Jurassic World

T. rex vs Dino-Mech Battle

A gorgeous new T. rex bolted onto a set that keeps falling apart in your hands.

Brick Rated Score

3.4/5

Set 75938 · 2019

Pieces716

Minifigs4

Year2019

Set number75938

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The verdict

The T.

rex here is the best big-cat molded dino LEGO had put out at the time, and honestly it is the whole reason to want this box. The trouble is everything built around it, a fiddly Dino-Mech that sheds plates when you pose it and a volcano that is basically rock pieces stacked together. I loved the raptors and I loved the rex, but I spent a lot of the build wishing LEGO had trusted those two stars and skipped the filler. Worth it if you hunt it at a real discount or you collect the dinos.

Best for: Jurassic dino collectors who mainly want the new realistic T. rex figure

The full review

What it is

This one comes from Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar, the animated series, so it leans more cartoon-adventure than movie-accurate, and the centerpiece is a fully mechanized dinosaur robot squaring off against a real T. rex. The T. rex is what got me. It wears a warm tan and olive coloring that feels closer to an actual animal than the flatter dinos LEGO had done before, and standing it next to the four little raptors gave me that small giddy moment where a LEGO box suddenly feels like a scene. If you love dinosaurs, the figures alone almost justify the whole thing.

The catch

I have to be straight with you about the rest, though. The Dino-Mech looks brilliant finished, all lime green and dark red with a cockpit for the villain Danny Nedermeyer and a tail and claws you can pose. Actually posing it is another story. Plates and greebly bits kept popping loose every time I adjusted a limb, which is the opposite of what you want from a play piece meant to be swooshed around. Then there is the volcano, which is honestly just big rock pieces and some cheese slopes leaned together, with an eruption gimmick delicate enough that you handle it like it might snap. There is a little raft too, and between that and the volcano you can feel the set padding its part count to hit a price. At 89.99 dollars it asked a lot for what amounts to two great models and a pile of filler.

Who it's for

So who should get this. If you collect Jurassic dinos, or you specifically want that lovely new rex and the raptor quartet, this is an easy yes, especially now that it is retired and you are buying it deliberately rather than off the shelf. If you want a rock-solid engineering build or a display piece that holds together when you touch it, I would point you elsewhere in the theme. It sits in that mixed middle where the highs are really high and the lows are genuinely annoying, and where you land depends entirely on how much you love dinosaurs.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build is a game of two halves, and your enjoyment will swing hard between them. The T. rex and the raptors are prebuilt-feeling in the best way, satisfying to assemble and instantly characterful. The Dino-Mech is the meatiest section and the most frustrating, because it looks the part but the smaller detail plates never quite lock down, so you finish a limb and watch a piece drop off as you rotate it. The volcano and raft are quick, uninspired filler that you will breeze through without much joy.

For parts hunters, the headline is the T. rex figure itself in that new tan and olive coloring, which is the standout element and a lovely thing to own. Owen Grady arrives with a new torso print (light bluish grey shirt with realistic creasing and a reddish brown printed belt) that he shares with the Triceratops Rampage set from the same wave, and both his faces print beautifully. The lime green and dark red mech panels are useful, punchy colors if you build your own creations. The rock pieces and cheese slopes in the volcano, on the other hand, are the kind of common parts that make you feel the price stretch.

Fun facts

01The set is based on Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar, the animated TV series, rather than any of the live-action films.
02The T. rex's tan and olive coloring echoes the paint scheme of the tour vehicles from the original 1993 Jurassic Park.
03It released in June 2019 and retired in December 2020, and sealed copies have since climbed well above the original 89.99 dollar price.
04At 716 pieces it was the biggest and most expensive set in its wave of the Jurassic World theme.