DUPLO and toy photography isn’t often something that go together.
Most of us LEGO photographers prefer to stick with minifigs. However, I’d been eying up these adorable Jurassic Park DUPLO sets for a few months so when they were half price in my local supermarket, how was I ever going to resist taking them for a spin in front of my camera?
The short answer is that I wasn’t. So here’s my review of how DUPLO dinosaurs perform for a toy photographer.
The sets
The two sets I purchased were:
I was obviously not that interested in the non-dinosaur portions of the sets, but not being one to shy away from a photography challenge, I did what I would do with any other set. I took it outside and had a play.
Being aimed at very young children, the sets are mostly large pieces and very vibrantly coloured. Not really that great for detail shots, but they do work as background items.
The tower is configurable in a few different ways. Which is great, because it turns out that these sets did not come with instructions for the build. You can make this tower anyway you like!
The tower from the T.Rex Tower set.
The petting zoo is a very simple construction with a fence, a bridge and a tree. There’s not really much to this and the star of the show is very much those two baby dinosaurs.
The petting zoo
And possibly the Gray Mitchell figure.
Isn’t he so cute!
The T. Rex tower also comes with a Chris Pratt (Owen Grady):
Making a call
I actually find the DUPLO figures to be quite charming to photograph. Of course, they don’t have all the movement of a LEGO minifigure (who would ever think that would be a thing said), but the printing on them is superb and they look cute! There’s much more of a human face on the figures, with ears and a nose! The older one even has fingers if you look closely!
The other part of the T. Rex tower is that the set comes with a car. Not much building required, you simply add the top and off you go! Of course, considering how much it was raining, a little more construction to include a roof might have gone down well!
Beach side car
One little thing to note about these DUPLO sets – NO STICKERS! I repeat – there were no stickers! For little kids, stickers were going to be too much I guess, but I loved the fact that none of the decoration had to be added by me and my wonky sticking capabilities. This also meant that taking the sets to the beach in a rain storm had no damaging effects.
The dinosaurs
Alright, alright. That’s quite enough of those bits of the sets. Let’s move onto the stars of the show. The dinos.
T. Rex
Rexy is a bright orange, pre-assembled mammoth dinosaur! Towering above the rest of the gang, he’s very much a misunderstood pre-historic friend. He’s all teeth, and no bite though! Promise! Come say hi!
RAWR means I love you in dinosaur!
Whilst not really poseable at all, his mouth does open and close. He can’t hold anything either, except in his mouth, so there’s not much scope for doing anything other than posing him in an appropriate location. Not that it’s bad though. His colour really does pop when you take him into a natural landscape!
Look how cute I am. The perfect orange rex in town!
Petting zoo pals
Obviously, the baby dinosaurs in the petting zoo are much smaller than T. Rex. That doesn’t stop them from being even more adorable to photograph! Look just how expressive their eyes are.
Little Tracy hanging out.
Dippy exploring the Spring flowers.
They also got a chance to go explore the beach. I pretty much fell in love with them in the rock pools of the beach we visited! Again, not being poseable, there are limits on what you can do with them but the vibrant colours of the dinosaurs really make them look fantastic in photos!
Dip, dip, dip in the puddle.
It’s a land before time at the beach!
Overall thoughts
In conclusion, I regret not buying this set sooner! These dinosaurs are absolutely adorable! Much cuter than the more grown up dinosaurs from the regular LEGO range of Jurassic Park sets! They heavily appeal to my wish for cute toys to photograph and I will definitely be taking them out and about with me more often, particularly when there are some nice vistas to photograph them in! In terms of the rest of the sets, I think they will probably head off to a child somewhere as I’m sure the pieces can be put to better use than getting dusty on my sideboard!
Do you have any DUPLO sets that you photograph? Or are you happy sticking to the more grown up LEGO sets? Let me know in the comments!
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Great review and what delightful shots. Go Lizzi!
Thanks Doug!
I have the Lego Movie 2 Duplo Set. I absolutely love the two figures and I also sometimes buy second hand Duplo or Playmobil 123 figures. They are easy to transport as they don’t have any lose parts.
I hadn’t thought about the loose parts, but you are totally right! No loosing bits in the wild! 🙂
That’s so cute Lizzi, i’m eyeing those two sets since their announcement and i’ve also the “excuse” of two little daughters but to date i’ve yet to find an offer that i consider “fair” to make me succumb.
And your review is pushing me!
Thanks Marco! I think with kids, I wouldn’t have thought twice! 😉 Good luck finding a deal on them!
Oh my – Lizzi, I think you’ve driven me to the point of buying these sets. Those little guys will be so much fun to play with. And my granddaughter might enjoy playing with them too! Thanks for the review.