Review: 76974 Brick-built Mosasaurus Boat Mission from LEGO® Jurassic World™

LEGO® Jurassic World™ sets have rarely contained brick-built dinosaurs, but the June 2025 offering 76974 Brick-built Mosasaurus Boat Mission depicts some new heroes on an adventure with a brick-built beast of impressive dimensions. The mosasaurus is not a dinosaur, it's a prehistoric marine reptile of epic proportions, so will the LEGO interpretation float my boat or leave me at sea?

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

76974 Brick-built Mosasaurus Boat Mission

• Release date: 1 June 2025, preorder available now from links below
• Pieces: 858

Price and links to preorder: 

• US$ 59.99 on LEGO.com US
• CA$ 79.99 on LEGO.com Canada
• GB£ 54.99 on LEGO.com UK
• AU$ 99.99 on LEGO.com Australia
• NZ$ 109.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
• DE€ 59,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
• NL€ 59,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
• FR€ 59,99 on LEGO.com France
• PLN 269.99 on LEGO.com Polska
• NOK 829,90 on LEGO.com Norge
• DKK 529.95 on LEGO.com Danmark

Other countries click here

 

Generally the focus of LEGO Jurassic World sets has been on specially designed moulded creatures. Aside from the recent baby dinosaurs and skeletons, the last set that featured a brick-built beast was 2022's 76956 T. rex Breakout (see Eero's review of set 76596). Ignoring the odd set like this, brick-built dinosaurs have seldom appeared as anything much more than magazine gifts.

I anticipate that the prospect of a brick-built mosasaurus may not please all of the target audience of this set, who might be eagerly anticipating more moulded prehistoric animals to add to their collections.

This set doesn't contain any new moulds, which is unsurprising given the number of new moulds that must have been allocated to new dinosaurs within the new wave of sets, but it does have a fair number of recolours for us to showcase here.

Recoloured parts

• 3x Wedge Plate 6 x 2 Right in Dark Brown (6542682 | 78444)
• 3x Wedge Plate 6 x 2 Left in Dark Brown (6542683 | 78443)
• 3x Slope 1 x 4 with 1 x 2 Cutout in Dark Brown (6556985 | 5654)
• 1x Wedge Plate 3 x 2 Right in Dark Brown (6566044 | 43722)
• 1x Wedge Plate 3 x 2 Left in Dark Brown (6566039 | 43723)
• 1x Slope 45° 2 x 1 with 2/3 Cutout [New Version] in Dark Brown (6566041 | 15672)
• 5x Tile 1 x 2 with Stud Notch Right in Dark Orange (6553758 | 5092)
• 5x Tile 1 x 2 with Stud Notch Left in Dark Orange (6553754 | 5091)

• 2x Tile 1 x 4 with Groove in Olive Green (6186023 | 2431)
• 4x Tile 1 x 1 in Olive Green (6566042 | 3070b)
• 4x Brick Curved 1 x 2 x 1 with Curved Top in Olive Green (6566043 | 5841)
• 3x Plate Special 2 x 2 with Only 2 studs in Olive Green (6566040 | 33909)
• 3x Slope Curved 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Left in Olive Green (6493685 | 29120); first time appearing as an unprinted part
• 3x Slope Curved 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Right in Olive Green (6493684 | 29119); first time appearing as an unprinted part
• 3x Hair Small Tuft in Olive Green (6541489 | 68212)

Decorated pieces

There are 3 printed pieces, one of which comes in quantity. Those eye's are a destined to create a steely glare!

• 1x Slope Curved 2 x 1 No Studs [1/2 Bow] with eye print in Olive Green (6566158)
• 1x Slope Curved 2 x 1 No Studs [1/2 Bow] with eye print in Olive Green (6566159)
• 8x Slope Curved 2 x 2 x 2/3 with disruptive colouration print in Olive Green (6566157)

Sticker sheet

Rare parts

There are quite a few pieces that have only appeared in 3 other sets or fewer.

• 1x Aircraft Fuselage Curved Forward 8 x 12 x 2 Bottom in White (6458423 | 67243); only previously available in 60367 Passenger Airplane from 2023
• 1x Plate Special 1 x 6 with Train Wagon End Fence in Light Bluish Gray (6476877 | 6583); in two other sets
• 1x Technic Driving Ring Extension, 8 Ridges in Dark Bluish Gray (6484624 | 35186); in three sets
• 1x Technic Brick Modified 2 x 2 with Ball and Axle Hole, with 6 Holes in Ball in Black (6521191 | 57909b); in two other sets

• 2x Tile 2 x 4 with Groove in Dark Brown (6566046 | 87079); in just two sets from 2022
• 30x Tile Round 1 x 1 Quarter in Dark Brown (6462538 | 25269); in three sets
• 1x Slope Curved 4 x 1 No Studs [Stud Holder with Asymmetric Ridges] in Dark Brown (6566045 | 61678); in two sets and last seen in 2012
• 12x Tile 1 x 1 with Groove in Dark Brown (6516867 | 3070); in three sets
• 1x Technic Axle Connector 2 x 3 with Ball Socket, Closed Sides in Reddish Brown (6469563 | 67695); only in 31150 Wild Safari Animals

• 2 x Plate Special 4 x 4 with 3 x 3 Quarter Round Cutout in Medium Azure (6493909 | 35044); in two sets
• 4 x Plate Round Corners 2 x 6 Double in Dark Azure (6503567 | 18980); in two sets
• 1 x Seat / Chair 2 x 2 in Sand Blue (6306726 | 4079); in three sets
• 2 x Plate 2 x 3 in Bright Reddish Violet/ Magenta (6251297 | 3021); in two sets

Minifigures

The set comes with LeClerc and Atwater minifigures, which contain some recolours, new prints and a rare returning piece.

New parts

• 1x Torso with check shirt print in Dark Tan (6560444)
• 1x Hat / Cap Short Curved Bill with Seams and Hole on Top in Dark Brown (6565039 | 11303)
• 1x Torso with survival jacket print in Tan (6565490)
• 1x Legs with shorts print in Tan (6565419)

Rare

• 1x Hair Spiked in Dark Tan (6566733 | 98385); only previously available in two LEGO® Minifigures, and not seen since 2016

The build

The instructions commence with a couple of side builds.

There isn't anything really wrong with this pair of sea-themed scenery, and so few pieces are taken up by their inclusion that I feel criticism of them is somewhat moot. However, it isn't immediately obvious to me what they really add to the overall set that isn't already implied by the boat and the mosasaurus itself.

On the cover of the instructions and in the official product description, it is suggested that the scenery is  intended to support the mosasaurus and the boat. However, I was unable to satisfactorily balance the build in the same way to replicate that. You may have better skills in this area, but my failure to balance the mosasaurus possibly added to my feeling of wondering why these parts have been included.

The bulk of the construction of the body and tail of the mosasaurus feels reminiscent of techniques we have seen used in sets like 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage or LEGO® Creator 3-in-1 31121 Crocodile, where ball joints are stacked to limit vertical movement while still allowing serpentine side-to-side motion. The method is entirely appropriate and is effectively used here.

The fins fit neatly into engineered recesses and consequently allow a good degree of movement while neatly hiding the Mixels ball joint.

The construction of the head is again a fairly familiar process, mostly using commonplace sideways building techniques. I can't fault the look of the head. In these images it looks a little blocky, but rest assured that in 3 dimensions, that effect is lost, thanks in part to the great eye prints, and the introduction of some newer parts in dark brown.

The jaw opens too, and it feels harsh of me to critique in this way, but this reveals a very familiar-looking array of vicious-looking chompers. However, it works well, and I appreciate there are a limit to the options available for making carnivorous teeth, but it is perhaps another instance of the build process being kind of familiar, even if you've only built a small number of the available LEGO Creator 3-in-1 creatures. 

The finished sea monster is definitely an impressive looking beast. Overall the olive green and dark brown colour scheme works. It remains to be seen how well that mirrors the onscreen mosasaurus, but I think this unusual colour scheme is bold and eye catching.

The printed parts on the mosasaurus create some disruptive colouration to the back of the animal and the choice of white parts for the belly of the prehistoric sea creature is a representation of countershading purposes. The placement of the combination of these parts creates convincing patterning.

This is one of the rare occasions where I found that the idiom "It's not the destination, but the journey" – a feature normally true of LEGO building – was reversed. The enjoyment is more in the finished product. It's weighty, pleasing and comfortable to hold, and the temptation to swim this around the house was particularly strong. Whatever the aquatic beast equivalent of "swooshable" is, the mosasaurus has it in bucketloads.

The sleek boat is a neat little construction and fairly obviously it is the perfect accompaniment to the aquatic mosasaurus.

Up to this point we had not applied the stickers, but as I am reviewing these LEGO Jurassic World sets with my son, it means that he will ultimately be commandeering the sets and wanted to apply the limited number of stickers, all of which are applied to elements of the boat and side build.

When applied, the stickers really don't actually seem to make a substantial difference to the look of the boat, certainly when seen from a normal viewing angle. 

Conclusion

All previous criticisms considered, $59.99/ £54.99/ €59.99 for the 858 pieces in this set feels like a reasonable price.

Admittedly, there are quite a few smaller pieces here that go into the build, but not so that I feel that excessively bumps up a favourable part count. The mosasaurus is quite big and the boat makes for an appropriate side build that adds value to the play options. I consider the rock scenery unnecessary, but maybe that does add something to an overall great looking set. 

I am more impressed than I was by the initial imagery. That is mostly down to the mosasaurus, which really is another great brick-built creature. Even if the construction process feels somewhat like going over the same ground, the finished model is impressive and more importantly, good fun to play around with. Did the boat need to float to add some play value here? Probably not, the focus is and should be on the prehistoric creature.

There are a good number of rare and recoloured parts and although that might not quite qualify the set as a nice parts pack, I think there is enough here to warrant buying the set without waiting for a big discount.

Pre-order now on LEGO.com

READ MORE: Available midnight Thursday 15 May 2025: set 72037 Mario & Standard Kart 

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