Gallimimus and Pteranodon Breakout - LEGO 75940 - REVIEW

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  I, for one, had a wonderful holiday and as you'll (hopefully) see over the next few weeks, I had a very LEGO Christmas!  

For my first review of 2021, I wanted to start with one of my Christmas gifts.  The Gallimimus and Pteradnodon Breakout set (set #75940) was a Christmas present from my brother - he had ordered it from LEGO.com and although it ended up shipping after Christmas, it still counts as a Christmas gift!  

This particular set is part of the Jurassic World theme and contains 391 pieces including two different dinosaurs and three minifigures.  This particular set retails for about $50 so at first glance the price-per-part ratio isn't very good...but then you do get two dinosaurs out of the set.  So, the questions becomes - is it worth it to buy the set (obviously if you get it as a gift like I did then it's totally worthwhile)!

We begin as one does when one gets a new LEGO set - by opening the box and dumping out the contents.  For this set, we find two different instruction books and some numbered bags of pieces plus a sticker sheet.

In general, I don't care for stickers but I've grown use to having to apply them.  This particular set has 14 different stickers to apply but none are overly difficult to place correctly which is good.  I do think the stickers add to the set so I didn't hesitate to apply them to my copy.  I also didn't think to grab a photo of the sticker sheet prior to using it so here's the "empty" sheet instead.  

For most collectors, I'd have to imagine that the dinosaurs are the reason why one would even consider this set in the first place so let's start with them.  

We'll begin with the Pteranodon since that particular dinosaur has been done multiple times before.  For me, this is my second Pteranodon in my collection - but the first in this lovely sand green / dark green color scheme.  I definitely approve of this guy.

The other dinosaur is even better - the star of the set:  Gallimimus.  

If I'm not mistaken, LEGO has never made a Gallimimus figure prior to this particular set.  That said, most of the figure has been done before - the body is basically a raptor's body but with a different neck/head piece.  Still, it works well and I definitely like this dino!

Besides the two dinosaurs, the set comes with three minifigures:  Owen Grady, Claire Dearing, and an ACU Trooper.  Amazingly, according to Brickset at least, only the ACU Trooper is unique to this set!  The Owen figure is in two other sets while Claire finds herself in four other sets.  

For some, the rest of the set probably doesn't even matter but for $50 I think we ought to look at what makes up the rest of the build:  the vehicle used to help capture the runaway dinos.  

As you can see, the vehicle is big and blocky!  On the top of the vehicle, you can see two detachable drones along with a spinning radar dish and an adjustable net shooter (which really does shoot the net fairly well).  There's also an opening cockpit that seats not one, but two different minifigs (which is a nice detail).  

On the back of the vehicle, there is a detachable research crate.  Once removed from the car, the research crate opens up into a research station of sorts.  

Inside the crate you'll find a couple of dinosaur eggs, a small refrigerator (with syringe inside), a fire extinguisher, a computer, and a mosquito trapped in amber (printed piece).  

The mosquito was a fun surprise that I wasn't expecting - and it definitely makes the research crate feel like it belongs in a Jurassic Park set.

Other than that, that's basically it for this set.  The vehicle is a big thing with thick, rubber tires.  After I built the set, I let my two-year-old play with it and he instantly starting calling the vehicle the "really, really, really cool car with tires."  He loves rubber tires on his toys right now so this particular spoke to him I guess.  He also enjoyed playing with the net shooter - and once I showed him how to fold the net back up he was able to use it all on his own!  The one downside to the play factor is that the wheels of the vehicle are so close together that it's actually kind of hard to make this car turn sharply...or even turn at all if I'm being honest.  If only there was a Technic-style steering knob at the top of the car (maybe in place of the satallite dish) then this would be a perfect vehicle for play.  

Still, as it is the car is fun - the two removable drones plus the research crate means that there is much more here than maybe meets the eye at first (or, say when looking at this set on the store shelf).  Dinosaurs will probably always be the star of the show for any Jurassic World set but this particular vehicle ends up surprising in all sorts of good ways!  

The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun:  10
Play Value:  10
Kid Value:  10
Adult Value:  6
Overall:  9

The good news for my rating system is that I'm going to be able to be much more exact on my "kid value" and "play value" ratings based on how my son takes to sets I review.  Obviously, in his eyes this set was a hit!  The price-per-part ratio hurts here but getting two dinosaurs (one unique and one in a new color) helps to alleviate that a bit.  Three minifigs plus a vehicle that is solidly built (and quite large) rounds out a fairly solid package overall.  If I'm being honest, I wouldn't have bought this set for myself (thinking who needs that car for the price) but now that I have the set, I do think it's probably worth close to its retail price!  If you can get this for about 10-20% off, then it's a no-brainer recommendation from me (especially if you want a Gallimimus for your LEGO Jurassic Park)!