Review: 70211 CHI Fluminox

[VBBN]

Set name: CHI Fluminox

Set number: 70211

Piece Count: 91

Year Released: 2014

Price: $19.99 USD, 17,99 EUR (?)

Hello everyone and welcome to a review of CHI Fluminox. Before I begin, as always I want to thank the people at Lego and Eurobricks staff who made it possible for me to bring you guys these reviews.

My gratitude for this opportunity is furthered due to an unfortunate bit of news that we have all heard by this point: The 2014 Chima Constraction sets will not be released in North America. I have the prices listed above in both EUR and USD, however this is for completion sake and does not mean anything.

CHI Fluminox is one of the two larger Chima sets to be released this year. In the first year release of Chima we did not receive sets of this size, so what exactly has lego done to justify this higher price tag and higher part count? Read on to find out.

Bag Front

The bag for Fluminox is quite large, given that he is one of the larger figures of this wave. The art is displayed, as is the set name and information as per usual. The only interesting thing to note here is the very bright orange background, which all of the fire-themed sets have. Although with Fluminox's color scheme, he actually blends in to the background and it's difficult to see him.

Bag Back

With some blue added on the back, it's much easier to see that you are in fact getting a figure and not just a bag of fire. We see the set features, which include moving wings and a shooting orb- more on that soon. It's worth noting that there is a very interesting combiner at the bottom, and that each set has a different combiner displayed. For each of the smaller sets, they combine with the larger set of their respective team (Either Fluminox or Fangar) to create a sort of powered up form. That combo model will use their head to give the appearance that they are the mind of the form. For Fangar and Fluminox, they combine with one smaller figure in a similar fashion.

Instructions

The instructions are standard fare at this point. Colorization inside is the same as it has been for years, with black parts being outlined in white. This isn't what you came to see, let's have a look at the far more interesting component of the set shall we?

Contents

Fluminox has a healthy amount of parts crammed in his packaging.In Chima's first year, we didn't receive any larger figures, so this is the first time we get to experience a more complicated build with the Chima aesthetic. Things to take note of here are the separately bagged head and the loose, taller torso variant.

New/Interesting Parts

Head

Fluminox's head is based on a Phoenix. As far as the airborne creature headsculpts go, I think this one is my favorite. In the first wave we had Eris and Razar, and this wave we have Vardy and Fluminox. What is your favorite?

One thing that people may dislike about this piece is the trans-yellow portion of it. personally I love this, when I imagine a Phoenix I like to think of them as being on fire, and this paired with the colorization of his wings really supports that vision.

Wings

The new wing pieces. While I may still dislike the look they came up with for the finished wing design on the set, I love these pieces on their own.

Torso Armor

The new torso armor is larger than the older one, mostly because with this one you can stick the CHI orb into it. By pushing the section of plastic right beneath the hole in, the orb will fall out. It's not meant to be a launching mechanism, but rather a means to remove the orb- it sticks in their very well.

Shells and add-ons

Like Laval and Cragger, Fluminox has the dark red printed shell. I quite like the design and for those who are like me and dislike having odd numbers of things, you'll be pleased to know that all three sets come with two each. We also have the new armor add on that all of the fire sets have, as well as the Queen Beast set in Hero Factory who includes one.

Weapon

The new blade. It has some nice shaping, though it is vastly different from the colorful and simple weapons we got last year, and I know many people are not a fan of this.

Bones

Fluminox comes with the third shortest bone in trans neon orange, as well as the hand pieces. Just like the trans light blue bones that came with jaw Beast, these have showed no signs of being weaker than usual sockets.

Interesting parts

These parts are not new, but I wanted to show them off anyway. As a person who didn't pay much attention to these guys at toyfair, I was completely baffled at the technic hose and was curious as to what it did (mind you I didn't read the bit about the moving wings until after the set was built ) Also, the zamor sphere launcher has made a triumphant return! Well, that is if you missed one of these the first time around. During Toy Fair, I as well as a few others-I'm looking at you Mesonak- were under the assumption these were going to be black. While that recolor would have been welcomed, just seeing these make a return was quite excellent, seeing it integrate with so many new parts and be used on a figure with the new look that Constraction figures have gained.

CHI Orbs

In addition to the new CHI fire orb, which is a yellow mixed with trans neon orange plastic, we also have a spare, plain red one for his weapon. We have seen this previously in a Mindstorms set, but any opportunity to get more is surely worth noting.

The Build

Torso

The build begins with some simple connections- The 4-L in trans orange is also "new" We have seen it before, but not without printing.

Legs

The legs, while looking quite well armored, suffer from one major issue already- Way too many friction joints. I can understand one set, the wings may make him slightly backheavy, but two? Don't get me wrong, I won't turn down extra friction joints for my collection, but if lego is going to do this, I really wish they would stop with the jagged color displacement and make these in black.

Wings

Here are the wings constructed. I feel the could have been filled out a bit more, however I do think they look slightly better than what Razar and Eris had last year.

Wing Mechanism added

Here you have a look at the way that the wings are attached and operate. You pull down and the wings flap up, somewhat like Nivawk in 2004.

Wing mechanism open

The wings up.

Arms

Some more armor is added to fill him out. I'm usually not a fan of these tall builds because the overall figure looks very lanky, though this isn't too bad. I also quite like how the arms set in front of the wings make it look like the two are connected.

Weapon

he start of his rather complex crossbow weapon. I could have done without the yellow lever, but at least it's not a long shot from his color scheme.

Front

When he is finished, Fluminox fills out fairly well.

Side

The wing pack sticks out quite a bit and due to it's construction doesn't seem like a "natural" pair of wings.

Back

He does have a shortage of armor on his back, and looks quite hollow. Most of the upper hack has to remain uncovered to allow for the flex tube to move up and down.

Front with Wings Up

With his wings up he gets some massive height. You can also see just how large his crossbow-like weapon is.

Pose 1

I find the build of his weapon slightly annoying. Half of it is built onto his left hand, and posing it in only one hand ends up looking, well something like this. it's not bad, but I wish there were more dedicated handles to it.

Pose 2

Given it's two attachment points, it's actually quite difficult to position him in an attack pose with the weapon without popping armor off or dis-limbering him.

Pose 3

The new blades can be used in other ways, so if you prefer him to be more melee oriented you can choose that as well.

Overall, Fluminox is essentially a taller figure with a wing pack and a parts-demanding weapon. I know a lot of people want him purely for the fact that he is a Phoenix, and I can't deny it's a really cool tribe to have. As a parts pack, there is a lot to offer here in the way of fire-oriented parts. Looking at him as a set, though, I have a lot of trouble justifying his high price tag. Firstly, I think his overall size, while impressive especially with wings extended, can be almost too big for his own good. He can look lanky or too open in areas, and the size is attributed to some things that we could have gone without- I'm note sure he really warranted the use of 4 friction sockets, he seemed to pose the same without them when I tested him. Secondly, the wing gimmick, while cool, ends up looking rather bland from side and back angles, and the wings themselves don't really need the feature, and is a missed possibility for some wing articulation. Finally, his weapon is very parts intensive, and overall can be very awkward to pose with. If you don't care much for it, well that's quite a large chunk of the set right there. I think it looks cool, but I would have liked it if you had more options as to what to do with it without needing to rebuild parts of it.

What do you think?

VBBN

[Takanuinuva]

Fluminox is a good looking set. Though there are some things I would have done differently with the build. Like make the bow build a bit smaller and a better design for the wings. I am still getting the set regardless.

[Aanchir]

Good review. This figure is nice but like CHI Sir Fangar it has some drawbacks. In particular, I feel like the legs are awkward and gangly. They could have easily been one module shorter. I don't have a problem with the color of the friction joints or the number of them in this set, but it frustrates me that the lower legs and ankles seem so bony. It's yet another reminder of how great it would be if there were a foot with the ankle placed one module lower, so that it could be used with a friction joint without inflating the height of the ankle to a ridiculous degree. Perhaps the legs would look better if the shells on the lower legs were larger. Six module shells might have helped hide the ankle and add more color at the same time.

The torso build is really nice, though, even if it leaves the lowest one module of the torso without armor. The way the wings stick off the back, not so much. I agree that it compounds the awkwardness of the way they fold up and down. The back is also not very well armored for its size. I do prefer the way the wings look when assembled to the look of the individual part, though. The individual wing segment's connection points seem limiting, and I am not a huge fan of its texture.

The weapon looks quite nice. I do not mind the yellow trigger one bit. It's a little bit skeletal-looking compared to Laval's sword or Cragger's axes, but I still think it works all right. The figure's head is also quite elegant! Love those blue eyes and that fiery crown of feathers.

[Csacsa234]

Thanks for this review! I was really looking for this figure, than I saw it would be the higher price tag, and then that ugly wing mechanism came. Also there is the weapon it looks like it only uses that many pieces so TLG can pump up the price, it's very disappointing. The figure itself is very nice, but doesn't as great to be a higher price tagged one. The wing pieces are nice, but they are good for nothing in this quantity, the wing is awkward as Vardy's, and as you mentioned in the review VBBN, it looks awkward and takes away the place from covering the fig's back.

This figure is disappoining, I was looking for it, I mean who wouldn't want a phoenix? And it turned out like this, overpriced without reason.

Another thing I'm annoyed by, but that's not Fluminox's fault is those foot pieces. We used to have them in combined colors in different versions, and now they make new painted head molds, but using these simple black foot pieces, I don't get it.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Csacsa234

[Agent Fusion]

Hooray, Zamor Launchers!

Ahem, this set looks decent, but it needs a different, less complex and cumbersome weapon.

[Sir Brickalot]

Hmmm... Now this set doesn't look so good. I'd probably blame the weird wing mechanism and strange looking head. Oh well; it saves me some money!

Thanks for the review!

Edited May 26, 2014 by Sir Brickalot

[Aethersprite]

Fluminox looks good, I love how cohesive his armour looks. Though I can understand what you mean when you say his articulation suffers. Also, definitely modding his wings to give them articulation, like Vardy's.

[Mesonak]

Fluminox looks very... interesting. I'm really not sure how to feel about him. I like what they were going for, but for some reason he just looks... off. The legs don't mesh with the aesthetic of the torso and arms due to the somewhat awkward armor orientation and overuse of friction joints.

That being said, the upper body/shoulder area looks pretty fantastic, and I DO like the wings somewhat. The figure's pretty cool, but I likely wouldn't get him, and I certainly wouldn't pay $20 for him.

[Lordofdragonss]

I'm really thinking of buing two and mocing a real phoenix.

[ZORK64]

Fluminox looks pretty sweet. Too bad his weapon is such a mess, but he's still a great parts pack for me.

I agree with you on the wing pieces. The parts themselves look wonderful, but the wings here look kinda gappy and skeletal, even though it's not as bad as with Eris back then.

[Shakar]

I would say that the set would have been worth the 20 Euro if the crossbow pieces went into his body (sorta like Sir Fangar). As of now, he's a stretched out mid size figure, with an awkward wing mechanism and an overly complicated launcher weapon.

The upper section is great- I love how the new armour flows with the torso. Too bad the legs don't feel as cohesive- they're too lanky and the colours feel messed up (really don't like the dark red shells TBH, and those awful black Piraka feet should have been replaced with Laval's feet). The wings look even worse than I thought.

I like the concept of the figure and I think he would look good as a HF character. But there are so many things I want to change I'm not sure whether I should buy him or just buy the pieces I need and build my own.

[badbob001]

Is there a typo?

The 2014 Chima Constraction sets will not be released in North America.

They will not be released in North America and yet you only have USD pricing? I'm in the USA and after reading the above sentence, my heart dropped and I resigned myself to searching for a euro bricklink store with those wonderful flame wings.

[Yod2610]

Thanks for your review! I still believe it is a great set. Personally, I figured it is one of the best in the line.

[Shakar]

Got him today (buying those 11 pieces I truly needed would've costed me 13 Euro..so I bought the full set on Amazon for 17), and I confirm my thoughts. The wings look terrible, and the mechanism works worse than I thought...on the plus side, the wing pieces look gorgeous. Same for the head, great piece. I didn't build the weapon so I don't know how it is, I do like the new blades however.

Overall I still recommend him..but 20 Euro still feels a tad too much.