arctic to dig up and study these crystals from the ice. The blue and orange colour scheme is really appealing, in spite of also being shockingly ugly – the bright colours would certainly make sense in the blinding white snow of the Arctic. His hood and pants are blue, and his jacket and sunglasses are bright orange (complete with reflective sheen!). Lots of little details are printed on him, including carabiners on his pants and a smaller version of the Arctic logo on the snowmobile on the back.     

He comes with two accessories for himself – his pickaxe and walkie-talkie – and two accessories that aren’t specifically his, but fairly important to the set – the ice block and the mysterious crystal. All of the items are pieces we’ve seen before across different sets – the crystal has been Kryptonite, CHI Energy, and an evil wizard’s artefact in the past, just to name a couple of things. But the coolest reuse is the way a simple recolour has changed the rocks from the Mining subset of City into big chunks of ice. Hooray for clever parts reuse!  

THE BUILD

This build won’t challenge you, but it yields a pretty cool result. The orange of the kit gives it an almost Tonka truck-style look – it’s toy-ish enough to grab the kids, while still looking convincing enough to pass as a "real" vehicle. Front and centre on the bonnet is the Arctic logo, which too me looks like a modified version of the Ice Planet 2002 logo, from all the way back in 1993.

Not being a snowmobile expert, I can’t offer too many points on realism, but it certainly looks about right. And though it’s intended for this Arctic theme, there’s no real reason you couldn’t incorporate into some kind of snow vacation-themed City display. Hopefully we'll see a recolour for such a thing in the future.   

It also features a small, similarly-coloured sled for hauling the ice block, which can also be detached if you prefer. One does have to wonder how this guy manages to move the ice block onto the sled by himself though…

OVERALL

I love Arctic-themed stuff, and was a huge fan of the Ice Planet 2002 stuff as a kid, so this theme grabbed me as soon as I first heard about it, earlier this year. The Snowmobile is a great kit, though the self-contained nature of this Arctic subtheme means that you’re probably going to need to invest in more than one set to create an effective display.  Fortunately, all of the Arctic sets look pretty darn good. It’s the first theme in a long time where I’ve wanted to own every set, though I will probably just restrict myself to the base camp for the aforementioned The Thing re-enactments and possibly the massive helicrane. It depends how good Santa is to me this year, I suspect!  



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