Review: 75916 Dilophosaurus Ambush
Posted by Huw,
April has been a period of drought with no new set launches except the Kwik-E-Mart. That's set to change in May, though, which sees the release of the Jurassic World sets.
We'll be bringing you reviews of most of them over the next couple of weeks. I'll start with 75916 Dilophosaurus Ambush which to me looked to be the most interesting: a new dinosaur, a pod and a cool Jeep-like vehicle.
Box and contents
The box looks fantastic. The image and colours really 'pop', helped by the glossy finish to the cardboard. It looks like a premium product.
The back shows some action shots and illustrates the moving parts.
Parts are supplied in two numbered bags.
There are two instruction manuals.
At the back of the first, a list of minifigs and dinosaurs is shown to encourage collection. Unfortunately it is incomplete because those in 75920 Raptor Escape are not shown, presumably because it will be available only at brand stores/shop.LEGO.com and one retailer in each market who will have it as an exclusive.
There is, unfortunately, a sticker sheet.
Parts
The most interesting parts are of course those that make up the pod. It's constructed from two identical half-spherical domes and two dia. 6 printed dishes. You'll see how the domes are connected below.
Apart from these, and the dino, there are no new parts although there is an interesting part in a new colour used in the jeep.
Minifigures
The set contains two minifigs which the box labels as Acu and Gray. After searching the character list at IMDB for someone named Acu without success it turns out it stands for Asset Control Unit. So in other words he's a generic security guard. Gray is a boy who, presumably, gets into all sorts of scrapes with dinosaurs, just like in the first film.
Both are printed on the back
Gray has a startled expression on the other side of his head.
Dilophosaurus
Jurassic World sets have come under some criticism from seasoned AFOLs who have been buying dinosaur-related sets for years because the dinos are predominantly re-colours of those that have been made before. The Dilophosaurus in this set, however, is a new species and while some parts of it have been used before, the head is new.
It comes packaged in a polythene bag, sealed into segments to keep the parts from touching and scratching.
It looks fantastic. The printing is excellent.
The jaw opens to reveal a fearsome set of teeth, and snaps closed.
Pod
The picture below shows how the pod is constructed. Each half-dome has a pair of axle holes which are used to hold it together.
When rolled across the floor the seat will stay upright although for it to do so care has to be taken to ensure the horizontal 4l axle underneath it is exactly centred and not sticking out the sides, otherwise it catches on the pod when it's rolled.
Vehicle
Construction of the vehicle is straightforward.
The Technic framework for the 'roll-cage' looks great. Can you spot the part in a new colour?
It's the crowbar piece which is usually red, in blue, used for the windscreen pillars. The spare wheel holder at the back is connected to a Technic axle which, when rotated, 'ejects' the two crates in the back. The only other moving part is the winch at the front.
The stickers finish it off nicely; they are not difficult to apply or align.
It's a chunky vehicle and much bigger than City scale vehicles of this type. Compared to the minifig it's probably a bit too big although given some of the SUVs you have in North America are huge, maybe it' is about right...
Verdict
This is an excellent introduction to the Jurassic World theme: a new dinosaur, a pod and an awesome-looking vehicle.
The only thing that might prevent me from giving it 10/10 is the price. In the USA it's believed it'll cost $29.99 which seems reasonable. If that converts to £25 in the UK that too would be reasonable but somehow I don't think it will. So, I will have to reserve judgement from a value for money/price per piece point of view until prices are known.
I hope the other JW sets are as good as this. Keep reading Brickset over the next couple of weeks to find out!
Many thanks to the LEGO CEE team for providing the sets for us to review.
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36 comments on this article
It looks quite nice, the colours of the jeep are nice too.
I was going to say £20 until i read the end, sounds like they are giving it DC Super Heros style comedy pricing.
I think this is the main one of the JW sets I'm going to keep an eye out for...think the way the pricing looks it might be a bit of a case of waiting for the right discount on most though.
I really like the design of the Jeep, and the Dilophosaurus is by far my favorite of the lineup, but in Germany the price tag is 44,99€ and that is just ridiculous.( https://www.spieletom.com/75916-Dilophosaurus-Ambush-LEGO )
The licensed theme vehicles all seem to set a scale to each other, from the ghostbusters ecto-1 to the Spider-Man vs venom set with the green hover car to the small superman set with the yellow car. However this car is quite large for the scale, however I still find this a cool set. I was debating on getting this set but I think I was just won over.
I do hope however that the Lego Ideas Jurassic park set will come to life as well because I would also like to have the classic vehicle.
Grr, the CEE Lego team and their successful advertising strikes again.
The roof of that vehicle looks terrible. The back of the roll cage looks OK with the chunky brown parts but those brown lightsaber blades don't look like they would pass any NCAP safety tests.
As licensed pricing goes, this theme is pretty awful. This looks like it would be $20 or $25 if it was in the Super Heroes theme. i still want it, even though the pod wobbles a bit from what I've seen in the Toy Fair videos.
Not a terribly offensive set but 30 clams? It doesn't look too much more substantial that 6867 (Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape) and that was $20 AND a licensed set to boot.
how do you retract the hook?
Squee! Can't wait to buy the whole line. :D
are they doing the 2M Cross Axle W. Groove now in black again or is that only for jurassic world
I love the pod. I want some of those. They'll make excellent gun turrets for a bomber/spaceship MOC :)
^^ The Cross Axle with Groove in black has never gone out of production. Bricklink shows 9 sets this year (so far) that have it:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=32062&in=A&itemYear=2015&colorID=11&ov=Y
Great set, the dino is really superb!
I want it as I regret not getting more Dino sets (the 2nd hand price for the Dinos on BL is berserk) but I wait to be disappointed by the UK price inflation.
The blue color looks sick on that jeep.
Hobbits in Jurassic Park... I would like to welcome this set, as I like dinos, Jurassic Park, and 4x4 vehicles. But here I don't like either one of these, the 4x4 looks like a very basic design. The price of 45€ is just way too much. 27,99 would be very good, 29,99 would be OK - 45 is just off.
I like the box art more than the sets.
I will buy this set because this jeep is very nice !The review is great!Althogh the jeep has many drawbacks,the doors and the hood don't open but with a few modifications they will!
Nice set, though parts aren't what I need ATM. Maybe another time...?
@ Clone: What about 7639, 7738, 60057, etc...? I could make a real long list of all the sets with 2+ spaces for figs... ;)
The pod is great, the dinosaur is absolutely superb, and I love the figures. 248 parts for $30 isn't bad, in fact that makes the set very similar to Raptor Chase from 2012. But that Jeep... I think I'm going to mod that heavily, because it's too stretched out for one figure, the blue seems slapped in, and the rollcage is terrible... though, the use of blue crowbars to put trim on either side of the windshield is a stroke of genius.
Still, it's worth it for the pod and Dilophosaur in my book.
yeah, its about right, looks like most oversized SUVs in America.
Looks nothing like a Jeep or Land Rover, or even a Mercedes Gelandewagen. The Jeep looking thing is really, really ugly on the front end, but the back end and sides look great.
I won't be getting this set, as the Jurassic Park sets seem much overpriced. In fact, if that 40 Euro is correct, that's about $40 USD. That's about double what I'd pay. Sure there are parts I want, but it isn't worth that price.
I will absolutely be picking up the Dilophosaurus on Bricklink or eBay, but I have a feeling these will be horribly overpriced (because everything else is, in Australia), so I couldn't justify it.
Seeing those Trans-clear spheres, makes me think about doing an UCS Republic Gunship. But, I don't want to see what those go for on Bricklink?!
The parts look great, but the set design looks terrible.
I would love to get one or four of those spheres, but I am guessing it won't be long before that part comes in a set I actually want. I can wait.
Like the set - 30 seems 5 too high. Would love a classic colored jeep as well - maybe Ideas will come through as someone else stated.
Its great! Love the ball thing
I think the playability for kids for this set is great. I can imagine the dinosaur escaping into our lego town and eating diners from the Parisian cafe!!!
I haven't been interested in any of the dinosaur themes, but when I saw that pod my eyes lit up. Can't wait to get that for use in making my own bubbleship from Oblivion.
nice looking set. Not sure about Bilbo Baggins driving the pod though!
Good review and nice set!
The only thing I'm worried about is the neck of the dinosaur. How much friction does it have? Because I already see it happening that the head moves forwards and backwards if you don't want it to.
The higher price is because of the big dino figure, thats probably 25% of the cost or more right there. deduct that and the remaining parts come out to about normal cost
I work in a toy shop in the UK and I'm going to let you know that this set costs £29.99
The sets look pretty cool. I wonder if the movie is as good as the old Jurassic Park trilogy.
I just spotted some of these sets at a local TRU! Prices as follows: 75915 27.99 €, 75916 44.99 € and 75917 64.99 €!!!
I want the raptor set, but the truck is terrible. I want the minifig and dinosaurs from that and the gyroball and truck from this.