LEGO Jurassic World - Raptor Rampage #75917 [Review]

Born in the 1980s with my prominent childhood years in the 1990s, at the age of 10 there was only one thing I wanted, LEGO Jurassic Park. With no officially licensed sets released in 1993, I left that pipe dream more than two decades ago and that’s where it stayed – until now that is.

Pieces: 324
Set Number: 75917
Minifigures: Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), Owen (Chris Pratt), ACU Officer
Additional Figures: 2 Raptors (Blue, Delta)
RRP: £49.99/$49.99

With Jurassic World hitting the cinemas and breaking box-office records worldwide, dinosaurs are back in popular culture and as part of its ever-growing list of franchise deals, LEGO has released a wave of branded sets to coincide with the movie’s release.

Like a kid at Christmas, I jumped at the chance to own one of these sets and decided upon the mid-range set, Raptor Rampage, priced at £49.99. What drew me to this set was the inclusion of both the main two characters from the movie in minifig form, Owen and Claire, and arguably Jurassic World’s star dinos, raptors Blue and Delta. However, the fact that the set contains only 324 pieces at that price range does definitely raise an eyebrow.

Before delving into the specifics of the set, the box itself deserves a mention given the attractive imagery impressively recreating one of the major scenes from the Hollywood blockbuster – well sort of, I don’t actually remember the truck in the movie having a green laser gun on its roof, but that may have been a small oversight on my behalf.

The set itself took me a little over half an hour to fully put together and if I’m honest most of that was stickers. It was a somewhat disappointing timeframe for build considering the price tag, I’ve purchased sets in the past at half the RRP of this set and spent twice as long building. Looking at the specifics of the set though, there is a lot on offer.

The Dinosaur Figures

As with the movie, the dinosaurs are undoubtedly the stars of the LEGO Jurassic World theme as a whole and this set has the cream of the crop in the two velociraptors, Blue and Delta. If you’ve seen the film then you’ll be familiar with these guys are they have quite a prominent part to play in the story.

Their LEGO counterparts are of exceptional quality, the printing on the figures is impressive as is the quality of the moulding. Made up of seven built for purpose pieces, they can be posed in a number of different positions and stances. The head, along with both arms and legs are posable meaning that for the older LEGO aficionado looking to display the dinos, there are plenty of options available – that said these figs can be quite difficult to balance without a base plate.

The raptors jaws can be snapped open and closed, though sadly the mouth mechanism isn’t strong enough to easily hold objects in their mouths such as the poor ACU minifig who would no doubt end up raptor chow in most of the scenarios that spring to mind for both display purposes and play.

The dino duo also comes with the head-mounted camera harnesses from the movie, the headgear clips on easily to the raptors head and still allows for uninhibited jaw movement. The detail on the camera though does slightly let down the attention to detail on the dinosaurs and in my opinion, the figures actually look better without the headgear.

Minifigures

In addition to the raptor duo, the set also includes three minifigures, Owen, Claire and an ACU ( Asset Containment Unit) officer. Interestingly all three of the minifigures are unique to this set so given that the two main movie cast members are included definitely bumps up its value to collectors. It’s an interesting decision given that LEGO usually includes the stars of a franchise in multiple sets. Iron Man, Batman, Jack Sparrow, Emmet from the LEGO movie, they’ve all been included in multiple sets and yet this mid-range Jurassic World set is currently the only way to collect the lead characters from the movie, this could explain the over-inflated price tag.

The ACU Officer is very similar to those which appear in the other Jurassic World sets, the same detailed torso and legs as well as the detachable print flack jacket. In addition to manning the earlier mentioned roof-mounted laser gun on the truck, he is also armed with a handheld tranquiliser gun.

The Claire minifigure, based on Bryce Dallas Howard’s character in the movie, is remarkably faithful to the movie. The torso and legs are modestly designed though perfectly align with what the character wears for the majority of the movie. The one downside is the torso design cuts off and continues on the legs, a design decision which leaves the fig with a white line across her belly. It’s a shame as it does let the minifigure down somewhat when compared to the others.

The hair piece is impressively accurate, I’ve not seen another minifig with hair like it, it more than makes up for the line on the belly and with the tile printed mobile phone as an accessory, ensures that Bryce Dallas Howard’s transition into LEGO form is a successful one.

The star of the show is, of course, the Owen minifigure, based on actor Chris Pratt’s likeness from the movie. This is the third time a Chris Pratt character has been given the LEGO treatment and unsurprisingly Owen is a dead ringer for Guardians of the Galaxy’s Star-Lord and not LEGO Movies Emmet.

In all seriousness though, it’s clear to see that LEGO has used the same head and hair as the Marvel-inspired character, it kind of makes sense given the two movie characters do look the same. The body and torso separate the two though, with Owen’s more rugged Indiana Jones’esque outfit being superbly recreated here. The torso is printed with a brown leather jacket on the front and back, which also includes the sheathed knife we see in the movie. Owen is also equipped with a small knife.

The Motorcycle

Owen’s vintage motorcycle is also included in the pack and like the Owen, the minifig is exclusive to this set.

The bike has of course been a prominent part of both the trailers and promotional posters leading up to the movie’s release and so it’s inclusion in this set again bumps up this sets importance to collectors. This is the first time this LEGO motorcycle type has been cast in dark green and it is a fair recreation of its on-screen counterpart.

The Mobile Vet Unit

The Mobile Vet Unit, the main piece and the majority of the build time, unfortunately, is the biggest let down in the entire set, the design is a very poor representation of the movie version. While this may not bother the younger target audience immensely it seems odd given the attention to detail that has gone into all the other items in the set.

The design seems somewhat lazy and simplistic, take away the stickers and there is very little which sets it apart as a unique LEGO Jurassic World item, that said the LEGO City Police colour scheme doesn’t help too much, but that’s the movie’s fault, not the toy makers. The whole design though seems out of proportion, the wheel arches are too high and the rear section doesn’t quite fit next to the cab.

On the subject of stickers, there are 18 of them, and these alone take up as much of the built time as putting together vehicle itself. I’m not a fan of LEGO’s new found love for stickers and you’d expect a set in this price range to include specifically printed bricks rather than the painful stickers that ultimately make the entire item look cheap.

Negatives out of the way, there are a few things I do like about the Mobile Vet Unit. The detail on the front radiator grille and side view mirrors looks superb, as does the rear sections opening doors, extremely sturdy design.

The inside of the rear section contains two computer consoles displaying the readouts from the raptors headsets, but besides these, there are no other details inside the vehicle at all, it’s actually bare. This is a shame, a couple of the hook pieces and some LEGO walkie-talkies like those found in the LEGO City Police sets would have been a nice touch, but given there is barely enough room to comfortably fit the three minifigures inside, let alone one of the dinosaurs, it’s understandable why the designers left the interior so spartan, the roof-mounted gun does slide nicely into the back though.

The Set Overall

Looking at the set as a whole, I’m left feeling ambivalent. On the one hand, this set has so many positives, the minifigures are not only superb in detail, exclusive to this set but happen to include the two main stars of the movie and the velociraptors are impressively detailed, well put together and a must have. Sadly, however, the mobile vet unit is poorly designed, simplistic for the price range and ultimately leaves you feeling that you’ve not received your value for money.

Despite this, however, given the exclusivity of the minifigs, it’s safe to say that many LEGO and Jurassic World fans will buy this set as well as those parents willing to pay the inflated price to keep their children happy.

If LEGO removed the mobile vet unit, knocked the price down to around £15, this would be the perfect LEGO Jurassic World set.

THE GOOD