SPINOSAURUS

Spinosaurus was a late-Cretaceous theropod which lived 70 million years ago. Standing on it’s own two legs at a fearsome height of 7 meters; this African theropod is one of the most recognisable in paleontological media due to it’s enormous sail which may have been used for thermoregulation. Studies are currently heated on it’s ability to have been an aquatic predator; due to it’s physiology and geographical location. Spinosaurus and (to a lesser degree) Baryonyx have denser bones (pachyostosis) for some kind of water foraging. It is common in media for it to be portrayed as an piscivore with some depictions even giving it webbed feet. However more recent studies have suggested it wouldn’t have had any better swimming ability than it’s contemporaries; suggesting a semiaquatic lifestyle. Ultimately, this ‘bipedal carnivore’ was a ferocious animal that has made it’s own impact in pop culture.

I chose Spinosaurus as a model as I felt that the official Lego dinosaur portfolio at the time was severely limited. While the dinosaur has been covered by Lego before most notably in Spinosaurus Attack Studio; that two decade old set feels incredibly dated by modern standards. Lego is also no stranger to brickbuilt dinosaurs, as there have been a couple of D2C sets which have tackled the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The limitations I imposed on myself were that it had to scale well and look good next to the current lineup of moulded dinosaurs. It also had to use components that were currently in production in order to keep costs down as much as possible.

I started with the head as that dictates how a character is designed. Part 4081b (Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Light Attachment - Thick Ring) is essential as it helped keep the head profile thin just like the real creature. It was never easy going as it took far too may attempts to obtain the correct shape. Plans to include teeth on the lower jaw were eventually scrapped due to insufficient space. I made the decision to include the teeth only on the upper jaw as it would retain the Spinosaurus snarl even if the lower jaw was open or closed.

The sail is the iconic feature of Spinosaurus and I knew I had to get it right. While other builders have tried to use plates or curved slopes for their own interpretations, this has commonly lead to their builds being oversized or bulky. After many days of thinking, I decided to mount multiples of Part 36840 (Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Inverted) on an upside down Technic beam brick which is integrated tightly into the torsos assembly. This had the added benefit of allowing me to add texturing and spots to the planes of the sail; with curved slopes capping off the ridge. Robustly constructed legs and a tail inspired by several Creator sets finished off the main build. I have also included in this submission some plants and terrain minibuilds reflecting the environment in which this creature lived.

The end result is a 640 piece model that is comparable to modern Lego animal/dinosaur standards that also can stand on it’s own. The wide feet and Mixels ball joints have proven to be able to bear the weight of similar Lego dinosaur builds before with no issue. While this model is based on a modified 2022 build, I have no doubt it will be an awesome addition to the 2023 Bricklink Designer Program lineup.