A Jurassic Adventure Awaits If You're Brave Enough To Tackle The T-Rex Transport
Written: Jul 15 '07
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Pros: Awesome dinosaur figures, cool accessories, fun to build, high replay value.
Cons: No longer made.
The Bottom Line: Think dinosaurs are the coolest things around? Then get a T-Rex Transport set and build your own dino-compound!
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO - T-Rex Transport |
If you loved Jurassic Park then chances are you will flip over the sets in the Lego Adventurer Dino Island series. Even though some hard core Lego lovers feel that the entire Adventurer series was a rip off of Indiana Jones, it was something that provided countless hours of fun for the brood. Whether they were trying to build the biggest dinosaur park [ala Jurassic Park] or being silly and having the dinosaurs invade the Egyptian scenes that they built, they were always having fun and asking questions about things relating to the sets. There was a small comic series included with the sets but unless you collected every single one of them, it was a little hard to follow. This is an older set in the Adventurer series and it does not have the Adventurer trading cards that were packaged with the Orient Expedition series of the theme.
Lego T-Rex Transport 5975
There are five figures in the set plus two dinosaurs. The figures include Johnny Thunder, Professor Kilroy, Mike, Alexis and Mr. Hates [also known as Professor Hates]. All of them have great stenciled detail but Alexis is the figure that you really want to get your hands on in this set. She's only been in a few Adventurer sets so she is considered rare. In the comic that accompanies the series it was eluded to that she was related to Sam Sinister but there was never any resolution to that rumor. Along with the figures there are some really nice accessories; a very cool magnifying glass, movie camera and film cartridge tile, wooden barrels and crates, chains, a few shotguns, digging tools and those cool Adventurer backpacks. If you need more accessories for your figures, you can try to track down the Adventurer Accessories add on set.
As far as the dinosaurs are concerned, the Triceratops is awesome and they should have stuck with this deign when they released the ill-fated Dinosaur sets. These were smaller sets that were easy to build but didn’t have the detail that the larger ones had. The only movable parts are the tail and neck so you aren’t going to be able to put it in a lot of different posts but hey, it's a Triceratops, no matter what it's doing, it looks cool. The Tyrannosaurus Rex has movable front arms and a tail that can move from side to side but the mouth section is fixed. The lower part of the jaw connects to the head piece but it doesn't open and close.
The ship that is used to transport the dinosaurs or what ever you choose to use it for is nice but there aren't many perks to it. The boys decided to build the corral pen on the ship instead of on the back of one of the vehicles but needed to get more of the faux metal gates. That wasn't a problem at the time as there were more than a few sets in production that had them but now, it is almost impossible to get them in this size and color. The boat isn't as large as it looks, very deceptive but it does serve its purpose. If you build it according to the instructions it is about nine inches in length. Of course that wasn't good enough for the boys, they added tons of stuff to it and made it so big that it dwarfed everything else that they built for the scene. The design of it is good, things don't fall off of it easily but when you get into modifying it, that's when you can run in
to some trouble.
There are two vehicles in the set, either one can be used to pull the flatbed transport that ultimately is supposed to house the Triceratops or Tyrannosaurus Rex. These are mid sized vehicles for the series and aren't that hard to build but have some really nice features to them. They both have large chunky treaded wheels, a wide base that ensures it isn’t going to fall apart if it is used within a scene and enough space to fit at least two figures. The differences are mostly visual things that were changed to give them a little bit of "uniqueness". The front grill, windscreen and rear storage areas are different on both vehicles; to me this is so completely cool because you can swap out the pieces between the two and make something truly unique if you want.
The entire Dino Island theme is a great investment for anyone that loves Lego sets. There are only a few that are massive in size [and cost] so buying them - even though they are no longer in production - isn't going to force you to sell off internal organs to foot the bill. Some of the sets were released as promotional items as well as in regular Lego packaging, this is where it is important to know the set numbers so if you are ordering online, you know exactly which set your are purchasing.
5903 - Johnny Thunder And Baby T
5904 - Mini Copter
5911 - Johnny Thunder's Plane
5912 - Mike's Swamp Boat
5913 - Dr. Lightning's Car
5914 - Sam Sinister And Baby T
5920 - Island Racer
5921 - Research Glider
5934 - Track Master [Dino Explorer]
5935 - Island Hopper
5955 - All Terrain Trapper
5975 - T-Rex Transport
5987 - Dino Research Compound
Considering that this was released in 2000 and was in production until the end of 2001, it is one of the most sought after sets in the Adventurer Dino Island series. Why? The dinosaurs, figures and ship are three of the main reasons but it was the suggested retail price of $49.99 that had people going crazy. The Baby T figure can fetch as much as four dollars from a brick broker but the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops can get as much as ten dollars a piece. For those who bought the sets to chop them up and sell off the pieces individually, they stood to make about a fifteen dollar profit on each set. Of course that has changed, finding a set like this for fifty dollars is rare and most people who find it for that price are going to keep it for their own collection. I was pretty lucky and got this on sale for under thirty dollars. The box was banged up but the plastic bags containing the pieces where all intact.
If you were going to buy this set in today's market, the prices will be ranging from about $45.00 to as much as $75.00 depending on where you are shopping and how much the condition of the package means to you. If you are going to open the set and play with it you can get sets that have some package damage to them, if you want something that you will be able to turn around and sell for a profit in about six or seven years, you will pay more. Buying this online isn't impossible but beware of ordering from overseas toy stores that have them in stock. You are going to have to pay insurance and shipping fees for it so factor that in to your budget before you start scouring the web for deals.
Name: T-Rex Transport
Set Theme: Adventurers / Dino Island
Set Number: 5975
Piece Count: 322
Age Recommendation: 6 and older
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Build Time: 20 - 40 minutes
Price: $49.99
As always, thanks for the visit…
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2007 Freak369
Other Adventurer set reviews
River Raft
Dr. Lightning's Car
Adventurers Pen
Jungle Surprise
Egyptian Mummy
Oasis Ambush
Scorpion Tracker
Sphinx Secret Surprise
Amazon Ancient Ruins
The Lost Tomb
Treasure Raiders
Spider's Secret
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 28.95
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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