Just in time for Jurassic World Dominion, LEGO has returned to the popular franchise with a new wave of sets for Spring 2022. We’ll be taking a close look at several of the sets based on the new film, starting off with Jurassic World Dominion 76948 T. Rex & Atrociraptor Dinosaur Breakout. This 466 piece set will be available April 17th from the LEGO Shop Online for US $79.99 | CAN $109.99 | UK £79.99. It features four minifigures, a big rig, transport container, and a marketplace playset. Oh, yeah…and a Tyrannosaurus Rex and an Atrociraptor. Sounds like a lot of stuff…but how cool is it really? Come along as we take an early look at this set and try to find out!

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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Unboxing the parts, instructions and sticker sheet

This set comes in a large thumb-punch box with Jurassic World Dominion graphics. The T-Rex’s head featured prominently in the upper right, with an amber-like strip of transparent-orange bricks bracketing the edge. The set itself is shown during the eponymous breakout event, with the two dinosaurs charging at the four characters.

On the back of the box you can see the moments before the breakout, with the T-Rex peeking out through a stall in the marketplace and the raptor presumably nestled in the transport crate. Inset shots along the bottom edge show the truck backed into the market street, the raptor being placed in the removable crate, and a detail of the dinosaur-related relics in the market’s shops.

In the lower right is a graphic showing off the real-world scale difference between humans and the included dinos. Normally we’d expect to see LEGO showing off the scale of the included models, but maybe those weren’t seen as impressive.

As sometimes happens with thumb-punch boxes, the “open here” finger graphic has an unintentional interaction with the other graphics. I mean, it sure looks like you’re being invited to pet the raptor. I hear they really like that.

Inside the box are four numbered part bags, a loose 132 page, perfect bound instruction book, small sticker sheet, and the body of the Atrociraptor.

The T-Rex comes in its own large segmented bag. This does a great job of protecting the print on the dinosaur from getting nicked up in transit.

The sticker sheet is pretty small, but it realistically could have been even smaller. As we’ll see, the brickwork stickers are pretty lackluster and could probably have been omitted without anyone noticing. The graphics for the storage crate have some odd drips in the design – hopefully that will match up with something in the film, as it seems like an odd thing to add otherwise.

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T. Rex

The main draw of this set for many people will be the large molded Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is made from eight interlocking pieces, with tan and dark tan accents. The molds look nearly identical to the ones in the 75938 Jurassic World T. Rex vs Dino-Mech Battle, but the colors here are brand new and unique to this set.

The assembled T-Rex looks great. The colors are very natural looking, but different enough from the other released Rexes to stand out from the crowd.

 

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Atrociraptor

The smaller of the two dinosaurs in this set is the Atrociraptor. This is a new mold for the Dominion wave of sets. There’s another version of this beastie in the 76945 Atrociraptor Dinosaur: Bike Chase, but the orange color scheme here is unique.

The only point of articulation is on the jaw. Even if they needed to keep the legs solid for stability, it would have been nice if LEGO had opted for movable arms. Considering we’re likely to see more color variations of this breed in the future, it feels like a cost that could have been absorbed in the name of increased playability.

But at least the jaw moves. You can get a couple of decent expressions, and the “Philosoraptor” meme seems like it might be ready for a comeback.

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Transport Crate

The construction portion of this set starts out with the crate used to haul the Atrociraptor around. It’s designed to hold both the orange one in this set, and the white version in the 76945 Atrociraptor Dinosaur: Bike Chase. The 1×2 jumper plates used to pose the raptors are even color coded.

The crate makes use of two sand-blue wall elements and two stickers to add some visual interest. The rear wall element is mounted on a clip hinge, and it stays shut pretty well.

From outside, the closed crate looks suitably sturdy. It’ll be interesting to see how this stands up next to the prop used in the film.

The sled slides in easily. The raptor can either look out the front window or prep itself for leaping out. Interestingly, the inner tray doesn’t clip into place, but just relies on friction and the rear door to keep it inside.

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Transport Truck

The crate isn’t a stand-alone accessory; it comes with an 8-stud wide big rig truck to haul it around. The build here is nothing special, but it is shaped well. The dark red color for the cab looks very classy.

The completed truck has some additional orange striping that plays well with the dark red.

The sand blue of the container crate is echoed in the light bar on the top of the cab.

The crate locks into place thanks to exposed studs on the light grey elements along the truck bed. The proportions look good, and custom builders could easily modify the truck to handle even larger trailers.

As a play feature, the truck and crate combo is the real star of this set. There are no obvious points of cost cutting or design compromises; it’s a very well designed vehicle that’s fun to build.

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Market

I had to go read the product description at LEGO.com before I could identify what this section of the set was supposed to be. Described as a “market”, we’re left to make some educated guesses as to what role this area might play in the upcoming movie. The main clue seems to be this area that appears to be crammed with dinosaur-related merchandise. Some bones, fossilized(?) eggs, and chunks of amber all seem like curios that would fit well into the Jurassic World.

Connecting to the shop is a small square zone where the T-Rex can hang out. The walls here are designed to pop apart easily, for the “breakout” event. The tall tan 2×2 bricks have some light stickering with brick patterns. The stickers aren’t really aligned with anything, and don’t add a lot of detail. I suppose it does add at least a little something to this very minimalist play area.

The final steps add some arches to connect the shop and pen areas. The height here is designed to let the container truck to fit under it, perhaps delivering the raptors for sale. There’s a big black spider on the roof. Will that be a plot point? Maybe! Maybe not!

The T-Rex fits snugly into the pen area. If this ends up matching the size of the pen in the film, the shopkeepers were really just asking for trouble.

The breakout feature works just fine, even if it’s a manual process rather than being triggered by any Technic elements. It does create a rubble-strewn area for the aftermath.

Finally, we should mention that the 76945 Atrociraptor Dinosaur: Bike Chase set also contains a chunk of marketplace building that can be combined with this set. That set really does feel like a booster pack for this kit, but I guess marketing wanted another lower-cost set option out there to tempt completists rather than rolling it into this set and putting it at a $100 US price point.

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The minifigures

This set comes with four minifigures – Owen Grady, Soyona Santos, Rainn Delacourt and  Claire Dearing. Owen is identical to several of his other appearances, including 75938 Jurassic World T. Rex vs Dino-Mech Battle. Both Rainn and Claire appear in identical forms in other Jurassic World Dominion sets, too, leaving Soyona the lone stand out.

All the figures have dual sided torso and head prints. Everyone except Claire has leg printing. Rainn is the only character with a new-for-2022 head print.  It’s sad to see how the leg printing on Soyona fails to look white against the black plastic. It kind of ruins the look for the only exclusive figure in the set.

But let’s not forget the other two figures in this set. Somehow I think they’re going to tempt a few more collectors than the rest of the gang.

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Conclusion and recommendation

This set is somewhat of a mixed bag. The T-Rex and Atrociraptor are interesting molds, and are sure to be a hit with Jurassic Park collectors. The four minifigures (one of which is exclusive) are also a draw, adding to the overall collectability. The transport truck and crate are good looking builds with some minor but fun play features. But that market…ugh. It’s very underwhelming. The price might also be an issue for some. At $80 US for 466 pieces, the ratio comes in at over 17 cents per – which is going to keep this set from ever being considered as a useful parts pack. (Depending on your interests the exclusive molded dinos and minifigure selection may balance out the part selection, of course.) From a play perspective, there are plenty of things to do here, and LEGO didn’t even have to resort to adding in stud shooters. If you’d like to add good looking Tyrannosaurus Rex to your collection, this could be just what you were waiting for.

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Jurassic World Dominion 76948 T. Rex & Atrociraptor Dinosaur Breakout will be available April 17th from the LEGO Shop Online for US $79.99 | CAN $109.99 | UK £79.99. It may also be available via third-party sellers on Amazon and eBay.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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