Legends of Chima TV Series

[Meiko]

That was really awesome. Somehow I missed the skunk. :(

Lemme just copy the blog post I made about it:

Oh my goodness, Chima is awesome (the TV show).

The characters are amazing.

Lagravis is awesome. He's like god and kicks butt.

Longtooth is like... how can I make this appropriate... kick... no bad... he's donkey 8D (Actually that makes me kind of want a donkey tribe)

The ravens are really, let's say "simple minded". Not much going on under the cranium cap there. Makes it pretty funny.

The gorillas, or at least Gorzan, are such hippies. Gorzan sees the battle and is like "Groovy". Also he seems a bit... high. No honestly. He seems to be acting like King Kong (heheh gorilla jokes) or something and needs to come down a bit.

Crocs are awesome. Cragger is awesome, and his flashback story is great. Crooler... Oh my I didn't know LEGO would make such a seductive character with some appeal for "older audiences". Let's go with that.

Wolves seem pretty cool. I really like Worriz's character. He's evil, and not a cheesy evil. He's evil, he knows it, everybody knows it, and it's a really cool evil.

Also, the "Legend Beasts" are awesome. More or less they are natural lions that never harnessed chi long ago, and didn't evolve like the others. "Legend says they will return when Chima needs them most." They are AWESOME, and I want a LEGO piece for the lion Legend Beast.

Anyways, the show is pretty awesome, and if you couldn't tell from the things I did my best to tone down the coloquial terms which I'd be able to describe it better with, it's entertaining for any age group.

[PenPlays]

Just a reminder before anything gets out,

SPOILER TAGS (please)

Oh, and when someone find the full episodes, could they please link them here.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Penkid11

[just2good]

Okay, here are my thoughts...

In short, the first episode was worse than the second, as it came off rushed to me. I wish they would have spent more time introducing the characters and tribes. There was only one scene with Skinnette! And it was a freakin' fart-like joke! Also, is Skinnette a boy or a girl? So many questions! The ravens barely got any airtime too!

[Kalhiki]

Chima was... Good I suppose. Okay, let me just say, Ninjago is far superior as a TV show. But LoC was still pretty good. Just some things need to be fixed.

Mainly, the voice acting for Eris and Laval weren't that great (can't remember about other voices). I didn't sense really any emotion in some of their lines. Laval especially when Cragger first plugs Chi ("plugs Chi"... something just humors me about that phrase). And, it may be a minor issue, but it cuts into my enjoyment of the show. Hopefully the voice actors will get it together for future episodes and put their full talent into it.

Also, I don't know what it was exactly, but something about the pacing seemed off. Maybe that's just me, though.

But otherwise, it was awesome. The battle scenes were cool, and the characters were great. Crooler is just creepy, and the fact that their parents tried to warn Cragger not to listen to her is superb for an evil character. And Lagravis (is that right? The Lion leader) was also awesome, and I especially liked his voice. But overall, Worriz takes the cake as my favorite. He does what he wants and doesn't care what others think (unless his fur gets shaved off).

As for the battle scenes... Explosions need some work. But seeing those Gorilla mechs running into battle more than makes up for it.

What else, what else...Ah! The concept of the Legend Animals I find to be cool. I'd really like to see more of them. Their essentially gods and that's awesome. Makes me want them to be in sets (maybe we'll get the lion in the upcoming Lion Temple set?).

Also, I heard a mention of elephants. Elephant tribe, please?

Kalhiki

[Zachattacx]

I guess that explains Mother Wolf then.

[refriedbeans]

Umm I know this isn't really appropriate for this topic but I can't open ANY spoiler tags...

[Speedza-Demon]

Well, that was pretty disappointing.

The voice acting was pretty poor compared to Ninjago with a few exceptions, and the characters just weren't as strong or dynamic in general. There were also a few plot inconsistencies, like why were they on friendly terms with Worriz in the flashback but he later states he doesn't like Laval in the second part? That struck me as a bit weird, among other things. Hopefully it will improve with time, that being said there were plenty of redeeming aspects, like the aforementioned soundtrack. I also liked how they were dealing with fairly darker themes, like how Cragger believed that his parents were dead and wanted vengeance, and it seems this series is continuing the trend of well-written villains that Ninjago started. It wasn't terrible, but at the same time I can't say I was extremely impressed by it either.

[Mesonak]

Was pretty underwhelmed by what I did to get to see; looking forward to seeing what I didn't (most of it).

All I have to say is - that voice acting.

No more needs to be said.

[r4-g9]

here is a website that has both of the episodes, however there are quite a few adds: http://dubbed-scene.com/legends-chima-episode-1-legend-chima

[DraikNova]

Well, it seems nice enough. Nowhere near as strong as Ninjago though. Oh, and evil sister characters rock.

Oh, and the explanation for the Mother Wolf is pretty good.

[Faefrost]

OK after watching it twice last night (east coast and west coast CN feeds), here are a few deeper, if more random thoughts and impressions I had.

Overall I think the series is, so far, hugely disapointing comparred to Ninjago. It's a good show, that has a great deal of room to improve and grow into something decent, but there are sme major flaws. Some that can be addressed, others not so much.

First up, the good parts:

- The show looks spectacular. Very smooth animation. Maybe a tad too much glow and lighting effects. But wonderful art and presentation.

- The music is simply amazing. It actually improves and ups the ante from Ninjago, which was a hard thing to do.

- The Croc's. The Croc tribe and the specific Croc characters are deep, well fleshed out. With conflicting motivations and real personalities. Crugger and Cruller in particular have resonance and empathy for the viewers. Crugger isn't evil. He isn't mean. You can see how he gets to the place where he dows. Cruller is however evil, but delightfully and subversively so. Well done. Sadly this becomes a huge issue with the other tribes.

- Huge total war type battles. It ups the ante from Ninjago and gives huge sprawling fights.

Sadly there is also a ton to either dislike, or simply leave you feeling "meh".;

- The non Croc characters are quite simply insipid. Larval is awful in every way. He is a complete and utter white bread goody goody with no emotions, nothing compelling or interesting to his personality. No mystery. Nothing to empathize with. Quite frankly he comes across as suffering from a developmental disability. He's a MORON. And not an everybody laugh at the stupid character sort of way. He wasn't meant to seem like the gag idiot. He just comes across as a total Moron by accident, doalogue and a total lack of anything resembling a personality. And he is probably the best of the non Croc named characters. Eris is quite possibly the biggest disapointment. The cool Lego set and minifig, plus the wonderful job they did with Nya in Ninjago left a high bar for the only named female character with a speaking role. Instead of leaping over this bar with a cool kick megablocks strong and interesting character the producers instead chose to tunnel under it, and keep digging downwards. Insipid doesn't do her justice. Lame doesn't do it. Her only role in the show is as a whiny shrieky hostage. That's it. She is a prop not a character, and a bad one at that. The remainder of the cast are not characters. They are stereotypes gathered into tribes. (Granted not real world stereotypes). Sleepy Bears, Hippy Gorilla's, Moronic Rhinos, Greedy and stupid Ravens, violent and stupid wolves.

- Compiling the horrific characters is some really truly awful voice acting/directing choices. The two big steaming pats of cow pie in this regard are Larval and Eris. After about three minutes of their dialogue you will fully understand and sympathize with anything the Croc's want to do to them. Eris was probably my favorite of the new Chima minifigs, until I heard the characters voice. I am now contemplate the cathatrtic and therapeutic uses of kerosene on a minifig, just to get the voice out of my head.

- Core story elements...what the pluck is Chi? and why does it seem to be an addictive super narcotic? I earlier said I thought that Chima had some "Game of Thrones" elements. Watching it again, I was wrong. It's New Jack City with Bath Salts. And the main story is that it is now young and probably retarded Larvals time to sit down with his Father and Uncles and take his first joyful hit of crystal meth. The lions are the main pushers, who control the market and magnanimously fairly distribute the drugs to the other tribes, once a month when the shipments fall from the sky. Crugger sneaks a hit and he goes all "Bath Salts on a Florida Highway" on everyone until they taze him down. After that he goes insane crazing more. Instantly hooked on the narcotic. So the underlying message of the show is "Drugs are Bad M'kay and will leave you a strung out mess... until you're older and can handle it better, at which point you can sit around the trailer park with Dad, Uncle Jay and some Bird chick he picked up at a biker bar, sharing needles and mainlining meth. Nono trust me little duuuude when you are older thsi will be the best thing Evah! But you're too young and can't handle it now, SO KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY STASH CAUSE WE GOTTA HAVE RULEZ!!!". Sesame Street this is not.

- The show itself just feels shallow. There is no mystery to any of the characters nor is there any real depth. Looking back at Ninjago they did a wonderful job of slowly ramping up the depth of the core characters the Ninja there. Kai was shown and introduced as arrogant and prideful, someone who needed to grow. The other three were mysteries. Cole seemed to have a darker or meaner less forgiving side. Jay was skilled but carried a great deal of subtle depth and insecurity, and the goody goody white bread guy of the team, Zane, felt and was treated like a weirdo because of how straightlaced he was. It was a disturbing element of his character that eventually paid off with his being a robot. None of the characters here have any of that subtlety or depth. What see is what you get, and if you miss it, they will beat you about the head and shoulders with dialogue until you do. And I hate to use the comparison with Ninjago. But CN set it up where you have to. Not only is Chima by the same people, they led into the Chima premier by showing what are possibly the two best episodes of Ninjago. Seeing them back to back you can't help but make comparisons. And Chima suffers for it.

Overall Chima has some potential. Ninjago's pilot movie was not the best of the series, nor was The Clone Wars. I'll take a wait and see view of the series and allow it to grow. It is probably fine for its targeted audience. (Apparently Drug Dealing 8 year old biker gangs). But it's not going to make that leap to the pop culture audience that Ninjago did. (Drug using 21 year old slacker college students).

[Jargo]

Want bear minifigs naow! Soooo cute hahaha The ravens aren't as cool as I thought they'd be. And obviously as a mature adult the show isn't pitched at me but I like it. What I've seen so far looks lovely even if it's a little repetitive. I guess drumming the mythos into kids minds is what that's about. Does Seth Green voice Cragger? I don't actually mind the voices but the delivery is a bit stilted and awkward. I still don't like the speedorz but the other vehicles are cool. I do wonder how the show can be sustained without each episode starting to feel a bit samey. Maybe having so many tribes will give it scope?

[Oky]

I have to agree with most of what's been said, these episode were pretty bad. It's quite obvious that this is aimed at a very young audience, even a younger one than Ninjago, which isn't a smart move in my opinion as it will alienate the Ninjago fans. I had imagined the voices to be a lot more deep and menacing, but they were quite high-pitched and childish. Laval's was especially annoying. I also expected most of the characters to be more intelligent, especially the ravens, but apparently these animals aren't as evolved as I thought they were. The pacing is all over the place, the characters are shallow and boring, and there is hardly any story. There are animals, they fight, end of story. And the ceremony at the beginning was almost an exact copy of the one in the first ThunderCats episode! Also: Why doesn't anybody ever die in these shows?? The fact that Cragger's parents survived a fall from a cliff is just stupid. Plenty of characters die in Disney movies, especially parents of the main characters, so don't tell me it's because this is for kids. The fact that Cragger believes that they have died and blames the lions and his lack of chi for their death actually gave him a good motivation to attack them and steal the chi and almost made him a good character, but then they ruined it by introducing his sister with her "evil flower" which becomes his true and only reason to be evil. Ugh! It's the Devourer's venom all over again.

The environments and some of the battle scenes were pretty nice, but those couldn't save this from feeling like just an extended Lego commercial. Yes, I know that that's what these Lego shows basically are, but it has never been so obvious. At least Ninjago had a story and characters with personality. I might stick around for a few more episodes to see where this series is going, but I don't think I can take much more of this. One thing is for sure though: We need that Legend Beast Lion in a set!!

Now if you'll excuse me, my face hurts from all these facepalms.

[Tanma]

I was disappointed too. The dialogue was...poor at best, and I felt no attachment to Laval. I didn't really get a personality from him, or any real flaws. He just didn't seem there. The whole thing with Cragger's parents made no sense to me from any angle, so I won't talk on it.

I am particularly let down by the ravens. The way I pictured them when I first heard of the theme was as apathetic tricksters, like the Raven of native american mythology. I theorized that they might have started this war behind the scenes, to weaken the other tribes to advance their own standing further. They would pretend to be subordinate to the wolves and crocs, but in the later stages of the war they would betray their allies. I was let down to say the simpliest.

[CM4Sci]

YT has removed one of my videos. I should take them down..

-Sci

[Gatanui]

I've got yet to truly decide and I haven't lost hope yet, but so far I think I'm disappointed. The pacing is awful (although it may get better), Laval is totally immature, Cragger must be stupid or something for going to the Chi fountain again, Eris is totally annoying and just stupid (seriously, why doesn't she fly away instead of crying at the approaching Speedor?) and the evil flower gets silly after the first time. Also, what bugged me is how the ceremony went one way in the first episode, and had a totally different dialogue in the second episode.

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. I'll still watch the next episodes and hope it gets better, but I doubt it can surpass Ninjago, honestly. The fact that it seems to be targeted at a younger audience doesn't help it- I had hoped we'd get a less silly and more epic story, but we seem to be far from that.

-Gata

[M'Kyuun]

I concur with Faefrost's observations. The dialog was subpar, the story was choppy and felt rushed. Most of the characters seem stupid by virtue of voice, actions or both. I found Cruller to be the best character. I think the story would have been better served had they shown Laval and Cragger growing up together. Their friendship was forced, if only to try and make the betrayal more poignant. However, there's really no feeling of friendship there to begin with.

Alas, Ninjago this is not. As Faefrost mentioned, Chi is presented almost as a power-inducing narcotic given as an incentive for coming of age. It just feels a bit wrong, esp for something from LEGO.

I'm disappointed with the pilot, but I hope the writers will find their way. There's certainly fertile ground here for them to work with, given the large cast, and the possibility for back stories and side ventures. Moreover,I hope they vary the characteristics of the various tribes beyond what was presented. I want to like this show, as I see the potential. Too, I'd like to see a gorilla mech on the shelves at some point, but I digress. However, as pointed out, Clone Wars had a poor opening pilot, IMO, and it has certainly come along way, so there's hope.

[Oky]

True, the theme of drugs on this show is a bit disturbing. But not as disturbing as how sexist this show is. All the women are either inexplicably evil or weak damsel in distress type characters. Ninjago had this issue as well, but at least Nya and Lloyd's mother were strong and skilled fighters and saved the ninjas on several occasions. As Faefrost pointed out, it's much worse in LoC, especially regarding Eris. Those feminists who were complaining about Friends should take a look at these shows.

[PenPlays]

I'm so mixed about this. I loved the show. It's just that... hmmm. I'm only content with Lagravis' voice... the entire show lacks something that Ninjago thrived off of, emotion! Seriously.

But let me just make this clear. Ninjago started almost exactly the same way. "This show wasn't very funny, but kids will like it." And now? Ninjago sits beside Star Wars along with Bionicle and City as some of the biggest cash cows. It was also the first minifigure action theme to do so. All of your comments about the "childness" being irritating within the characters and their lines bothers me, because what show starts off as a hit, unless there is an entire fanbase already established behind it (eg:My Little Pony)?

The Lions and Crocs were fleshed out well enough. The hippie Gorillas were charming. Eagles... we need more men... The Ravens are NOTHING near to how they should be. The wolves are pretty up there, but Worriz' reasoning isn't very sound except for "I hate Laval." Bears, skunks and Rhinos had too short of moments to really get a feel, except... that cute little Skinnet. AWW he's so cuddly lookin'.

Ahem, now the story here has some potential. It's been great so far (but an evil flower? Really?). The Great Story sheds some serious light. Looks like the Eagle Legend's mold will be included in the LotR Black Gate set (shh). The fact that Crominus and Crunket aren't dead actually pleases me. Imagine walking out of a hole and seeing your world in flames because of you family! (Plot thickens!) I can't really cover everything here (because I've only watched the episodes once. I will be around here for a while though. So please, feel free to complain with my opinion. You may just get a response!

[Meiko]

I'm so mixed about this. I loved the show. It's just that... hmmm. I'm only content with Lagravis' voice... the entire show lacks something that Ninjago thrived off of, emotion! Seriously.

But let me just make this clear. Ninjago started almost exactly the same way. "This show wasn't very funny, but kids will like it." And now? Ninjago sits beside Star Wars along with Bionicle and City as some of the biggest cash cows. It was also the first minifigure action theme to do so. All of your comments about the "childness" being irritating within the characters and their lines bothers me, because what show starts off as a hit, unless there is an entire fanbase already established behind it (eg:My Little Pony)?

The Lions and Crocs were fleshed out well enough. The hippie Gorillas were charming. Eagles... we need more men... The Ravens are NOTHING near to how they should be. The wolves are pretty up there, but Worriz' reasoning isn't very sound except for "I hate Laval." Bears, skunks and Rhinos had too short of moments to really get a feel, except... that cute little Skinnet. AWW he's so cuddly lookin'.

Ahem, now the story here has some potential. It's been great so far (but an evil flower? Really?). The Great Story sheds some serious light. Looks like the Eagle Legend's mold will be included in the LotR Black Gate set (shh). The fact that Crominus and Crunket aren't dead actually pleases me. Imagine walking out of a hole and seeing your world in flames because of you family! (Plot thickens!) I can't really cover everything here (because I've only watched the episodes once. I will be around here for a while though. So please, feel free to complain with my opinion. You may just get a response!

You make some good points. I'm expecting the story and show will get more intense as we go along.

[DraikNova]

Actually, I think you could see something like a spray inside the flower. It's just a normal flower used to disguise the spray.

And I agree, the way this show seems to describe stuff scarily like drugs is disturbing.

At the moment, the best character is the bird which cleans Cragger's teeth. Seriously.

Edited January 18, 2013 by DraikNova

[Tobias_Jay]

I don't like Crooler's evil laugh. Just saying.

The disappointing thing is seeing her personality she is going to laugh, a lot.

[KurttKrueger]

I quite enjoyed it, and my 5 year old son certainly did.

Don't go comparing a new series with only two episodes out the door with an established show of three season with a loyal fan base.

We're dealing with young 'teenage' characters, much like Lloyd started out as in Ninjago (who's voice acting also sucks, btw, even when he's older and powered up).

I can imagine that over the course of the series, we'll see the main characters mature and toughen up. What we've seen is the start of the conflict.

Give it time to get going folks!

[PenPlays]

I quite enjoyed it, and my 5 year old son certainly did.

Don't go comparing a new series with only two episodes out the door with an established show of three season with a loyal fan base.

We're dealing with young 'teenage' characters, much like Lloyd started out as in Ninjago (who's voice acting also sucks, btw, even when he's older and powered up).

I can imagine that over the course of the series, we'll see the main characters mature and toughen up. What we've seen is the start of the conflict.

Give it time to get going folks!

Couldn't of said it better myself.

[Tobias_Jay]

I quite enjoyed it, and my 5 year old son certainly did.

Don't go comparing a new series with only two episodes out the door with an established show of three season with a loyal fan base.

We're dealing with young 'teenage' characters, much like Lloyd started out as in Ninjago (who's voice acting also sucks, btw, even when he's older and powered up).

I can imagine that over the course of the series, we'll see the main characters mature and toughen up. What we've seen is the start of the conflict.

Give it time to get going folks!

I see where you are coming from, the first two episodes of Ninjago were not as good as the later episodes. But the main problem is the voices which will stay with them throughout the series. Remember, the four ninja are at the same age group as Laval, Eris, etc and their voices were more adolescent than they were. Lloyd was about 7-9 years old when the series started. But regardless I will give it a shot when later episodes come around.