Over the past couple of months or so, LEGO has released another new batch of Jurassic World themed sets. I believe all of the sets in the most recent wave are tie-ins to a TV show based around Jurassic World. For today's review, I decided to nab the LEGO 75934: Dilophosaurus on the Loose set from Wal-Mart since it was only $20.00 and it's a Wal-Mart (and LEGO store) exclusive.
This is my first look at one of the newest Jurassic World sets but it's not my first LEGO dinosaur set. In fact, I've actually accumulated quite a collection of Jurassic World sets over time - you can find all of the ones I've reviewed here if you are interested.
Thus, given my love of LEGO dinosaurs, I may be predisposed to enjoy this set but let's take a look at all 168 pieces to see if it actually lives up to my high expectations!
I've professed my love for the LEGO dinosaur themed sets a number of times on the blog and it turns out that this particular dinosaur is already one that I owned in the Dilophosaurus Ambush set from a number of years ago.
We begin with the star of pretty much any Jurassic World set worth it's weight, the dinosaur!
In this case, we get a small Dilophosaurus - actually an improvement in terms of scale over the previous Dilophosaurus mentioned above (shown here for scale).
The colors are much more muted on the newer Dilophosaurus which makes it look more realistic and less "toy-like" which I know is a strange thing to say when describing LEGO. In terms of the set packaging, LEGO put the dino in its own bag but then the rest of the set was split across four more bags (despite the entire set containing only 168 pieces).
The set comes with a single instruction booklet as well as a sheet of stickers - but for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say I was excited by the sticker sheet. In fact, I may even end up trying to buy a few more copies of the sticker sheet alone...especially if I ever try and create my own Jurassic Park LEGO set-up.
Moving on to the figures, we actually get three minifigures despite the set being so small.
That's Owen Grady, Hudson Harper (the kid), and a generic Park Worker. Most people that buy Jurassic World sets probably have enough copies of the Owen figure by now but the other two minifigs are super nice. In particular, I love the torso of Hudson - that red sweatshirt with the Jurassic Park t-shirt peeking through underneath is awesome.
The backs of the minifigs are also well done - as are the two popcorn containers (which happen to be the only other printed elements in the set). I also like the dual-molded hat/hairpiece combo and it's probably a good thing that there isn't a printed logo on the blue hat, it makes re-purposing that piece much easier!
While I think the dino and the minifigs are the star of the show, there are actually two different builds in the set to complete. The first is the manned drone that Owen flies around while trying to capture the loose Dilophosaurus.
Four motors and a nice color scheme make the drone instantly recognizable for what it is. I do think it's a little weird that Owen lays on top of the thing. I mean, doesn't that defeat the purpose of a drone? You can also see the net launcher that's built into the drone. To release the net, all you have to do is push the plunger in the back.
The mechanism is simple enough but it's a tried and true way of launching nets out and it does make for some play features so I approve.
The other build in the set is the souvenir stand. For my money, this is the much better build and it's definitely the more interesting thing to look at visually!
The entire stand looks like a dinosaur's mouth, completely with a great sand green color scheme and giant white teeth. Awesome!
The stand itself has a pair of hats for sale along with popcorn and some posters. I certainly don't get the connection between the three items (I don't think any stand in "real life" would offer three totally different items like that but I'll suspend reality a bit since we are dealing with a dino theme park after all). The three posters are all stickers, but like I said earlier they are at least all nice stickers!
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 9
Play Value: 8
Kid Value: 7
Adult Value: 5
Overall: 8
In the end, the Dilophosaurus on the Loose set is a very good little set that could probably have been a great little set with just a couple of changes: LEGO should have removed the drone, lowered the price by about $10, and if necessary left the Owen figure out as well. I think $10 for a small dinosaur plus a nice souvenir stand would have been perfect. There's nothing wrong with the drone (and it's probably fun for kids to swoosh around for a bit) but ultimately you buy Jurassic World sets for the dinos! I think LEGO needs to have a few more cheaper options to get a nice dinosaur army and this would have been the perfect set (and dinosaur) to do so.
For this particular set, I can see buying multiple copies of the set and building more than one souvenir stand (maybe swapping out different items from your own collection for the stand to sell) but I don't see the point in building multiple drones. Even worse, the drone pieces aren't all that exciting (or useful) outside of Technic-esque builds. Finally, at $20 for only 168 pieces you don't get the best price-per-part ratio either, though that calculation is thrown off a bit at least due to the inclusion of the Dilophosaurus. All that said, the set is undeniably fun and ultimately that's what matters most!
This is my first look at one of the newest Jurassic World sets but it's not my first LEGO dinosaur set. In fact, I've actually accumulated quite a collection of Jurassic World sets over time - you can find all of the ones I've reviewed here if you are interested.
Thus, given my love of LEGO dinosaurs, I may be predisposed to enjoy this set but let's take a look at all 168 pieces to see if it actually lives up to my high expectations!
I've professed my love for the LEGO dinosaur themed sets a number of times on the blog and it turns out that this particular dinosaur is already one that I owned in the Dilophosaurus Ambush set from a number of years ago.
We begin with the star of pretty much any Jurassic World set worth it's weight, the dinosaur!
In this case, we get a small Dilophosaurus - actually an improvement in terms of scale over the previous Dilophosaurus mentioned above (shown here for scale).
The colors are much more muted on the newer Dilophosaurus which makes it look more realistic and less "toy-like" which I know is a strange thing to say when describing LEGO. In terms of the set packaging, LEGO put the dino in its own bag but then the rest of the set was split across four more bags (despite the entire set containing only 168 pieces).
The set comes with a single instruction booklet as well as a sheet of stickers - but for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say I was excited by the sticker sheet. In fact, I may even end up trying to buy a few more copies of the sticker sheet alone...especially if I ever try and create my own Jurassic Park LEGO set-up.
Moving on to the figures, we actually get three minifigures despite the set being so small.
That's Owen Grady, Hudson Harper (the kid), and a generic Park Worker. Most people that buy Jurassic World sets probably have enough copies of the Owen figure by now but the other two minifigs are super nice. In particular, I love the torso of Hudson - that red sweatshirt with the Jurassic Park t-shirt peeking through underneath is awesome.
The backs of the minifigs are also well done - as are the two popcorn containers (which happen to be the only other printed elements in the set). I also like the dual-molded hat/hairpiece combo and it's probably a good thing that there isn't a printed logo on the blue hat, it makes re-purposing that piece much easier!
Four motors and a nice color scheme make the drone instantly recognizable for what it is. I do think it's a little weird that Owen lays on top of the thing. I mean, doesn't that defeat the purpose of a drone? You can also see the net launcher that's built into the drone. To release the net, all you have to do is push the plunger in the back.
The mechanism is simple enough but it's a tried and true way of launching nets out and it does make for some play features so I approve.
The other build in the set is the souvenir stand. For my money, this is the much better build and it's definitely the more interesting thing to look at visually!
The entire stand looks like a dinosaur's mouth, completely with a great sand green color scheme and giant white teeth. Awesome!
The stand itself has a pair of hats for sale along with popcorn and some posters. I certainly don't get the connection between the three items (I don't think any stand in "real life" would offer three totally different items like that but I'll suspend reality a bit since we are dealing with a dino theme park after all). The three posters are all stickers, but like I said earlier they are at least all nice stickers!
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 9
Play Value: 8
Kid Value: 7
Adult Value: 5
Overall: 8
In the end, the Dilophosaurus on the Loose set is a very good little set that could probably have been a great little set with just a couple of changes: LEGO should have removed the drone, lowered the price by about $10, and if necessary left the Owen figure out as well. I think $10 for a small dinosaur plus a nice souvenir stand would have been perfect. There's nothing wrong with the drone (and it's probably fun for kids to swoosh around for a bit) but ultimately you buy Jurassic World sets for the dinos! I think LEGO needs to have a few more cheaper options to get a nice dinosaur army and this would have been the perfect set (and dinosaur) to do so.
For this particular set, I can see buying multiple copies of the set and building more than one souvenir stand (maybe swapping out different items from your own collection for the stand to sell) but I don't see the point in building multiple drones. Even worse, the drone pieces aren't all that exciting (or useful) outside of Technic-esque builds. Finally, at $20 for only 168 pieces you don't get the best price-per-part ratio either, though that calculation is thrown off a bit at least due to the inclusion of the Dilophosaurus. All that said, the set is undeniably fun and ultimately that's what matters most!
The dinosaur and the souvenir stand are awesome! I really like the Lego dinosaurs. Probably should have picked up a few of the JP sets. I just have so many SW sets that aren't even built yet... and I don't have the space to store them anymore.
ReplyDeleteSpace is an issue for me too...so I built myself a new shelf to hang on the wall ;)
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