LEGO Dinosaurs Building Set List

Children have always been fascinated with Dinosaurs. These huge lizards roamed the Earth millions of years ago have longed filled the human imagination. It was only natural for LEGO to create building sets around these wondrous creatures. The release of Jurassic Park III in theaters might have also had a small influence on their decision to sell dinosaur building sets.

Canisters

Children have always been fascinated with Dinosaurs. These huge lizards roamed the Earth millions of years ago have longed filled the human imagination. It was only natural for LEGO to create building sets around these monstrous creatures. The release of Jurassic Park III in theatres might have also had a small influence on their decision to sell dinosaur building sets.

Brachiosaurus

Item #: 6719

Released: 2001

Ages: 5-12

Pieces: 25

The Brachiosaurus is known as being one of the largest known dinosaurs to roam the Earth, during the Jurassic Morrison Formation. To create the recognizable long neck, LEGO had to use two long cylindrical pieces.

The Diplodocus was created by switching the larger hind legs to the front and having the long neck swoop downward.

A Plateosaurus had a similar body shape to the Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus, but walked on two legs and had short arms.

The Plesiosaurus had the long neck and large body of the other dinosaurs you could build in this set, but they lived in the water. So rather than giving the model legs, builders attached four flippers to the model

Mosasaurus

Item #: 6721

Released: 2001

Ages: 5-12

Pieces: 26

Mosasaurus lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. Their sharp, menacing teeth showed their carnivorous nature. These aquatic lizards looked similar to the crocodiles we see today, but with flippers instead of feet. As a fun detail, LEGO used a red crocodile head piece for the tongue of the model.

The Postosuchus has a similar appearance to the Mosasaurus, but it lived on land. LEGO had the model’s flippers replaced by large hind legs and two small front arms.

LEGO took a lot of liberties in creating their Dimetrodon. Instead of making the four legs equal, they just had the Postosuchus arms being used as legs. Also, the real Dimetrodon’s jaw was not as pronounced, but they still used the same head as the previous models. LEGO did make sure to include a piece that replicates the distinctive sail on its back.

The Iguanodon was a duck-billed dinosaur, so it was the only model in this set not to use the crocodile head. It did utilize the same four limbs used for the Dimetrodon and Postosuchus.

Styracosaurus

Item #: 6722

Released: 2001

Ages: 5-12

Pieces: 26

The Styracosaurus had four to six horns protruding from its neck frill, two from its cheeks and one on its nose. LEGO gave their model four horns on the neck frill and one on the nose.

The Triceratops is probably the more recognizable of the horned dinosaur species. The only thing builders had to do to transform the Styracosaurus into a Triceratops was remove the horns from around the neck shield and place two of them above the eyes.

Centrosaurus only had a single horn above their beaked nose, much like the rhinoceroses today. Builders simply had to remove all the extra horns used for the other two models.

The Camarasaurus had a completely different head from the other three dinosaur models in this set. In fact, it was closer in appearance to the dinosaurs found in the Brachiosaurus 6719 building set.

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Item #: 6720

Released: 2001

Ages: 5-12

Pieces: 23

The Tyrannosaurus Rex is one of the most famous dinosaurs in pop culture. These large predators with their stubby arms have been used as the main monster in many horror and science fiction stories. LEGO used the iconic large hind legs and small upper arms for the base of all the models that could be built in this set.

The Spinosaurus was actually larger than the T-Rex, but it had a slimmer snout. LEGO used the exact same head pieces as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but added a sail piece to the back to make the Spinosaurus.

The Ouranosaurus had the same body as the Spinosaurus, but was given the head of an Iguanodon.

The Parasaurolophus was created by adding a long cylindrical cranial crest on the back of the head and removing the spinal sail piece of the Ouranosaurus.

Boxes and Polybags

While the “fossilized” canisters contained models of the adult dinosaurs, the boxes and polybag sets had the juvenile dinosaurs. The boxes supposedly had the “young” dinosaurs and the polybags contained the “baby” dinosaur models. However, they were actually the same model put into different packages. The Ankylosaurus was the only model to not have an adult counterpart.

Baby Ankylosaurus

Item #: 5950

Released: 2001

Ages: 5-12

Pieces: 23

Young Ankylosaurus

Item #: 7000

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 37

The Ankylosaurus is the prime example of what people visualize when they think of the armored dinosaur. They were the largest of the species characterized by their armored body and hard club tail.

The use of cones for the spike on its shell are a bit dramatic, but it is nice to see LEGO sticking with some of their core pieces in the assembly of the Ankylosaurus. The round 1X1 flat tile pieces on the tail add to its deadly appearance.

Baby Brachiosaurus

Item #: 5952

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 31

Young Brachiosaurus

Item #: 7002

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 23

The Brachiosaurus may have been one of the largest dinosaurs to roam the Earth, but this child won’t have any trouble getting its head to fit on your display shelf. The young version of the Brachiosaurus had a much shorter tail and neck compared to the adult model. There were also more standard LEGO pieces used in its creation.

Baby Dimetrodon

Item #: 5953

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 20

Young Dimetrodon

Item #: 7003

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 20

The adult Dimetrodon could be built from the Mosasaurus 6721 building set. This model’s head more closely resembles the actual head of a Dimetrodon, instead of a crocodile. I did not know this till doing my research, but the Dimetrodon was not actually a dinosaur. It went extinct about 40 million years before the first dinosaur and, although not a mammal, is more closely related to mammals than the lizards living today.

Baby Iguanodon

Item #: 5951

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 23

Young Iguanodon

Item #: 7001

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 23

The Iguanodon was also built from the Mosasaurus 6721 building set. However, this young dinosaur more closely resembles its grown up version. The adult has an elongated torso, while the younger model is more square. Since the young Iguanodon used more common LEGO bricks, it was also more angular in its overall design.

Dinosaurs Kit

Item #: K7000

Released: 2001

Ages: 6-12

Pieces: 111

The Dinosaurs Kit was the ideal way for people who prefer building LEGO models and not worried about collecting them for future profits. The set includes all four of the young dinosaur sets. However, 7000 Young Ankylosaurus, 7001 Young Iguanodon, 70002 Young Brachiosaurus and 7003 Young Dimetrodon were the same as their polybaged baby counterparts. Which means, collectors have technically built 8 of the Dinosaur Theme LEGO Building Sets!

Sources

www.brickset.com

www.legowikia.com

www.wikipedia.com

eurobricks.com (Pictures are computer generated images and not the actual pieces. The shapes are correct, but the coloring is not accurate.)