Lego 21320 | Dinosaur Fossils

Lego 21320 is part of the ideas range in which fan-made projects can be submitted and voted upon to be made into actual sets from Lego, they tend to only have current pieces available to use, and not all sets that get votes get chosen by Lego themselves. This set contains 910 pieces and only 2 mini-figures but the stars of the show are the three dinosaurs thus the lack of mini-figures, the RRP is £54.99.

It’s no secret that we love Dinosaurs in our house, thus when this set won and got chosen I was keen to add this to my collection, we have most of the Ideas range as I tend to like what they do. Tigger though enjoys Dinosaurs and was keen to be involved, though the age of the set is much higher at 16+ so we would be doing it together.

Like the other Idea sets the box has a different feel to it along with the books, there are three books broken down into the builds but the Triceratops has extra detail that’s become a custom in the range. These first few pages focus on the Fan designer, the Lego designer, and each of the dinosaurs along with some info about them.

The Build

The two minifigures consist of a Lego Sapien, a skeleton, with a brown fedora and a platform, this looks good and adds extra to the set, though personally, I’m not too fussed about it being here. The other mini figure is a Palaeontologist, loosely based on the designer himself, but has dark brown hair and a shirt with a green collar, the legs are two coloured designs to show boots and tan trousers. These come with a chest that has a notebook and tools for the Palaeontologist.

The first Dinosaur is the simplest, the Pteranodon with just its bones is quite bare, it sits on a black platform with this dino held up but the base, The use of grey on the connections stands out more on this dino, with ball joints and hinges but that allows the dino to move much better. The jaw and length of the wings are good, and the little detail of the ribs are great, the only slight issue is perhaps the head isn’t spot on, it’s not got that smaller pointy feel but it’s still ok.

The triceratops is one of my favourite dinosaurs so I was pleased that they were included, this sits and made directly into the base to add support to the model, which is a great idea, the length and size of this are really impressive, from front to back it’s done much bigger than I thought it would be done, the tail has ball joints and hinge to again allow moment up and down and side to side, the head moves slightly but hasn’t got that full movement like the others,

However, its head is spot on with the tri horns, and its mouth is great to view, much like the underneath, with ribs and neck support very realistic, and again at the back, the tail support underneath shows the girth of the dino. Spikes on the tail and back complete the look.

The third dinosaur is arguably the most recognisable, the Tyrannosaurus Rex is the largest of the set and again is built into the stand for that added support, like the Triceratops a long spiky tail at the back with hinge and ball joints to allow complete movement, but these also have underside spikes. The ribs again also look really good but also a little fiddly to place, the small iconic arms again can move and look fab, while the neck continues the spikes all the way from tail to head.

The head has probably the best look of the free, with its mouth, neck and head able to move to a place in position etc, it can be a little loose with the ball joint as the head is heavy that’s fine ok. The hips joints are good, but there are some ok parts of it, just ok, however in comparison to the other Trex’s out there, it’s still a good choice.

Overall

Overall it’s a hit and miss set, much of what I’ve said is good and those parts are, it can be a bit fiddly, it’s mainly white…so from a design and colourful standpoint? it’s maybe not for you, but if you wanted this for the fossil ideas, then you understand its ultimately bland colour.

IT does slightly divide opinion, on one hand, this choice is good, a flight option adds diversity, but many prefer the original design with more dinosaurs, I’m happy with the size but would have been happy with a Stegosaurus and something else, in reality, the Rex and Pteranodon have been done before in other sets, not a fossil but normal and the skeletons, in general, have been done lots, why even put two mini-figures? but hey ho, and I think many would prefer a different range,

I would have been happy to pay more for a greater selection, and that’s the other, the price is a little high, I appreciate there are a few pieces but many of these are tiny and white, I don’t think a piece count is appropriate for me. However I still like this set, its still good enough, Tigger found it a little tricky in building and was involved in it a lot, but if your a dino fan, its nice to see a little different out there.