The LEGO® Group has officially revealed the summer 2024 LEGO® Jungle sets with their glorious selection of animal figurines. Two completely new creatures join the bestiary in the form of gorillas and a red panda. We also see the triumphant return of the tiger figurine with a twist. The big cat comes with new colouration and a new head mould more reminiscent of an actual tiger than the generic large feline head we saw starting in 2017. The crocodile also makes a comeback with new colouring in both the adult and juvenile forms. With tigers and gorillas being among my favourite animals, you can bet I am excited.

The crocs and tiger arrive in one set each this coming June. You get them in the Jungle Explorer Water Plane and Jungle Explorer Off-Road Truck respectively. I really like the price point for the tiger set. The last tiger figurine arrived in the most expensive jungle set of 2017, the Jungle Air Drop Helicopter. I did not buy that set. It arrived in Canada two months after the rest of the Jungle sets that year. I ordered the figurine off of Bricklink, paying a pretty penny for international shipping. Of course, that is nothing compared to what you have to pay today. That original tiger figurine currently averages $55 CAD on Bricklink. Since it is significantly different from this new one, I doubt that price will come down much.

The Jungle Explorer collection arrives in June… with the exception of the gorilla set.

The red panda and baby gorilla each come in two sets. The former comes in the City Jungle Explorer ATV Red Panda Mission as well as the Dreamzzz Izzie’s Dream Animals sets. The City set is the cheaper option as the Dreamzzz set clocks in at $50 CAD. The baby gorilla comes in the Baby Gorilla Encounter polybag as well as the Jungle Explorer Helicopter at Base Camp set. Incidentally, that large set also includes two adult gorillas. The helicopter set also arrives in North America in August, unlike the rest of these Jungle sets.

Another point of interest for AFOLs is the supposed return of Johnny Thunder from the ’90s Adventurers theme. I say supposed because the set descriptions make no mention of Johnny Thunder. Sure, one of the Minifigures included in a couple of these new sets looks like Johnny Thunder… but the official descriptions only list him as an “explorer” or “adventurer” Minifigure. You can find him in two sets: the ATV and the Off-Road Truck. Of course, we last saw a Johnny Thunder lookalike in Minifigures Series 19 from 2019.

Same old LEGO® snafus this summer…

Another confirmation we get from this announcement is the same old, lame summer release schedule. Some sets releasing in Europe this June will only arrive here in August. It also continues the trend of chase animals only releasing in the priciest of sets. If you want adult gorillas, you will need to dish out $130. With that said, you get two in the set. And if we are lucky, some (if not all) of these animal figurines will appear on Pick-A-Brick, like the recent orca and the lions from 2021. Despite the usual LEGO®-snafus, I’m really excited for these animals. What do you think? Let me know in the comments or reach out on social media.

Until next time,

-Tom

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