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LuxorV

Review - 70001 Crawley's Claw Ripper

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  1. 1. On a scale from 1 to 5:

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Seeing all the efforts TLG put into advertising and all the hype around EB and the net, I recently decided to check for myself the quality of these LEGO Legends of Chima sets. As always, when I start to look into a new theme, I chose a couple of small sets to test the ground. I suppose I'm not alone in this.

Being curious about the croc minifigs, and mainly interested in the aesthetics of their unique head-piece, I decided to pick 70001 Crawley's Claw Ripper.

Theme: Legends of Chima

Set name: Crawley's Claw Ripper

Set Number: 70001

Price: 14.99 $, 12.99 £, 14.99 Euro

Pieces: 139 (+ 9 extras)

Minifigures: 2

Year of release: 2013

Recover the CHI from Crawley’s Claw Ripper!

Crawley is making a getaway with the Lion tribe’s CHI in his amazing armored Claw Ripper. Help Leonidas to stop the Claw Ripper’s all-terrain rubber tracks, huge wheels, rotating claws and snapping croc mouth! Don't let that scaly scoundrel get away! Track Crawley down and take the CHI back to the noble Lion tribe! Includes 2 minifigures and a weapon.

• Includes 2 minifigures: Leonidas and Crawley

• Features CHI, secret CHI chest, cockpit, rotating claws, snapping mouth, flipping rubber tracks and big wheels

• Includes Leonidas’ CHI sword

• Capture a minifigure in the snapping mouth!

• Flip the rubber tracks!

• Make the claws rotate!

• Harness the power of CHI!

• Take back the Lion tribe’s CHI!

• Measures over 2" (6cm) high, 7" (18cm) long and 3" (10cm) wide

Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset

The Box

Front

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This small set (actually the second smaller standard set of the line after 70000 Razcal's Glider) has a rectangular box (size 26 x 14 x 4.6 cm, or 10.24 x 5.52 x 1.81 inches).

The front of the box has a very eye-catching representation of the model in action on a Chima landscape background. The upper rim sports Crawley's snout as well as the standard set info, theme logo and LEGO logo. The lower left corner has the character shots we have come to know, first in Star Wars sets, and later in many other themes as well.

The colours are vibrant and very evocative of action and adventure in a jungle environment.

Back

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The back is a patchwork of small shots showing the model's features, with and unusual amount of text describing almost all of them. In the upper right corner, the characters can be seen in action poses; notice that while Leonidas actually has a weapon in this set, Crawley's one is not included.

Sides

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As we are used to see, the sides sport LEGO and theme logos, legal notices, LEGO Club ads, and the 1:1 scaled mugshot of one of the characters, in this case, the proud owner of the Claw Ripper, Crawley.

Contents

Inside

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The box contains two bags of different sizes, two big tyre pieces, two rubber small tracks, the instructions and a sticker sheet (more on the latter two in the relevant section).

Recoloured parts

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Recoloured parts are all in the new Olive Green: Slope 30 1 x 1 x 2/3, Slope 30 1 x 2 x 2/3, Slope, Curved 4 x 1 Double No Studs, Slope, Curved 4 x 1 No Studs, Tile 2 x 4, Vehicle, Mudguard 2 x 4 with Flared Wings and Wheel Hard Plastic with Small Cleats and Flanges.

All these parts are pretty rare in this colour for now, but I'm sure we'll see lots more as Legends of Chima and other themes will use them in the future. For now, this is the cheapest set you could choose to get them.

New pieces

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There are 2 new pieces in this set: Flat Silver Minifig, Weapon Sword, Double Blade with Bar Holder (this is the only set including this part in Flat Silver; the other two Legends of Chima sets use the Partl Gold version), and Trans Light Blue Rock 1 x 1 Crystal 4 Point (CHI crystal).

Rare parts

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For those looking for cheap sets with rare parts, 70001 Crawley's Claw Ripper includes a couple of those too: Dark Brown Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Triple (which can be found in this colour only, from other 3 sets [1 from 2012 and 2 from 2013, like this one]), and Dark Green Window 1 x 2 x 3 Flat Front (only know from other 4 sets so far, 3 buildings from previous years and one Galaxy Squad from 2013).

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The usual extra bits include small Technic parts, some round plates and tiles, a cheese slope in Orange Green, horns and a lever.

Instructions

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The instructions are divided into 2 small booklets, as seems to be common in smaller sets nowadays.

In this pic, you can also see the sticker sheet. Since I do not apply stickers, you might want to take a look at it now. There are 3 stickers that go on the crocodile head/mouth of the vehicle to give it a scaly and more rough look.

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The instructions are standard fare for a the current trend. Most pages include one step that uses 1 or 2 pieces at a time. I'm sure this explains the need for 2 booklets in such a small set as this one.

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The parts' summary is split in two non-adjacent pages. I suppose someone in Billund had a hard time trying to squeeze all the parts in one page, or to spread them on the two pages to make them look more full. In the end he/she must have give up, and left almost half ofthe second page blank.

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In the final pages, there are a number of ads. This one is for the sets (in a classic sense) of the theme, with Cragger's flagship under the spotlight.

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This second ad is for the Speedorz only, which, just like Ninjago's Spinners, are considered in a separate category form standard sets. It would seem each Speedorz set has a number (in addition to the actual set number) to tell it apart from the others.

You can also see the code in the lover left part of the page. It seems that by scanning the code and going to the Legends of Chima site, you can access additional media about the set.

Minifigures

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Just a pic to show an interesting detail: while all the body parts are loose in the packages with the other pieces, Leonidas' head piece comes in a separate bag. At first I thought it was because his mane was made of the softer, rubbery plastic TLG sometimes uses. When I opened the bag, I notice this wasn't the case.

I can only assume Leonidas' head piece is manufactured in another factory and shipped in his little bag to be added to the other parts at a second time.

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As we know, LEGO designers put a lot of effort in these figures, and I think they hit the mark pretty well. My favourite is Crawley (as I'll repeat again and again in the following paragraphs), as he looks more detailed to my eyes. It is true Leonidas has the same amount of printing, but it looks more basic and less characteristic to me, while Crawley gets a better aura of trashed wandered from his decorations.

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From the side, we can see how the head pieces are shaped to be reminiscent of the actual animals they are based on. I think the LEGO designers did a great job with these parts and they add a lot to the LoC theme.

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Both figures sport back printing, as is common in most LEGO themes lately. I like how Crawley seems to have the remains of a shirt or cloak on his right shoulder. I think it is a nice touch and it looks reminiscent of Cragger's actual ripped cloak.

On the other hand, I do not particularly like the fact that his lower jaws is visible under the head piece, as I do not understand why the latter had to be that short.

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The above pictures show the difference between the two sides of the dual face heads. Personally, I think both faces work well for Crawley, while Leonidas first one looks like he just got served the wrong dish at the restaurant.

Building

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We start by building the lower frame of the chassis.

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Then we put together the lower jaw and...

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...mount it on the chassis. Notice the controls are part of this passage as well

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Not much in here, I just wanted to show the box containing the CHI crystal for transport. As you'll see in a little while, it will be quite hidden in the completed model.

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Adding some details to the rear.

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Upper jaw is almost finished.

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With the last part in position, the mouth can be seen in all it's teeth-y splendour. I really like how the designers made it so effective with comparatively few pieces.

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The last steps involve the addition of the tracks/claws and the roll bar. The tracks/claws combination is quite nice, actually. And they turn from the 'defence' to the 'attack' position when you move the model from froward and get back to 'defence' when you move it in reverse (or at least they should do it; for some reason, in my set only the right track changes position. The left one is always, stubbornly fixed in 'attack' mode).

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Crawley is ready to move on his ride and go hunt for Lions and CHI.

Finished set

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Here we see the complete set. Not sure how safe Leonidas feels with just a sword (albeit a CHI-powered one) against this mass of steel, claws, teeth and huge tyres.

Front

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Again, we can see how reminiscent of a real croc this vehicle is. The new Olive Green colour helps a lot, as I'm sure we wouldn't get the same feel from a Lime, Green or Bright Green version of this model.

Back

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As I said before, the storage box is almost invisible from most angles, as it's surrounded by the cockpit and these huge tyres. Only small problem is, it is totally unguarded in the only portion of the vehicle which does not sport weapons of sorts!

Have a nice meal!

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Leonidas learns the hard way how the Claw Ripper's mouth actually works.

Bonus images

Uncle Sam

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Not your ordinary Croc Raider...

Lion Army - only the finest!

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Er... Never mind!

Eagle or ...

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Egyprian plover?

It's all fun and games

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Until you need to change a tyre.

By the power of Grayskull...

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...I have the power!

Final comments

Overall, this is a nice little set, full of interesting parts (mostly the Olive Green re-colours, but also others), with a fair amount of play value and two really excellent (albeit weird for some) figures.

Design & Colour scheme – 9/10 (Very well proportioned and efficient. The colour scheme works well both for a crocodile shaped vehicle and its jungle environment.)

Minifig – 10/10 (Superb printing and funny animal structure make these two very collection worthy.)

Parts – 8/10 (Great variety of useful parts, a small amount of new pieces balanced by the large amount of re-coloured parts in the new Olive Green. Not bad at all for such a small set.)

Playability – 9/10 (The play features are funny both for kids and not-too-serious adults. I spent some time today opening and closing the croc's head and shifting the tracks between 'attack' and 'defence' positions.)

Build – 8/10 (Nothing too complex, but some efficient solutions are used. I especially like the croc head and the tracks/claws combination.)

Price – 10/10 (The pieces/price ratio is good, and the addition of the very detailed minifigs make this a very good set to buy.)

Overall: 9/10 Excellent

As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome!

If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy:

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Thank you for that amazing review! This is one of the sets I have to get because I want to get all the crocs. The vechicle looks superb, and I must say I am suprised there is a hiden compartment for chi!

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Thank you LuxorV for this review. It is nice to see many of us are now getting engaged into this new theme. This is quite an affordable set and the playability sounds convincing enough to give it a try. Will probably put this in my wishlist once I complete my favourite Eagle faction. :blush:

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Thank you for the review, this set is really good if you want a handful of crocs and do not want to pay a whole lot. :classic:

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Am I the only one who thinks Leonidas looks totally baked? Crawley actually looks great, both with his headpiece on and without it - without the headpiece he actually looks rather nightmarish. The vehicle - meh. I'm not a big fan of the big toothed wheels and have yet to see them look decent on any vehicle, and this one has not changed that impression.

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I got this set mainly for the figs. Good looking. The vehicle itself is kinda meh. Am I the only one who is not thrilled with the shear amount of vehicles with the rubber band treads we have been seeing this release cycle? Between the Chima ones and ninjago it seems like half the new stuff has them, and they just roll so poorly.

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I got this set mainly for the figs. Good looking. The vehicle itself is kinda meh. Am I the only one who is not thrilled with the shear amount of vehicles with the rubber band treads we have been seeing this release cycle? Between the Chima ones and ninjago it seems like half the new stuff has them, and they just roll so poorly.

I've never had much of a problem with them myself. I'm quite fond of them for the most part. The hard plastic treads from Technic are nice, but they don't work for all things and don't always have the same performance on smooth surfaces.

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I have a few of this set as I wanted to do some MOCs around it. The only thing I can find fault with the original model is that as soon as the vehicle moves it goes into attack mode with the rotating claws and tracks. I would have liked a way of keeping them up in defence mode until they are needed for an attack. Other than that it is a great little set.

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There are 2 new pieces in this set: Flat Silver Minifig, Weapon Sword, Double Blade with Bar Holder (this is the only set including this part in Flat Silver; the other two Legends of Chima sets use the Partl Gold version), and Trans Light Blue Rock 1 x 1 Crystal 4 Point (CHI crystal).

Actually, the sword is not unique to this set in this color. At least 70115 Ultimate Speedor Tournament also contains it in this color, and it's also available currently despite not being inventoried on Bricklink.

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