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Review Review - 70013 Equila's Ultra Striker
LuxorV posted a topic in LEGO Action and Adventure Themes
We have had the MT-201 Ultra-Drill Walker, the Ultra Sonic Raider and now we have the Ultra Striker. It would seem LEGO designers associate the image of more or less behemoth-sized tank-like vehicles in their action themes with the word 'Ultra'. Will Equila's ride live up to the role? Theme: Legends of Chima [Exclusive] Set name: Equila's Ultra Striker Set Number: 70501 Price: 39.99 $, 39.99 £, 39.99 Euro Pieces: 339 (+ 8 extras) Minifigures: 3 Year of release: 2013 Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset This is the biggest Legends of Chima set I got so far. I must admit the main focus for me were the great figures. I especially like the Dark Blue Eagle (Eglor) and the Black Wolf (Wilhurt). Moreover, the vehicle has appealing aesthetics and looks like a good parts pack. That said, let's have a closer look to this flying tank used by an Eagle tribe in the middle of a mythical jungle world. The Box Front The front of the box shows a shot of the set in action. We have Wilhurt escaping with a CHI crystal in front of a rampaging Ultra Striker, while Eglor monitors the situation from the sky. All of which happens on a jungle background. I'd like to focus your attention on the background for a moment, as I noticed what looks like a fairly rare attention to detail in the photo composition. Look at the right side of the scene: the forest is blurred, due to the speed of the running wolf and the chasing eagles. Now look at the left side: the jungle in the distance is still, as can be expected by something far enough from the action. I'm not sure if this strategy has been implemented by LEGO box designers in other cases, but I seem to remember mostly static backgrounds with the action and blurs limited to the foreground set and minifigs only. Logos and set info complete the art, as always. Back The back shows the various play features of the set. We can have Wilhurt steal the CHI from a parked and unguarded Ultra Striker, with Equila getting all work up when he finds out, or we can suppose the eagle was hiding in the cockpit (not much space for that, but we'll talk about it later), and make him jump out at the last moment to stop the cunning wolf. If the wolf actually succeeds to get away, we can hunt him down with the Ultra Sticker and shoot our huge and painful missiles at him (try not to miss because you have only two shots!). Now come in the two most interesting features of the set: we can separate the cockpit from the main body and have it fly on its own (just like in Eris' Interceptor and Ninjago Ultra Sonic Rider's set); or, we can 'unfold' our wings and have the entire tank take flight. A flying tank (and not just a controlled fall one like in the latest A-Team film)! How cool is that? Sides The sides of the box sport the usual logos and legal notices. The upper side also shows a detailed view of the three characters with their weapons, with a 1:1 scaled mug shot of Equila. Contents Inside Upon opening the box, we find 3 numbered bags of parts, and another bag containing two rubber tracks (big version), two flexible ribbed hoses and one huge rubber tyre. The instruction booklets and sticker sheet will be discussed in the relevant section later on. Out of the bags As you can see in this quite jumbled mix of parts, the main colours are Blue and White, with minor Dark Blue, Azure, Yellow and Bley additions. Few Flat Silver, Pearl Gold, Red and (mainly big) Black parts complete the palette. New pieces New parts included in this small set are: Dark Azure and Dark Blue Wing 9L with Stylized Feathers, Light Bley Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Studs on 1 Side (I consider this new from this year, even if it appeared in 79003 An Unexpected Gathering in late 2012), Pearl Gold Minifig, Weapon Sword, Double Blade with Bar Holder, and Trans Light Blue Rock 1 x 1 Crystal 4 Point (CHI crystal). The minifigures' parts also fall in this category, but are listed separately (see relevant section). Rare parts Parts collectors and MOCers will be interested in the following rare parts also: Blue Wedge, Plate 4 x 6 Cut Corners (returning in this colour for the first time after 10 years), and Trans-Clear Hose, Flexible Ribbed with 8mm Ends, 19L with Blue Center Pattern (finally crossing from Hero Factory to System LEGO sets via the Legends of Chima theme). Extra parts The usual bits and spares include: two blue half pins, one black pin with friction, a transparent light blue small round tile, one yellow half bush, one red bush, one pearl gold big teeth/claw and one flat silver spear. Colour consistency While most parts have good colour consistency, I noticed that the Yellow Wedge 3 x 4 with Stud Notches has a strangely lighter hue with respect to the other parts in the same colour (these are standard LEGO Yellow). I tried to photograph it, but I'm not sure it is evident in the pic; human eyes are still better than cameras' sensors in detecting slight colour variations. Minifigures The three minifigures included in this set are Equila (the Ultra Striker owner), his friend and ballistics expert Eglor, and fierce Wolf hunter Wilhurt. Here you can see the assortment of parts used to build them. Of course, the Eagles have nice body armours and look quite noble (as the myth depicts them, especially in American tradition). By comparison, Wilhurt looks like a wild un-civilized hunter (which I suppose is the aim of TLG designers with the Wolf tribe, though they gave them high tech vehicles like the speedorz and the Pack Tracker...). Here we have the figs with their accessories. I like the fact that TLG designers introduced a Dark Blue eagle to the tribe; it really adds variety. Wilhurt, too is an oddly coloured version of the mainly Bley and Dark Bley wolves. This armour part, as is now common knowledge is what allows the Chima bird charters to sport wings. I must say I like the look of it, and I appreciate that LEGO is producing more armour parts with studs on the front and back, as they allow a wider range of character customisation, and they can be used in other contexts also. Wing(s) in place. The vertical clip holds the wing bar to connect to the armour. It has been noticed that this configuration renders the figs quite bulk, and it is indeed true, but I feel it at least fits the theme well. In this front shot of the figs without armour and head piece, we can have a better look at the printing of the parts. I especially like Eglor's torso and legs, as his jump suit works really well in Dark Blue and I like the idea of a flying character wearing a jump suit, just like our air forces. Equila gets the second place in ornamentation and Wilhurt, the savage hunter ends dead last; this does not seem to make him happy at all. Looking at the facial expressions, all the characters are quite grim, but the wolf is clearly angry. Allow me a brief consideration. I've always been curious about Wilhurt's name since first I saw it. I'm wondering, is it a short version of 'He will hurt you'? It really seems possible, and I would not be surprised if, when we'll get to see him in the Legends of Chima TV series, the other wolves will be quite scared of him themselves. He seems like a lone hunter, berserker type of character, doesn't he? All three figs have printing on the back of the torso and head. I like how Wilhurt wears (or grows) a sort of fur cloak or mane on his back; it helps in adding detail to an otherwise plain part of his anatomy. Another little detail I appreciate is the fact that Eglor's second face does not wear the usual eagle goggles, but some sort of high-tech eye-glass. It fits well with his ballistics expert role in the eagle tribe. This last shot is a comparison between Equila (on the right) and Ewar (on the left; not included in this set). As it has already been mentioned on the net, the two share every single body part, with not one difference between the two except for the head piece (or mask). Equila has a tiny bit more of printing on the forehead there than Ewar. That's all. Instructions Following what seems to be the most recent LEGO policy for instructions, we have two instruction booklets. Though the set is on the medium/big side, the number of booklets is mainly due to the fact that few pieces are required for each building step, with even single-piece steps. I must admit, nonetheless, that TLG achieved a pretty good compromise with this set. The cover shows the same shot and artwork as the front of the box. The LEGO and Legends of Chima logos, set number and booklet number complete the layout. The stickers are of the clear back variety. I do not apply them, so I do not have any knowledge to share about their glue quality or the like. The only things I can say are: they look pretty neat and do not cover multiple elements. As already mentioned, the instructions are standard fare, with an almost solid sand blue background that neither distracts the eye from the build or plays havoc with colour recognition. The parts' callout neatly covers 3 pages (of which only the last two are shown in the pic above). Yep, there are quite a lot of different parts and colours in this set. The last pages, as we can easily predict, are dedicated to advertising. I decided to put here a pic of the fore last page, with the '4D Movie Xperience' ad, for those visiting LEGOLAND Discovery Centers and LEGOLAND Parks. The rest are Legends of Chima set and speedorz ads, plus the usual LEGO Club and WIN! images we have come to know (and sometimes hate) so well in the last years. Building Start The build starts with the cockpit. Nice and clean, it has a functional look to itself. The red bit will become almost invisible in the finished build. Unfortunately, TLG designers decided to use a new sticker, to apply on the yellow roof piece, for the onboard computer instead of resorting to an older printed brick. Once completed, the cockpit takes the shape of an eagle head, complete with sharp beak. The dark azure feathers serve as... ...wings for the stand-alone flight mode. I did not find the pose of the feathers in the standby mode to my taste, so I rotated them to get a sleeker look. From the back, we can see the pins that connect to cockpit to the main body of the Ultra Striker, and that serve as thrusters in the stand-alone mode, I suppose. The trans-orange bids help give this part a more interesting look, and may serve as warning light for when the cockpit manoeuvres to re-attach itself to the main body. The main body of the tank starts with a forked chassis, upon which we mount the rubber tracks and the rear giant wheel. At the end of instruction booklet one we attach the eagle claws and finish the chassis. Going up, we encounter a recent trend in LEGO sets: in a step we are required to use 4 4x2 white plates where a single 8x4 plate would have sufficed. I'm note sure if using 4 smaller parts helps in achieving better grip and sturdiness, or if this kind of move is only related to rising the piece count; it is not too clear in this case. Here are the wings (only lacking the shooters, which will be added once they are mounted on the vehicle's frame). Notice the two CHI crystals that power the Ultra Striker... ...via the trans-clear/blue ribbed hoses. I'm not familiar with Chima's mechanics and technology, but I really do not understand why the power source should be placed in the open, especially when it does not serve a second purpose as weapon and it is at the centre of a contest between the tribes. It's like advertising it and inviting any wannabe thief to try his/her hand at getting it from under your nose. Notice the yellow and red technic bricks? That's where the connectors on the back of the cockpit go. There is an 'hidden' technic axle that can be pushed from the back to make the cockpit pop out and take flight. Finished set Front By connecting the cockpit to the tank frame and adding the shooters, we complete the model. Notice how Equila has to get stripped of his wings to enter the cockpit. Now, while it's a nice idea to render the wings part of the vehicle's aesthetics and store them safely at the same time, I think I'd be quite annoyed if I had to chop off a body part to get into my car every day! Wing supports While I decided not to include side and back shots of the Ultra Striker in this review (for the simple reason that they can be found on LEGO.com with all ease), I think it can be interesting to focus our attention on some smaller details of the model. First up is the use of hinged 4x1 tiles to support the wings in flight mode. When you first assemble your set, you'll notice that the wings' connection has enough grip to keep them from falling down due to gravity. But then you have to add the shooters, which increase the wing weight in a significant way. The supports, normally hidden by the wings themselves, can then be raised and used to keep the wings in flight mode without ruining the model's aesthetics. I had to ask myself: why did TLG designers decide to go with this solution, and not use click hinges for the wings' connection in the first place? I suppose the reason is linked to the given range of mobility and destination poses the click hinges allow, which would keep the wings too high or too low in the rest position with respect to the body frame. Get yourself together, man! Wilhurt choose one of the worst moments to attack the Ultra Striker: being fairly new to this big toy, Equila is trying to link the cockpit to the tank frame, but it may take some time. All together Another consequence of the limited space inside the cockpit is that Equila has to leave his weapon behind each time he climbs onboard. Is that the real reason why Eglor accompanies him? Bonus images Job description That was when Eglor learnt why nobody wanted the 'Weapons specialist' job in the Eagle Tribe. Bed time tales When he was a cub, Wilhurt used to have nightmares about Little Red Riding Hood and her friend the Lumberjack. Bad time tales As an adult, Wilhurt instils nightmares in Little Red Riding Hood and her friend the Lumberjack. Final comments Overall, Equila' s Ultra Striker is a great set, full of play features and complete with three outstanding minifigs (for the fans of the series, at least) and an exclusive CHI-powered weapons as well as 2 CHI crystals themselves. Design & Colour scheme – 9/10 (Very well proportioned and efficient. The only con is the reduced space inside the cockpit. The colour scheme works very well, both for the eagle faction, and for a bird-like vehicle, with clear paint on the underneath and darker shades on the upper surfaces. The only strange bits are the red accents put here and there to emphasize the play features.) Minifig – 8/10 (A good selection of very detailed prints and a great attention to detail make these figs worth the extra money for this set. The only con I can see, and the reason why I lowered the grade for this voice, is that they have reduced use into other themes, with the possible exception of Eglor's jump suit.) Parts – 8/10 (Great variety of useful parts, and a reasonable amount of new pieces. I'm pretty sure will soon see many interesting MOCs using the big feathered wing pieces.) Playability – 10/10 (The movement of the tracks and rear wheel is smooth, the shooters work as good as they ever may, and the detachable cockpit is a nice [albeit not new] touch. The number of figures of opposing factions also provides ample spark for many interesting stories.) Build – 8/10 (Nothing too complex, but some efficient solutions are used, like the wing supports and talon claws.) Price – 6/10 (The main critical point in this set is its price. Given the piece count and number of figs, it should be in the same range as Eris' Interceptor and the Pack Tracker, so 5 Euros less than it is. I know this set is marked as 'Exclusive', but that does not seem reason enough to make it so price-y without an actual increase in parts count.) Overall: 8.2/10 Very good 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: