LEGO Jurassic World 76968 Dinosaur Fossils: Tyrannosaurus Rex – An epic specimen to behold! [Review]

Last year, LEGO decided to take a little adventure out of standard playsets in the Jurassic World line, and into some interesting display pieces: fossils! The LEGO Dinosaur Fossils series kicked off with LEGO Jurassic World 76964 Dinosaur Fossils: T-Rex Skull and LEGO Jurassic World 76969 Dinosaur Fossils: Triceratops Skull which were a huge hit. It was only a matter of time before they decided to go bigger! LEGO Jurassic World 76968 Dinosaur Fossils: Tyrannosaurus Rex just arrived on the scene as the first full skeleton in the series. This 41 inch-long (105 cm), 3,145-piece set will hit store shelves on March 15th (with early access for Insiders on the 12th) and retail for US $249.99 | CAN $329.99 | UK £219.99. Join us as we unearth and piece together this model to see if it’s museum-worthy.

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.

Unboxing the parts and instructions

The large nesting-lid-style box features the dino on the front in all its glory. The “Dinosaur Fossil:” part of the title indicates that this set is part of that collection, which, up to this point, has only included the T. rex and Triceratops skulls. But this adult-oriented kit now sets a precedent that other large-scale dinosaur skeletons could show up in the future.

As for the back of the box, it’s a little surprising that they didn’t choose to picture it from the other side of the model, but there is a slight change in posing. Below it, there are inset images of the placard, a schematic-style diagram, and a real life picture of a fossilized T. rex skull.

Inside the box are twenty-five bags, labeled 1-25.

There are also three instruction manuals and the placard wrapped in their own package. The pictures look mostly the same from the front with the I, II, and III slashes on the back, like the movie logos. The first and thickest manual covers the base and spine, the second covers the legs and ribs, and the third covers the head and tail. The first several pages of the first manual include a few pictures and details about the dinosaur. There’s also a picture demonstrating how to hold this massive model. We’ll come back to the placard in a bit.

The build

Cracking open our first bag, we create a dense brick-and-plate base. On either end, mounds are made with deep holes to anchor the supports for the model. These mounds are also heavy with side-studs for attaching the rockwork.

Next, the spots for the feet are given a bit of shape.

There are a few details hidden in the model, and this includes several scattered rock elements with orange crystals emulating amber. Slightly more obvious is a trans-orange 1×1 brick printed with the iconic Jurassic Park amber-encased mosquito.

Next up, we build the upright supports for the dino.

These slot into the base and attach with studs. Then the mounds are covered in rockwork, further locking the supports in place. Another Easter egg hides behind that rockwork on the left side: a 4×4 printed tile with the image of the fossilized head. Somehow my picture of this was lost in the editing process, so I borrowed the lifestyle picture from our news article.

Setting aside the base, we begin work on the body of the T. rex. At the center there is a cute Easter egg: a frog behind a steering wheel. This is slightly reminiscent of the inclusion of the frog in the rex from LEGO 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage. Though this specimen is way larger. The frog is also something that you will see hidden in several other LEGO sets, spreading across multiple themes.

We don’t see our little green friend for long though! The frog is quickly covered by brackets. These are part of a long central core, complete with ball joints for the legs and axles for seating the ribs.

Speaking of ribs, next we add some Technic connectors for the top and round out the spaces in between.

Perhaps the most critical pieces in the entire model comprise a new joint setup specifically created for the T. rex’s neck. The central piece is super strong, with extra large ratcheting gears. Without it, the head would be too heavy for the body to support and still have posability.

The assembly is secured with Technic axles in the upper neck area.

The brackets are then covered in slopes and clip plates, truly locking everything in place. Here we see our first use of tan horns/tail-tips for the neck bones. We also complete a lot of plate and slope work on the opposite end of this central core as well.

Next, we shift our attention to the pelvis. Here, the sides of the pubic bone meet at the center, held together by a bar slotted through Technic pins within the attached plates-with-pinholes. The angle of these sides is achieved by the lower plates being stopped from opening any further at the bottom.

This assembly is then clipped into the body below the leg joints, further securing them and restricting movement. Additionally, there is a tan tail with a soft tip used here for the ischium.

Just before adding the pelvic region, the body’s center is mounted on the supports with small axles. At this point, we also add vertebrae spines above and some caudal protrusions below.

Moving on, it’s time to add the legs. A relatively small but major component here is an angled plate. This sturdy element is what gives us the appropriate bend of the legs.

The right leg is first, with the bones above and below the heel. The legs have a dense core, covered in tan and dark tan plate and slopes.

Another assembly with a right angle gives us the knee, thigh and the thigh’s attachment to the the pelvis.

The leg is satisfyingly snapped onto a ball joint and rotated counter-clockwise into place, sliding into the mound for the foot. We’ll come back to this in a moment.

Switching attention to the other leg, it was important to the designers to give the rex a running appearance, so that angular plate comes in handy here.

The toes and their talons comes next, 6 in total. Ball joints allow them to be positioned appropriately.

And with that, the legs are complete. The feet are locked in place with some additional bricks, so while the hip joints move, they only do so to get them in the right position. The T. rex cannot stand on its own, and is not easy to hold and play with without the supports.

Moving right along, we add all the ribs. These are composed of 14 “middle tail” sections and, including the neck parts from earlier, 36 “horns/tail-tips” (plus some added Technic connectors for variable lengths). The former is quite rare in tan, last appearing in 2009. The latter was extremely rare until the last few years, but is still quite uncommon, especially in quantity.

The shoulder blades are plates attached via pins to some carefully positioned Technic connectors.

As for the coracoids, furcula (wishbone), and arms, they’re all tied together with tow-ball joint plates, tow ball axles, and Technic connectors. This assembly also incorporates the new 4×6 oval plates in tan.

Bouncing around a little, we then create a couple plate sections to round out the hips and complete the second instruction book.

Moving on to third manual, we start with the tail. Like the body, these tail sections are dense plate and bracket assemblies. Ratchet hinges hold the lower part of the caudal vertebrae. These sections also have a series of ball joints and 2×3 rounded plates with holes that interlace for extra stability.

Long frictionless pins lock each section to the previous one, maintaining a smooth hinge.

In total, there are 4 segments for the tail, each one using several types of tan and dark tan slopes.

With the tail complete, we move to the head. While there are differences, this build is exceptionally similar to LEGO Jurassic World 76964 Dinosaur Fossils: T. rex skull. The primary differences are those made to accommodate the other half of the new XL joint. Below that joint several black pins will receive the jaw.

A small subassembly, again very similar to that from the other skull, makes up the bridge of the nose.

The jaw is built flat and held together by hinges. They then swing inward and are connected to a Technic assembly with large ball joints.

This Technic portion is also where the lower jaw is connected to those 4 pins at the back of the head. The ball joints allow for a wide vertical range of motion. And with that and the upper teeth installed, we have a complete skull.

Then the skull is connected to the head, slotting into the receiving end of the neck joint and locking in with an axle.

Now we can finally get back to that placard! As a massive collector edition set, it comes with a customary 8×16 information tile, reddish brown and exquisitely printed in metallic gold and mounted on a sleek black stand. It includes several details about the T. rex, with an additional note for the “specimen number” at the bottom. According to the set designer, Benjamin Liboriussen, this number – LIH23-5987 – “is a nod to LEGO Innovation House and the summer of 2023 when this set was ‘excavated.’ The rest of the number is a reference to LEGO set 5987 Dino Research Compound, which was released in 2000.” This Easter egg is particularly meaningful to me, as that set was a special gift to me from my mom when I was a kid. It was my favorite set, and I spent many, many hours playing with it.

Another excellent detail about this tile is that the “crack” lands directly over the mold injection site, giving it some realism. Very clever!

We need a place for our minifigures, so a little base is made to hold them, complete with a smaller fossil. This sits atop a structure that connects to the placard stand. Appropriate positioning is indicated with a light bluish gray stud on each half.

Both the placard and minifigure stand clip into the base of the model with pins. If you choose to display the dino without these items, the manual suggests removing a pair of included 2×6 black tiles and putting them in the spot to make things clean.

The minifigures

Before we look at the finished model, let’s check out the figs! Original Jurassic Park fans will be thrilled to see Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler!

Both figs have front and back printed torsos, and Alan also has printing on the belt area of his legs. These torsos appear to be the shirts they are seen wearing on the dig site before being recruited venturing to the park. Ellie even has a water skin from that scene.

The heads are dual sided, both with smiles on one side and sunglasses on the other. On the sunglass side, Ellie has a shocked expression while Alan looks stern (typical). Neither of their hair is new or unique to them, but hers is a pretty nice mold.

I love that these were the included figs. There’s nobody better to have the honor of accompanying the model. That said, I do have a minor complaint… Alan is a thin guy. LEGO torsos are already unflattering, but the extra folds and stretched look gives the appearance that he’s on the heavier side. This illusion is made worse by the extensive lines on his face.

The completed model

Whew! Done! This T. rex is truly massive! The scale of the figs (1:42) and the dino (1:12) do not match, but in my opinion that really doesn’t matter. I choose the epic size of the model over something to go along with the figs, which would be more in line with the rex from LEGO 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage. This is so big that it almost didn’t fit on my backdrop. I purposefully kept the shadows in the picture below to give you a better idea. I have the tail curled in as far as it will go, making it look stubbier than it actually is.

I think the proportions of this fossilized skeleton are really well done. Specimens in museums have lots of wires and supports to hold them up, so trying to create that in LEGO couldn’t have been easy.

What I love most is that quite a bit of posability is incorporated, despite being a stationary model. The ability to position the jaw, neck, arms, and tail however you want is great for display!

The ratcheting of the XL neck joint feels a little jarring and violent (the GIF makes it look smoother than it is), but it’s not too bad, and understandably necessary to keep it held in position without sagging or flopping around.

The tail movement is much smoother, simply relying on frictionless pin hinges. The fan isn’t 180° – more like 160° maybe? I might have liked a few extra degrees to make it easier to fit places, but I’m not really complaining.

Conclusions and recommendations

I’m just going to come right out and say it: this is one of my most favorite sets of all time. Despite a little repetition and dullish color palette, from start to finish it was interesting and enjoyable to build. There are plenty of cool details and fun techniques, and despite being very dead, the whole thing truly comes to life as you build. The epic size may be a little tough for some people to accommodate, but if you can make room, this is sure to be an excellent addition to your collection. I think it’s a no-brainer for people who love the theme and/or subject matter, but if you’re trying to decide between this and something of comparable size and price, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by choosing this one!

LEGO Jurassic World 76968 Dinosaur Fossils: Tyrannosaurus Rex will be available starting March 15th (with early access for Insiders on the 12th) and retail for US $249.99 | CAN $329.99 | UK £219.99. You may be able to find it from third party retailers on eBay and Amazon.