City

Jungle Explorer Helicopter at Base Camp

The gorillas are the whole reason to buy this, and honestly, they are worth it.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 60437 · 2024

Pieces881

Minifigs5

Year2024

Set number60437

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The verdict

I went in expecting a fairly standard City helicopter and came out completely charmed by three gorillas.

This is the biggest set in the 2024 Jungle Explorer wave, and the twin-rotor cargo chopper is a genuinely satisfying build with a working winch and two cargo bays. At its old $99.99 price it asked a lot for a City set, but if you want those brand-new gorilla molds and a jungle scene your kid will actually play with for hours, it earns its keep.

Best for: animal-loving families and City fans who want the new gorilla molds in one box

The full review

What it is

This is the flagship of LEGO's 2024 Jungle Explorer wave, and the thing that got me was not the helicopter at all, it was the gorillas. There are three of them, two adults and a baby, all in brand-new molds, and they are the most expressive animal figures City has put out in ages. They pose, they sit, and their left hand has a built-in clip so they can actually grip the little new fruit piece that comes in the box. Around them you build a twin-rotor cargo helicopter, a jungle base camp, a motorcycle, and a swamp airboat, with five explorer minifigures to run the whole operation. As a scene it hangs together beautifully. Your kid gets a rescue chopper, a river boat, wild animals, and a camp to defend, which is basically an entire afternoon of play packed into one box.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the price, because that is where this set gets complicated. At its original $99.99 RRP, you are paying a premium for a City set that leans more on play features and figures than on raw brick count. The 881 pieces build a satisfying helicopter, but a lot of them are small functional elements rather than big showpiece parts, so the model does not feel as dense on the shelf as the number suggests. The swamp airboat is also a bit of a retread. If you have owned a City airboat before, this is largely the same design wearing jungle colors. One or two buyers even flagged the odd quality hiccup, including a widely shared story of a gorilla turning up with two right arms, though LEGO customer service replaces parts like that without much fuss.

Who it's for

So who lands well here. If you have an animal-obsessed kid, or you are an adult builder who wants those new gorilla molds without hunting them down piece by piece on the aftermarket, this is the easiest way to get all three in one shot. It is also a strong play set, genuinely built to be swooshed and crashed and rebuilt. If you are chasing display density or clever engineering for its own sake, though, I would think twice, because this is a toy first and a model second. It is due to retire around the end of 2025, so if the gorillas are calling to you, do not wait too long.

The parts story

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

Building this feels light and quick in the best way. The helicopter is the meat of it, and the twin-rotor mechanism is the highlight, since both rotors spin in sync off one gear and it clicks together more cleverly than you expect from a City set. The winch actually works, the two cargo bays open and hold gear, and the fuselage comes together fast enough that a solid eight-year-old can manage big chunks solo. The base camp, motorcycle, and airboat are quick side builds that break up the pace, so you never get bogged down in one repetitive section. It is not a challenging build for an adult, but it is a genuinely pleasant one.

The real story is in the figures. The two adult gorillas and the baby all use brand-new molds, and they are the reason parts fans care about this set, alongside the tiger and red panda that debuted elsewhere in the same wave. That clip-hand on the gorillas is the clever touch, letting them hold the new printed fruit element or other bars. Beyond the animals you get a spider, a proper explorer accessory kit (map, medic bag, binoculars, camera), and the jungle-green recolors that tie the whole 2024 line together. It is not a set you buy for exotic connections or rare printed panels, but those animal molds alone make the box worth opening.

Fun facts

01This is the largest set in LEGO's 2024 Jungle Explorer sub-theme at 881 pieces, with the helicopter as the wave's centerpiece.
02The set introduced brand-new gorilla molds, an adult and a baby, whose left hands include a built-in clip so they can grip a new fruit piece.
03It shipped in May 2024 at a $99.99 RRP and is scheduled to retire around the end of 2025.
04Alongside five minifigures and three gorillas, the box also hides a small spider figure among the jungle accessories.