LEGO sets based on the Jurassic films have a notoriously high price-to-piece ratio thanks to the large molded dinosaur figures. This has never been more true than the current wave of Jurassic World Rebirth sets, which offer incredible play paired with big price increases. One set in the line bucks the trend – 76974 Brick-Built Mosasaurus Boat Mission. With a retail price of US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99 for 858 pieces, the set promises something that other sets leave wanting: value. But is this brick-built behemoth a model of excellence, or is it dead in the water? Let’s 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.
The box and contents
As this is the final entry in our series of Jurassic World Rebirth sets, I want to call out how much fun the package designs are. With an increasing percentage of LEGO sets being marketed to adults as display pieces, much of LEGO packaging has become austere. That’s definitely not the case in these sets, where every box promises oversized action with prehistoric beasts. I love how this cover makes sure to include the ambient goldfish element on both front and back as a free-swimming feature of this aquatic adventure.
Punching the tabs to open the box reveals 6 numbered paper bags, a plastic bag of boat hull elements and flex tubes,a pair of instruction books, and a sheet for stickers. All stickers are used on the boat. The Mosasaurus includes 10 printed elements, shown here.
The build
Surprisingly all of the elements for the boat are found in bag 1. I suppose it helps that the large molded hull isn’t in a numbered bag. The build process is pretty straight forward with room for a pilot and a scanner in the back for locating the Mosasaurus.
The finished boat keeps twith the red, black, and grey color scheme of the InGen fleet (this vehicle is numbered 04) with the addition of white. We also build a storage unit for syringes, the same model found in the Air Mission and Titanosaurus sets.
The remainder fo the bags will focus on the titular brick-built Mosasaurus, but first we assemble a couple of undersea rock outcroppings. these feature a nice use of hair tufts in olive green as barnacles. There are no connection points for the larger models with these rocks, rather they’re just props that you can lean the models against.
Moving on to the main attraction, we start with the Mosasaurus’ tail. A pattern is established that will carry through for the remainder of the model in which we stack joints and SNOT elements to build the structure, then cover these up with bands of brown and olive green. As we move closer to the middle of the beast, a white underbelly also figures in. Brown cheese slopes add textured ridges all down the dinosoura’s back. Dark orange accents appear on the dino’s extremeties.
Each body segment uses two or three ball joints to connect which allows for only horizontal articualation. The fins cconnect with a single ball joint for a wide range of motion.
The tip of hte tail is a single stud wide. At its widest, the Mosasaurus is 6 studs wid, which is quite hefty considering it’s pretty solid brick. The mosaic work for the dinosaur’s skin patterns are pleasantly detailed.
The final bag is dedicated to the Mosasaurus’ head. The lower jaw connects with a click hinge.
A single large ball joint connects the head to the body allowing for full rotation. Now our Mosasaurus is ready to feast!
The minfigures
Two figures are included, both of which are exclusive to this set. I’m guessing LeClerc and Atwater are fairly minor characters in the film as they don’t have first and last names. They still get some unique prints. Atwater is rocking a beige on beige with a utility vest up top and cargo shorts below the belt. LeClerc Sports an unbuttoned sleeveless flannel with a rumpled brown shirt underneath. He’s wearing a hip bag strapped over his chest. Sadly, his legs aren’t printed. Both characters have just one expression.
The figs in this line continue to be winners for minifig customizers who specialize in military, post-apoc, or adventure themes, as the are packed with detail and are free of any sort of badges that tie them to the Jurassic IP.
The finished model
The star of the set in piece count and length is definitely the Mosasaurus, but as a companion vehicle, the boat is quite substantial. The pair or rock outcroppings allow you to pose the Mosasaurus angled up out of the “water” so that it isn’t lying flat on its belly. Consisting of eight segents, the beast is about as articulated as you could hope for from the fish-like anatomy. Based on the glimpses seen in the trailer, both the boat and the Mosasaurus are much smaller than the on-screen versions, but for play purposes, they hold their own in the line.
Conclusion and recommendation
In recent years, LEGO has really stepped up their game when it comes to brick-built animals and mythical creatures with sets like Majestic Tiger and Medieval Dragon. The Mosasaurus model isn’t as dynamic as those two, due to the limitations of the source creature’s anatomy, but it follow their lead in feeling like a substantial and poseable model and not an armature with some cosmetic scaffolding, as many brick-built beasts of the past tended to be. The finished model integrates perfectly with minifigs for play or display. I would say the brick-built experiement in a Jurassic playset is an unambiguous success and an excellent value. 858 pieces, including 2 excusive minifigures and a medium-sized vehicle, for $60 is an unprecidented value for a Jurassic playset. (The retired T.rex Rampage also included a brick-built dino and figs at an excellent price per piece, but was a display piece not a playset.)
How does the brick-built Mosasuar hold up next to the molded dino with whom it shares a scene? Pretty good! The printed eye goes a long way to diving the aquatic beast personality.
Over on Brick Fanatics, Rob Paton makes a strong case that LEGO should pivot to all brick-built dinos from here on out. For larger models like this I tend to agree. There is something appealing about the molded models and their aestehtic alongside minifigs and vehicles that I would miss if LEGO does move towards more brick-built dinos in the future. But considering the cost of collecting a lineup like this (Nearly $400 for the 4 sets with exclusive dinos) it’s a trade-off I would support if it meant more kids getting to build and play in the Jurassic sandbox. Considering that LEGO has a lot more creature sets in the way with Pokemon, maybe the timing is right. Should these big molds go extinct? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the commnents.
And as we round out the Jurassic playset reviews, let’s have a look at the full fleet of InGen vehicles. As a reader commented on a previous review, there’s definitely a Thunderbirds quality with the numbered vehicles for every use case. Lined up, the vehicles remind me of classic ’80s GI Joe toys, color-coordinated for a faction with a different ride for any situation.
But as fun as the vehicles are, Jurassic adventures are all about dino rampages. Let’s let everyone take a bite!
LEGO Jurassic World Rebirth 76974 Brick-Built Mosasaurus Boat Mission contains 858 pieces and releases on June 1. It can be pre-ordered now for US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99.
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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