The LEGO® DREAMZzz™ theme is known for introducing unique new molds, and the August 2024 wave of sets is no exception. I’ve already shown you an overview of all major new elements in the wave, but now it’s time to build the sets for a closer look.
We kick off the series with 71484 Cooper's Robot Dinosaur C-Rex. At 917 parts, the set sits in the middle of the wave, which ranges from 226 to 1742 parts. Zoey and Cooper are under attack from enemies who look a bit familiar, and will need to put their dreamcrafting talents to the test to defend themselves. But first, we’ll need to study the elements available to them.
Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
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71484 Cooper's Robot Dinosaur C-Rex
Price: US$79.99/ £69.99/ 79.99€/ AU$129.99
917 parts
Release Date: 1 August 2024
New molds
Hourglass holder (5330)
T-shaped bar connections are not widespread in the LEGO inventory, so Hourglass Holder with Opal Trans-Light Blue Hourglass in Pearl Gold (6501459 | 5330) is worth a closer look. The mold shows an hourglass held by a half-circle, with a 3.18mm diameter bar protruding from the bottom and a stud on each side.
The element designer seemingly went out of their way to add as many LEGO System connections as possible. The width from stud-to-stud spans 2 modules (5 plates), and the opal trans-light blue section of the hourglass has another 3.18mm bar at its center, at 90° to the bottom bar. Its center is in line with the 2 studs on the sides, which means a plate with clip (shown above in blue) can hold onto it while connected to other parts attached to the studs.
The protruding bar is exactly long enough for a jumper plate (shown above in magenta) to line up with plates placed either side. But wait, there’s more!
The cut-off edge of the half-circle, underneath the protruding bar, allows for a plate with clip to fit as well, with the help of a SNOT Brick (seen in Dark Azure) and a Jumper Plate (seen in Magenta). I love it when things just click right.
Unique geometry allows for some unique connections, so make sure you get a couple for when you’re stuck in a design. A single-color version would be perfect for architectural detailing.
Puffer Vest / Body Warmer (5275)
Another minifigure-related new mold is keeping Cooper warm: Neckwear Bodywarmer in Red (6466882 | 5275). Marty would also look pretty fly in this vest, and it has greebling potential as well.
The Stealing Raven (5272)
The new baddie The Never Witch has a pet raven. The bird is found in all 8 sets from this wave in Trans-Dark Pink with a Black marbled pattern (6466858 | 5272). It’s a beautiful creature with colors befitting the Dream World, and I hope we’ll see more natural colors for this mold in the future across other themes.
Dome with crystallized top (5334)
The raven steals memories from dreamers, which are carried around in a new dome piece in Trans-Clear (6466880 | 5334). Like the raven, the element is found in all sets, and we get one here. The dome is 2 bricks high, which is 1 plate higher than its sibling Brick Round 2 x 2 x 1 2/3 Dome Top (30151, seen above right). I suspect this extra height is in order to fit the memories, which are printed on 1x2 tiles.
Brick Round 3 x 3 D. Tube with 45° Elbow (5057)
Now the brick has a bigger sibling; a megaroni if you like: Brick Round 3 x 3 D. Tube with 45° Elbow and Axle Holes (Crossholes) at Each End, which we find twice in Orange (6495090 | 5057) in today’s set.
The brick features 5 axle holes on each side, among other holes that are perhaps needed for effective cooling during the molding process. Those are too small to hold an axle, and too big to hold a 3.18mm bar. Similar to the smaller version, the holes run halfway into the brick, where a wall separates the 2 sides. Despite the depth, axles can be pushed in only a single stud length.
It came as a surprise to me that the only difference between the 2 versions is the radius. Lined up next to each other the bricks have the same curved length when measured from the center hole. This means the bricks can be connected to form a circle with the same center curvature. Only the inside and outside width is different, which is 5 and 11 studs for the new version, seen in Orange.
Recolors and decorations
Discounting the minifigure parts, we get only a single recolor: Windscreen 6 x 8 Curved in Red (6507856 | 5274).
Similarly, most of the new decorated elements can be found among the minifigures, leaving us with a single tile in Trans-Dark Blue, depicting the memory of the Sandman’s Tower as seen in set 71477.
All other decorations are handled by a sticker sheet, which is the biggest in this wave with 21 stickers.
Minifigures
In the center we see Sneak, who has appeared in previous sets already, and can be found in multiple sets across the new wave too. On the left we see recurring characters Zoey and Cooper, and on the right their "Dark Doppelgangers" Doey and Dooper, created by the Never Witch using their stolen memories.
Cooper is unique for this set. His Hair and Hat, Short Hair and Beanie Red pattern in Bright Light Yellow (6490731 | 5492) is a recolor of the new mold introduced in June 2024 in LEGO Friends. His head in Flat Silver (6487057), torso in Light Bluish Grey (6490733) and legs in Dark Bluish Grey (6487059) all have a new print.
Zoey is unique in this form for this set, but her newly printed head in Yellow (6487027), torso in Dark Blue (6490590) and legs in Dark Blue (6487029) are also used in set 71479, where she wears a neck bracket instead of a quiver.
Dark Doppelganger Dooper comes a recolor for Hair Tousled and Sticking Out on Both Sides in Magenta (6490140), as well as a newly molded shoulder piece with a Black mold pattern in Trans-Dark Pink (6508633 | 5332). His head in White (6487030), torso in Black (6490605) and legs in Black (6487032) have a new print.
Dark Doppelganger Doey also has recolored hair: Hair, Braided in Knot is new in Magenta (6490720 | 1988). Her head in White (6487060), torso in Black (6490734) and Pearl Titanium legs in Black (6487062) have a new print.
Rare elements
- Weapon Bow and Arrow [Large] in Medium Lilac/ Dark Purple (6451947 | 61537) is unique to Zoey, and used in 2 earlier sets.
- Wedge Plate 2 x 2 Left in Dark Red (6462488 | 24299) and Wedge Plate 2 x 2 Right in Dark Red (6462487 | 24307) where introduced earlier this year in 76271 Batman: The Animated Series Gotham City Bracket 2 x 2 with 1 x 2 Vertical Studs in Dark Orange (6480462 | 41682) has been used in a single set this year.
- Cone 2 x 2 x 3 Jagged in Silver Metallic/ Flat Silver (6168613 | 28598) was used in 2 LEGO Nexo Knights sets back in 2017
- Windscreen 2 x 4 Half Dome in Trans-Black (6445335 | 81911) is used in a single set prior
- Tile Special 1 x 3 Inverted with Center Hole in Dark Azure (6459289 | 35459) is used in 2 earlier sets
- Plate Round Corner 3 x 3 with 2 x 2 Round Cutout in Bright Red/ Red (6462445 | 68568) is seen in 3 other sets
- The same goes for Wedge Plate 3 x 4 with Stud Notches [Reinforced Underside] in Dark Orange (6429033 | 28842)
The build
In this case, the base is formed by Cooper’s Customs, a sort of workshop, along with a tiny bike for Zoey to ride. When they come under attack by Doey and Dooper (love those names btw), the workshop needs to be transformed to defend themselves, in this case a C-Rex (a T-rex built by Cooper) or a pterodactyl.
Both dinosaurs are built in sections which connect to the workshop using rotation and ball joints. The workshop itself remains unaltered, unlike most LEGO Dreamzzz sets where often parts are removed from the basic model.
The build is a bit uneventful; I’ve built numerous LEGO Ninjago dragons over the years, and there were little surprises. Of course this won’t be an issue for younger builders.
The only thing that had me surprised is the fact that the arch of these two different mudguard molds line up perfectly; a neat trick.
The finished models stand tall and fierce, perfect for adrenaline fueled adventures. But despite the badass look, the C-Rex is especially limited in its movements. The head can only tilt up and down, but can’t move side-to-side or rotate. It’s held in place by 2 Technic pins, and it would be rather easy to leave one out. Maybe that gave stability issues?
The hips can rotate too, but the feet are static, resulting in an unstable toe and heel stance, limiting the movement to just bending over.
The pterodactyl has similar limitations in its head, but at least the wings have some more movement. My favorite is folding them all the way back, putting the big bird into a diving stance pouncing down on its prey. It has the perfect swoosh-ability such a model needs.
Both models share most of the available parts, but neither use all of them. Judging by the leftover piles, the C-Rex (above top) consumes the most parts, while the pterodactyl (above bottom) uses a lot less parts for its build.
It’s noteworthy that both leftover piles share some parts! After construction, each model leaves out some ball joints, brackets and blue Technic pins. I’ve triple-checked the instructions, but it seems we get some spares to help out while building our own creations.
Closing Thoughts
Cooper's Robot Dinosaur C-Rex has left me split. On the one hand both models look great, and the mix of mechs and dinos will appeal to a lot of children. The finished models do leave me wanting more, especially in the poseability of the C-Rex. I’m not sure if most children will mind, but with a build so similar to other recent mechs and dragons, it is a bit underwhelming.
In terms of new elements, the set is a bit light with just one recolor. The new molds are certainly interesting, but most are not unique to this set, although the megaroni and the puffer vest only appear in their colors here.
READ MORE: What are all of the new LEGO® parts in August 2024 sets?
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Nice review!
ReplyDeleteThis isn't my favorite of the new Dreamzzz sets, but it's still pretty nice. I much prefer the C-Rex build to the much more oddly proportioned Pterodactyl. Having built the C-Rex build on Stud.io, one aspect that pleased me was how nicely the Mixel joints work for the opening jaw, making good use of the various brackets to form a big and sturdy bite.
The fact that both builds have some of the same leftover parts might have to do with the build order—one aspect of Dreamzzz sets that I've noticed is that most builds tend to be designed to open numbered bags in the same order, which for sets with significantly divergent alt builds like this or the Z-Blob the Knight mech must be a real trick to plan so that the order in which you get parts to use lines up with the stages of the various builds.
Parts-wise, I'm not sure I'm that fond of the hourglass hilt piece. While it's certainly an interesting shape, the use of color leaves something to be desired I think, with the glitter and gold "core" combining to wash out the transparent color a bit more than I'd like. It's also a slight shame that it's only in two colors so far for the various characters—it could've been nice if Izzie's were opalescent purple or something so that all three characters with them had unique colors. I love the raven, crystal dome, and 3x3 macaroni pieces though.
Good point on the bags order. I had to open them all in advance to get the new elements out, so I ended up with one big pile while building.
DeleteI agree with the colours. I first assumed this version had Flat Silver hilt, as the opal colour is very washed out. Gold/silver combination (or one that appears as such!) should work well in some character jewelry and clothing detail. Bummer that the green one is more common, as its feels less versatile.
DeleteMy hope with the 2max2roni is that we'll eventually get a tapering curved "brick" that can transition between its 3 module width and the maxaroni's 2 modules, similar to what the "dragon horn" from Ninjago does between 2 and 1. I feel like that would be pretty satisfying to have, visually.
ReplyDeleteThey had me at 'robot dinosaur'.
ReplyDelete