VBBN Posted May 26, 2014 Set name: CHI Vardy Set number: 70210 Piece Count: 68 Year Released: 2014 Price: $14.99 USD, 12,99 EUR Hello everyone and welcome to a review of CHI Vardy. 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. Bag Front The front of the bag shows vardy in an action pose, with a very ice-themed background. There is also some lite set information, and Legends of Chima printed in a very cool text. Bag Back The back shows a head size comparison, the dropping orb, and Vardy with Laval in the background. Interestingly enough, lego missed the opportunity to show the spinning buzzsaw as a set feature, as you would expect. Instructions The instructions have the same photo as we just saw, and a callout for Lego.com. Contents Two bags of parts, a bagged head, a loose torso, and that fantastic trans-light blue buzzsaw. Buzzsaw A piece that many are excited for. While a lot of people dislike the silver weapons the fire sets come with, the ice sets all have more unique weapons, and this bright colored saw is similar to the bright colored weapons we saw in 2013. CHI Orb The Chi Orb is a trans light blue mixed with white. It looks quite awesome, almost like a small water and ice planet. Head Vardy's head is based on a vulture, and looks really cool from a profile shot. It does look...rather odd from the front, all you can see is the armor and beak. I think a moving jaw might have done a lot of good here, but none of the other flying-tribe sets have had a moving jaw thus far either. Shells The printed shell that all of the ice sets come with, and the lovely new dark tan 5-L shell, which Vardy has two of. Torso Armor The new torso armor, which has a place for the chi orb to sit. You can push the section beneath the hole to make the orb drop out. Bones Vardy has the hand piece in trans light blue, as well as the second shortest length of bone (only one of those) and the third shortest length. Wings Here we have the new wing piece in a white mixed with trans light blue. I love the look of these new pieces, and given their axle connection point I can see these being used in a lot of unique ways. The Build Torso The torso begins, with it's main difference being a second for the wings to be built onto. Legs added on His legs are simple and use the black piraka feet, but it is worth noting that all of his limbs will use those trans blue limbs. Wing Construction The start of the wings. The shape is very jagged and bony to represent a vultures wings, but I know some people are not a fan of how this turned out. Wings and Arms The wings are topped off with one of the older wing pieces, and the ice arms are added on. Bulking up More armor is added on, mostly using the white fur pieces and adding those glorious dark tan shells. Weapon Construction The start of his weapon, which ends up looking pretty cool overall. The trans light blue buzzsaw paired with the previously seen elemental piece creates a nice effect- Though one interesting thing to notice is that the construction of the weapon behind the buzzsaw is in fact visible due to this. Finished Set Front From a front view, you can see Vardy does lack quite a bit of armor on his limbs. While vultures have smaller limbs, it looks quite strange here given how much trans light blue he has. Side Vultures have very arched necks, and some pieces were used to attempt to imitate this, however the end result is difficult to pose due to the arch of the socket on his actual head piece. Back I have to admit, I do like his wings. They have that very bony and crooked look to them, and while it doesn't look like he's going to be taking flight anytime soon, they don't look as bad as I first thought they were going to. Pose 1 Posing the set is another challenge within itself. While his limbs have everything you could want, his head looks very odd from a front view and I found myself wanting to make sure every pose showed off at least a portion of the side of his face. Also, I didn't realize the weapon was supposed to go in both hands- THe black spiked piece is actually supposed to be the end of the weapon, but it falls out constantly. Pose 2 Pose 3 He does have a nice fur structure around his shoulders and neck, which is also very similar to real-life vultures. Overall, Vardy is one of those figures who is a great and creative take on a real life animal, but the final set may suffer. In my opinion, they really did a good job of capturing the bony look of the Vulture- And not just because of the fact that constraction sets use bones, mind you- but rather he has the shaping that really gives off the animal's vibe in the end. He i also a decent set for parts, with a lot of trans light blue including that buzzsaw, and the first signs of some dark tan. However, as a completed set I feel this accuracy can leave a lot to be desired, especially in posing and his overall finished look compared to other figures of the wave can feel a bit incomplete. What are your thoughts on this set? VBBN Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted May 26, 2014 CHI Vardy has a nice face, a unique color scheme, and wings that look better than expected. I think the weapon looks better as a two-handed weapon like you see on the box than as two separate weapons like in most of your photos. I actually really like the look of Vardy's bony limbs, as they give him that skeletal, zombie-like look that characterizes many of this year's sets, not to mention that they give him a really wiry physique that sets him apart from the other more muscular "bad guys". Very appropriate for a bird. I feel like the neck looks best when bent in an N-shape like on the box — first joint bent forward, second joint bent upward. Your "Pose 2" photo is the only one that presents him this way. Overall, this fellow's not really on my wanted list, but he's still a pretty nice design in his own right. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mesonak Posted May 26, 2014 I'm a bit torn on this guy. I think he's a pretty good figure that captures the ended look very nicely... ...but he just doesn't interest me that much from a design (or part) perspective. Pretty much the only thing that appeals to me about this dude is the saw and the tan, which I shall strive to acquire from Bricklink at some point. That being said, I think he's pretty alright. He's just not especially interesting in my eyes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pate-keetongu Posted May 26, 2014 ThanksagainVBBN. This guy has ton of cool parts but in terrible quantities. Two wonderful wing pieces and two dark tan shells is almost plausible, but only one awesome printed shell and half of the bones lacking armor of any sort? Add to that that I don't find lot of uses to the odd transparent parts (okay, they look cool, but they are quite extraordinary...) and Vultureman stays in the shop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Csacsa234 Posted May 26, 2014 Thanks for the review. This set has great potential but somehow is not using it, there are a great combination of parts with some exciting recolors and new ones. My biggest problem is the shape of the wings, it's too weak and empty, no way he can fly with that, it looks like he got into a fight and someone ripped off his wings's half. My other issue is that Vardy's head should be purple, not tan, now he looks more like Voom Voom. Apart from this he is a decent constraction fig, and he is one of my favorite characters from the Ice tribes so far, so I like this figure a lot despite it's flaws. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZORK64 Posted May 26, 2014 While I don't like vultures in general, Vardy seems to be a pretty great parts pack. The wings alone make him interesting for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shakar Posted May 27, 2014 I don't get why minifig!Vardy uses "sand purple" (sand purple was discontinued IIRC, but it does look really similar) while his CHI self uses dark tan. At least, I'm happy the dark tan shells are 5M (I thought they were 4M size for some reason). I still don't know where I could use them, but they do somehow seem more useful now. Anyway..light tr. blue saw, 2 dark tan shells, 1 short tr. light blue bone, FOUR "average length" bones in the same colour, one oOo liftarm... I might get this one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VBBN Posted June 8, 2014 ThanksagainVBBN. This guy has ton of cool parts but in terrible quantities. Two wonderful wing pieces and two dark tan shells is almost plausible, but only one awesome printed shell and half of the bones lacking armor of any sort? Add to that that I don't find lot of uses to the odd transparent parts (okay, they look cool, but they are quite extraordinary...) and Vultureman stays in the shop. I'm not sure why the ice themed sets each got one of the unique printed piece whereas the three from the fire wave with printed parts got two of them. I agree they do look really nice and I would have preferred greater quantity of them. I feel like the neck looks best when bent in an N-shape like on the box — first joint bent forward, second joint bent upward. Your "Pose 2" photo is the only one that presents him this way. It doesn't look very good when his body is upright in my opinion. Only in his "hunched down" position does it really work, and I just don't like it to begin with- the trans light blue bone doesn't fit at all with the overall look, you have the very organic head and the neck with feathers, and then a random piece that gives him one too many joints. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted June 8, 2014 I'm not sure why the ice themed sets each got one of the unique printed piece whereas the three from the fire wave with printed parts got two of them. I agree they do look really nice and I would have preferred greater quantity of them. Well, part of it is probably that the fire-themed sets (excluding Panthar) are all symmetrical. The ice-themed sets, on the other hand, tend to have at least one Tr. Light Blue leg to match the asymmetrical "ice zombie" look of the minifigures. And as a result a Tr. Light Blue shell takes the place of what would have otherwise been a second printed shell. I think it makes sense for Vardy to have a second joint. Vulture necks are weird like that, and tend to have a bit of an S-shaped curve just like on the box art. example. It's true that using ball joints for this results in a sharper angle than the organic curve of a real vulture neck, but if anything, that calls for more joints, and perhaps smaller ones — not fewer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yod2610 Posted June 12, 2014 In fact, I do not like his neck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheGreatSpirit Posted June 17, 2014 I find Vardy's wings feeling ironically less skeletal than Fluminox's Share this post Link to post Share on other sites