Review: 76951 Pyroraptor & Dilophosaurus Transport
Posted by CapnRex101,Jurassic World: Dominion reintroduces various esteemed characters from earlier Jurassic Park movies and 76951 Pyroraptor & Dilophosaurus Transport provides two such characters. These older Ian Malcolm and Ellie Sattler minifigures are definitely appealing.
Moreover, the set contains the new Pyroraptor, which displays more avian features than any other LEGO dinosaur and looks impressive, with striking colours. The accompanying Dilophosaurus also appears excellent, so the selection of minifigures and dinosaurs seems outstanding. Hopefully the vehicle achieves similar success.
Summary
76951 Pyroraptor & Dilophosaurus Transport, 254 pieces.
£44.99 / $44.99 / €49.99 | 17.7p/17.7c/19.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
The dinosaurs and minifigures elevate this set over others from Jurassic World: Dominion.
- Two impressive dinosaurs
- Appealing minifigures
- Great play potential
- Some awkward design features
- Fairly expensive
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Following his brief appearance during Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Dr. Ian Malcolm returns to action during Jurassic World: Dominion. The minifigure closely resembles previous examples originating from the original Jurassic Park film, featuring a black shirt which is partly unbuttoned and reveals the mathematician's chest underneath!
Dr. Ellie Sattler also retains features from earlier minifigures, wearing a jacket tied above her waist. The dark orange colour is new though and complements her olive green trousers, which appear appropriate for trekking through the wilderness in search of dinosaurs. I think the blonde hair component looks reasonable too, while Dr. Malcolm's hair has turned grey.
However, my favourite aspects of both minifigures are their double-sided heads, that convey wonderful personality. Ian Malcom exhibits fitting confidence on one side and comical fear on the other, while Ellie Sattler appears friendly or frightened, depending on her situation. Various accessories are provided, although those are stored on the vehicle.
The generic Guard comprises existing parts, including a dark blue torso introduced four years ago. The dark bluish grey straps and pouches look great, with a metallic silver Jurassic World symbol on the reverse. While this design is attractive, I think Biosyn branding may have been more appropriate, matching the associated off-road vehicle.
Additionally, the head was developed for Jyn Erso, displaying neutral and angry expressions. While an entirely new, or less common, design would have been ideal, these two faces seem suitable. This minifigure includes a tranquilliser gun with a yellow syringe on top, replacing the lime green syringes which have appeared more commonly, before now.
Beyond the returning classic characters, the new Pyroraptor is probably the most appealing addition to this set. Dinosaurs throughout the Jurassic Park franchise are famously presented without feathers, with few exceptions. The ferocious Pyroraptor therefore represents a dramatic change, since this creature is almost completely covered in feathers during trailers.
This texture is beautifully recreated here, combining moulded and printed feathers. The colour scheme of dark orange and dark red, with sand blue and dark brown accents, looks absolutely perfect. Furthermore, the dinosaur measures 10cm in length and thus appears roughly to scale with minifigures, relative to the onscreen Pyroraptor.
Unfortunately, articulation is restricted to an opening jaw, but the current stance appears quite dynamic and the Pyroraptor may still attach to studded surfaces. The stud on its back is also a pleasant surprise because the render shown on the packaging and across official images omits that stud. This is among my favourite LEGO dinosaurs yet, especially with such earthy colours.
Dilophosaurus has appeared in multiple Jurassic World sets since 2015, originally sharing its body elements with Velociraptor. However, a smaller and more accurate portrayal appeared in 75934 Dilophosaurus on the Loose, which returns here. This dinosaur is similar in scale to the Pyroraptor and its feet are identically positioned, although this stance appears less aggressive.
Again, the Dilophosaurus' jaw opens, but there is no other movement. The moulded detail is marvellous though, including frills and tiny notches on the upper jaw, known as the subnarial gaps. However, I would rather the olive green and medium nougat colours had been replaced with something distinctive, since these muted shades are unchanged from 2019.
The Completed Model
Unsurprisingly, off-road vehicles are exceptionally common across the Jurassic World theme. Designs continue to vary though and this model looks nice, featuring realistic proportions and colours. The shape is reminiscent of the vehicle from 75935 Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt, which is beneficial because I think that design was excellent.
The entire vehicle, with its trailer attached, measures 23cm in length. That scale seems fitting beside minifigures, although clambering into the cab may prove difficult, with such large tyres! Of course, those are necessary to cross rough terrain and the rounded mudguards are superb too. Even the tan pins securing the wheels correspond with the bodywork above.
Biosyn originates from Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park novel, paying Dennis Nedry to steal embryos from the park. The company has never been specifically identified onscreen though, until Jurassic World: Dominion. Stickers form Biosyn branding on the bonnet and each side of this truck, but the colour matching between these stickers and neighbouring pieces is poor.
However, dark tan bands decorate the doors and appear more consistent with those stickers. The strengthening bars across the windscreen are appealing, with adjustable wing mirrors on either flank. However, I dislike the disproportionate gap between the doors and the roof, which looks awkward alongside the windscreen.
There is space for two minifigures inside, seated on 1x2 jumper plates. The requisite steering wheel is also provided and removing the roof reveals the storage area behind the cab. Further accessories are kept on clips outside, including a fire extinguisher and stun baton which should permit some control over the dinosaurs, in theory!
The accessory storage compartment can be accessed more easily from the back, through an opening door. This panel features appropriate colours, but the location of the clips underneath seems strange, extending beyond the bodywork and creating an unusual shape. Moreover, the door lacks anything obvious to grip on the exterior.
A simple communication dish and clips for two tranquilliser guns are found inside. There was certainly space for more accessories and you could comfortably place a couple of minifigures here, if you wish. Nevertheless, clips to accommodate every accessory are consistently useful.
The trailer is used to transport dinosaurs, secured between two articulated rails. Trans-yellow 1x1 cones presumably denote electrification and their colour is brightened by the yellow axles beneath. I think the trailer seems rather basic, relative to the advanced dinosaur restraints, but there are limited opportunities for greater complexity at this scale.
Either the Dilophosaurus or the Pyroraptor can be transported, attached on the same jumper plates. The rails fold downwards smoothly and I like the small ramp on the back, even though that hardly seems necessary for these dinosaurs. While the trailer is rudimentary, this provides welcome play value and its size complements the off-road vehicle, in my opinion.
Overall
76951 Pyroraptor & Dilophosaurus Transport satisfies many requirements for an impressive Jurassic World set. As expected, the exclusive Pyroraptor looks fantastic and the minifigures provide considerable appeal, especially since the older Dr. Ian Malcolm is only available here. Additionally, I think the off-road truck is enjoyable, incorporating various realistic features.
Of course, price is frequently problematic among Jurassic World sets, since the dinosaurs are usually rather expensive. This set costs £39.99, $39.99 or €44.99 which does seem excessive, but perhaps not to the extent envisaged within this theme. Given that impressive minifigure and dinosaur selections, this is among my favourite Jurassic World: Dominion sets.
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40 comments on this article
This set is very overpriced, but it does something good for us. It shows that finally, after over 30 years, Biosyn will appear in the movie. They were in the original book, but they didn't appear in the first movie. Except for Louis Dodgson. But I can't remember if the mention that Biosyn sent Dennis Nedry to steal the DNA. Also, FIRST COMMENT!
I would say it's pretty good just disappointing to me are lack of movement of dino's arms or legs.
It seems that "Fairly expensive" is something that will surely become common on reviews now.
£40 for a car, three minifigs, and two dinosaurs isn't "fairly expensive", it's insultingly expensive. Add to that the near-complete lack of articulation on the dinosaurs, the terrible colour matching on the stickers, and the woeful printing on Ian Malcolm's torso (PLEASE call that out, reviewers - it's not acceptable). I don't understand how you could recommend this to anyone but the most hardcore Jurassic World fans.
a car with doors!
The stud on the back of the Pyroraptor was needed just for consistency with the rest of the dinosaur lineup, the render showed just how much one missing stud can make it look less legoy.
That's a pretty nice 4x4
The prices are, again, unfair. $ is worth less compared to € and even more so compared to £.
Anyway, there is a lot to like about this set, especially the truck, really detailed for a 7+ set. I would leave off the stickers, tho. Both dinosaurs look great, too bad you can't pose them as much anymore but that doesn't hurt the playability of the set.
I'll totally be buying it for the truck. The trailer is meh and I don't really care for the smaller, yet no articulation dinos. I feel the price isn't bad though.
Also, whoo! Mention of the novels!
Naming your company "biological sin" is a little on the nose, don't you think? :L
Shame the raptor didn't receive tan printing for the teeth. It just really bugs me when the teeth on the dinos is the same color as their head!
For that price the guard should have been correctly identified and a second trailer included other than that, I am looking forward to this set.
It's good to see the dino's in more realistic size but the none moving arms does take away the play value.
"featuring a black shirt which is partly unbuttoned and reveals the mathematician's chest underneath!"
The excitement in that sentence
Pretty lame that the Pyroraptor has no articulation other than the jaw. This looks like a nice set but I'm not interested in statuesque predators.
Overall looks decent. I'd say cut down the price a bit since there isn't a lot to make it feel $40. But anytime they have molds of animals it seems to just pop up a bit higher.
Nifty set with some nice (and unique) touches/items but yeah that $40 price is a tad much for what you are getting IMHO. Another guard on a small ATV would have been a good compliment and not broken the (parts) bank at this price.
The car has a nice FJ40 vibe to it. Love that!
Sorry these dinos are NOT impresive.
They would be impresive if they AT LEAST had movable heads and Pyroraptor had propper colors.
@sirventricle said:
"£40 for a car, three minifigs, and two dinosaurs isn't "fairly expensive", it's insultingly expensive. Add to that the near-complete lack of articulation on the dinosaurs, the terrible colour matching on the stickers, and the woeful printing on Ian Malcolm's torso (PLEASE call that out, reviewers - it's not acceptable). I don't understand how you could recommend this to anyone but the most hardcore Jurassic World fans."
Why is Ian’s torso printing woeful?
@blogzilly said:
" @sirventricle said:
"£40 for a car, three minifigs, and two dinosaurs isn't "fairly expensive", it's insultingly expensive. Add to that the near-complete lack of articulation on the dinosaurs, the terrible colour matching on the stickers, and the woeful printing on Ian Malcolm's torso (PLEASE call that out, reviewers - it's not acceptable). I don't understand how you could recommend this to anyone but the most hardcore Jurassic World fans."
Why is Ian’s torso printing woeful?
"
Why? Lol.
Look at his hands and head colour of skin. Not the same of the chest of course.
@fede0184 said:
"a car with doors! "
I’m very pleased about that. Something that not even a lot of City sets have nowadays.
Plus, nice vehicle and appealing dinos. This might be my most anticipated of these Dominion sets.
@fede0184 said: "a car with doors! "
And that's why it costs $300.
Yeah it’s overpriced but most Jurassic World sets are imo, two established characters (from the original trilogy, no less), two dinosaurs, a one-off guard, and a vehicle isn’t that unusual for a $40 set in the range. By no means is this an excuse of the price, though, I’m just not surprised by it. If it gets a discount and the dinosaurs are memorable in the film than I might even pick it up, beige trucks can be pretty easily repurposed for army stuff.
I don't understand the complaints about price, yes its expensive, but it does make sense. $3 for each Minifigure, plus $10 for each dinosaur, adds up to the car being around $10-$15 of the price, depending on the region. Seems fair to me. However I am not a fan of them showing the Jurassic Logo on the back of the Guard, that seems like egregious part mis-usage within the context of the film, especially since this set implies them to be working for Biosyn.
@Bull3t said:
" @blogzilly said:
" @sirventricle said:
"£40 for a car, three minifigs, and two dinosaurs isn't "fairly expensive", it's insultingly expensive. Add to that the near-complete lack of articulation on the dinosaurs, the terrible colour matching on the stickers, and the woeful printing on Ian Malcolm's torso (PLEASE call that out, reviewers - it's not acceptable). I don't understand how you could recommend this to anyone but the most hardcore Jurassic World fans."
Why is Ian’s torso printing woeful?
"
Why? Lol.
Look at his hands and head colour of skin. Not the same of the chest of course."
The printing itself I thought was pretty good. It’s not easy to print light on black. Looks really good to me.
I think the choice of colour on the head and hands makes little sense to me, considering what Jeff Goldblum actually looks like. I don’t know what the goal was by this selection. That he is overtanned? Honestly it’s that colour selection that causes a more severe contrast than is necessary on what is pretty good chest printing.
I’m sorry, I meant pretty good chest printing!
:)
@TillyTheCat
I like that way of breaking it down.
I have two velociraptors with loose legs from a lot of play. And some stygimolochs heading in that direction.
So I understand why LEGO has chosen to go with the fixed limbs on these dinosaurs, and the atrociraptors in the other sets.
Personally I would have preferred no stud on he back of the dinos and what the heck, no articulation….very very poor decision by Lego. Cutting costs while increasing prices!!! No leg printing for the mini figs, not even matching the skin tone on Jeff. No interest in this set sadly.
Oh man, the colour matching on those stickers is bad. I'm one of those rare people who actually quite likes stickers, they can be satisfying to put on and they bring life to a model when used correctly, but I've never seen them mess up the colour quite so disappointingly as that.
@TillyTheCat said: "I don't understand the complaints about price, yes its expensive, but it does make sense. $3 for each Minifigure, plus $10 for each dinosaur, adds up to the car being around $10-$15 of the price, depending on the region. Seems fair to me."
Does that price break-down work for 76944 ?
A set with a Tyrannosaurus, 3 minifigs, a 4+ helicopter and a couple of flimsy wall sections ... is priced at $100 Australian.
That is *obscene*.
@fede0184 said:
"a car with doors! "
Exactly!
@Zordboy said:
" @TillyTheCat said: "I don't understand the complaints about price, yes its expensive, but it does make sense. $3 for each Minifigure, plus $10 for each dinosaur, adds up to the car being around $10-$15 of the price, depending on the region. Seems fair to me."
Does that price break-down work for 76944 ?
A set with a Tyrannosaurus, 3 minifigs, a 4+ helicopter and a couple of flimsy wall sections ... is priced at $100 Australian.
That is *obscene*. "
It's not an excuse, but 76944 is a Juniors/4+ set, and they always have an obscene PPP ratio. Buuuuut . . . my son really wants it, so I'll give LEGO the win on this one.
The lack of articulation makes the dinosaurs seem like cheap, 1950s-era molded-plastic toys that you should be able to get a whole bag for a nickle. If Lego wants me to get excited about new dinos (and take my money), they better give me something better to play with. I need something that can look around, stomp, run, and scratch! These are only good at freeze tag.
Of course, Jeff Goldblum can always take my money. Thank you, Bricklink.
And, I know that 76944 is expensive, but I need that Lime-green Rex! 8)
Maybe it's called Pyroraptor because at that price it's burning your money.
@ForestMenOfEndor said: "It's not an excuse, but 76944 is a Juniors/4+ set, and they always have an obscene PPP ratio. Buuuuut . . . my son really wants it, so I'll give LEGO the win on this one."
If your son was patient, I'd tell him to just wait until shops get sick of these sitting on shelves gathering dust, and clearance them out just to get rid of them, but if he's in the age bracket for a Juniors set, that's probably not going to help.
The Eternals are half the store-price on Australian Amazon, at the moment. Vidiyo and Monkie Kid were also clearanced out really cheaply, recently.
It seems to be happening a lot, recently.
@Zordboy said:
" @ForestMenOfEndor said: "It's not an excuse, but 76944 is a Juniors/4+ set, and they always have an obscene PPP ratio. Buuuuut . . . my son really wants it, so I'll give LEGO the win on this one."
If your son was patient, I'd tell him to just wait until shops get sick of these sitting on shelves gathering dust, and clearance them out just to get rid of them, but if he's in the age bracket for a Juniors set, that's probably not going to help.
The Eternals are half the store-price on Australian Amazon, at the moment. Vidiyo and Monkie Kid were also clearanced out really cheaply, recently.
It seems to be happening a lot, recently."
It's interesting how different markets have different "deals." Pre-pandemic, I could absolutely count on Amazon, Target or Walmart to mark sets down significantly after a few months, so I would never pay full price for any non-D2C sets. These days, however, at least where I live in Ohio, USA, we're lucky to just see consistent re-stocks of popular sets, much less deep discounts (anything more than 20 percent). I haven't seen a LEGO set in the clearance aisles of our local Target or Walmart in almost two years.
@sir_vasco said:
"Naming your company "biological sin" is a little on the nose, don't you think? :L"
It’s ‘syn’ as in ‘synthesis’, not ‘sin’ as in ‘cardinal sin’. Likely a tongue-in-cheek play on words by the film’s writers - a subtle fourth wall break.
@Zordboy said:
" @TillyTheCat said: "I don't understand the complaints about price, yes its expensive, but it does make sense. $3 for each Minifigure, plus $10 for each dinosaur, adds up to the car being around $10-$15 of the price, depending on the region. Seems fair to me."
Does that price break-down work for 76944 ?
A set with a Tyrannosaurus, 3 minifigs, a 4+ helicopter and a couple of flimsy wall sections ... is priced at $100 Australian.
That is *obscene*. "
No, it doesn't. It is a 4+ set, not a mainline set. To TFOLs and AFOLs the prices of 4+ sets are always going to seem absurd. Also for the previous metric I was utilising American and European Prices, not Australian Prices, as I am speaking to a multinational community, and therefore used the most generic currency. however, if I were to use the Australian dollar and utilise my metric for value, each minifig would be $5, the rex would be $30 and the rest of the build would be worth another $30. So that is $75 dollars, making the 4+ set excessively overpriced. But once again, a four year old would not see it the same way, and that is what lego is counting on.
I don't get it, seriously I just don't understand.
Larger dinosaurs have articulation, that makes perfect sense, the pieces are larger and made of thicker ABS to prevent breakage. Smaller dinosaurs are made of thinner materials, therefore limiting their range of motion and their potential for breakage seems practical to me.
Also I never liked the Raptors, I mean from a scale perspective the Raptors are just too big compared to the Minifigures. These smaller models are much better in scale for a Minifigure and aren't just jumbo sized dinosaurs that could kill a Minifigure in two bites. (At least three or four for the smaller jaws.)
I'm not buying these to play with, I'm buying them to have a massive Jurassic World LEGO display, something I couldn't do back when Jurassic Park was around because LEGO had really, really different construction and play patterns. (For the longest time my LEGO animal collection consisted of brick-built everything excluding Bats, Birds, Spiders, Scorpions, Monkies and Horses. Plus a Dragon or two. Now we get Dinosaurs, Elephants, Lions, Tigers, Bears OH MY!)
This is a perfectly acceptable compromise for this AFOL, moveable limbs might be nice for making different poses or if I cared about such things in stop motion, but static posed dinosaurs fits better in scale here and I'm all for it.
Pricing could be better, but that's what double VIP and VIP points in general are for, milk LEGO dry of the potential VIP points when these hit Double VIP time and if you can't wait until then, use saved up points for free LEGO sets. I know that's what I'm aiming to do for a lot of these.
@Odeinoichus said:
"I don't get it, seriously I just don't understand.
Larger dinosaurs have articulation, that makes perfect sense, the pieces are larger and made of thicker ABS to prevent breakage. Smaller dinosaurs are made of thinner materials, therefore limiting their range of motion and their potential for breakage seems practical to me.
Also I never liked the Raptors, I mean from a scale perspective the Raptors are just too big compared to the Minifigures. These smaller models are much better in scale for a Minifigure and aren't just jumbo sized dinosaurs that could kill a Minifigure in two bites. (At least three or four for the smaller jaws.)"
I also prefer the better scale to higher articulation.
I wonder how kids see it. I always read that kids want the articulation because it increases the playability.
But at least I would have been annoyed, if the supposedly somehow human sized Dino suddenly was way larger (esepcially when it means being unable to create a reasonable sized cage-truuck for it).