Ben Davies (@ProfBrickkeeper) talks to the animals, and dinghy, in LEGO® City 60307 Wildlife Rescue Camp. Don't forget Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend starts 26 November 2021! Please consider following New Elementary's affiliate links; we may earn a commission. LEGO.com USA | LEGO.com Australia | LEGO.com UK (for Europe, 'Change region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
Released earlier this year, the LEGO® City Wildlife Rescue subtheme caught the interest of many for its location shift to the African savanna, and the animals it introduced. The largest of the sets, 60307 Wildlife Rescue Camp provides a nice distillation of the subtheme, featuring many of the most interesting new elements in a single set.
New Moulds and Textiles in LEGO City 60307
For many, the highlight of the Wildlife Rescue subtheme is the assortment of new moulded animals it introduces. In addition to these animals, a new rubber raft design and tent textile have also been introduced.
Elephant
Perhaps the most hotly anticipated animal in the set is the elephant, which appears 18 years after the last buildable LEGO elephant.
The previous LEGO elephant only ever appeared in two LEGO Orient Expedition sets in 2003, and has since become highly sought after. Placing the old and new LEGO elephants side-by-side, it becomes apparent just how much The LEGO Group’s design language has changed.
Like its predecessor, the new elephant is composed of several smaller elements including two new moulds for the body and head.
The Elephant Head (6341542 | 77999) features a Technic pin hole for attaching the trunk via a Technic pin. It is flanked by holes that accept a 3.18mm bar connection, allowing for tusks to be added. Along the back of the head, a ratcheting Technic pin is found.
The most significant departure from the 2003 Orient Expedition elephant is the Elephant Body (6340167 | 77071), which features a streamlined design and has been simplified into a single static element. A ratchet socket can be used to connect the head and eight studs are featured along the top.
Lion
Somewhat surprisingly, despite lions appearing as a frequent motif in LEGO sets, the Wildlife Rescue sets mark the first appearance of a moulded Lion with Mane (77589) outside of LEGO DUPLO.
The body and poseable back legs of the lion are both borrowed from the large cat assembly which first appeared in 2017. The head, however, is new and manages to incorporate a large mane without interfering with posing of the head.
The lion appears in White with Brick Yellow mane (6353540) in 60307 Wildlife Rescue Camp and in Brick Yellow with reddish Brown mane (6340155) in 60301 Wildlife Rescue Off-Roader.
Lion Cub
In addition to the adult Lion with Mane, a Lion Cub mould (77307) has been introduced. It appears in both White (6341536 | 77994) and Brick Yellow (6343841 | 78319) in 60307 Wildlife Rescue Camp.
Monkey
A new dual-moulded Monkey (77864) also appears throughout the Wildlife Rescue subtheme. It’s much more detailed than previous LEGO monkeys, featuring multiple colours and a printed face.
A Brick Yellow and Dark Bluish Grey (6341535 | 77993) version of the monkey appears in 60307 Wildlife Rescue Camp, and a Sand Yellow and Light Nougat (6343797 | 78313) version appears in 30570 Wildlife Rescue Hovercraft, 60300 Wildlife Rescue ATV and 60302 Wildlife Rescue Operation.
Rubber Boat
In addition to several animals, 60307 Wildlife Rescue Camp features the debut of an updated Boat / Rubber Raft / Dinghy 6 x 12 (6346268 | 78611) mould after 24 years.
Several differences exist between the new (red, on right) and old (yellow, left – Design ID 75977) mould. Almost all hollow studs along the ring of the raft have been replaced with solid studs, two additional studs have been added to the row at the back, and the stud along the bow has been moved forward by a half-stud. Additionally, the centre of the boat has been hollowed out on either side to create a 4 x 6 array of studs, and the rim of the boat has been adjusted to fit with bricks in the 1 x half bow family (including 37352 and 10314).
The new raft features a reinforced bottom, additional antistuds beneath the bow, and measures two bricks high-- one plate higher than the old raft. The bar connections along the rim have also been removed.
Tent
Lastly, a new textile Tent with Four Corner Holes (6349797 | 78945) has been introduced. It measures approximately 8 X 12 studs, and has four corner holes which are designed to accommodate bar connections.
Printed Elements
Aside from those appearing on the moulds discussed above, seven new decorations have been introduced.
The most notable decorated element is Animal, Bird, Eagle with Red Head Print (6359047 | 79792). For this, a vulture print has been applied to the eagle mould (37543) that first appeared in 2018 set 60202 People Pack - Outdoor Adventures.
The only other non-minifigure printed element is Slope Curved 2 x 2 x 2/3 with Vet Logo with Paw Print (6343799 | 78315). This element also appears in 30570 Wildlife Rescue Hovercraft, 60300 Wildlife Rescue ATV, and 60301 Wildlife Rescue Off-Roader.
The five remaining elements are all associated with Wildlife Rescue minifigures. These printed elements are:
- 1x Torso Medical Scrubs, Dark Turquoise Pocket and Collar, Stethoscope Print, Light Aqua Arms, Dark Turquoise Hands (6352891 | 76382) (Also in 60302 Wildlife Rescue Operation.)
- 2x Torso Shirt, Dark Blue Vest with Pockets and White Stripe Print, Tan Arms, Yellow Hands (6350639 | 76382) (Also in 30570 Wildlife Rescue Hovercraft, 60301 Wildlife Rescue Off-Roader, and 60302 Wildlife Rescue Operation.)
- 1x Torso Jacket with Pockets and White Stripe, Open over Tan Undershirt Print, Blue Arms, Dark Bluish Gray Hands (6349516 | 76382) (Also in 60300 Wildlife Rescue ATV, and 60302 Wildlife Rescue Operation.)
- 3x Legs and Hips with Front Pockets Print (6343796 | 78312) (Also in 30570 Wildlife Rescue Hovercraft, 60300 Wildlife Rescue ATV, 60301 Wildlife Rescue Off-Roader, and 60302 Wildlife Rescue Operation.)
- 1x Torso Shirt, Blue Vest with Pouches and Dark Blue Straps and Belt Print, Dark Tan Arms, Dark Bluish Gray Hands (6352892 | 76382) (Also in 60302 Wildlife Rescue Operation.)
Recoloured Elements
With a significant portion of the design budget presumably spent on moulds, only five new recolours appear in 60307 Wildlife Rescue Camp. Those are:
- 3x Plate Rounded Corners 8 x 8 in Medium Nougat (6350709 | 65140)
- 1x Slope Curved 5 x 8 x 2/3 with No Studs on Top in Dark Azur (6350710 | 71771)
- 1x Brick Special 8 x 16 with Six Recessed Edges with 1 x 4 Studs and Recessed Center with 2 x 4 Studs in Dark Azur (6346349 | 71772) (Also in 60302 Wildlife Rescue Operation.)
- 1x Minifig Helmet Dirt Bike in New Dark Red (6345944 | 35458) (Also in 60300 Wildlife Rescue ATV, and 60301 Wildlife Rescue Off-Roader)
- 1x Animal Body Part, Horn / Mammoth Trunk in Medium Stone Grey (6346331 | 37297)
Rare Elements
A selection of rare elements are also found scattered across the set. In no particular order, they are:
- 2x Slope 33° 2 x 4 Double in Dark Stone Grey (6189120 | 3299) (Also in 71363 Desert Pokey.)
- 1x Tile Special 2 x 3 Pentagonal in Brick Yellow (6245271 | 35341) (Also in Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate.)
- 1x Animal, Big Cat, Leopard with Brown Eyes Print in Brick Yellow (6287660 | 65996) (Also in 60267 Safari Off-Roader.)
- 1x Tile 1 x 2 with Groove and Peanut Package print in New Dark Red (6313414 | 69211) (Also in 75547 Minion Pilot in Training, 21324 123 Sesame Street.)
- 6x Plate Special 2 x 4 with Groove and Two Center Studs (Jumper) in White (6315024 | 65509) (Also in 21329 Fender Stratocaster, 80107 Spring Lantern Festival)
- 1x Minifig Hair Tail High, Curly in Black (6318218 | 69857) (New for 2021, also in 76154 Deviant Ambush!, 76156 Rise of the Domo.)
- 1x Plate Special 4 x 4 with Studs on Edges and Clips Horizontal in Black (6310190 | 66252) (New in 2021, also in 10278 Police Station.)
- 2x Plate Special 1 x 2 with Clip Vertical on End in Black (6350725 | 78256) (New in 2021.)
- 1x Bar 2L with Stop in Center in Dark Stone Grey (6350724 | 78258) (New in 2021.)
Finished Model
The set is composed of several distinct sections. Three of the sections are landscaping while the remaining four are vehicles. As the set is aimed towards the 6+ age group there are no groundbreaking techniques in the construction process.
Four vehicles are found in the set, including a mobile research lab, floating dinghy, ultralight, and motorbike.
The remaining three sections of the set are all landscaping. The largest of the three prominently features a camp for the Wildlife Rescue team, featuring a crane and lookup separated by a river running between them. The second-largest section features a tree with a vulture nest and lion cave, and the smallest section features a rock formation with a fire play-feature.
The finished model is geared primarily towards play rather than display. The centre of focus is the animals and it is evident that they received much of the focus during set development. The landscape and vehicles are all sufficient in the context of the set, but on their own are rather lacklustre. Despite this, the set may still be worth picking up if you are looking for an economic way to quickly build up your collection of LEGO wildlife.
READ MORE: We speak to the developer of the 11x11 Technic ring from LEGO Friends sets
Editor: Chris Baginski
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Good review!
ReplyDeleteI love the look of the new animals. The new elephant is less articulated than the one from Orient Expedition, but it also looks a lot better (no longer making do with old dinosaur molds. The lions are also long overdue.
When the new dinghy first showed up in pictures it instantly piqued my interest. The new version seems a lot more user-friendly in a lot of ways—there's more room inside to build onto, there's more anti-studs on the bottom, the studs on the edge are no longer offset by half a module, and the loss of the bars along either side makes the whole thing an even six-studs wide (much nicer if you want to have it slide into or out of a vehicle or something). I also expect this new version to be cheaper, given that it no longer needs to be preassembled from multiple components. Aesthetically, the sharp corners in the expanded interior are a little odd-looking but if you're not using the expanded space for anything else, that can be easily remedied by using the recent 1x2 curved slope brick.
I wondered why TLG calls the bird element 'eagle' instead of 'vulture', so I did a bit of research on the old Googles. I think the print designer has been looking at the 'bateleur' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bateleur), an African type of eagle.
ReplyDeleteDon't they call it "Eagle" because when that mold it was first introduced it was as a bald Eagle? So Eagle refers to the mold shape, then "vulture" to the decoration applied?
Delete@jimmythefly: The product description also calls it an eagle. As Erik mentioned, it closely resembles a Bateleur (an iconic African eagle species) rather than a vulture.
DeleteCan you comment on the float-ability of the new raft?
ReplyDeleteI know a local 5 year old for whom this is a key performance characteristic.
The old one did pretty good, especially if you cap the open hollow studs to help keep water out of the inside.
Lego's product description calls it a floating dinghy, so I'm fairly sure sure the new raft piece floats.
DeleteThanks you're totally right! It doesn't look like it has any hollow spaces, I wonder if it's made of a less dense plastic, or just relies on trapped air underneath?
Delete