Sabre-Toothed Cat (Arctic Air Transport by LEGO City)

“Good day to you all, fellow prehistory lovers! Yes, it is I, Dr. Bella Bricking, along with my always faithful associate, Beth Buildit. And as you can clearly see, we are once again dressed for an epic adventure in the coldest regions of the globe!”

“Yeah, that’s right, folks, an epic adventure taking place on the exact same desk in the exact same basement as always, and in the middle of summer, no less. Huzzah!”

“Remember what I taught you, Beth: immerse yourself in the role. Our mission today is to review yet another set from LEGO’s 2018 City line: Arctic Air Transport!”

“Ohhh, only 277 pieces? That’s waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down from last time! Good, because my hands are still smarting from that job!”

“Then let us begin unpacking and building, my dear Beth!”

“Well, here’s the reason we’re allowed to appear on the DTB today, Doc: a sabre-toothed cat! It measures 8 cm long and is coloured light brown with medium brown stripes and nose, light green eyes, and white teeth. It’s posed in a walking stance with its left front paw raised and features two studs on its back. The head can raise and lower and the jointed hips allow it to rear up on two legs! Great for attacking or fighting!”

“My goodness, that is indeed an impressive feature for a LEGO animal figure, Beth! The huge canines and angry eyes further add to this cat’s fearsome appearance! However, as a distinguished paleontologist, I am perplexed by the fact that this figure combines what is most likely a Smilodon’s head with a rather long tail. As you are no doubt aware, Beth, Smilodon possessed a short tail much like that of a lynx or a bobcat. And while other machairodonts such as Machairodus itself did possess longer tails, none of them boasted canines as proportionally large as the one on this figure!”

“Well, that’s what happens when you reuse pieces, Doc, which we both know is LEGO’s style. This cat’s head is definitely unique, but the body is the same as that of LEGO’s tiger, lion, leopard, and puma–which are all the exact same except for the colours! Anyway, I doubt that many kids and AFOLs are super disappointed, as it’s still a pretty nifty figure. Here you go, boy!”

“Yes, I must concur with you on that point, Beth. And for certain it goes well with the woolly mammoth figure. And now let us see what else this set has to offer, shall we?”

“It’s building time!”

“Here we have two explorer minifigures. The male one appears in the mammoth set, but the female pilot is unique to this one.”

“And check out this cool little ATV and this large hollow block of ice that the sabretooth can fit inside and then be ‘frozen’ in time, Doc. Real frozen prehistoric cats are a thing, aren’t they?”

“You are correct, Beth, however, those preserved specimens were of the genus Panthera spelaea, better known the European cave lion. No machairodont has ever been discovered in a frozen state. At least, not yet.”

“Whoa, get a load of this ride, Doc. It’s a great big quadcopter complete with freely spinning rotors! The cockpit seats one minifigure while the rear compartment has enough room for two to hunker down in.”

“Ah, and this unusual contraption also features a winch that can be lowered or raised by turning the black gear on the roof. This allows one to airlift the frozen specimen back to the LEGO City Natural History Museum (which you will have to design and build by yourself, I’m afraid!) for study. The ATV can also be airlifted if one so desires.”

“Neato! Well, that about wraps up this review, Doc. The Arctic Air Transport clearly isn’t as elaborate as the Mobile Exploration Base, but it’s a lot of fun to play with in its own right. And so is the sabretooth, whatever it’s supposed to be! This set has been discontinued, but you may be able to find it online.”

“An apt summation, Beth. And so we bid you all another fond farewell, fellow prehistory lovers. Until the next time!”