The final trailers for Jurassic World Dominion are starting to drop, and now LEGO can share one more set joining the previously revealed Spring 2022 assortment. Jurassic World Dominion 76949 Giganotosaurus & Therizinosaurus Attack is available now from the LEGO Shop Online for US $129.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £114.99. This 810 piece set features some of the biggest dinosaurs to grace the Jurassic World. And a research station. And six minifigures. And a helicopter. Come along as we take a close look at all the goodies packed into the largest set yet in the Jurassic World Dominion theme!
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, instructions and sticker sheet
Unlike thumb-punch packaging used for the other sets in this theme, this one comes in a large tab-sealed box. The graphics and design are the same, though – this time with the Giganotosaurus bursting through the amber bricks on the right edge. The artwork places the scene in a forest environment, nicely integrated with some non-LEGO steps leading up to the research station’s front door.
The back of the box shows off the station and tower from the rear, showing the integrated play areas. A number of inset shots along the bottom show off the tower’s collapsing railing play feature, the cargo hold in the helicopter, and details from the lab’s workspaces.
Like the other sets, the lower right corner is dominated by graphics showing just how massive these creatures are in comparison to a human figure. The depicted heights here don’t exactly match up with the included toys, though, as we’ll describe later. At least the human silhouette is a little more in scale than it is in the 76951 Pyroraptor & Dilophosaurus Transport, which shows an “average dude” to be about 8 feet (2.5m) tall. (Sadly the tab-sealed box here means no giant finger graphic trying to pet the Therizinosaurus!)
Inside the box are eight numbered parts bags spanning 5 building stages, two segmented bags that contain the dinosaur parts, an unnumbered bag with a baseplate and flex tubing, and a final bag containing the instruction book and sticker sheet.
The manual is perfect bound and 172 pages long. The front cover shares the same artwork as the front of the packaging. The instructions themselves are pretty much standard, with a light grey background that makes the steps easy to follow.
The sticker sheet is fairly small, and printed on a transparent backer. The majority of images are computer readout screens that will adorn the inside of the lab. There are also some Biosyn Genetics logos for the base’s exterior and helicopter.
Other than the dinosaurs, there really aren’t many parts worth calling out for individual note. I did take a close up of the “mosquito in amber” brick, just because it’s cool. It’s been around since 2020, though.
Giganotosaurus
The first of the two big-baddies in this set is the Giganotosaurus. It consists of eight molded plastic parts, most with integrated Technic connections.
Assembly is easy, and the completed dinosaur does look pretty impressive. There’s a fair amount of printed cross-hatch scarring all over, suggesting this beast has lead a tough life. My major complaint here is that the dark green along the upper back doesn’t carry well into either the head or tail.
From the rear, you can really see the problem with the coloration. There’s some effort to disguise the joins with some dark green prints on both the tail and head, but it wasn’t quite enough. Combined with the green skin tone, I’m reminded of Frankenstein’s monster – something stitched together from body parts that were close…but obviously not from the same original creature. Who knows? Maybe that’ll be a plot point in the new film. But I kinda doubt it.
Seen from a more photogenic angle, though, I think most people will be pretty happy with the end result.
Therizinosaurus
The second dinosaur is a bit more of a conundrum. The therizinosaurus also has eight “core” elements, again with integrated Technic connections. Unusual for these molded figures, there is a bit of building to add the fingers/claws to the ends of the arms. These are build from bar/clip elements and tan “tooth” pieces. Each hand gets three fingers.
The completed beast is…okay? Maybe it’s how I posed it, but the claws look a little awkward. (They’re positioned much better on the box art, anyway.) Compared to the image searches I ran, the body feels a bit too thin and elongated, but we’ll have to wait and see how it compares to the final CGI in the film.
The same color mismatch problem between body and tail shows up here, too. It’s not quite as noticeable since it’s on the underside, but the lack of unification still feels like a poor choice for a cost cutting measure.
Maybe it’s just me, but in this photo kind of looks like the therizinosaurus is channeling Austin Powers. “Oh, Behave!”
According to the box, the therizinosaurus is 5 meters tall, and the giganotosaurus comes in at four-and-a-half meters. It’s a little tough to decide how those numbers were arrived at, but the silhouettes show the therizinosaurus standing above the giganotosaurus by a bit. Posing the LEGO versions side-by-side, it looks like the giganotosaurus is actually a little bit bigger. (T-Rex from 76948 T. Rex & Atrociraptor Dinosaur Breakout included for compassion’s sake.)
Tower
Since the construction on the dinosaurs is fairly minimal, LEGO fans will be happy to discover that there’s actually a lot of building to be done with the rest of this set. Things start out with an observation tower. It uses braced Technic beams to give it some height.
The observation station itself is a fairly easy build, with some nice curved window elements to keep it from looking boxy. The first of the stickers are used here for computer readouts. The back half of the roof is removable for easier access to the interior.
The completed tower looks good. There smattering of greenery on the base helps give it a sense of place, and the flex-hose railing looks suitably industrial. From the back its a little weaker, but like most playsets it’s mean to be seen from the front, with the party in the rear.
I’m not sure what’s up with the half-length ladder. I wonder if there were originally plans for a couple of these elements so that it could reach the ground. As it is, it’s really just a dangly fire-escape deathtrap with a long fall to the jungle floor below.
Speaking of a fall, the tower’s front side has an action feature. The central section is hinged to drop away. A grey 4L bar buts up against the flex tubing, creating a really nice illusion that it’s a single piece…until it’s too late.
It seems a little odd that the front window is also part of the breakaway railing, but maybe this will be an accurate movie detail. Time will tell.
Vehicles
There are two small vehicle builds included with the base. the first is a small utility ATV that looks very similar to the “escape buggy” in the 76950 Triceratops Pickup Truck Ambush. It has a couple of clips on the back, and a pick-axe accessory.
The second vehicle is a bit more involved. The Biosyn helicopter has the same black and white color scheme as the ATV, and has a cargo bay which holds a bit of extra equipment.
Just what that “equipment” is remains to be seen, but it looks like it’s a carrier for the high-powered tranquillizer we’ve seen the characters carrying in the other Dominion sets.
The completed helicopter looks slightly futuristic, with side mounted turbines in addition to the standard rotors. Stickered accents on the cargo doors do a good job of unifying the colors. (See, LEGO does know how to do that!)
Research Base
The final assembly is the Biosyn research base. (Laboratory? Executive retreat? Really upscale cafeteria?) Things start out with the same sort of egg incubator and robotic arm we’ve seen in other Jurassic World sets over the years. I’m not as fond of this design variation; I think it looked better in 75939 Dr. Wu’s Lab: Baby Dinosaurs Breakout. Stickers are applied to the exterior glass, as well as to the computer read out between the stations.
On the other side of the front door is a microscope looking at (presumably) a bit of amber. Another computer readout sticker is used here.
The exterior wall has a mounted security cam and a garage/exit for the buggy. A few plants are added to add to the jungle feel.
The exit is well sized for the ATV, but I wonder if there will be a garage door on the bay in the film. Seems like a bit of a security hole, otherwise. On the other hand, the whole front façade is glass, so maybe they just didn’t care.
The ATV has a charger station on the edge of the wall. This area isn’t clearly inside or outside of the base, but it seems more likely to be an “interior” feature. Playset geography is sketchy sometimes.
But maybe the charger is meant to be on the outside – on the opposite wall, a rack of walkie-talkies with a similar design sits next to jungle plants. Eh. Whatever. The first floor is a pretty solid sub-set all on its own.
From the front you can see that oh-so-secure plate glass corporate exterior. The light blue transparent elements contrast nicely to the various shades of green for the plant life.
The front door opens, too. A nice, welcoming touch.
On the second floor, there are a few workstations, a water dispenser, and a rack showing off amber pyramids. A dinosaur skull sits on a pedestal – a nice mini build based around a minifigure weapon.
The monitors get the last couple of stickers. Do you think there’s someone on the Biosyn staff responsible for making the PowerPoint presentations shown here? There has to be, right?
The roof of the complex gets a big radar dish and a landing pad for the helicopter. The interior play areas are all easily accessible, and fairly exposed to light. I’m glad they didn’t try and shoe-horn in some stairs or other “realistic” way to reach the other floors, as there really wasn’t space to include that detail.
From the font, this is a good looking playset. There’s plenty of attention to detail, and the black/white/light blue color scheme somehow manages to not quite read “yet another CITY Police Station”.
Putting everything together, you have the makings for a perfect dinner date.
I’m sure we’ll see a big battle between these two dinosaurs in the film, but I like to think that they’re actually great friends with a mutual crush on one another. Here they are reenacting the spaghetti scene from “Lady and the Tramp”.
The minifigures
This set includes six minifigures, of which only two are unique to this set. The Owen figure is the same as his multiple other Dominion appearances, and you can pick up an identical copy of Dr. Ellie Sattler in 76951 Pyroraptor & Dilophosaurus Transport. Old Alan Grant, though, is exclusive to this set (so far.)
All three of these figures have dual sided torso prints, with Owen and Ellie having dual expressions. Owen is the only one to get leg printing.
The second batch of three also includes one unique figure: Dr. Henry Wu. Claire Dearing appears in this outfit in the 76948 T. Rex & Atrociraptor Dinosaur Breakout and 76947 Quetzalcoatlus Plane Ambush sets, and Kayla Watts also appears in 46947.
All three figures have dual sided torso and head prints, and unprinted legs.
Conclusion and recommendation
I prefer brick-built dinosaurs, so I was a little underwhelmed with the other entries in the Jurassic World Dominion theme. I felt that too much of the purchase price was absorbed by those costly dinosaur molds, leaving the LEGO building experience underrepresented. Happily, this final entry into the Spring 2022 wave had plenty of construction to keep me engaged and interested. While I had some minor complaints about the color continuity on the dinos, there’s no denying that they look fun, and are sure to be a draw for many collectors (and fans). The research lab and tower are interesting, if straightforward, builds with plenty of play value to them. The helicopter and ATV vehicles give the humans something to do (beyond just running away) and are well designed. At $130 US for 810 pieces, the per-part ratio is still high at nearly 16 cents per, but the two large (and exclusive) dinosaurs and six minifigures (two of which are exclusive) do well to offset that. It’s not a great pick for a parts pack regardless, as the more standard LEGO elements are, indeed pretty standard fare. But if you’re looking to re-enact movie moments (or create some stories of your own) this set would be my pick of the assortment to provide all the things you’ll need.
Jurassic World Dominion 76949 Giganotosaurus & Therizinosaurus Attack is available now from the LEGO Shop Online for US $129.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £114.99. It is also 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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