City

Arctic Supply Plane

A cargo plane, a genuinely clever ice cutter, and a saber-toothed cat frozen in blue ice.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 60196 · 2018

Pieces707

Minifigs4

Year2018

Set number60196

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The verdict

This is one of those City sets where the headline model is the least interesting thing in the box.

The plane is fine, roomy and playable, but the ice cutter with its spinning saw blade and the frozen saber-toothed cat are what actually make it sing. If you have a kid who invents rescue missions or you just love the daft charm of prehistoric animals turning up in a modern City set, it delivers. Collectors chasing intricate engineering should look elsewhere.

Best for: families who want a big playable Arctic playset with a standout gimmick vehicle

The full review

What it is

I have a soft spot for the moment LEGO decided the modern Arctic explorers of City should be digging saber-toothed cats out of the permafrost, and this set leans right into it. The Arctic Supply Plane (60196) is a three-vehicle City playset from 2018 built around a chunky cargo plane, a brilliant little ice cutter, and a saber-toothed cat encased in a chunk of translucent blue ice. When I opened it up, my eyes went straight past the plane to that cutter, and honestly they stayed there. It is the kind of set that understands play first and looks second, and I respect that.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the caveats, because there are a few. The plane is the biggest model and also the plainest, a fairly boxy fuselage widened by a stud on each side to fit more cargo. It is functional and it flies around a living room floor perfectly well, but nobody is going to call it elegant. Then there is the price. At 79.99 dollars for 707 pieces, this was never a value darling, and the frozen ice block that looked so magical in the pictures turns out to be a handful of trans-light-blue panels and a rock piece that pops off. Clever for play, thin as a build. If you are the sort who counts pieces per dollar, this one will make you wince a little.

Who it's for

So who is it for. If you are buying for a child who narrates elaborate rescue and capture missions, this is a joy, because the ice cutter, the scooter, the plane and the released cat give a whole scene in one box. It is also a lovely pick if you collect the City Arctic subtheme or you just want that saber-toothed cat without hunting eBay. If you are an adult builder who wants dense, surprising engineering, or you already own the smaller Arctic sets and their near-identical ice gimmick, I would let this one go. It retired in early 2019 and now trades well above retail, so buy it to play, not as a bargain.

The parts story

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

Building this is a relaxed few-hour afternoon, the kind of City build that never fights you. The plane goes together in familiar plate-and-panel fashion with an opening rear cargo bay and ski landing gear, all straightforward. The ice cutter is where it gets fun, because you assemble the rotating cab and the articulated arm with its spinning saw blade and immediately want to test the mechanism. The ice block build is the quick bit, a small cage of translucent panels around the cat with a gap behind so a nudge pops the front rock piece off and frees the animal.

The headline part is the saber-toothed cat itself, a molded animal figure that debuted in the 2018 City Arctic wave in warm brown with printed stripes, and it is the single reason many people bought this set. The trans-light-blue panels that form the ice are genuinely useful in bulk for anyone building water, glass or crystal scenes later. Beyond that you get a nice haul of City accessories, a saw, two beacons, two cargo boxes, a radio, a laptop and a pair of snowshoes, plus four minifigures including a pilot, an expedition leader and a driver. It is a solid parts donor even if none of it is exotic.

Fun facts

01The saber-toothed cat was a brand new LEGO mold introduced in the summer 2018 City Arctic wave, alongside a woolly mammoth in the larger sets.
02This set retired in January 2019 after only about 18 months on shelves, and sealed copies now sell well above the original 79.99 dollar price.
03The same frozen saber-toothed cat and translucent ice gimmick also appeared in the smaller 60193 Arctic Air Transport, so the two sets share their signature trick.
04The rear of the fuselage was deliberately widened by one stud on each side purely so the plane could swallow the ice scooter and the cat's ice block as cargo.