Review: 75915 Pteranodon Capture
Posted by Huw,
75915 Pteranodon Capture is the smallest of the boxed Jurassic World sets that's due for release in May. This 174-piece set is expected to retail at $19.99 in the USA, and probably £20 or £25 in the UK.
It's an okay set but not without its flaws...
Box and contents
The box art looks fantastic. Against an Isla Nubla backdrop, the helicopter is shown chasing the pterosaur whilst an alarmed Asset Control Unit member tries to sedate it.
The back suggests they had some success given it's been netted and grounded.
The parts are in two bags.
One instruction manual...
One sticker sheet...
The Pteranodon's head is packaged in a box to prevent damage in transit.
Parts
Excepting minifig and dinosaur parts there's nothing of note, no new parts or re-colours that I noticed. The helicopter canopy has been around for a few years but has appeared in transparent black only in HERO Factory sets until now.
Minifigs
As you'd expect for a licensed set, the minifigs are excellent. On the left is Simon Masrani, played by Irrfan Khan, attired in a flying suit.
On the right, a member of the Asset Control Unit wearing what looks like a flak jacket which I suspect is new although I am not an expert. Whatever, it's very nicely moulded with belts straps and pockets, and well printed.
Removing the jacket reveals a superbly printed torso. He has just one face: scared.
Simon has a second expression on the back of his head and a cool dino print on his back.
Pteranodon
The parts of the flying reptile are identical to the those that came in the 2012 Dino sets. I think that's fair enough given they are pretty much perfect. A means of standing them up on their legs would be nice but hard to achieve I suspect.
Here's a shot of all three for comparison.
Helicopter
Construction of the helicopter is straightforward. After parts in bag one have been used, it's half-way built.
A net is shoved into the 'engine' on the side which is affixed to the side of the helicopter by a ball joint which allows it to be tilted up and down. The net is actually quite a tight fit and only really goes in if you fold it carefully before inserting it.
The dome at the back of the 'engine' is used to fire the net and, hopefully, catch the pterosaur. The Jurassic World stickers on slopes are totally unsatisfactory. I only applied them yesterday but they are peeling at the edges already. It's not surprising really given the texture on the parts but very disappointing given that parts with this texture have traditionally been printed. I'll give them 6 months...
On the right of the 'copter a flap hinges down to reveal a 1x1 round plate firing gun. However it looks a bit daft given it's pointing up -- likely to hit the blades if fired -- and not forwards.
Verdict
Having a soft-spot for helicopters I really wanted to like this set, and while it's an okay model, a couple of things annoy me: the gun on the side that only points upwards and the stickers on textured parts that will not last 5 minutes.
The net firing gimmick is well implemented and adds a lot of playability, I admit, but overpowers the overall look of the craft. Also, I don't care for the one piece landing skid: it's too juniorised for my liking, or the rotor blades.
The dinosaur and minifigs are excellent though and, let's face it, that's what most AFOLs will be buying this set for.
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28 comments on this article
I don't know if you've noticed but Smyths have listed them, I assume the prices are RRP because they match the slightly inflated expectation - http://brickset.com/buy/country-uk/vendor-smyths/theme-Jurassic-World
No didn't notice that, on my own website, how embarrassing :) So this one is £20, then.
I only noticed because they popped up on the sidebar yesterday and was curious what had changed. :-) Hidden by Mixels now
Love the shot of the three dinos on the wing. Who needs LEGO Birds?
Nice to see the sleepyhead-hair piece in black again.
Without seeing the film, it's impossible to tell if this is a good or bad replica of the actual chopper, but at first glance it doesn't appeal. A shame as the jeep in the other set looks fantastic. Though then the Unimog in the other is absolutely dreadful.
P.S. Is it just me that spontaneously heard the Jurassic Park theme playing in their head when looking at that picture of the three pterasaurs?
I'd love to see a model of the sleek InGen chopper from the end of the first film, undercarriage neatly tucked away.
I'm not convinced by this chopper. Although the Pteranodon is okay.
The largest set looks like a version of the previous dino defnese HQ, but with 2 less dinos and £20 more expensive. Although there are more solid lego parts in this new version I'm not sure it is worth the price.
I will be looking for at least 40% off this series, before buying.
All the JW sets look excellent, but the prices are way over the top, cannot see me buying any until they are discounted significantly. As much as I love all the licensed themes can't help but feel I'm being ripped off by them all :(
After having had a look at the other sets, too, I must say the sets from the last, non-licensed dinosaur related series were not only cheaper but simply better. These new ones just seem like redos with a worse colour scheme.
are those transparant parts to let the dino fly also in this set ?
"The dinosaur"
Argh, and you even avoided this error earlier in this very article.
" Additionally, many prehistoric animals, including mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, and Dimetrodon, are popularly conceived of as dinosaurs, but are not taxonomically classified as dinosaurs"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur
...that seems to say the /opposite/ of "it is correct to refer to this animal as a dinosaur."
Wow nice! It seems a bit pricey though for what it is. Maybe $15-17 would be a better price in my opinion. Great minifigs though.
"He has just one face: scared."
That's a first, no? I don't remember a minifig that is only scared. And it's a rather odd choice to save the printing here.
I know these go on sale in May, but does anyone know more specific information? May 1, Mid-May, etc.
I think the farmer in Alien abduction as well.
Mickitat : yeah, old ones look better. one exception may be the HQ, where the the colour scheme and design give a fitting high-tech, high security look, but otherwise, yellow looks better.
@Lucina, I popularly conceived it to be a dinosaur :)
I like the vehicle much more than a good number of the other builds. It's a compact, blue, projectile-shooting chopper... I couldn't ask for anything else, except maybe wheels. I've broken that skid piece way too easily in the past. Luv the figures, and that blended Pteranodon... I must have it. Ounce for ounce, this is a very cool set.
Now, if only they would put some herbivores into this line...
@Huw: that... doesn't make it not wrong...
Like many others, will be waiting for discounts. If they aren't found, then I guess I will have to pass. I missed out on the last Dino sets because of the price. Looks like I'll have to do so again here.
I am not really into the Jurassic World sets, but this one catches my eye. The helicopter looks a lot better than the average small craft design, I love the minifigures and the dinosaur is cool.
I quite like the helicopter and it's ripe for improving. I won't pay £20 for it though.
I think this is the most "ok" of the sets: I like the colors on the Pteranodon, yet the helicopter itself is good, but nothing spectacular. The net feature is neat, I guess (but like you said, overpowers the helicopter a little too much)? The helicopter looks better when viewed from a behind-ish angle, oddly enough.
I'm a sucker for Lego helicopters, as well, but I am scared of what the price is going to end up being for the Australian market. It would be lovely to have a whole flock of those Pteranodons, though...
That jacket isn't a new piece; it's a recolor of the ones worn by some of the Robo-SWAT figs from the Lego Movie sets.
@Lucina This isn't a scientific publication, so the rigour of formal taxonomic designation is pointless - if that level of rigour was needed you'd also use the proper latin designation of Dinosauria anyway and you'd also italicise it.
Besides, Taxonomy is largely a faux-science because it, as a subject, still can't decide if it wants to give things convenient names or offer a consistent and objective naming convention for species anyway. Designations are wholly arbitrary with some taxonomists simply using traits like how something looks, and "gut feel" (aka whatever they feel like), and others are using their own personal arbitrary cut offs based on DNA analysis which means even with the objective data of DNA you'll still not get two taxonomists to agree which side of the line between species each of two borderline specimens falls.
When taxonomists themselves can't figure out how to designate things consistently, why would you expect non-taxonomists to adhere to such arbitrary designations?
Okay, unless you are a paleontologist, giant history lizard= dinosaur. So let's just stop complaining. Most of us didn't even know there were other classifications beside "dinosaur". Well, I didn't, anyway.
Also, the flak jacket has been around since at least the lava series of Power Miners.
picked this set up today from toysrus here in the US. $21, son is building now. Cashier said they couldn't sell it till May 1st but manager said it was ok, son was stoked.