City

Arctic Explorer Truck and Mobile Lab

A polar bear family steals a perfectly solid, slightly overpriced Arctic set.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 60378 · 2023

Pieces489

Minifigs4

Year2023

Set number60378

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

I went in expecting another generic snow truck and came out won over by the animals.

The mother polar bear and her two tiny cubs are genuinely the best thing LEGO has put in an Arctic set in years, and that alone makes this worth a look for animal collectors. The truck itself, with its tracked chassis, working plow, and little ski-mounted mobile lab, is a fun build with real play value, but at full retail it asks a lot for under an hour of building. Wait for a sale and this becomes an easy yes, buy it at full price and you'll feel the pinch.

Best for: collectors chasing LEGO animal figures and City fans who want a complete Arctic diorama

The full review

What it is

This is LEGO City's latest stab at the Arctic sub-theme, and it leads with a tracked exploration truck that tows a ski-mounted mobile laboratory across a snowy landscape, complete with a mysterious meteorite the crew has come to investigate. The moment that actually got me was unwrapping the polar bear family. LEGO has made adult polar bears before, but pairing the mother with two small cubs is new for this set, and they're printed and shaped with real care. I sat there rearranging them on the snow base longer than I probably should admit.

The catch

I'll be straight with you about the value math, though. At $74.99 for 489 pieces and well under an hour of building, this isn't a set that rewards patience the way bigger City builds do. Reviewers clocked it at roughly $1.72 per minute of build time against a City average closer to $1.15, and once you've built the truck's plow and crane a few times in other sets, the mechanisms here don't feel like anything new. The overall Arctic story, too, snowmobile plus lab plus explorers plus wildlife, is one LEGO has told a few times now, and this version doesn't stretch the formula much beyond the cubs.

Who it's for

If you collect LEGO animals or want a complete little Arctic scene with figures, a critter family, and a fun ski-lab centerpiece, this is a satisfying pickup, especially once it dips below retail. If you're chasing build time or looking for the theme's most innovative entry, I'd point you toward a bigger City set instead and let this one come to you on sale.

The parts story

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

Building this one moves fast. The tracked truck goes together in stages, chassis first, then the plow assembly up front, then the cab and crane arm, and the ski-mounted mobile lab is its own quick side build that clips onto the snow base. It's a build better suited to a rainy afternoon with a kid than a long solo session, since there just isn't a lot of ground to cover before you're posing minifigures in the snow.

The real value here is in the specialty pieces. The new polar bear cub mold, included as a pair, is the standout, alongside the returning adult polar bear figure. The meteorite piece uses trans-blue coloring with a hidden trans-green crystal tucked inside, a nice surprise detail for anyone who cracks it open. Four minifigures round things out, including a captain repurposed from the Arctic explorer ship, a photographer, and two scientists, each with distinct printing rather than reused faces, which helps the part count feel a bit more generous than the piece total alone suggests.

Fun facts

01The polar bear cubs included here were a new addition to LEGO's Arctic animal lineup, giving the mother bear her first on-screen litter in this sub-theme.
02The meteorite piece hides a trans-green crystal element inside its trans-blue shell, a small builder's surprise easy to miss on first glance.
03BrickEconomy has tracked the set's secondary market value climbing to around $125 sealed, up roughly 67 percent from its $74.99 launch price.
04The set was released August 1, 2023, and has since been flagged as retiring at several major retailers.