Review: LEGO 76940 T. Rex Dinosaur Fossil Exhibition

September 5, 2021 | 5

September 2021 marked the release of new Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous LEGO sets, with several sets that should delight fans of LEGO dinosaurs. If you’ve been following the blog for some time, you’d know that I have a long and well-documented love for any set with LEGO Dinosaurs.

Camp Cretaceous is an animated TV series on Netflix, but is remarkably good (and quite dark), so give it a try if you’re interested in the Jurassic World franchise.

In the midst of all these massive LEGO releases, I was looking forward to one set in particular from the 2021 LEGO Camp Cretaceous sub-theme – 76940 T. Rex Dinosaur Fossil Exhibition, which I naturally ordered on day one for a review!

It’s the smallest set in the wave, and comes with a particularly fascinating Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil model, which is a fun twist on traditional LEGO dinosaurs – let’s jump straight into this quick review to see it in more detail.

Name: T. rex Dinosaur Fossil Exhibition
Set Number: 76940
Pieces: 198
Price: $29.99 [US] | £ 27.99 GBP [UK] | AU$ 39.99 [AUS]
Exclusive to: N/A
Theme: Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous
Release Date: 1 September 2021
Buy from LEGO.com [USA] [AUS] [UK] [Amazon] [Amazon Australia]

Here’s a look at the small sticker sheet included – nothing too wild or hard to apply which is nice.

Minifigures are the most redundant parts of LEGO Jurassic World sets, and I have literally lost count of how many Owen Grady minifigures I own, but the set does come with Darius, the protagonist of the series, and an adorable blue baby triceratops.

Here’s a closer look at both minifigures. Owen Grady is Owen Grady with Chris Pratt’s signature dirty-mo look. This is like the de-facto Owen Grady minifigure, so there’s nothing new here.

Darius Bowman, the lead of Camp Cretaceous is represented pretty well here, with his signature yellow zip hoodie, and tooth necklace printed on his torso. He has youthful features, on a dark-skinned head, which is a big plus to expand your collection of diverse minifigure choices.

And here’s a look at the back printing and alternate heads – Darius with a scared look, and Owen with a grumpy face.

A nice little bonus addition for LEGO Dinosaur collectors is the inclusion of this Blue Baby Triceratops, or maybe more accurately, a Baby Blue Triceratops.

It’s a new recolour from the Baby Triceratops found in Dr Wu’s Baby Dinosaur Lab set, and looks really cute from all angles.

Here’s how it compares against the Olive Green version.

There is a small cart with a whiteboard included in the set, with a diagram of a T.Rex skull. There’s a couple of smaller accessories, such as a plant, dinosaur tooth, and a pointing stick, as well as a Tan Egg piece.

Not the most interesting build, although I like the technique for the wheels of the trolley, but it does give context to the set being in a museum.

The centerpiece of the set is this brick-built Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton model. This large fossil is perched on a platform and is quite an eye-catching and fun model.

The T.Rex Skeleton does one thing right that the Ideas 21320 Dinosaur Fossils set doesn’t – the generous use of tan elements instead of white gives it a much more realistic, aged look that you’d typically expect from a dinosaur skeleton in a museum.

What truly brings this skeleton to life is this excellent new T.Rex skull, with great looking printed details on top of a monochrome tan base.

It’s a very creative way to translate the T. Rex’s iconic skull shape into a fossil, without any compromise, and just like a regular LEGO T. Rex, the jaw can click open and close in different angles.

It was pretty fun building the body, which is entirely brick-built, and I think the T. Rex’s tiny clip hands are hilariously feeble (as they should be), and I enjoyed how well the ribs look especially.

As it’s a brick-built skeleton, it does have quite a number of sharp corners, which detract from what a skeleton should look like. I also didn’t really like the exposed studs near the neck – it almost looks incomplete, and doesn’t jive with the otherwise SNOT (studs not on top) technique prevalent across the entire model.

Here’s a look at the legs, which are articulated, so you can pose the T. Rex skeleton in a bunch of different ways.

And here’s a look at the back which has white spikes across its spine and tail. The tail has quite limited movement – you can only curl it up and down in one axis which is a shame as I would’ve much rather have ball joints and free-er movement.

As it’s meant to be displayed on its platform, you can easily remove it and the T. Rex skeleton functions pretty well as a standalone re-animated skeleton dinosaur, and the posable knees and hips give you plenty of options on how you want to pose it.

On the base is a small stickered plaque, which showcases the size of a T. Rex in relation to a human minifigure, where the fossil was dug up (in North America) as well as a date range of when T. Rex roamed the Earth – during the Cretaceous period.

Here’s how it looks from the front.

As the T. Rex Skull makes use of a regular T. Rex head, you can of course attach it to any other T. Rex body – in this case, the best match would be the Tan T-Rex from 2018’s 75933 T.Rex Transport.

And last but not least – here’s how the T. Rex SKeleton looks next to the other LEGO Tyrannosaurus Rexes – kudos to the designers for keeping the general dimension, and profile of the T. Rex consistent.

That said, a part of me does wish that LEGO had just gone with a full-body, and given it an elaborate paint job, with the use of negative space for a proper T. Rex skeleton, but this is not too shabby for a US$29.99 set.

What I liked:

• The T. Rex skeleton is a fun twist on LEGO dinosaurs
• T. Rex Skull is excellent
• Blue Baby Triceratops is a fun bonus
• Looks great on display as a compact model

What I didn’t like: 

• Mix of colours in the T. Rex’s skeleton
• Not another Owen Grady minifigure

FINAL THOUGHTS:

For a fairly inexpensive LEGO Jurassic World set, 76940 T. Rex Dinosaur Fossil Exhibition is a fun little afternoon dalliance, giving you a unique (for now) take on the LEGO T. Rex in the form of a fossilised skeleton.

The T. Rex’s skull ties the entire model together, and does a great job of grabbing and holding your attention, enough so that you can gloss over some of the mis-matched colours of the body, or the exposed studs near its neck that make it seem incomplete.

The set provides some decent play value, with the minifigures and the fact that you can easily detach the T. Rex skeleton from its base to “re-animate” it, but at the same time, functions well as a display model.

The only weak point is the minifigures, which to be fair, are never the strongest features of Jurassic World set. Having Darius in an accessible set is a nice bonus for fans of the Camp Cretaceous, but the recycled Owen Grady just feels lazy, and it would’ve been nice to get another generic minifigure, or museum attendant just to mix things up.

That said, this is still a really fun set if you enjoy LEGO Dinosaurs, and the set does have to thank the lack of a full-bodied dinosaur to bring the price down to a very acceptable level.

If you enjoy LEGO Jurassic World sets, especially LEGO T. Rexes, or if you have a young child that’s obsessed about dinosaurs, this is a no-fuss, and totally enjoyable set.

If you already own 21320 Dinosaur Fossils, this set also feels like a great companion to expand it!

Rating and score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Build [3] – The build was quick, not challenging, but still engaging
Real Value [4] – One of the rare Jurassic World sets that doesn’t feel exorbitant, mostly because of the lack of a full dino
Innovation [3] – Nothing truly groundbreaking, except the clever use of the T. Rex skull
Coolness [3] – A really unique set that stands out against the more action-based Jurassic World theme
Keepability [3] – LEGO Dinosaurs are great for collectors, especially the unique skull

76940 T. Rex Dinosaur Fossil Exhibition is now available, and retails for US$29.99 / AU$39.99, and is available from LEGO Stores, LEGO.com or Amazon.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this brief review of the set. Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more LEGO Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous set reviews! I have the Boat on the way as well, and I’ll definitely be picking up the Carnotaurus set in the near future when it goes on sale!

I’ll leave you with this side profile of my LEGO T. Rex collection!

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