REVIEW: 70203 Chi Cragger

[ZORK64]

It's time to review another Legends of Chima Ultrabuild (which I will now call Chima Builds for the sake of simplicity)! This time, it's Cragger, the evil warlord of the crocodile clan.

While I was looking forward to get Eris mostly because of her eagle motif, Cragger got mine attention for the same reasons I got Ogrum: His colours. In addition to dark green (or Metru green, as some of us call it in memory of Toa Matau), Cragger brings yet another green to the constraction line, a dark olive green, somewhere between dark and lime green.

But is a new colour the only thing that Cragger offers? Let's find out in this review.

Set name: Chi Cragger

Set Number: 70203

Price: 14.99 Euro

Pieces: 68

Year of release: April 2013 (Europe), apparently August 2013 (USA)

The bag

While Cragger's bag uses the same blue frame as Eris (and all other Chima Builds), Cragger himself glows red rather than blue, just to make clear that he's evil (and maybe even a Sith Lord? After all, one of his blades glows red as well...). Since the building instructions use the same picture I'll talk about more about it later.

The back of the bag. Unsurprisingly, the layout is the same as on Eris' bag: Cragger is standing in a landscape, and you can spot Laval in the background. Funnily enough, to me it looks like Cragger is smiling, while Laval looks seriously pissed off (Apparently he doesn't like happy crocodiles - what a jerk!). Left to this is a picture of the combiner using Cragger and Worriz, and below all this is a little comic showing how Cragger unleashes his powerful Chi form to beat Laval up. Well, maybe Chi Laval looks so angry in the upper picture because he's about to get back at Cragger...

Uhm, I think I interpret waaay too much into all this stuff going on there. I guess it's time to open the bag, right?

The parts

If I didn't made any mistakes while counting the pieces on this picture, Cragger contains 68 parts. That's 2 parts less than Eris, but on the other hand, Cragger comes with quite a few rather large pieces.

Being a crocodile-themed charachter, Cragger is mostly dark green, olive green and gunmetal, just like a real-life crocodile (well, aside from the gunmetal of course).

Note that Cragger uses the larger torso skeleton.

Cragger's head deserves special mention even among the Chima Builds since it's two separate pieces, the skull and the lower jaw. Both pieces look very nice (Cragger even got a scar on across his right eye) and got some printing here and there.

The other side of the head reveals the ball socket, which faces backwards just like Eris' did.

Cragger's Chi plate. Note that the Chi sphere is located on the left half of it, not the right as it was in Eris' case.

And there's the new sword piece Cragger comes with. I think it's been a while since we got a blade that looks so brutish.

Unfortunately, the improvement I mentioned within Eris' axe blades doesn't apply to these swords - the blades are slightly bend. Probably due to their size and the fact that they are packed into bags along with plenty other pieces.

Pictures of interest from the instructions

Ah, the cover. I really like the design of the Chima covers, with all the glowing energy and the lovely backgrounds. Cragger's cover also really inspired my imagination. Can you see all the little green drops? It looks like Cragger just bursted from below the swamp water to attack his clueless enemy - just like a real crocodile! Well, except for the fact that real crocodiles usually don't wield giant halberds.

Here's another look at Cragger's combiner. There's also that neat picture of Laval and Cragger duking it out using their Chi Forms (and before you ask - no, there wasn't anything like that in Eris' instructions ).

Building the set

Cragger's anatomy leads to a few tweaks from the usual formula of building constraction sets. After putting some stuff (a grey connector on the front, and a small bone piece for the tail) on his torso and building the legs, you put some bones on his shoulders.

Which get then connected above the ball joint (which is usually reserved as the neck joint).

Then he gets his head, which is connected via the other small bone to the three other bones (which eventually resulted in Cragger's long crocodile neck).

Next is his tail. I think this picture shows how it is assembled.

While this picture shows what it looks like once it's assembled.

After the tail, we move up a tiny bit and cover Cragger's back with gunmetal armour.

Then we continue with his weapon. First the staff in the center...

...then the tip of the halberd. The lower part consits only the other gunmetal blade, and then we get...

The finished set

Behold! The evil Cragger has unleashed his powerful Chi form!

Oh yeah right, spare parts.

Design and playability

Thanks to his extended neck and the nicely patterned colour scheme, Cragger clearly rocks the crocodile thing.

His poseability, however, is kind of a mix bag. The extended neck and the tail are very poseable (and thus add a great deal to the fun of posing this guy), but on the other hand, the articulation of his arms is severly limited due to his dual-held weapon.

That is something that already annoyed me with Vastus back then - a dual-held weapon is only fun if the character has open hands and can alter the grip of the weapon. This way however, is really hard to put Cragger in poses where he can actually use his weapon (or put him in a pose where neither of his hands is bent in an awkward way).

Another thing I'd like to mention are the coloured parts. Cragger's lower legs and arms are olive green bones which don't use any additional shells. That actually helps to give Cragger a crocodile-like appearance, since crocodiles have rather sleek limbs compared to their somewhat fat bodies.

Besides, coloured bones are always an instant win to me.

Also, having a covered back is yet another great plus for his design. Okay, he got a hole between the two shells, only due to his huge crocodile neck.

Cragger's head also adds to the joy of posing him thanks to the moveable jaw (a feature that is strangely not highlighted on his bag - after all, Ogrum's packaging even praised the swinging mace as an action feature). The joint itself is ratcheted and can be placed in 4 positions (closed mouth and after that from "slightly open" to "I'll eat you as a whole" open). His extended neck can look a bit awkward from certain angles due to having no shells there though

.

Since I don't own any other Chima sets than Eris' Eagle Interceptor I don't have a mini figure of Cragger to compare the Chi Form with. But judging from pictures, the only noteworthy differences between the two are the colours of his armour and weapon (Cragger's spear is golden, and his clothing is dark red) and the lack of a cape (which reminds me that someone here on Eurobricks guessed back then that the Chima Builds might reuse Furno XL's cape). But aside from that, Cragger is quite close to his normal form.

The size comparison with Eris surprised me, since I expected Cragger to be slightly smaller than Eris. They are however roughly the same size since Eris got longer legs while Cragger got a taller torso and longer neck.

(and yes, both their heads have their problems when they try to look around)

Bonus pic! I modded Cragger to hold his weapon with only one hand. A rather simple mod which makes posing Cragger easier (and thus, more fun).

Final thoughts

Cragger. Is. Awesome!

He comes with a new colour, nice new parts, a cool head and a quite refreshing building experience, and his only downside is the rather shoddy poseabilty of his arms due to the design of his weapon.

All in all, he's a fantastic set, and I honestly recommend you to get him. Be it for the colours, be it for the head, be it for the blades, or all those things together - he's definitely worth your money.

Edited May 1, 2013 by ZORK64

[Aethersprite]

Thanks for the review! Undoubtedly my favourite of the Chima Ultrabuilds, and this review just reinforces my view. From your review, it seems that his neck is a little too long, resulting in some awkward poses. I'm planning to shorten his neck to how it was in the prelim photo. Can't wait to get this set!

[WARHEAD]

Again, the head and weapons on this guy are amazing. Not so keen on the gaping hole in his neck though. Still, thanks for the in-depth review!

[DraikNova]

I think you made a slight mistake in one of the early sentences: "Ogrum brings yet another green...". Anyway, I've got to say that, even though I previously thought this was the best set of the line, Cragger has surpassed my expectations. The blades look awesome, he includes one of the relatively rare Stormer/Speeda Demon connectors and he actually has a pretty creative build. I'm definitely getting this set.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the combiner model for this guy looks absolutely spectacular.

Edited May 1, 2013 by DraikNova

[ZORK64]

I think you made a slight mistake in one of the early sentences: "Ogrum brings yet another green...".

Thanks for pointing that one out, since I missed it while re-reading the review for typos.

From your review, it seems that his neck is a little too long, resulting in some awkward poses. I'm planning to shorten his neck to how it was in the prelim photo. Can't wait to get this set!

Unless the neck used shorter bone pieces in the prelim pics it's possible that I posed Cragger's neck wrong. I wanted to make sure that Cragger doesn't look to hunchbacked, also his relatively large mouth tends to clash with his weapon.

[bacem]

wow, awesome review as always! so Cragger actually use larger torso piece. before, i was very sure that he used the medium torso.

[Shakar]

(which reminds me that someone here on Eurobricks guessed back then that the Chima Builds might reuse Furno XL's cape)

That was probably me Back then, we didn't even know Furno's cape used two holes: if I knew that, I would've have had much less faith in my theory. I still hope we'll get the cape in more colours in 2014 and beyond, however.

Anyway, I'm impressed, he looks properly reptilian without looking goofy (very fierce and kind of scary, in fact ). Cragger, Razar and Worriz look more formidable than many of the often rather puny 2013 HF villains, IMO.

I got two colour related questions (thanks in advance!):

1)The weapons: are they fully solid red or translucent red (kinda like Vahki Vorzakh's brain/eyes)? It looks like solid red, which is fairly disappointing.

2)The small curved barbs he's got in his arms and back (you got one of them in spare parts shot): are they silver?

Edited May 1, 2013 by Shakar

[ZORK64]

Anyway, I'm impressed, he looks properly reptilian without looking goofy (very fierce and kind of scary, in fact ). Cragger, Razar and Worriz look more formidable than many of the often rather puny 2013 HF villains, IMO.

I think Cragger would be also made a good villain for the Heroes. So if you get tired of fighting evil robots, the Chima Builds are also a neat alternative.

1)The weapons: are they fully solid red or translucent red (kinda like Vahki Vorzakh's brain/eyes)? It looks like solid red, which is fairly disappointing.

It's solid red, pretty much like the blue used in Eris' and Stormer XL's weapons.

2)The small curved barbs he's got in his arms and back (you got one of them in spare parts shot): are they silver?

Yes, they are silver. Same goes also for the armour plates on Cragger's head. I considered it a bit odd at first, given that most of his armour is gunmetal, but it actually works nicely together..

[Maximillian365]

Ultra-build Cragger seems better than what I thought it was like at first (I believed the neck was way too longer), but it still looks OK, even though the legs seem way to thin. I didn't really support the idea of having ultra-builds for Chima in the first place, but it still seems a reasonable figure to add to your collection. Also, its worth getting it for the awesome new pieces (especially the head and jaw pieces).

Edited May 2, 2013 by Maximillian365

[Cirkit]

Cragger has got to be my favorite set of the Chima Ultrabuilds. Certainly is one of the better looking, with those olive and 'Metru' Green parts, and those awesome, brutish blades. I agree with the 'Vastus' problem in posing with the weapon, and I definitely like your solution to the problem much more than how the set has you build it.

I will admit that I thought the neck was a little unusual, but unusual is welcome in these sorts of builds. I don't mind the gap in the armor- he is pretty well covered otherwise, and I like that head.. that is a nice head.

Cragger's definitely one I have to pick up. Lots of great parts, and he looks good constructed. The price may be a little iffy for me at the moment, but considering all the play value, it's worth it.

Thanks for the review!

[DraikNova]

I just got this guy today, and, while I'm slightly underwhelmed by the build, the parts seem pretty awesome. The "claw-sword" parts seems like they would be very useful for, well, claws.

[Aethersprite]

Unless the neck used shorter bone pieces in the prelim pics it's possible that I posed Cragger's neck wrong. I wanted to make sure that Cragger doesn't look to hunchbacked, also his relatively large mouth tends to clash with his weapon.

Sorry for the late reply, but anyway - the prelim pics showed Cragger using a bone piece one length shorter than the one used in the final set. I'm referring to the piece used as the forearms for some of the 2.0 Heroes like Stormer and Surge. The Chima Ultrabuilds just hit my country, I'm hoping to get Cragger soon!

[ToaBulk98]

Wow.

At first I thought this was going to be the worst of the Ultrabuilds, and now...I really want to go to Walmart.

[ZORK64]

Sorry for the late reply, but anyway - the prelim pics showed Cragger using a bone piece one length shorter than the one used in the final set. I'm referring to the piece used as the forearms for some of the 2.0 Heroes like Stormer and Surge. The Chima Ultrabuilds just hit my country, I'm hoping to get Cragger soon!

No problem.

That makes me wonder why they changed it in the final set though. I might try this mod on Cragger to find out (right now I'd guess it's because of the poseability, but I'm not sure about that).

[ToaJaller78]

I don't need this set. I have Vastus.

Anyways, nice review. Might buy for Parts (With Laval), But again, I have Vastus.

[ToaBulk98]

Am I the only person who's reminded of Godzilla when looking at this model?

[Kalmahiczek]

Great review as always, but I don't like Legends of Chima theme too much.