REVIEW: 5882 Ambush Attack

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

I thought I could share with all of you on one last review before the year 2012 ends and I decided to touch on a new theme which is based on the new LEGO Dino theme that I have never reviewed before. Since I was a child, I have always been interested in Dinosaurs and read up on facts and information on prehistoric Dinosaurs. I had also missed out on the previously released of LEGO Dino 2010 back in 2005 and I am glad this theme re-appears once more. So, let's take a simplistic look of what this set is all about.

Name: 5882 Ambush Attack

Theme: LEGO System / Dino

Year: 2012

Pieces: 80

Minifigs: 1 minifigure + 1 dinosaur

Price: USD $11.99, GBP 8.99, EURO N.A, SGD $19.90

Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

An original box image of the 5882 Ambush Attack

Back view of the original box image of the 5882 Ambush Attack

Oh gratz! Now let's see what can this jeep capable of dealing this threat?

This set is all about seeing Coelophysis dinosaur taking its opportunity to ambush its unsuspecting prey. It is supposed to be hiding behind dense bushes. So, do you ever expect the prey to transform itself to able to combat itself against this incoming threat? To me, I felt this set is pretty fun to play with and it is an excellent set to begin with to see if you actually enjoy and like this Dino theme as a whole especially if you are unsure of its appeal. I was uncertain if I will like this theme as a whole and to my surprise, I actually enjoyed playing with this set even though I wanted to regard it as a form of sampling. Furthermore, I am always pleased to see TLG doing up its own LEGO play theme with endless imagination filled with fun.

The content of the sealed box

Within the sealed box, it comes with 2 small packages, a dinosaur and an instruction manual to build up the set. After the building is completed, these are the remaining in spare parts which is pretty good since there will be a spare syringe and 1x1 printed control gauge tile.

And he found some pile of bricks for lunch?

Some useful parts and accessories

In this set, there are some useful parts and accessories as indicated above. Apart from the Coelophysis dinosaur, the rest of the stuff are pretty useful like the printed curved yellow slope with dark red tiger stripes pattern and the control gauge pattern. The green and dark tan foliage are very welcoming, as well as the tranquilizer gun with additional lime syringes.

The heroic driver and solder

This is the heroic driver which is trained to deal with dinosaurs’ threats. I like the appearance of the front of the minifigure where it shows details of the 'D' squad as well as the shotgun or tranquilizer ammos equivalent to neutralise the dinosaur. I don't think this solder is trained to kill but instead they are trained to capture them, even for a carnivore dinosaur. You may take a a close up view of the tranquillizer gun which the solder is specialised at. In fact, this minifigure is very useful for military purposes and it is a good form of representation of solder or mercenary.

Back view of the minifigure

The back view of the minifigure reveals the other side of the heroic driver's terrify expression. It also shows clear printing details of the ammo pouch and waist belt. Back printing are always welcoming than just mere boring singular colour tone.

There! You have been tranquillized

The Coelophysis dinosaur looks very hungry and dangerous

The Coelophysis dinosaur is a light weight agile fast carnivore which hunt in packs. In the LEGO context, this nasty fellow is built up of soft ABS plastic and the prints from all sides are simply brilliant. It is not brick built and it is made up of plastic mould that is made up of one single piece. Unfortunately, I am unable to move and twist its arms or legs for posing and playing purposes. The Coelophysis dinosaur came in this package condition that kept the dinosaur fixed and firm without causing any forms of deform and defects in production and transportation.

The completed section of the jungle foliage

This is a very simple built of the jungle foliage where it encompasses a few big leaves to form the bush base. The built is not much of a challenge and it is merely a simple representation of the scene where the dinosaur inhabitants.

Can you see what is behind the jungle foliage?

Building process of the mini off-roader

Different views of the mini off-roader

Time to go for my regular patrol duty

This is a powerful and fast mini off-roader which is able to react to any emergency responses or undergo recce mission to scout for threats. It comes with light armour protection, weapon holder and 2 flick missiles to deal with incoming serious threats, even though I am never a fan of flick missles. I could also able to modify it for other purposes like military jeep or light strike vehicle. This mini off-roader certainly gave me a good deal of fun and pleasure to play with to set up some basic action sequence.

Ahhhh!!! Run for your life!

To conclude, I am pretty fond of this set and this is the first LEGO set which I have bought in this new LEGO Dino theme. With this set in my building process, the rest of the other LEGO Dino sets came in subsequently to support this small fellow's Dinosaurs operation for greater expansion. This set comes with 4 different fun types which include the minifigure, dinosaur, jeep and small jungle scene for less than 100 building parts. Although there are not build to represent actual detailed scene but the representation in its small playing scale do contain the charm with fun playing that will leave you in good impression.

Summary review

Playability: 9/10 (Lots of fun to play together with the 4 different fun types.)

Design: 8/10 (Design is pretty good even though I wish the dinosaur can pose and move its arms and legs for the Coelophysis.)

Price: 8/10 (Price is quite reasonable for the above elements and fun that you can obtain through this set.)

Overall: 8.3/10 (Get this set to start with if you are unsure of the LEGO Dino theme.)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card. What about yours?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Flickr and My Brickshelf (When moderated)

[Hey Joe]

Thanks for the excellent review of a decent looking little set. Joe

[WhiteFang]

Thanks for the excellent review of a decent looking little set. Joe

Thank you bjtpro. I am surprised this little set didn't arouse much interest as other sets. Is this theme really that unpopular?

[Hey Joe]

Thank you bjtpro. I am surprised this little set didn't arouse much interest as other sets. Is this theme really that unpopular?

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe everyone wore out their superlatives on your CMF Series 9 or Chima reviews? Anyway, keep up the good work.

[Crownie]

I enjoyed reading another review of this set, even though its been over a year since the line was released. There certainly are some highlights to this theme - mainly the dinosaurs, but I was never able to convince myself to buy into it. I'm a dinosaur nut - I grew up wanting to be a paleontologist, and yet I couldn't get that excited about this theme. The dinosaurs are great, but what do I do with them? As an AFOL, I guess for me LEGO is all about the building and displaying of creations, not so much the play, and that's where I think this theme has it's strengths. In play. (That, and I had a really hard time imagining just what I would do with all that yellow...)

Anyways, I always enjoy your reviews, and your photography is wonderful. Thanks! I always appreciate all the work you put into these, regardless of whether the set makes it on my 'to buy' list or not.

[Brickington]

Thank you bjtpro. I am surprised this little set didn't arouse much interest as other sets. Is this theme really that unpopular?

I think it is. I never liked it to begin with.

[WhiteFang]

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe everyone wore out their superlatives on your CMF Series 9 or Chima reviews? Anyway, keep up the good work.

I supposed so since the focus of the hype are with the many new recent themes. Thanks for your kind words.

I enjoyed reading another review of this set, even though its been over a year since the line was released. There certainly are some highlights to this theme - mainly the dinosaurs, but I was never able to convince myself to buy into it. I'm a dinosaur nut - I grew up wanting to be a palaeontologist, and yet I couldn't get that excited about this theme. The dinosaurs are great, but what do I do with them? As an AFOL, I guess for me LEGO is all about the building and displaying of creations, not so much the play, and that's where I think this theme has it's strengths. In play. (That, and I had a really hard time imagining just what I would do with all that yellow...)

Anyways, I always enjoy your reviews, and your photography is wonderful. Thanks! I always appreciate all the work you put into these, regardless of whether the set makes it on my 'to buy' list or not.

Thank you Crownie for sharing your thoughts. Like yourself, it is also a childhood dream for me to be a palaeontologist but it wasn't really a realistic career in this part of the world. Getting myself into this theme is largely because of the new dinosaurs.

I think it is. I never liked it to begin with.

Why not. I am still quite surprised that this theme is not pretty popular with many.

[Hey Joe]

It's a great theme IMO. A Lego retailer here in Beijing has a nice display of some of the models. I'd buy some of them but my son is only three so they're pretty low on the priority list. Maybe it's the same with other people, too many other cool sets on the market right now?

If the theme isn't doing well (I have no idea) it might SADLY be because it's not licensed, there's no movie to build hype and get people's attention? Maybe that's why I don't particularly care for licensed sets, I don't like being manipulated in that way.