Review: 75928 Blue's Helicopter Pursuit
Posted by Huw,
In terms of playability, dinosaurs and helicopters are a match made in heaven so it's perhaps no surprise that many sets containing both have been released over the years.
The description for the latest one, 75928 Blue's Helicopter Pursuit, at LEGO com, suggests that the transportation of a raptor by air is an integral part of the storyline of the forthcoming Fallen Kingdom film, so I won't repeat it here to avoid spoilers.
This set appears to have everything needed to re-enact what is probably a key scene from the movie.
Minifigures
Owen Grady appears in four Fallen Kingdom sets and in three of them he's attired in this sand blue shirt and sleeveless leather jacket.
Legs and torso are printed with a lot of detail, as we've come to expect. He's armed with a 1x1 stud shooting crossbow.
To be honest I'm not really seeing the similarity with Chris Pratt...
He has a double-sided head, the one not shown has a down-turned mouth. There's no printing on his back; instead he wears an open rucksack.
I haven't been able to find out much about Ken Wheatley in the JW wikis but I think we can assume from his facial expression that he's an antagonist of some sort.
He's not armed but does have a shoulder belt full of bullets at the front and gun holster at the back.
He carries a dinosaur bone.
The third minifigure is the helicopter pilot who wears the same uniform as the guards in the other sets we've reviewed.
Blue
Blue the velociraptor is the dinosaur star of the film and can be found only in this set and the most expensive of the range, 75930 Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate. It's vastly superior to the version in the 2015 set 75917 Raptor Rampage, although the colour of the printing on its legs could have better matched the sand green of his body.
Here she is with her mates from 5884 Raptor Chase and 5887 Dino Defense HQ from the 2012 Dino theme. I don't have the other version of Blue to photograph, unfortunately.
Accessories
The image on the box shows Owen driving this 4-wheel buggy with trailer although it beggars belief that anyone would venture out into dinosaur-land in an uncovered vehicle!
It's a reasonable model: the new bull bar piece on the front helps set it apart from other similar vehicles.
Blue can be transported in a cage by the helicopter which provides a hook for the purpose, as you'll see below.
The inadequate fencing around the sides might be effective at preventing a few chickens from escaping but I think Blue would have no problems stepping over them.
They can be lowered for loading and unloading...
... which would probably result in another unfortunate incident...
Helicopter
As LEGO helicopters go this is a pretty good one. Despite the one-piece canopy there's a good level of detail, and the colour scheme is great. The dark blue that's been used throughout the Fallen Kingdom sets looks so much better than the bright blue of the 2015 range.
The hook for lifting the cage can be seen at the back here, as can the small 'postbox' which can be detached from the rear. There's nothing in it, just a tranquilser gun attached to the side.
There are three seats in the craft: two at the back look out over the side, presumably to allow figures sitting in them to access to the spotlight on the starboard side and the machine gun on the port side.
The blades can be rotated by means of a gear at the bottom of the fuselage; handy when swooshing it around the room.
The canopy can be detached with ease to seat the pilot.
Verdict
Overall, it's a pretty good set that offers younger purchasers a lot of playability. The helicopter sports an attractive livery and is a decent size, so makes a pretty good display piece for the rest of us. The minifigures are great and so is Blue, whose markings are the best I've seen on a LEGO velociraptor.
But, and it's a big 'but' if you're in Europe: the price is obscene! In the USA you can pick this for a cent under $40 but in the UK it'll set you back the equivalent of $71, and it's not much better in the Eurozone where it's the equivalent of $62.
Even allowing for different rates of sales tax I fail to see how on earth such a disparity in price can be justified. I guess LEGO is charging what it thinks the market will bear, or maybe it's priced knowing that in a few months it'll be discounted by 30% at Amazon...
Had it been priced at the rough equivalent of $40, i.e. £30, I would have no hesitation in recommending you rush out and buy it but, as it is, I suggest you vote with your wallets and wait for a decent discount.
If you're in the USA it's a different matter: $40 for 400 pieces, including three figures and a great dinosaur, it's a no-brainer...
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set for this review, which is an expression of my own opinions.
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31 comments on this article
The new Owen head really isn’t good. Like the set though.
Lovely review, this isn’t a set I’m personally interested in but it’s good to know what you get. That Blue figure is mighty fine. I hope I’m not being insufferably nitpicky by pointing out Blue’s a she though...
Enough with all the dinosaur reviews - they are clogging up the pages! ;-p
Nah, just kidding - all news and reviews are always welcome (do you hear that, Brickheadz haterz?) :-D
Nice review - but I must say all these sets are waaaay too expensive in Europe...
I like the use of dark blue and dark red, that's about all I can say about this City set with a dinosaur. It's a helicopter design we have seen 100 times before.
I do not get how there are so many complaints about owens head! I think it is a perfect chris pratt/owen grady/starlord.
It would be useful for UK and Eurozone readers if you just gave us the £ and Euro prices as well as the dollar equivalent, so we can see how we're much we're being ripped off without having to do conversion sums.
Thanks for a great review! I'm especially enjoying the 'dinosaur feeding' posing which you won't find in official images ;-)
@Jacopyright - Brickheadz hater here (well, actually, hater is a bit strong; I'm indifferent to them (though did buy Go Brick Me) and believe there's far too many, but I digress). All I ask for is a way to filter news & reviews for certain themes (in the same way that filters can ALREADY be applied for topics that Brickset users don't find relevant to them) so that when a glut comes along, the theme doesn't fill one's front-page. Unreasonable?
^^ Fair point. £50/50€.
^That's certainly possible and easily achieved if hiding the same themes that you hide from search results -- but you might think there's no new activity on the site when there's a glut of reviews of a particular theme, which tends to happen a lot.
This is another nice one,
Love the minifig printing on all 3 men, and blues detail is awesome lego should of made one of the claws detachable, alan grant kept a raptor claw from the original JP to show Tim & Lex what damage they can do,
Also the chopper is a nice colour too.
Seems like the rotor is to close to the front of the helicopter.
And the dinosaurs are too big for basically all the new Jurassic World sets. It just looks ridiculous how they stand in those small cages.
If you're buying the Lockwood Estate buying this set is just throwing away money. 2 of the 3 figures AND Blue are exactly the same!
Love LEGO dinosaurs and this theme has some really nice sets, but oof, the prices are truly outrageous. Either Universal is charging and arm and a leg for the license or LEGO has gone completely mad. The smallest set, with around 130 pieces, is 299 SEK in Sweden.
That's £25 or $35!
If it is Universal taking a big slice of the pie I genuinely think LEGO should back out of it and make their own dinosaur theme again. These sort of prices are just going to drive people away, and these sets will just sit on shelves unsold.
400 pcs for a Jurassic world set that also has a Dino and 3 figs all for $40!!?? That is a no brainer ??
I truly do not see how this Blue is in any way an improvement over the last one. She has never had mint green colors on her and definitely doesn't have any tan. The old one wasn't perfect but still looks much better than this one, which is far too light with poor color choices.
@wasn- granted, all of the Lego dinosaurs have always been the wrong size and dinosaurs like velociraptors have always been the wrong size in the movies. I'd rather have a detailed and well articulated dinosaur that's too large as opposed to a smaller and more size accurate one that's too static.
Nice set, nice review. We all agree about the prices which are overall too high on the whole range of FK. In France a dedicated site talks about delirious price point on the whole theme. Guess it's right. Not a collectioner of this, but I find it very interesting, cool set. I really like the colors, the chopper looks great, these new dinosaurs are great also. Must be a good one for hours of play and adventures.
While dinosaurs are a perennial favourites of kids, I strongly suspect that once the film has been out a while and the hype around it has died down, the sets from this range will be heavily discounted especially in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
I reckon Huw is exactly right. If you find the price galling, be patient.
I dont really understand this set. The build isn't that great, the dinosaur isn't exclusive (and honestly I liked the old Blue better, this one's more accurate, sure, but the color scheme just looks bad IMO), and is anyone really going to give a crap about the characters in this movie? Somehow I doubt it. And of course its hideously overpriced. The prices are so all over the place for this range in Australia. The stygi set is even good at retail price, most are pretty good at standard 20% off, but this and the estate I wouldn't touch outside of a 50% off deal, which I cant say Ive ever seen.
@Zander
I was said by Lego seller that this series will not be in all shops in Poland - just like the first run.
Horrible :(
I waited previous year and that was big mistake because people quickly bought everything cheaper online and only overpriced listings left. ANd I never got my Indominius ;-;
I also think the minifig head doesn't look a thing like Chris Pratt.
The helicopter is nice, but the cage is pretty weak. And I shudder to imagine what the price will be for this set in Australia.
In terms of those ... unfortunate InGen incidents, are we going to watch a minifig get attacked by a hungry dinosaur once per review? :)
Passing on this one as I need another helicopter like a need another head! I'll hang on for a little while and see if I can pick up the Lockwood estate.
Did you mean “her body” right before the first shot of the raptor?
I thought the Resistance Transport Pod was pushing pricing to its limits but this is raising the bar. The set is actually pretty decent too - but let down by some of the details and repeated figs.
Yeah, that helicopter is unbalanced and would flip over backwards. The main rotor is too far forward on the fuselage. It should be at the center of gravity.
I understand it's a toy but it bugs me! :)
I really hope you guys review the Estate, that set looks awesome!
The non-matching limbs on Blue is irking me and something about Owen's face looks off, as has been pointed out elsewhere. This is actually probably my least likely pick for a Fallen Kingdom set.
Let's recap:
- another standard helicopter
- a dino with leg printing that doesn't colour match
- decent minifigs of forgettable characters
- not much else
All that for a price that other than in America is ridiculous.
To me that only means one thing. Thanks but no thanks.
It's time we made LEGO notice that we won't be fooled anymore. At least my enthusiasm for the brand has plummeted over the last year or so. I still do buy the occasional set on sale/clearance, but that's about it. No way will I ever buy from our local LEGO store or LEGO.com again unless it's clearance if they continue the way they do.
I think the new head looks more like Chris Pratt than the other ones. Maybe the moustache is off-putting as I isn't so prominent and noticeable on Pratt's real face. Without the Lego figure, I probably wouldn't have even noticed that he has one.
I like the eyebrows though.
I honestly £50.00 is an atrocious price, let alone the appalling pound to dollar exchange. Should cost more like £40.00 for the size and content.
I do wonder and concern the reason for so many bloated UK prices is a tactical scheme, because most places will eventually reduce prices by 20-30% or do 3 for 2’s etc.
Dropping the price by that amount brings it’s price to £35-£40 which one could argue is what it should’ve cost in the first place.
This tactical sales scheme already happens with things like pizzas and uk tourist attractions, so it’s not impossible.
I'm going to get this and use it as an R.A.F attack helicopter alongside the 2015 City Deep Sea chinook and City Swamp Police seaplane.
As a JW set its good, especially for $40. I have seen this for $69 AUS.
@ GoldenNinja3000 I think you could get some movement in smaller dinosaurs.
@Zrath It isn't juut the technicality of center of gravity, but for me it just looks wrong. The rotor should be atop the motor at the highest point of the machine and not in front of it.
How does the stud shooter on the helicopter fire? Does it work well?