LEGO Jurassic World Dominion 76950 Triceratops Pickup Truck Ambush – Horning in on the action [Review]

The next installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World Dominion, will be reaching theaters in June. To get you amped up while you wait, LEGO has a new wave of sets for Spring 2022 for you to check out. We’ve reached the final set in our initial review pack – Jurassic World Dominion 76950 Triceratops Pick-up Truck Ambush. This 210 piece set will be available April 17th from the LEGO Shop Online for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £39.99. It features four minifigures, two vehicles, and one angry looking dinosaur. Also a carrot on a stick. Does that tempt you? Read on and see what we thought!

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.


Unboxing the parts and instructions

This set comes in a mid-sized thumb-punch box. The Jurassic World Dominion and LEGO logos fill the upper left corner, while the right has the triceratops bursting out through a flow of amber (well, transparent orange) bricks. The background art shows a fenced stockade of some sort, which we can only assume ties into where this scene will take place in the movie.


The back of the box shows pretty much the same image as the front – the dinosaur smashing in the front of the pickup and activating the set’s “pop-off hood” play feature. If you somehow missed it the first two times, that action is also called out in the first inset shot along the bottom. Considering the general lack of play features in the Dominion sets we’ve seen so far, I guess marketing was desperate to showcase whatever they could.

Like the other Dominion sets, the lower right corner has a small diagram showing how large the included dinosaur is compared to a human figure. And, also like the other sets, the thumb-punch illustration invites you to gently stroke the triceratops’ back, soothing it and making it more docile for easier play.


Inside the box are three numbered parts bags, a 68-page, center-stapled instruction book, and two unnumbered bags containing the triceratops parts. There is no sticker sheet this time around. The parts used in the vehicle builds are all fairly common, but there is a nice range of colors and shapes to be had.


Escape Buggy

This set comes with two vehicles, and the build starts off with the smaller “escape buggy”. (Hey, that’s what the product description at LEGO.com calls it.) With dark green and sand green accents, this little two-seater go-kart/ATV thingie has some decent shaping. There’s nothing too interesting about the build, though. Will it match up with the movie prop? Only time will tell.

Assuming the package art holds up to the movie action, at some point Claire Dearing and Franklin Webb will be luring the triceratops somewhere using the classic “carrot on a stick” trick. I’ve always thought the LEGO carrot was comically oversized, but in this case the size might actually be enough to lure a hungry dinosaur.

Yep. Plenty big enough.


Pickup Truck

From a construction perspective, the main draw of this set is the black pickup truck. The build here is a pretty straightforward 8-wide build, with minimal SNOT connections. There is a bit of fun hidden in the front, though.

The orange 2×2 angled brick can slide back and forth, creating a trigger that will be used to pop off the hood when the front grille is pushed.

There’s very little to the interior of the truck. It’s designed to seat a single minifigure, with the steering wheel in the middle of the cab. The truck bed is also very minimal, with some exposed studs to aid in minifigure placement.

For a small, quick build,  the pickup truck looks pretty good. It has a removable panel on the roof to allow for access to the interior. It stays in place okay, but I’m not overly fond of the semi-exposed studs on the top edge of the windscreen.  A large searchlight is mounted on the left side of the cabin, and some 1×2 clip plates are used to add some angles to the completed truck bed.

The play feature works very well. Gentle pressure on the truck’s grille will slide the orange slope against the underside of the hood, popping it off.

The hood removal doesn’t expose anything resembling an engine though. I think that was a necessary trade-off for the action feature, and isn’t likely to be a major downside for anyone playing with this set.


Triceratops

Most people pick up Jurassic Park sets for the dinosaurs, and the triceratops is a solid addition to the lineup. It’s the same mold as the version seen in other sets like the 75937 Triceratops Rampage , but in a new dark grey/tan color scheme with dark red accents. It’s assembled from six large pieces.

The printing shows some massive scarring on the side of this critter, hopefully another upcoming movie detail.

One note about the colors here – the packaging (and images at LEGO.com) show a much brighter red for the triceratops’ accents. Once these sets are out in the wild (heh) it’ll be interesting to see if this is a mid-production change or if everyone will get the duskier version.


The minifigures

Quick question for you. How many of you were surprised to see that Black Widow was a figure in this set? Well, turns out that’s actually Claire Dearing. Or is it??

Claire and Franklin Webb, are clad in new black dual-sided torsos. The other two gentlemen are just listed as “Guard”. Apparently a common name for henchmen in the Jurassic World Dominion universe.


Franklin is the only character to get a new head print. The black torsos are exclusive to this set, but the rest of the parts are all common. The particular mix of parts for each, though, appears to be unique, so you get “four exclusive figures” from this set anyway.


Conclusion and recommendation

If you came for the triceratops, then you’re likely to be happy with this set. If you came for four exclusive minifigures, you’ll also be happy. (Even if two of them are kind of weaksauce in terms of “exclusive”) If you like pickup trucks with exploding hoods, you’re fine. If you’re looking for value as a parts pack…look elsewhere. For $40 US you get a whopping 210 pieces, just over 19 cents per part. That ratio is high, but it is somewhat balanced by the large molded dino and new minifigure prints. If you’re in the mood for a small-scale Jurassic adventure with a quick and fun truck build – give this set a whirl. But maybe wait for a sale if you’re not sure.


Jurassic World Dominion 76950 Triceratops Pick-up Truck Ambush will be available April 17th from the LEGO Shop Online for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £39.99. 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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3 comments on “LEGO Jurassic World Dominion 76950 Triceratops Pickup Truck Ambush – Horning in on the action [Review]

  1. Nathan

    The darker red looks MUCH better than what the packaging depicts. I hope that it is a universal change.

  2. Patrick

    I preferred the bright dark red. It’s a little disappointing to see the color isn’t true to the box.

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