Trivia / LEGO Dino Attack

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• Development Gag: Dr. Nicole Soscia, a character from the online story for Dino Attack, is named after one of The LEGO Group's LEGO Magazine writers (mentioned in this interview with Greg Farshtey).
• Early Draft Tie-In:
  • The T-Rex's description◊ on the website seemingly describes it as a machine and not the real thing, sparking a lot of confusion over whether the dinosaurs are actually robots. It seems that this is a remnant of the theme's original story plans described by Mark Stafford where the dinosaurs were Murderous Malfunctioning Machines instead of mutants.
  • A small blurb for the online Dino Attack game refers to the Dino Attack team as "D.I.N.O Force team". The name "D.I.N.O. Force" was also used in a Toy Fair 2005 press release, suggesting that it was a preliminary name for the team that never got used in other media once the theme was actually released.
  • The online Dino Attack game also refers to "captured" dinosaurs, meaning it is likely a holdover from an earlier prototype of the line (see below) or is a case of Non-Lethal K.O./Never Say "Die".
• No Export for You: If you lived in Europe and wanted Dino Attack sets, or if you lived in America and wanted Dino 2010 sets, then you were out of luck because The LEGO Group had zero intention of selling either version of the line outside its intended continent. However, this is a step-up from LEGO's original intention, which was to not release this line in any form in the European market.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to Greg Farshtey, the prototypes for the Dino Attack line did not revolve around fighting dinosaurs, but instead around capturing dinosaurs, much like LEGO Adventurers and even Dino 2010. However, the focus group was reportedly displeased with the sets and wanted more action, resulting in the Darker and Edgier turn that the series took. Makes you wonder how much the focus group can change in only seven years, doesn't it?
  • Dino Attack was created solely for the North American market and was not intended to be released in any way in the European market, which would have received the LEGO Vikings line instead. Fortunately, after an outcry from both sides of the Atlantic, Dino Attack was released in Europe (albeit as Dino 2010) and North America also received the Vikings theme.
• Word of Dante: When the Flip-Flop of God favors the "mutants" explanation over the "robots" explanation, the mutants being created and genetically modified in a laboratory seems to be a case of this, since this is the commonly-accepted theory among fans even though no official explanation was given for the mutants' origins.
• Writer Conflicts with Canon: According to LEGO designer Mark Stafford, the dinos in Dino Attack were robots and animatronics that went out of control and escaped from a theme park, which was essentially Westworld Meets Jurassic Park. This explanation was loosely hinted upon on the LEGO Dino Attack website, which described the T-Rex◊ as "the ultimate machine creature" and went out of its way to compare it to "the real thing". However, aside from that one instance, none of the toyline's marketing referred to the dinosaurs as robots. Instead, LEGO Shop At Home catalogs, magazines, the online game, and even the back of the sets' boxes◊ consistently described the dinosaurs as mutants, which became the long-accepted canonical explanation among fans who dismissed the website's T-Rex description as merely metaphorical.

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