Legends of Chima 2014 Discussion

[Mr. Gundam]

Oh man, yall ratings on the models are slaying me. Im surprise most of your guys cant say alot good things about sets. Im happy Chima got another shot at ultra-builds and its the only humanoid builds we're getting this year. I cant go into details bout each one so i want to add overall first impression.

Some Overall Negatives:

Im disappointed there is only one weapon mold for the group.

Wish they made Mungus as big as Fanga.

Adding a flying function to birds is a nice touch.

Would have like a fourth build....y'know to match.

Some overall Positives:

Pretty kool 4 out of the 7 have should armor. Cragger is my fav application of it by adding parts to the neck.

Fluminox, Munugs, Fangar, and Vardy has the best tools. They made a reasonable crossbow and Hammer.

New chest pieces, feet, head molds all get thumbs up. I was scratching my head at the Ice builds until i saw the mini-figs. So it makes alot of sense what they did.

A few things to point out:

I wonder how much space is between frame and chest pieces? I feel like it could look gappy on the side.

I think Panthar has a fire arm, right? Do like the toes tho

Since they're seven sets, anyone want to guess who combines with who here? Cus I like Combiner tools from last year.

In 2013 it was:

Laval+Eris

Gorzan+Razar

Cragger+Worriz

Soo, 2014:

Fluminox+Cragger

Laval+Panthar

Munugs+Vardy

Fangar+????

[Shakar]

Atamaii did a coverage of the new sets!

Sir Fangar's legs use 1-hole bones in tr. light blue. And the new body armour DOES use Zamors!

Tr. light blue bones in 4 lenghts. Ooh, boy!

And are Vardy's wing/feather pieces titanium metallic? I always wanted a neutral metallic colour for those pieces.. very glad they finally made it (I would've preferred silver, but oh well).

Edited February 4, 2014 by Shakar

[Aethersprite]

Atamaii did a coverage of the new sets!

Sir Fangar's legs use 1-hole bones in tr. light blue. And the new body armour DOES use Zamors!

Tr. light blue bones in 4 lenghts. Ooh, boy!

And are Vardy's wing/feather pieces titanium metallic? I always wanted a neutral metallic colour for those pieces.. very glad they finally made it (I would've preferred silver, but oh well).

Sir Fangar looks great! Definitely getting him. Does Atamaii have an official website, though? The voiceover mentioned some more pictures, which I hope will give us different angles of the sets.

[DraikNova]

Yes! More light blue bones.

Why is it that that reviewer says "wow" every few minutes? And marginally more on-topic, how does a moveable jaw make a character "cruel"?

[bacem]

Yes! More light blue bones.

Why is it that that reviewer says "wow" every few minutes? And marginally more on-topic, how does a moveable jaw make a character "cruel"?

probably because it make us able to make a scene of it biting each other or something?

[Says Seven]

Sir Fangar & Cragger seem like the best out of the bunch to me. Mungus just looks like a mess of parts (still great for mocing), Vardy looks okay (dat weapon), Fluminox's weapon looks interesting, Panthar's weapon seems a tad too big for his sake (just

like a lot of other sets), and Laval.......well he's just Laval....... Sir Fangar's overall design though just screams, ''BUY ME'' to me for some reason.......guess I'm just a sucker for capes XD

Yes! More light blue bones.

Why is it that that reviewer says "wow" every few minutes? And marginally more on-topic, how does a moveable jaw make a character "cruel"?

Probably as a way to excite his viewers (they're obviously young) or something along that line, and I think the ''cruelness'' of the moveable jaw goes for the whole menacing look of the head piece in general including: the sharp teeth, red eyes, and snarled look.

Atamaii did a coverage of the new sets!

Sir Fangar's legs use 1-hole bones in tr. light blue. And the new body armour DOES use Zamors!

Tr. light blue bones in 4 lenghts. Ooh, boy!

And are Vardy's wing/feather pieces titanium metallic? I always wanted a neutral metallic colour for those pieces.. very glad they finally made it (I would've preferred silver, but oh well).

My OCD is skyrocketing at the site of how horrendous those figures are getting posed D: ESPECIALLY the Fangar figure at the beginning 0_o

Edited February 5, 2014 by Says Seven

[Aanchir]

Just found this picture which shows the Chima constraction display at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, but from a wider angle that shows the packaging art. It makes the sets look gorgeous — Vardy isn't posed so stupidly, Cragger's color scheme looks better, and Laval's shoulder armor covers his shoulders better (that might be a render error though, since I can't figure out quite how that'd work unless that new spiked armor part is hiding more connection points than it seems). So maybe these sets might turn out decent after all. CHI Panthar still looks pretty awful IMO, but the official pics help redeem some of the others. Hopefully reviews with competent posing and controlled lighting will make the sets look better as well. I'll be waiting patiently...

[Shakar]

Its finally been confirmed, Panthar's right arm uses a tr. reddish orange forearm bone.. oddly enough, it's the only set where this specific recolour is found. I'm glad we're getting it nonetheless.

And you might want to post the HF pic in the 2014 thread. It shows the sets from better angles. Crystal Beast looks AMAZING!

[Aanchir]

Its finally been confirmed, Panthar's right arm uses a tr. reddish orange forearm bone.. oddly enough, it's the only set where this specific recolour is found. I'm glad we're getting it nonetheless.

And you might want to post the HF pic in the 2014 thread. It shows the sets from better angles. Crystal Beast looks AMAZING!

For a second I had no idea what you were talking about, since CHI Cragger and CHI Fluminox also both use Tr. Fluore. Reddish Orange forearm bones. Then I realized that you were talking about CHI Panthar's upper arm, not his forearm.

Anyway, do we know that's not an actual forearm/lower limb bone being used for his upper arm? Normally, sets use upper limb beams ("B" beams) for the upper limbs, but there are examples (such as Jawblade and Fire Lord) that use lower limb bones ("A" beams).

Edited February 11, 2014 by Aanchir

[bacem]

Just found this picture which shows the Chima constraction display at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, but from a wider angle that shows the packaging art. It makes the sets look gorgeous — Vardy isn't posed so stupidly, Cragger's color scheme looks better, and Laval's shoulder armor covers his shoulders better (that might be a render error though, since I can't figure out quite how that'd work unless that new spiked armor part is hiding more connection points than it seems). So maybe these sets might turn out decent after all. CHI Panthar still looks pretty awful IMO, but the official pics help redeem some of the others. Hopefully reviews with competent posing and controlled lighting will make the sets look better as well. I'll be waiting patiently...

after comparing the packaging art and the actual sets, turns out laval's shoulder armor is placed incorrectly. that's why it didn't cover his shoulder properly.

[Aethersprite]

Laval looks much better on the cover art, it seems his shoulder armour pieces are just placed the wrong way around, and he seems to be using the narrower torso skeleton piece in the cover art, giving his armour a more cohesive look. I just might pick him up, after all.

[ZORK64]

Since I passed on his initial version, I'm already tempted to pick this Laval up, and the new pics just increase this.

I also didn't realize until now that the Vulture fellow comes with a blue chainsaw, but Mungus appeals more to me with his hammer and transblue-leg.

[Bob C]

Mungus is by far the worst name Lego has given a character. It sounds especially bad for an ice warrior.

[Lyichir]

Mungus is by far the worst name Lego has given a character. It sounds especially bad for an ice warrior.

I think it's hilarious and especially fitting for his system counterpart (being a bigfig, he is literally hu-Mungus). It's bizarre that they would give such an imposing character such a comparably small Chi form, though. Why not just choose one of the smaller Mammoths?

[3rdeye88]

Since I passed on his initial version, I'm already tempted to pick this Laval up, and the new pics just increase this.

I also didn't realize until now that the Vulture fellow comes with a blue chainsaw, but Mungus appeals more to me with his hammer and transblue-leg.

Mungus is by far the worst name Lego has given a character. It sounds especially bad for an ice warrior.

I think it's hilarious and especially fitting for his system counterpart (being a bigfig, he is literally hu-Mungus). It's bizarre that they would give such an imposing character such a comparably small Chi form, though. Why not just choose one of the smaller Mammoths?

I love that Lavel's main has been recolored to trans-neon orang(from the look of the photo). I haven't gotten the first version either but this one's very tempting for all that gold, and the printed shield looks interesting to.

Wow Mungus is that big fig in the playsets? There it makes sense. Here, wow that's just sad. I'm surprised they didn't give one of the higher price point slots to him. Parts wise he looks interesting for the brown bone recolor and those hammer parts.

Though I'm definitely getting Sir Fangar first. Its amazing how giddy MOCers get over cuts of cloth. Of all of these sets the only one that makes me go "meh" is the Panther dude. There's not really anything about him that makes him worth a damn other than maybe his head. Every other part from the looks of him come in something else. All the ice guys have recolors of bones and/or hands and feet, Vardy's got the icy saw blade and his head looks fairly non descript, good for repurposing as well as the blue/white new feather elements, Mungus has his hammer, Sir Fangar is a badass with a new tattered cape(squee) and those new feet in white, Lavel has gold feet and what looks like recolors of the second smallest HF armor part(we'll just call that recolor sexiness), Fluminox is also a badass with new feather parts and his own recolor sexiness, and Gragger's giving us some more dark green. Is it me or is this one wave of Chima UB's way better than the entire line of Hero Factory this year?

Hero Factory=huge disappointment

Chima UB's=some kind of redemption.

[DraikNova]

Actually, Laval's shield is just printed, so no, no tr. orange shield. I must disagree with you on the HF stuff. 2014 is probably HF's best wave, while this is basically last year, minus the cohesiveness of the good guys' colorschemes.

Also, from the looks of it, Fangar and Fluminox (which should really be Phluminox, which not only looks cooler (pun not intended), but also makes more sense) come in boxes.

[Aanchir]

I've seen a lot of comments about how the Chima constraction sets are more impressive than this year's HF sets and I don't understand it. This year's HF lineup is perhaps the most imaginative lineup the theme has ever had, with very few standard humanoids (in contrast, every previous wave was at least 50% standard humanoids). Do people actually prefer standard humanoids to more imaginative designs despite their frequent complaints of how repetitive Hero Factory sets are? Or is there some other fatal flaw of this year's Hero Factory lineup that I'm somehow missing?

[WARHEAD]

I prefer the HF figures by far over the Chima ones, but then the Chima ones trump HF in sheer amount of good new parts\recolors.

[Shakar]

I don't know, I hear a lot more complaints than praises about these sets, except the recolours (which everyone loves). I'm among the disappointed ones: whilst the 2013 figures stood as something new among the mostly uninspired Brain Attack sets, these bring little to nothing original to the table. HF wins this year, no doubt.

[ZORK64]

I appreciate the new Chima sets for simply introducing many new parts for the constraction-scale, especially since it's all very fantasy-themed, which brings nice variation in the so far more sci-fi inspired style of Hero Factory. Mixing Fantasy with Science Fiction is awesome anyway, it's also one of the things that always draws me to the Space Marines of Warhammer 40.000, which are a prime example of this (of course, it's also one of the major appeals of Bionicle).

But I also really like the new Hero Factory sets. The mechs of the first wave don't appeal to me that much (they don't look mech-like enough for my liking, with the possible exception of Stormer's Freeze Machine), but the stuff that comes with the Summer Wave gives a nice walker vibe which I also appreciate.

[Says Seven]

Wow, these definitely look more full & wholesome when posed right (on the packaging of course). Kind of changes my opinion on some of them. Laval on the packaging for instance looks WAY better than he does with that crappy pose & last year's version combined (IMO).

I've seen a lot of comments about how the Chima constraction sets are more impressive than this year's HF sets and I don't understand it. This year's HF lineup is perhaps the most imaginative lineup the theme has ever had, with very few standard humanoids (in contrast, every previous wave was at least 50% standard humanoids). Do people actually prefer standard humanoids to more imaginative designs despite their frequent complaints of how repetitive Hero Factory sets are? Or is there some other fatal flaw of this year's Hero Factory lineup that I'm somehow missing?

In my honest opinion the Hero Factory sets of this year look a bit too blockish and bland. They look like something you'd see come from MegaBlocks. These Chima sets however show a lot more vivid colors along with beautiful translucent pieces. This is just the way I view it though :/

[Mesonak]

My stance on this year's Chima offerings are as follows:

It's pretty good. I can understand why it's a disappointment for some, but I think it holds up okay. The problems with it are that they really don't try anything new or unique aside from the two titans. The Chima sets of last year, while they weren't insanely innovative, had a lot of cool stuff about them like the Raven/Eagle build, Gorzan, and Cragger. Even Worriz and Laval did some interesting stuff, although they were the most "generic" of the line. This go-round, Laval and Cragger feel like rehashes even though the sets themselves are okay, Panthar is... no comment, Mungus is disappointing because of his stature, Vardy is appealing to a certain group of people and repulsing to others, and the other two are pretty good.

I, however, like pretty much of all of them (even Panthar) to a degree. They may not be the greatest sets, and I do believe the HF sets of this year trounce them as far as quality is concerned, but they bring enough new to the table to interest me (mainly in parts, but in design too). Fluminox and Sir Fangar are the best sets of the wave hands down, though. Vardy has also been growing on me drastically as time goes on.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Mesonak

[Aanchir]

My stance on this year's Chima offerings are as follows:

It's pretty good. I can understand why it's a disappointment for some, but I think it holds up okay. The problems with it are that they really don't try anything new or unique aside from the two titans. The Chima sets of last year, while they weren't insanely innovative, had a lot of cool stuff about them like the Raven/Eagle build, Gorzan, and Cragger. Even Worriz and Laval did some interesting stuff, although they were the most "generic" of the line. This go-round, Laval and Cragger feel like rehashes even though the sets themselves are okay, Panthar is... no comment, Mungus is disappointing because of his stature, Vardy is appealing to a certain group of people and repulsing to others, and the other two are pretty good.

I, however, like pretty much of all of them (even Panthar) to a degree. They may not be the greatest sets, and I do believe the HF sets of this year trounce them as far as quality is concerned, but they bring enough new to the table to interest me (mainly in parts, but in design too). Fluminox and Sir Fangar are the best sets of the wave hands down, though. Vardy has also been growing on me drastically as time goes on.

Well, there are some new things being tried, even if they're not as huge as some of the ways last year's Chima sets or this year's HF sets broke the mold. Cragger is basically like last year's version, but now he has shoulder armor attached to some of the unused balls on his neck. Mungus has wider shoulders than a typical build, without relying on Technic connections like Frost Beast... though the method for this is not super-creative and I can't say it looks especially good. He also has an articulated trunk!

[CabooseBM]

I really don't care what the sets actually look like in the end, I'm just drooling over all those delicious new pieces.

[Mesonak]

I'm quite curious to see pictures of the Chima sets from Toy Fair, but it doesn't appear like there's any of them currently...