I went to Denmark with a rather detailed (and long) list of the sets I wanted to buy while visiting the P-Shop. On top of that list, the complete series of new Jurassic World sets. I’ve spent my summer with all of them in my backpack. I even went on a road trip along the coast of Helgeland with them.
In this post, I want to share what inspires me photographically in the following sets:
- 75938 T-rex vs Dino-Mech Battle
- 75934 Dilophosaurus on the Loose
- 75935 Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt
- 75937 Triceratops Rampage
I won’t go into all the details but focus on what I liked to photograph. If you’re looking for a full-fledge review, you can probably find one on Brickset which list both text and video reviews.
The Dinos
Usually, the main selling points of Jurassic World sets are the dinosaurs. Although this year, I believe the content of the sets is also worth it, it makes sense to start with the stars of the sets…
Dilophosaurus
I never got any of the dilophosaurs before, so I was looking forward to getting one. When I opened the set, what surprised me most was that it had a new mold rather than the old one based on the raptor body. Now we have a dedicated mold for the dilophosaur. Overall it looks great and is (a bit) more to scale with minifigures. Unfortunately, it lacks any form of articulation as the body, head, legs, and arms are a single mold.
Baryonyx
When the first pictures were revealed, this one was the dino I was the most excited about. I’m pleased with it, and it’s a great addition to the group of large carnivore LEGO dinos.
Triceratops
My favorite. In Denmark, I opened the JW sets so I could get the dino. I’ve spent both Saturday and Sunday with all the dinos in my backpack. By the end of the trip, I had fallen in love with the Trike. There’s no doubts that theropods are cool, but I wish we would have more herbivore LEGO dinosaurs.
T-Rex
My least favorite. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great dino, particularly if you don’t already have a T-Rex. But I’m mostly interested in the head so I can put it on a raptor body. I won’t be able to do it with this one unless LEGO releases a raptor body with a matching color.
The Baby Raptors
The set with the T-Rex comes with 4 baby raptors, representing baby versions of Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo. We previously had a green baby raptor supposed to represent Blue. However, the one here is more color accurate to the movie material, with the main body grey instead of green.
I couldn’t help myself to make a raptor pack with all the seven existing baby raptors.
Although supposed to represent babies, playing with them made me realize they are actually the most scientifically accurate minifigure-scale velociraptor mongolesis (if not dinosaur…) LEGO has made. After all, they are supposed to be the size of an actual turkey (and not a 6-foot one).
The sets
In the past years, I’ve felt that the content of the JW sets was pretty weak once you had removed the dinosaurs. The vehicles and builds were often unoriginal and too similar to the ones from the Dino theme from 2012. This was particularly true in the first JW wave. Last year’s wave was better. Still, I think the builds could have looked better and were often too loosely connected to the movie.
This time, I’m pleased to see sets that are worthy of the modern LEGO build standard. Maybe this is because this year’s wave is based on a LEGO TV series rather than on confidential unreleased movie material.
The car & caravan
I think this is the best looking vehicle in the whole JW range.
The boat
As soon as the official images were revealed, I’ve been looking forward to this boat. Although it doesn’t float, I think it looks great and is far more spacious than the traditional yellow floating canoe. For example, it can accommodate two minifigs sitting next to each other.
The mech
One reason why I’m not excited about the T-Rex is because of this mech. It’s simply more interesting, more original, and more posable than the T-Rex.
The Fence
This is just a brilliant small build and very useful to use in the background to give some classic Jurassic Park atmosphere to a photo. If it weren’t for it, I might not have tried to photograph the T-Rex at all.
Owen’s Quad
This is a rather simple build, but so fun. I just love the idea of Owen using a carrot on a stick to attract the Trike while riding the quad. It’s just hilarious and reminds me of my own Anton using a fishing rod with moss to make his reindeer move.
Carousel
The set comes with a fun little Carousel. It’s very fun as a toy, but I’m unsure about the photographic potential. But still, I was eager to try to photograph it with a long exposure.
The minifigs
Overall, those JW sets come with much better minifigures than in previous years. That said, I think minifigures are the least exciting parts of the sets.
Owen & Claire
Owen can be found in all four sets and Claire in two of them. They exist in two different versions. I have mixed feelings about them. Somehow they’re not very interesting as they’ve appeared in previous waves. On the other hand, they were the only figures I was genuinely interested in from a photographic point of view.
Adventurer with dog
One of the things I didn’t like with the previous JW waves were the generic minifigures such as the park guards. I’m glad to see here that the more generic or secondary characters are more interesting. Many of them, they can easily be reused as generic minifigures.
The kid with the JW zipper
I didn’t photograph this minifig from the dilophosaur set as such. But I love the torso so much that I decided to reuse it… For my own sigfig.
Round-up
75938 T-rex vs Dino-Mech Battle.
In the past, the selling point of big JW sets was the presence of a T-Rex. Here it’s strange to say, but I think it is the weakest part of this big set. It’s great for those who don’t have one, but I personally prefer the previous versions.
That said, the set comes with the 4 baby raptors, an awesome mech, and great builds such as the boat, and a nice volcano. (I didn’t mention the volcano as I had no interest in photographing it, but I think it’s a great build with a fun mechanism and believe it has some photographic interest to anyone needing a volcano.)
75934 Dilophosaurus on the Loose.
The smallest of the set. Maybe the one I find the least interesting. I do like the new dilophosaur mold, but I don’t think I will use it a lot. The set also has a souvenir stand, including the new pop-corn element and some cool tiles… with stickers. The drone is also nice… I tried to photograph it and didn’t succeed.
In the end, the only part of the set that I’m most likely to continue to use regularly is that red zipper.
75935 Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt
If you’re looking for a carnivore to eat your minifigure, this set is the best of the wave. I love the Baryonyx and I think it offers more interest than the T-Rex as it is a somewhat less well-known dinosaur.
The vehicle is really nice and doesn’t make you feel like you spent money for a medium-size set just for a dinosaur.
75937 Triceratops Rampage
This could be my favorite set because of the Triceratops. It’s by far the dino from this wave I’m the happiest to add to my collection. I also love the fence that can be used for making dino-breakout scenes.
Unfortunately, while the set also contains other fun little builds, like the quad or the carousel, I think these are less interesting. Thus, even though the Trike is my favorite of the new dinos, this set might be less interesting than the one with the Baryonix which has the same price.
(That said, I’m considering getting a second copy of this set just so I can have a bigger fence and a second trike…)
Summary
As a dinosaur fan, I can’t hide how much I love these sets. Overall, this new wave is much better than in the previous years because I think there is more value besides the dinosaurs. I can hardly recommend one set over the others as they all have great selling points besides their size or price.
This wave is based on an upcoming LEGO TV series, and I can’t wait to watch it. There was already a prequel that was released earlier this year. I watched it before writing this blog post and found it totally hilarious. (Storywise, I think it’s way better than the actual Jurassic World movies…)
Finally, this makes me excited and impatient for next year’s sets. My wish? A LEGO version of a large sauropod… Maybe my favorite herbivore dino, the Brachiosaurus which hasn’t appeared in a LEGO set since 2001!
Sharing the Adventures in The North of my Plastic Friends.
Amazing collection.
And an amazing project, Maëlick.
And Misses B. looks pretty awesome indeed.
She has a lot of dynamics in here.
B.