Review: LEGO 75935 Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt

July 28, 2019 | 6

I’ve been having a blast reviewing the new 2019 LEGO Jurassic World Legend of Isla Nublar sets that I decided to build and review 75935 Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt, mostly because of the new Baryonyx dinosaur – a brand new LEGO dinosaur species introduced in this set.

The prospect of a brand new LEGO dinosaur, in a theme that has thus far mostly recoloured a bunch of existing dinos was too good to pass up, and I also had a grand old time photographing the dinosaur in a new location I’ve just discovered near my home.

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set for review. 

Name: Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt
Set Number: 75935
Pieces: 434
Price: AU$99.99 | US$59.99 | £59.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AU] [US] [UK] [Amazon] [Amazon Australia]
Exclusive to: NA
Theme: Jurassic World Isla Nublar
Release Date: 1 July 2019 [AUS/UK] | 1 August 2019 [US]

Before we jump into the main attraction, let’s take a look at the 4 minifigures included in the set.

The set includes a new character, Sinjin Prescott which is some sort of treasure hunter/explorer who I’m guessing is part of the animated TV show.

Joining him is an alternate version of Danny Nedermeyer, and series staples Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, and Red the dog!

Here’s a closer look at the Owen Grady and Claire Dearing minifigures, as well as Red the Dog.

Owen is his usual self, with a brown vest over a grey henley shirt, featuring a quizzical look on his face. Props to the designers for capturing his moustache in great detail.

Claire’s minifigure is exclusive to this set, featuring an olive field jacket over a pale green top. I really like the design of her torso and jacket, which gives off a really stylish vibe, but I just wish that the jacket printing extended all the way to her legs.

Here’s a look at their back prints, and alternate faces.

Red the Dog is a great new addition to the set. The mould is based on the Husky dogs from the City Arctic sets, and this is the first time that we’re getting a completely different coloured Husky.

I love the orangey-brown fur, and the black marbling across his neck.

I’ve always been a big fan of the Husky mould, so getting a new re-coloured version was a very nice surprise, and this is quite possibly one of my favourite LEGO dog variants now.

This is Danny Nedermeyer (Dennis Nedry’s cousin), as well as newcomer Sinjin Prescott.

Danny is dressed in a blue Jurassic World jumpsuit, and you can see his bright floral-print shirt peeking out from under it. He looks slightly more professional here compared to his more flamboyant outing in the T.rex vs Dino Mech set.

Sinjin Prescott seems to be some sort of treasure hunter or explorer, and is dressed in a rugged manner, with a wide-brimmed hat. His tan-coloured shirt has straps and pouches for all sorts of gear such as rope, walkie talkies and supplies.

It’s a bit of a throwback, but I love that Sinjin comes with an old-school LEGO rucksack, which always brings me back such good memories of Pirates sets that included them. Really glad to see this accessory still going strong.

Sinjin doesn’t have an alternate face, which would look kind of weird as the back of his head is exposed, but Danny has a distraught expression on the back of his.

Sinjin is equipped with a machette, as well as a printed Isla Nublar treasure map, which has a corner missing and thus incomplete directions to the treasure.

The highlight of this set is none other than a Baryonyx, a brand new LEGO dinosaur species with a distinctively long snout.

You might remember the Baryonyx from this scene in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, where the poor dinosaur gets charred in the face by lava. Ouch.

The Baryonyx has a really narrow profile, and along with its long snout, which is packed with sharp teeth, it also has a long tail, that’s almost the length of its body.

It’s long snout and narrow body makes it look like a prehistoric crocodile, except that it also has sizable hind legs like a velociraptor, and long arms complete with sharp claws.

Baryonyx means “heavy claw” and I’m glad that the designers managed to incorporate feature into the model. It has long arms, and very prominent claws, which can be used to grasp a LEGO minifigure.

I was really impressed by the size of the Baryonyx, which is almost as long as a LEGO T-Rex. Photo for comparison.

Being a new dinosaur, I had such a fun time photographing outdoors and the Baryonyx’s massive jaw and overall design makes it look quite terrifying in a wild way.

As a LEGO dinosaur enthusiast, I’m particularly pleased with it, and while it still isn’t close to my dream dinosaur (a LEGO Ankylosaurus for those of you asking), it makes for an excellent addition to anyone’s LEGO dino collection.

The set comes with a small self-contained jungle section, which has some pretty neat detailed squeezed into a small footprint. This little scene is tailor-made for Sinjin, as he searches for treasure.

The jungle scene even includes a small waterfall, which is cleverly created using this curved transparent blue wind-screen.

It creates this marvelous visual effect, like the waterfall is continuously flowing.

A small play feature is built into this section, where two fronds split apart to reveal a hidden treasure chest filled with jewels and gold bars.

Next up is this offroad vehicle, which was quite surprising. I’m not normally a big fan of LEGO vehicles, but I was very impressed with the build of this one.

First of all, it just looks tough, like what a proper offroader should look like. It gives off a military vibe with its dark green and grey colour scheme, and I especially love how chunky it looks.

The decision to use smaller tyres gives it a really low, realistic profile which is yet another factor in how good it looks.

There’s more than enough space for two minifigures (and Red in the back!), and the level of greebling across the front of the vehicle gives it a really neat sense of texture.

I also liked the use of stickers to create the textured steel area near the doors.

The back has a ball-joint for the trailer to attach to it, and has some neat attachments such as a jerry-can and what I think is a lamp/torch(?).

The photos of this vehicle do not do it justice at all, and this was yet another cool surprise thrown into the set.

Last but not least is the trailer which is pulled by the offroader. It’s quite quaint, but also has plenty of uses outside of this set, giving this combo some much-needed versatility so it doesn’t feel like an afterthought.

Here are both sides of the trailer, which has some details such as wooden planks, and even wild foliage growing from it, suggesting that it’s been abandoned for quite a bit.

The inside opens up to reveal cramped living quarters, which includes a bed, a computer and a red mug.

Attached to the wall that swivels out is a frying pan, and a video camera.

The trailer-offroader combo does seem a little disjointed from a design perspective as the trailer seems more cartoony, whereas the offroader is a bit more realistic.

That said, they do work decently well together, and I do like that you can pull the trailer and set-up fun scenes with it.

Another not quite obvious benefit of the trailer and the offroader is that it helps make the Baryonyx look massively terrifying as it provides a sense of scale for the dino.

It makes the Baryonyx look like an actual threat, which is something that the other sets in this theme don’t do just as well.

What I liked:

• Awesome new Baryonyx dinosaur
• Baryonyx is quite massive, and looks even larger thanks to the other models
• Red the Dog
• Offroader design is rugged and chunky
• Makes for great display scenes

What I didn’t like: 

• Price is a little high for not a lot of LEGO
• Jungle scene could be a little larger and more fleshed out

Final thoughts: If I could sum this set up in two words, it would be “pleasantly surprising”.

This is a classic example where the set comes across as greater than the sum of its parts, and is quite possibly, my favourite set from the Legend of Isla Nublar theme, which I completely didn’t expect.

For most LEGO Jurassic World/Dinosaur fans, the Baryonyx is the main draw of the set, and I can confidently say that it’s one of the more exciting new LEGO dinosaurs in a while.

I love how menacing it looks, and the designers did an amazing job adapting its long, teeth-filled jaw into LEGO form.

It’s one of the scariest looking LEGO dinos produced, and will delight LEGO Jurassic World fans.

The other elements of the set – the jungle scene, trailer and offroader all exist harmoniously, and none of them feel like they were afterthoughts thrown in to inflate the piece count, or to serve as a mindless play feature.

The jungle scene, while small gives the set a sense of location, and like the trailer, its size also renders the Baryonyx terrifyingly huge.

The offroader was perhaps the biggest surprise, and one of the nicest LEGO vehicles I’ve built in awhile. It’s low profile, chunkiness and level of detail across the body makes for one of the more remarkable LEGO vehicles I’ve built lately.

The set is a little bit on the expensive here in Australia, but in the US, I think the price is pretty decent. For the price, I really would’ve liked a larger profile for the jungle scene, and maybe some collateral damage.

That said, this is the most enjoyable and complete sets in the Legend of Isla Nublar theme, and you’ll have a blast with the new LEGO Baryonyx, and all the other bits that come with it.

Rating: 4/5

Special thanks to LEGO for providing this set for review. 

Thanks for reading! I had plenty of fun photographing the set outdoors, so please enjoy a bunch more photos, including the Baryonyx about to eat poor Danny.

As always, be sure to let me know what you think of this set down in the comments. If you own and have built the set, I’d also love to know your thoughts on the end product!

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