Solid theme. The dino designs are admittedly odd, but the hero faction’s vehicles were so cool for their era. I loved how the theme got neutered in some markets because their weapons were too much!

There we go, the American version, where we don't care about being humane towards life and instead blow the crap out of it because it's mutant monsters destroying the city! Simply capturing these creatures is not enough, you gotta put them down for good, and I guess the hunters were successful since there wasn't another wave of the theme.
Mission accomplished gentlemen; job well done.

Love the color scheme of the vehicles in this theme. The helicopter is an awesome sight on my display shelf...

steel sprinter vs mutant lizard

Help me out here guys. Which is which?

My headcanon for this theme was always that the Dino theme from 2012 happened first, then some of the Dinos reached the mainland and became mutated, then lethal force was brought in to deal with them leading to Dino Attack, then government and activist pushbacks forced the non-lethal methods of Dino 2010. The entire story of course taking place in 2010.

@chrisaw said:
"Ok, so was there ever an explanation of why this was basically 2 themes in one depending on where you were in the world? And is the only time that LEGO has altered sets so drastically in different parts of the world? The only other thing I could think of would be Soccer sets with the different teams etc."

According to Mark Stafford:

"The Dino Attack sets were designed exclusively for the North American market. At the same time the Viking theme was developed for the European market. After an outcry from both sides of the Atlantic both themes were both launched worldwide.

However it was considered the guns and shooting action of the Dino Attack sets were too violent for the European market and the bigger more obvious guns were replaced with cages instead. New packaging with a less threatening background was also designed. In actuality many North American parents also objected to the amount of weapons on these models (the back story of rampaging robotic dinosaurs apparently not being clearly understood). This theme would probably not be produced at this conflict level today."

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/2d7bp4/anyone_remember_this_beauty_from_2005_dino_attack/cjmxixx/

As for my own personal thoughts on this set... Dino Attack was certainly a fun theme, even if the dinosaur models never quite lived up to LEGO standards. I certainly had a blast running an RPG campaign on BZPower based upon Dino Attack for over seven years. Since this set was the first Dino Attack set I owned, one of my characters in the RPG (a tamed Mutant Lizard named "Trouble") was based upon the dino from this set.

Also, fun fact... apparently, this set is actually called "Street Sprinter vs. Mutant Lizard", according to the box art and later magazines/catalogs. However, since earlier magazines/catalogs called it "Steel Sprinter", that's what many websites like Brickset still say to this day.

@SJPlego said:
"According to Mark Stafford:

"The Dino Attack sets were designed exclusively for the North American market. At the same time the Viking theme was developed for the European market. After an outcry from both sides of the Atlantic both themes were both launched worldwide.

However it was considered the guns and shooting action of the Dino Attack sets were too violent for the European market and the bigger more obvious guns were replaced with cages instead. New packaging with a less threatening background was also designed. In actuality many North American parents also objected to the amount of weapons on these models (the back story of rampaging robotic dinosaurs apparently not being clearly understood). This theme would probably not be produced at this conflict level today."

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/2d7bp4/anyone_remember_this_beauty_from_2005_dino_attack/cjmxixx/"

You know, I find it interesting that using guns to fight giant monsters in Dino Attack was considered too violent but using swords and axes to attack giant monsters I’m Vikings was not

@SJPlego said:
" @chrisaw said:
"Ok, so was there ever an explanation of why this was basically 2 themes in one depending on where you were in the world? And is the only time that LEGO has altered sets so drastically in different parts of the world? The only other thing I could think of would be Soccer sets with the different teams etc."

According to Mark Stafford:

"The Dino Attack sets were designed exclusively for the North American market. At the same time the Viking theme was developed for the European market. After an outcry from both sides of the Atlantic both themes were both launched worldwide.

However it was considered the guns and shooting action of the Dino Attack sets were too violent for the European market and the bigger more obvious guns were replaced with cages instead. New packaging with a less threatening background was also designed. In actuality many North American parents also objected to the amount of weapons on these models (the back story of rampaging robotic dinosaurs apparently not being clearly understood). This theme would probably not be produced at this conflict level today."

Wow! I knew of the split between Dino Attack and 2010, but not that Vikings was exclusive to Europe! Although, I guess if you look at some sets from both themes, a few are similar. There were a lot of monsters in Vikings!