LEGO Animals of the Arctic: A Safari to the North Pole
/All aboard the Polar Express (or should that be Orient Express!?) to see some creatures we might discover on a journey to the North Pole! So get your hot chocolate and binoculars ready because we’re about to see all the LEGO animals of the Arctic.
Polar Bears
Naturally we have to start with the biggest, baddest predator on the ice, the Polar Bear. They are also the LEGO creature in today’s article with the largest number of versions.
First up, the Duplo family. Three each of adults and cubs at least; the earliest adult and cub arrived in 1990 and the latest started life in 2009 but has most recently shown up in the 2022 Wild Animals of the World set (10975-1).
The range, unsurprisingly, exhibits lots of characteristics that are typical for many Duplo creatures that have appeared across an extended timeline—we have the ‘change-in-eye-decoration-without-change-in-mould’; the ‘cub-on-a-2x2-coloured-tile’; the ‘moveable-head’ and the ‘fixed-head’ and the ‘change-in-Duplo-back-stud-shape’ varieties.
Regular readers may remember my particular love of the Duplo Educational & Dacta mosaics, and again they do not disappoint with this beautiful representation of a Polar Bear family as part of set 1079-1 Animal Mosaic Puzzle Wild Animals.
There are System-scaled Polar Bears too, ranging from the slightly naive/blocky 2000-2001 edition to the updated 2014-present version—which was also joined by a cub in 2023.
Naturally, there are some less obvious examples too, pictured below:
The original Duplo cub has a version (bb0822) without the 2x2-coloured-tile base.
The recent Duplo brick-built Bath Time Fun range includes this adorable entrant complete with cute decoration.
Belville inevitably brings this completely stud-and-anti-stud-less version (simply known on BrickLink as ‘bear’) to the party. This last one appears in only one set, 2002’s ‘The Royal Crystal Palace’ (5850-1) from the surprisingly long-lasting FairyTale sub-theme of 1999-2007. (Belville set instructions are always worth a look for some lighthearted-fun and this set is no exception.) Thankfully, ‘bear’ unlike their doll counterparts, is not involved with building their own set, but they do seem to be required to carry some of the luggage!)
All-in-all quite a lot of variety for one single creature!
Narwhal
49518c01pb01
An amazing and unusual Arctic creature, the Narwhal (49518c01pb01) briefly found its home in the Friends’ 2019 Rescue Mission sub-theme. The following year it also made an appearance as a keychain/bag charm, and there was also a DOTS bag tag rendition in 2021.
A more realistic version would be amazing, but there is no denying the cute appeal of these versions, and I’m honestly just glad that the real-life unicorn gets a look-in!
Arctic Hare
The Arctic Hare changes from their winter white to summer brown, so we can happily include LEGO’s only hare mould to date. Shown here in both their summer brown coat (67900pb01) from 2022 and in their original Patronus glitter trans light blue form (67900) from 2020. Like all the other Patronuses we’ve had to date, this one only makes one appearance alongside Luna’s otter in the ‘Hogwarts Room of Requirement’ set (75966-1).
Snowy Owl
Somewhat staying with a bit of a Harry Potter theme, our next creature is the Snowy Owl. There are a lot of LEGO owls, so I’m going to concentrate on white ones for this seasonal article.
The first to appear is Owl, Rounded Features (40232) in four Harry Potter sets in 2001 which actually was before licensed minifigures changed from yellow to skin tones. We then get the Owl, Angular Features in 2009 in the Games theme and again in the second installment (set 10216 in 2010) of the Creator Expert Winter Village Collection. In both instances, white was the first production colour this mould produced.
Next up is 92084pb03, whose BrickLink name moves from the very simple version of the previous ones to the much more descriptive and detailed versions, specifying the decoration on the element. This element arrived in 2010, is specified as Hedwig in its name, and is a licensed part. It has continued to be in each batch of Harry Potter sets released since its inception; the most recent being 76423-1 Hogwarts’ Express & Hogsmeade Station in 2023.
Finally in the traditional system style we have another version of Hedwig (67632pb01) with sperad wings. This version had six appearances in 2020 but has not been seen since.
2015 saw the release of the first ‘Elves/Friends’ style owl (21333pb01) which appeared in its named home of the Elves theme as the incarnation of Nascha. It was in the big set of the first wave, Skyra’s Mysterious Sky Castle (41078-1).
Although several other owls were in the Elves theme, this was the only white one. The mould/colour combination was not used again until 2021 when it (21333pb056) appeared in the Magical Caravan (41688-1) Friends set. Again, this has been the only use of this specific mould/colour/decoration combination.
And finally, a third variation of decoration of this mould/colour combination (21333pb06) appeared in another Friends set, Newsroom Van (41749-1), this time in 2023.
Orca
bb1319pb01c02
One of my favourite creatures, the Orca, has recently joined the ranks of first-time-in-system-scale, asppearing as bb1319pb01c02 in 2023, as part of the City, Arctic theme from that year.
Previous they have only been produced in Duplo scale. The 1995 Duplo Zoo theme gave us both an adult (6434adult) and a baby (6434pb01) in their natural colours (whereas Duplo’s 2002 Explore Together theme (set 3609-1) figured we needed a trans-light-blue version (42027) which they also, confusingly, couldn’t decide was actually an Orca, or a dolphin). Hey ho, so went the early 2000s!
Seal
We have almost as many seals as we do Polar Bears, but then again LEGO seal moulds are not really species-specific, so we’re being generous here. As with many creatures, seals first appear at Duplo scale. First up is the pure black seal 2263pb02 from all the way back in 1990. They were joined in 1995 by this rather beautifully decorated light grey seal 2263pb01.
2009 saw the addition of a seal with more detailed paws and a slightly strange-shaped nose (98210pb01). They were part of the Duplo Zoo theme and their nose can fit into an anti-stud. We might not think performing animals are quite so ok nowadays, but it’s still a connection point that most Duplo creatures lack.
More recently, we have had several Elves/Friends style seals in both natural and fun colorways. bb0682pb01 first showed up in 2014 in reddish brown in the sixth wave of the Friends Animal series, 41047-1. The sand blue version arrived in 2017 in the Heartlake Surf Shop (41315-1).
This year, 2023, has seen the first system-scale seal—and we’ve been spoiled with a baby (3399pb01) as well as an adult (3380pb01)! So far they’ve only appeared in one set (60376-1), but I’m hopeful they’ll further infiltrate the LEGOverse alongside the otters, orcas and other creatures that have been making their way into city sets in recent years.
Series 3 (Summer) of the Friends’ Play Cubes (Mia’s cube 41413-1) from 2020, gave us another version of the Elves/Friends style seal (bb0682pb02). As with all these cubes, the same mould/decoration was blind-packed in four colours randomly across the batch. This series sported a rather pretty set of colours including coral, which had debuted the previous year.
Inflseal
And, you know me by now, I’ll always find a suitably weird thing to show you. Alongside the inflatable turtle I discovered in my recent ‘Turtley Unexpected’ article, there is also an inflatable seal! What do you mean you can’t tell? Honestly, it’s a seal!
Husky
The Husky has been part of the LEGO kennel since 2014 when the original version (16606pb001) came as part of that year’s LEGO City Arctic theme. The dark orange version (16606pb002) joined the pack in one 2019 Jurassic World, Legend of Isla Nublar set 75935-1 and then again in a 2022 LEGO City Police set 60355-1. Back to the original colours, but this time with blue eyes 16606pb003, has only made one appearance as a companion to the Snow Guardian collectible minifigure in Series 22 from 2022. And finally, 16606pb004, which is not listed in any sets according to BrickLink but may have been a BAM exclusive.
Reindeer
60436pb01
It wouldn’t be the North Pole without reindeer! Our first moulded reindeer is Frozen’s Sven (reindeerpb01) who arrived in 2016. He came back again in 2019 when he was joined by a reindeer fawn (60436pb01).
Our only other moulded reindeer comes in two versions. It first appears in glitter trans light blue (51493c01) as Harry’s Patronus in set 75945-1. Translated to a solid medium nougat with dark brown antlers, 51493c01pb01 arrived in 2020’s Elf Club House 10275-1 and then again in 2022’s Santa’s Sleigh 40499-1.
“But what about the penguins!?” you say? Well, those only live down south in Antarctic regions so they’d really be out of place in an Arctic round-up, now wouldn’t they? So that concludes our North Pole roundup; please tip your guides and Happy Holidays to all!
Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published December 19, 2023.
Which is your favourite of the creatures covered here? Are there any Arctic creatures you’d like to see LEGO produce?
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