If you've followed either this blog or my baseball card blog for any length of time, you probably don't need me to remind you that I'm a big fan of dinosaurs to this day. I loved dinos when I was a kid and I continue to love the creatures now...and so when LEGO announced that they would be continuing to release LEGO Jurassic Park sets, I was certainly happy.
Even better, when LEGO announced this set - the Indominus Rex vs. Ankylosaurus set I was ecstatic because Ankylosaurus (or "ank" as my almost-three-year-old calls him) was always my personal favorite dinosaur. Of course, the next thing I noticed was the price ($99 for the set) which immediately made me sort of apprehensive, especially based on the stated piece count of only 537 pieces.
Upon opening the box, you are greeted with a bunch of plastic bags, an instruction book, a sticker sheet, and some pieces in unnumbered bags (including most of the bits of the two included dinosaurs).
Even better, when LEGO announced this set - the Indominus Rex vs. Ankylosaurus set I was ecstatic because Ankylosaurus (or "ank" as my almost-three-year-old calls him) was always my personal favorite dinosaur. Of course, the next thing I noticed was the price ($99 for the set) which immediately made me sort of apprehensive, especially based on the stated piece count of only 537 pieces.
So, the real question is - how does the set stack up? Is it worth the money? And, perhaps most importantly, how cool is that Ankylosaurus dino?!
Not counting the dinosaurs or the minifigures, the set has two main builds. The first is this little Gyrosphere sign bit that comes with a pair of brick-built trees. Each tree has a small play mechinism where you can "unlock it" so that the tree can easily be knocked over by a swinging Ankylosaurus tail (or perhaps a rampaging Indominus Rex)! It's a cute little play feature but I will say that the locking mechinism is quite touchy...easy to knock the trees over when you don't actually mean to. Also, the sign uses four different stickers - and while the finished product looks nice I do wish LEGO would do more printing of pieces and less stickers (especially for larger/higher price point sets like this one).
Speaking of stickers, you can see the set is loaded with them - eleven in total for a set with just over 500 pieces. None of the stickers proved to be too difficult to apply but it's still worth noting that without using the stickers much of the set would look extremely plain and boring.
The base in progress. I didn't bother taking a lot of "in progress" photos for this build but I did snap three different shots of the Gyrosphere station being built, mostly because the station ended up having a surprising amount of height to it, not to mention overall size (and weight). Plus, the design was even way more interesting than I originally thought when I glanced at the box cover.
The second thing to build in the set is the main event - the Gyrosphere starting "station" and launcher. The station features a small ticket window/operating room along with a turnstile (which is a great little touch). There's also a lot of foliage growing about the station which I think helps to ground the set in the "movie reality." Finally, I ought to make mention of the rather unique roof build as well - nothing fancy but it's different and it works really well with the overall look of the structure!
From the opposite side of the building (once completed), you can see the Gyrosphere ball along with the little bit of included track. There is a simple launching mechnism for the ball which is kind of fun - and certainly an appreciated play feature for the set as whole.
I've made it this long and I haven't even shown off the dinosaurs yet! As you'd guess from the set's title, this set does include both the awesome Indominus Rex along with an equally awesome (and chunky) Ankylosaurus. Quite frankly, both dinos are great and they are each easily in my Top 5 for LEGO dinosaurs created to date.
Overall, this set offers a lot more than what meets the eye when looking at the box. The two big dinos get center billing (which makes sense) but I think LEGO dropped the (gyrosphere) ball on the cover design since they minimized what a nice build this set ended up being. The Gyrosphere sign bit is fine but the actual station is very nice. I'm considering trying to fit in a "Jurassic Park" scene on my LEGO train table layout and if I do I'll definitely try and fit that Gyrosphere station in somewhere - it's that nice!
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 10
Play Value: 10
Kid Value: 9
Adult Value: 8
Overall: 9
Honestly, while I was expecting to love the dinosaurs in the set, I wasn't expecting to love the set itself all that much. Perhaps it was my low expectations that set me up to end up liking this set a lot more than I would have otherwise?! Sure, the nearly $100 price tag feels too high for only 537 pieces but the two dinos are large and chunky and you do get four minifigures. I ended up giving this set a 9/10 for an overall rating but you can easily subtract 5 or 6 points from that if you don't care about dinosaurs...but then again, if you don't care about dinos why are you considering buying this set (surely not for the two trees)?!
Oh yeah, you can expect to see plenty more LEGO dinosaurs whenever I get around to writing about my current Kitchen Mantle set-up!
Sorry I'm late to the party. This is such a cool looking set. I debated on whether or not to pick up some of the JP sets... but ultimately passed. Even if I had, not sure I would have pulled out $100 for this set.
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