Review: LEGO 76956 Jurassic Park T. Rex Breakout

April 3, 2022 | 11

2022 is shaping up to be another fantastic year for adult LEGO fans, with LEGO ramping up the nostalgia factor. After Back to the Future, we also now a fantastic set paying homage to Jurassic Park – 76956 T. rex Breakout which is a diorama style model.

Built in same vein as the upcoming Star Wars diorama sets, 76956 T. rex Breakout is a diorama featuring the iconic scene from Jurassic Park where the T. Rex escapes the paddock, and flips over the Ford Explorer into the mud.

The set will be released on 17 April 2022, but can be pre-ordered now from LEGO.com. Given the recent BTTF Delorean sold out in less than 24 hours, I expect this set to also be equally as popular, so if you want to secure this set, I actually recommend pre-ordering.

See below for regional pricing and links:

• 76956 T. rex Breakout [US] – US$99.99
• 76956 T. rex Breakout [AUS] – AU$199.99
• 76956 T. rex Breakout [GB] – £89.99
• 76956 T. rex Breakout [EU] – €99.99
• 76956 T. rex Breakout [CA] – CAD$129.99

If you’re a fan of LEGO Dinosaurs, or Jurassic Park this set is an absolute dream, so let’s jump into this early review of 76956 T.Rex Breakout!

Special thanks to the LEGO Group for providing this set for review

76956 Jurassic Park T. Rex Breakout – Set Details

Name: T. Rex Breakout
Set Number: 76956
Pieces: 1,212
Price: AU$199.99 | US$99.99 | £89.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK]
Exclusive to: LEGO.com / LEGO Stores
Theme: Jurassic Park
LEGO Designers: Casper Glahder (Graphics), Atticus Tsai McCarthy (LEGO Designer), Woon Tze Chee (LEGO Senior Designer)
Release Date: 17 April 2022 (pre-order available now on LEGO.com)

This is one of the best-designed LEGO instruction manuals yet, and I really love the lush greenery and Jurassic Park logo plastered out on the front.

As usual, you can meet the design team who worked on this set – Casper Glahder (Graphics), Atticus Tsai McCarthy (LEGO Designer), Woon Tze Chee (LEGO Senior Designer) – there are bios and reflections to give you a greater understanding of what it takes to bring a set like this to life.

Another great bit of detail that anchors this set to the film are these large modules (complete with reference stills) featuring iconic quotes and references captured as you build the set.

I really enjoyed how prominent these were, and it really demonstrates the attention to detail, and all the accurate references for you to discover in the set.

The Build Experience

For a 1,212-piece set, I really liked how fun and engaging the build was. Difficulty-wise, it wasn’t the most challenging build, and something that younger kids could easily put together. It’s not really intimidating and doesn’t really push the envelope, making it an approachable build especially for those new to LEGO.

I liked the variety here, you get to build the famed Jurassic Park Ford Explorer (vehicle – tick!), brick-built T.Rex (creature – tick), and diorama base (scenery – tick!), giving you a really complete LEGO building experience that has a bit of everything.

A really fun build that won’t take too much time, and will occupy an entire afternoon, or night.

Check out a speed build of the set on my Youtube channel to see it come together!

The set relies on a LOT of stickers, especially to bring the Ford Explorers to life, but thankfully, most are reasonably easy to apply.

There are 4 minifigures included in the set – Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and the kids, Lex and Tim Murphy. The minifigures are highly detailed, and reflect their surroundings as they’re all either drenched by the rain, or covered in mud, which makes these standout from their previous variants.

Here’s a look at Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant, who are both extremely wet and drenched by the rain, evident by the water marks on their torsos, and faces.

Ian Malcolm is a fan favourite, and is attired in his signature leather blazer, and also exposing parts of his chest. The printing colour is a little off, and doesn’t quite match the colour of his head, unfortunately, but other than that small flaw, it’s a great depiction of Ian Malcolm.

Alan Grant, has his red scarf, tan hat, and very wet clothes, which are slightly dishevelled which is a really nice touch by the graphic designer Casper Glahder. They both carry flares to distract the T.Rex.

Ian Malcolm has an alternate face, but not Alan Grant, which works a bit better in this case as an exposed face on the back might look a little strange.

You can also see their back printing, with more wet details.

Here’s a look at the kids, Lex and Tim Murphy, who are both covered head to toe in mud. Again, kudos for to the graphic designer for bringing these details to life in such a vivid way, and I love the splotches of mud across their torsos & faces, as well as muddy arms and legs.

Tim also comes with night vision goggles, with comes in yellow for the first time, after making its debut in Series 16’s Spy.

Both the kids have terrified faces, which accurately capture the fear and terror as they encounter the T.Rex for the first time, and also equally detailed back printing on their torsos.

And here’s the completed LEGO Jurassic Park diorama, which makes for a terrific display. It measures 58cm (23 inches) across.

It’s designed as a diorama – where the entire scene is self-contained within a black-bordered base, and has those that enjoy displaying models in mind, although it’s still quite playable.

Designer insight: According to designer, Atticus Tsai-McCarthy, the general consideration behind the design was how people might display it on shelves. During the design process, the team also took inspiration from what the Star Wars team were doing with their dioramas, and wanted to get close to the depth and width of them.

For me, the highlight of the set has been a long-time coming. LEGO Jurassic Park/World fans have for years been clamouring for the iconic Jurassic Park Ford Explorers, and we FINALLY get them in minifigure-scale, and they do not disappoint in the slightest!

Here’s a closer look at the LEGO Jurassic Park Ford Explorers. At first glance, you’ll be pleased to know that the colours are pretty accurate, with the lime green, yellow and dark red being used to great effect here.

Stickers are used for the details, and I also appreciated the numbers being applied to the back as well.

As a treat, the wheels use printed tiles, which were a nice surprise, and look incredibly accurate to the real thing.

Here’s a look at the top, with the transparent sunroof, and the bonnet, which has more of the dark red stripes, and the Jurassic Park logo.

And yes, this is an actual Ford Explorer, courtesy of the Ford badge, and Explorer sticker on the back.

On the inside, are the flash light which the kids use, as well as a heads up display with a map, and even the two glasses of water where the water ripples as the T.Rex approaches – fantastic attention to detail.

You get 2 Ford Explorers, although one is technically half a car, and is flipped over and stuck in the mud.

It has right details, such as the number 4 on it, and with the right spare parts, you should be able to turn this into a proper Ford Explorer if you’d like.

Here’s a look at the T-Rex which is entire brick-built. It’s a little small, and not quite to scale compared to the Ford Explorers, but within the context of the diorama, and everything else, I don’t think it’s an issue.

Being entire brick-built is impressive, and captures many of the T.Rex’s iconic features well, and most importantly, I love the colours used which have a very organic brown/orangey palette.

Sadly, the T.Rex’s eye is a sticker, which you apply on a slope. I really disliked this, and wished it would’ve been a printed element.

Tiny arms are here!

And I love the design of the feet in particular, which has it arched in a very pleasing manner.

It’s quite distracting but I didn’t really like the grey joints visible in the back, which breaks up the organic look slightly.

Here’s a comparison with a LEGO T.Rex, and you can see that the designers definitely wanted to keep within the same scale, which makes sense.

The curvature and silhouette also matches it, and in many ways, it’s a very impressive re-creation of an already established design archetype.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the giant T.rex from the larger T.Rex Rampage gate set as a comparison, but overall, I love what they did here.

It’s subjective, but I think it’s a manner of preference if you like the brick-built T.Rex or the regular LEGO one. Personally, I prefer the LEGO T.Rex because it’s so iconic, and yes, you can easily substitute it if you’d like. It just doesn’t stomp on the Ford Explorer as well.

Here’s a look at the base of the diorama, with the broken fence from the T.Rex paddock.

There are some great references, such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex sign.

The warning and hazard signs – love that they use a minifigure hand for the 10,000 volts high voltage sign.

The upturned Ford Explorer lodges itself in this area here thanks to one stud, and the kids can take cover behind.

Really neat details captured are also the T.Rex footprints, which have water pooled in them!

And yes, there are studs on the Ford Explorer, so that the T.Rex can affix itself neatly as its stomping it.

Designer insight: According to Atticus, two of the biggest challenges were designing a foot that would let it stand on its own and not have to be supported by anything else, and also trying to capture the shape of the T-Rex head as best you could at that scale.

Here’s a look at the back, where you can see the foliage used to give it more depth.

And yes, there’s even a chain where the goat is meant to be tied to.

It’s almost cruel because LEGO seem to be taunting us LEGO fans who want a goat in the manual.

This set really would’ve been perfect if it came with a goat…

Despite being a display model, it’s really quite playable, and because the diorama is so large, you’re encouraged to set the scene up as you like, and there are tons of fantastic angles that you can appreciate.

And last but not least, here’s a look at the printed tiles, which has the LEGO Jurassic Park logos on one, as well as a quote from Ian Malcolm, which is a fantastic touch.

What I liked:

• An incredibly satisfying display diorama
• Highly detailed minifigures
• Brick-built T.Rex works incredibly well
• Ford Explorers are perfect
• So many cool nods to Jurassic Park, and a fan’s dream come true
• Priced well

What I didn’t like: 

• Too many stickers, especially the eye sticker
• Doesn’t come with a goat
• I prefer the LEGO T.Rex to the brick-built one

Final Thoughts:

If you’re a fan of Jurassic Park (I mean, who isn’t?) – this is a LEGO set of your dreams, as it captures a snapshot of one of the most iconic scenes in cinema, in a brick-built diorama that’s made to be displayed.

The LEGO designers have gone above and beyond on so many levels, such as finally giving us minifigure-scale Ford Explorers, amazingly detailed minifigure versions of Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and the kids which fit into the context of the scene, and thrown in so many accurate references to the movies.

The sheer variety of building experiences makes this a perfect introduction for those new to LEGO, and yet is fun enough for veteran LEGO fans to enjoy.

As an adult fan who primarily loves displaying sets, this Jurassic Park diorama is an absolute winner, and I cannot find much fault with it. Sure, I would’ve loved more printed elements, and it would’ve been such a killer move if LEGO chose this set to reintroduce the LEGO Goat, but at its core, this is an extremely satisfying set that will absolutely delight fans of the movie.

It made me so happy, recalling this scene from Jurassic Park, and if you’re a fan of the Steven Spielberg classic, I can absolutely guarantee that you’ll enjoy this build too.

I’m extremely biased here, because I love dinosaurs, Jurassic Park, and have bought nearly every LEGO set with a dinosaur in it, so this to me, is a perfect set.

T76956 T. Rex Breakout is hands down, one of the most satisfying, and I think memorable sets of 2022.

Rating and score: 5/5 ★★★★★

Build [5] – Simple and beginner-friendly, with plenty of variety
Real Value [4] – The set is moderately priced, but delivers so much satisfaction and I think is great value
Innovation [4] – Scaling the T.Rex, and keeping it brick-built is pretty impressive. Big fan of the Diorama form factor
Coolness [5] – A perfect homage to Jurassic Park in LEGO form
Keepability [5] – This set is an instant classic, and is one of the best LEGO Jurassic Park/World sets ever

Thanks for reading my review of 76956 T. rex Breakout. It goes on sale on 17 April 2022, but can be pre-ordered now from LEGO.com

What do you think of the LEGO Jurassic Park T. rex Breakout set? Will this go on your wishlist?

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Special thanks to the LEGO Group for providing this set for review