Set Review ➟ LEGO® 76951 Pyroraptor and Dilophosaurus Transport
This set of some number of pieces rated for ages 7+ ($40US / 45€ / $80AU) consists of a truck, a trailer, three minifigures, a science instrument, and two medium-sized dinosaurs. Some number of pieces: the web site says 254 pieces, then several paragraphs later the same page states 279 pieces. Yup. I’m not going to count the pieces. Regardless of the count, I can assure you that the set does have pieces, though.
254 pieces…
…or 279 pieces?
Dinosaurs
The two dinosaurs are individually polybagged with their lower jaws unattached. The jaw-dropping is probably in shocked disbelief regarding the inconsistent part number count on the web page.
That same page states that the two dinosaurs are posable.
254 pieces…
Well. They are posable in the sense that you can pose them pointing this way or pointing that way or lay them on their sides, but they aren’t posable in the sense that they can have different actual poses as these dinosaurs are one-piece molds other than the jaws. The jaws are constructed such that they will comfortably snap into one of two different positions: closed and wide open. There’s no in-between.
Left sides.
Right sides.
Mouth closed.
Mouth open.
The box has some swoosh motion lines on the back of one of Pyroraptor’s legs, which kind of implies that the leg moves, but, no, the dinosaurs do not have articulated arms and legs. In Pyroraptor’s case I found that the dinosaur was sculpted in such a way that it didn’t really like to stand up all that well. Pyroraptor constantly wants to tip over to the left. Perhaps the motion lines on the box are an indication that Pyroraptor is about to tip over because it doesn’t have baseplate studs to hold it upright.
Leg in motion?
Maintaining one’s balance is so exhausting!
Dilophosaurus does not have the same trouble standing. Thus I declare Dilophosaurus the favorite to win the dinosaur battle depicted on the box art.
I have to guess that flapping one’s jaw counts as movement, and thus the dinosaurs are posable. Lame much? Funny the box doesn’t have swoosh lines around the dino mouths. On the bright side, the dinosaurs are quite handsome.
Minifigures
The set has three minifigures, all with heads and torsos printed on both sides. The figures represent Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcolm, and Guard from the Jurassic movie. Guard shouldn’t be confused with either Guard or Guard from the 73950 Triceratops set as this is a different Guard. At some point I really must watch these Jurassic movies to see if “Guard” is Jurassic’s version of Star Trek’s “Red Shirt”. Kind of maybe just a little bit curious about that.
I gotta say LEGO’s getting a little lazy in the hair department. That 85974 wig used in this set for Ellie and in sets 76950, 76948, and 76947 for Claire…the movie shows both actresses with center-part long bangs kind of do’s…not this side part no bangs deal. In set 76948 we get tan for Soyona Santos, and Set 76944 has the same wig in black for Zia Rodriguez. The set 76943 Maisie wig is different from set 76946 Maisie with the Parker L. Jackson hat. What? The rule must be that if you are an adult woman in this series, you all must style your hair in the same way unless your name is Guard. LEGO just phoned this one in. Well, actually, given COVID was likely in full bloom during the design phase, they probably actually did phone it in.
On a brighter note, this Ian Malcolm Jeff Goldblum head looks more like Jeff Goldblum than the Thor Ragnarok Jeff Goldblum Grandmaster head. So points there. As it is impossible to do a LEGO minifigure hand thumbs up, you will have to settle for this: ???? ????
Ellie gets a mobile uplink gizmo with a tranquilizer gun.
The Truck
The web page describes this truck as an “off roader”. Uh [pause] huh. This “off roader” has a lower ground clearance than the pickup truck in set 76950, so “off roader” is a…ahem…euphemism. Anyway…
The truck is really a neat looking truck. It is built with a 10-stud-wide wheelbase, a 6-stud-wide cabin, and can fit two minifigures side-by-side. It has a bar in front of the grille and a bar in front of the windshield, and some more bars on the roof. It has biosyn stickers. Could there be a more appropriate pun-name for the company in this franchise? I think not.
The truck has working doors. It’s always nice to get actual working doors on a vehicle. And there is sufficient clearance in this build to put minifigures in the cabin without removing the roof. Two quibbles regarding the doors, though. One: the minifigures will have to have their door-side arms positioned up or else the doors won’t close. Two: the doors are able to swing too far in.
If the minifigure’s arm is below the windshield level, the door cannot fully close.
The minifigure’s arm will need to be positioned up above the windshield for the door to close fully.
Door opens.
Door closes…a little too far.
There is a back door which swings down. It also swings up, just in case you were wondering. The roof comes off easily so you can access the cargo area and Ellie’s equipment can be stored in the back of the truck. I was curious when building the model about the use of the 2635 1x4 brick modified with groove in the back. I figured there might be something cool that would be built to slide into those side slots. Nope. I guess they were used just for zhuzh. The truck has lots of zhuzh. Zhuzhed right up it is.
Back door closed.
Back door open.
The grooved bricks on the sides are just for zhuzh.
Ellie’s equipment fits in the cargo area.
The Trailer
The trailer attaches to the truck with the usual trailer hitch assembly. The trailer sides are primarily built out of technic connectors of various sorts. This assembly allows for the trailer sides to swing up and down, trapping a dinosaur within. There is also a small tailgate which moves and is built from a square flag piece connected to a plate modified with bar.
The sides and tail rotate down.
Dinosaur feet attach to the jumper studs.
Sides and tail rotate up to contain the dinosaur.
Viewing the trailer construction, it suddenly becomes clear why the dinosaurs are single-piece molds. The dinosaur feet have to match the spacing of the jumper plates in the trailer so the dinosaurs will stay in place in the trailer. Accommodating this requirement, or perhaps trying to make a trailer that looked like a trailer in the movie, or some combination of things must have meant some compromises in the dinosaur design and likely contributes to pyroraptor’s proclivity to tipping over. The dinosaurs can be placed into the trailer facing the truck only. Facing the dinosaurs to the rear is possible with the trailer sidebars down, but if the sidebars are then rotated up to trap the dinosaur, the sides of the bar interferes with the dinosaur toes and pops the dinosaur off the studs. Getting the dilophosaurus feet onto the jumper studs is a bit fussy as the receiving holes in the dinosaur feet are sort of off-center.
Dinosaur can be in trailer backwards with trailer sides down.
Rotating the side bars up pops the dinosaur off the studs.
Dinosaur foot stud sockets.
The Randolph T. Fielding Absolutely Administrivia Section
No particular surprises in this selection of pieces with known variants. The lightsaber handle has 64567 in the bottom stud hole, the black friction pin is the newer side-slotless version, the tap is without hole, the non-friction pin has a flat area on the center ring, and the claw clip has the flat bar bottom.
The 1x2 plate with L-bar (5.7mm) sports the 43876 mold number, the 1x1 tile with vertical clip is the 44842 mold, the jumpers are 15573 with pentagonal prongs, and the syringes are 53020 mold with holes on the side.
The set contains both types of 2x2 plate with underside pin holders: the 2444 with the split cross support and the 10247 with full cross support.
The 3x pin without friction ridges included in the set is the third iteration, the 39888, pictured on the right in the images below. The original pin had a flat side on the collar and a single oval hole on one side. The labeled 32556 later pin had a flat on opposite sides the collar, oval holes on opposite sides, and had logo and mold number. The latest 39888 has a recess on one side and a flat on the opposite side of the collar, oval holes on opposite sides, and logo and mold numbers. The throat of the pin gets slightly wider with each iteration.
Summary
This set has a really nice looking truck. Even if it has too low ground clearance to be an off roader. We have to put the blame there with the marketing people and not the truck designer. After all. What’s the most important thing in a truck when it comes to studying dinosaurs and chasing dinosaurs and running away from dinosaurs? It’s certainly not the need for ground clearance. It is—that’s right—zhuzh. Besides, you’re not going to need ground clearance when you are chasing a pyroraptor that can barely remain standing. That dino, you can just wait for it to fall over, drive over to it and narc it with the tranquilizer gun, and load it into the trailer. No problemo. Dilophosaurus however is another matter. You need to watch out for that bugger.
In conclusion: Like Jurassic Park, the set was a neat idea where some parts are a rousing success and other things kind of went a little awry. In general, though: thumbs up for the truck, yay for dilophosaurus, wtf for pyroraptor, could have been just a teeny smidgen better for the trailer, and boo for the lazy hairstyle selection on the ladies.
Disclaimer
My thanks to LEGO for providing the review set. The uninfluenced opinions expressed above are, sadly, mine.
33520
