Legends of Chima 2014

[Kalhiki]

Not a huge fan of Chima, but the Spider, Bat, and Rhino Tank thing are pretty neat looking. I'll probably pick 'em up.

Minifigs are cool too, so there's a plus.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Kalhiki

[JeagerEX]

The real identity of ShadoWind is Lavertus.

[Faefrost]

Finalized pics of the Legend Beast sets:

http://www.bol.com/n...00000021797560/

http://www.bol.com/n...00000021797562/

http://www.bol.com/n...00000021797564/

http://www.bol.com/n...00000021797566/

http://www.bol.com/n...00000021797568/

The better-quality renders make them look a lot better, although there's a rather egregious rendering error in the images for 70125 Gorilla Legend Beast. Can you spot it?

Interesting also that the minifigures are the 2013 designs — not the new 2014 designs like we've seen for Eris.

The Eagle is quite nice. and might even be an acceptable replacement for the undersized Eagles in LotR or Hobbit scenes. The wolf is still a bit boxy. It looks like an 8 bit video game boss.

And high on the list of things I never expected to ever see in a Lego set surely must be "Rhinocerous wearing purple tube top"

[ReZourceman]

Look at those printed trans green radars!!

[omegabob]

Thanks for the links Aanchir.

I still would love to see some closeup of the minifigs and without the armor but from what I can see so far I'm seeing some really nice, usable fantasy stuff.

It looks like the site is letting folks reserve the sets (just guessing as I can't read the language). Does it say what the release date will be? I know some folks were saying they should be out for Christmas but since they were not in the holiday catelog I have my doubts (that I would love to have proven wrong).

[Borex]

Does it say what the release date will be?

It says that the sets are available from the 15th of january.

[DraikNova]

Damn, now I need to get at least two figures: one bat (for the wings) and one Spider or Scorpion (for the awesome tails). This wave might tempt me to buy some of the larger sets anyway. The spider and scorpion vehicles are pretty good, after all.

[Lego Spy]

Wait, hold on - did I miss something, or are the Lions and the Crocodiles working together to take down the scorpions in the next wave? On the box image for 70132 Scorm's Scorpion Stinger it shows Laval and Cragger, it appears, working together. It also has the blue coloration behind Cragger on the section of the box where the minifigures are displayed.

Oh, and a to Lego for these great new sets! The only one I'd question is Lavertus' Twin Blade, I guess it's a plane/helicopter, but it doesn't look very aerodynamic.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Lego Spy

[Aanchir]

Wait, hold on - did I miss something, or are the Lions and the Crocodiles working together to take down the scorpions in the next wave? On the box image for 70132 Scorm's Scorpion Stinger it shows Laval and Cragger, it appears, working together. It also has the blue coloration behind Cragger on the section of the box where the minifigures are displayed.

Oh, and a to Lego for these great new sets! The only one I'd question is Lavertus' Twin Blade, I guess it's a plane/helicopter, but it doesn't look very aerodynamic.

Yep, the crocs and wolves all have the same blue backgrounds and weapons as the other previously established tribes. They're definitely allied with the good guys now. Not entirely a surprise... I haven't been following the show, but since the feud was based largely on misunderstandings and manipulation to begin with, it shouldn't take a miracle to resolve. And it's common in fiction for a larger outside threat to force even bitter enemies to work together. Note that the new bad guys, the scorpions and spiders, have green weapons instead of blue or red.

70129 is kind of weird but that epic function makes up for it.

[just2good]

Wait, hold on - did I miss something, or are the Lions and the Crocodiles working together to take down the scorpions in the next wave? On the box image for 70132 Scorm's Scorpion Stinger it shows Laval and Cragger, it appears, working together. It also has the blue coloration behind Cragger on the section of the box where the minifigures are displayed.

That's what it seems like for the next wave! The wolves and crocs are now good guys.

I haven't expressed my opinions on the final sets, so I guess I will now. Yeah, I'm not a fan of them. I see what they're trying to do with the Legend Beast sets- they are $10ish sets that are meant to be collected and traded, and come with one minifigure and a vehicle/beast. These are just like the Microfighter sets for Star Wars next year, even down to a similar box design. I think they're pretty mediocre. The best of those, in my opinion, are the eagle and wolf. But even those two aren't that great. Additionally, the minifigures included are essentially the ones from this year, but with different accessories. For example, they really couldn't just include the new Eris in the Eagle set? Yeah, I know that sells the other sets she's in, but it's still a disappointment for me. I'll pass. I can see the Lion set being a huge seller, as I've seen a handful of kids this year at the stores begging for Laval in a set and not getting him as his sets are too expensive.

The sets themselves are huge misses to me. I really wish we'd get more playsets than vehicles for the main sets. Thankfully, we are getting two playsets this wave, but those haven't been revealed. The bat vehicle looks ugly and only half of it kind of looks like a bat. Even worse is the Twin Blade set, which looks to be more money than the that bat one and a mishmash of vehicles. The Spider Stalker looks like it will take up a lot of space and it uses too much Techinic parts compared to the brick parts in my opinion. The rhino vehicle looks odd, and it's like a less-superior more compact version of the Pack Tracker set from this year, which I didn't like in the first place. The biggest set is the best of this wave in my opinion, but not by a lot. It suffers similar issues to the Spider Stalker.

The Speedorz are the biggest disappointment of this 2014 wave in my opinion. Two of the figures are from this year. Granted, they have the 2014 variation, unlike the Legend Beasts sets, and a new Speedor. The Speedorz games look more watered down than this year's, which were half and half for me in the first place. Sure, it's a nice way to get the new tribe figures, but am I the only one who doesn't like any of the new tribes besides, you guessed it, the Rhino tribe- the only tribe that doesn't get a Speedorz set this wave. I think the spider dude barely looks like a spider- but I do say that the moulding and is very intricate and pretty detailed, so he ain't completely bad. I'm not even sure if I'll get all of these Speedorz, even though I tried to get all of them this year.

The Scorpion tribe reminds me too much of the Manta Warrior figures and Snake figures from Ninjago, and they don't look much like scorpions to me. I need to see the figures close up though, as I want to see more of how they handel the scorpion tail. Some of them have it and some do not. Oh, and Shadowind is just another boring generic lion, the tribe we have the most variations of in my opinion. They couldn't include his awesome helmet this wave? The bat still looks too comical to me, but that is something that I hope will grow on me as it is purple- my favorite color. Again, though I don't like its appearance, it is still a nice moulding job by LEGO, as it seems to have very intricate mould and print details.

But, hey... I'm glad y'all seem to enjoy these sets.

Edited November 23, 2013 by just2good

[Lego Spy]

Yep, the crocs and wolves all have the same blue backgrounds and weapons as the other previously established tribes. They're definitely allied with the good guys now. Not entirely a surprise... I haven't been following the show, but since the feud was based largely on misunderstandings and manipulation to begin with, it shouldn't take a miracle to resolve. And it's common in fiction for a larger outside threat to force even bitter enemies to work together. Note that the new bad guys, the scorpions and spiders, have green weapons instead of blue or red.

70129 is kind of weird but that epic function makes up for it.

Oh, I missed the wolves. That's interesting, but, as you said, it wasn't completely surprising.

70129: True, it won't be my #1 pick though.

But, hey... I'm glad y'all seem to enjoy these sets.

I think there's a lot of nice pieces, which raises a question about 70132. The Scorpion Stinger's claws appear to be built with new pieces, and are they transparent/clear, holographic, or just cut outs in the center of the piece?

And do we have any idea when the new sets will be released, or did someone already say it was mid-January?

[LegendsOfNinjago]

Oh, I missed the wolves. That's interesting, but, as you said, it wasn't completely surprising.

70129: True, it won't be my #1 pick though.

I think there's a lot of nice pieces, which raises a question about 70132. The Scorpion Stinger's claws appear to be built with new pieces, and are they transparent/clear, holographic, or just cut outs in the center of the piece?

And do we have any idea when the new sets will be released, or did someone already say it was mid-January?

The claws look like they're stickers.

[krystalKING]

I agree, they look a lot like stickers, stopping abruptly, for example.

[PenPlays]

They're silver Constraction Figure swords with green CHI stickers surging through them. It does seem a little confusing from the box cover, but it rises a question. Is there such a thing as Green CHI?

Edited November 24, 2013 by Penkid11

[Garwolak]

Does anyone else feel like we could do with some "generic" tribe members? They have them in the TV show, and they'd be useful to build up a large tribe, whereas now it's like building a clone army out of commander Codys and Rexes.

Or at least give us more characters from the original tribes (the Raven alchemist from episode 14, anyone?), rather than lots one-off characters - I hope they release whole spider and scorpion tribes now that they're at it.

[Aanchir]

Does anyone else feel like we could do with some "generic" tribe members? They have them in the TV show, and they'd be useful to build up a large tribe, whereas now it's like building a clone army out of commander Codys and Rexes.

Or at least give us more characters from the original tribes (the Raven alchemist from episode 14, anyone?), rather than lots one-off characters - I hope they release whole spider and scorpion tribes now that they're at it.

Actually, one of the things I like about Legends of Chima is that you CAN mix-and-match the parts of several of the figures to get less specific characters so long as they have the same scale/feather/fur colors.

With that said, some of the minor characters who are never called out by name in the show can effectively be used as "generic" figures. As with the lower-ranking Serpentine and skeletons from Ninjago, the only reason the LEGO Group even bothers giving names and personalities to many of these characters is so that they seem more desirable and can be given unique branding when sold individually as spinner/Speedorz sets. This way, kids will feel like their Crug, Lennox, and Winzar Speedorz have just as much unique identity as more important named characters like Crominus, Razar, and Skinnet. They get lots of wonderful facts about each character to memorize, helping to draw them deeper into the story. Plus, it helps to have specific names for the cards used in Spinjitzu and Speedorz gameplay. But as far as the actual storyline is concerned, the unique "identities" of many of these characters are effectively irrelevant.

Note that the 2013 Ninjago sets, released after TLG stopped doing spinner sets, stopped giving names to any enemy figures other than General Kozu, instead merely identifying them by rank. The 2014 sets don't even offer that luxury — there are four distinct Nindroid designs, but only General Cryptor gets a proper name, while the lower-ranking baddies are referred to interchangeably as Nindroids. And one of these generic Nindroid varieties does go the "mix-and-match" variety, using printed parts from the other two Nindroid varieties together with a generic pair of short black legs. Even the Ninja heroes are identified more generically than they once were — starting in 2013, new costumes for the Ninja were no longer given distingishing names like "DX", "Kendo", "ZX", and "NRG": even unique variants are simply identified as Kai, Zane, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Aanchir

[Lego Spy]

The claws look like they're stickers.

I agree, they look a lot like stickers, stopping abruptly, for example.

They're silver Constraction Figure swords with green CHI stickers surging through them. It does seem a little confusing from the box cover, but it rises a question. Is there such a thing as Green CHI?

That's what I thought.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Lego Spy

[Garwolak]

Actually, one of the things I like about Legends of Chima is that you CAN mix-and-match the parts of several of the figures to get less specific characters so long as they have the same scale/feather/fur colors.

Granted, you can do that for some of the tribes (lions and ravens come to mind), but equally, for some it's more difficult (gorillas don't match each other at all, and only Worriz and Winzar seem to match in colour for the wolves). These happen to be some of my favourite tribes, so I am indeed biased. :P

[Lordofdragonss]

It's sad we have no raven tribe for this year. I had a dream about the white raven figure yesterday- he was a great businessman that hate unfair trades. That would be a nice twist! :)

And looking once again at those pictures I really have to get the gorilla mech just for more gorillas. It seems we will be getting like 4 Gorzans in the 2014 line. ONLY Gorzans.

[vexorian]

Gorilla and Eagle legend beasts look like actual decent sets, the rest not so much. The addition of minifigures improves things significantly.

[Aanchir]

Gorilla and Eagle legend beasts look like actual decent sets, the rest not so much. The addition of minifigures improves things significantly.

It's kind of funny how many different opinions I've heard about the Legend Beasts. Very few people seem to like ALL of them, but which they like varies greatly. Opinions seem to differ the most about the gorilla — some people consider it the absolute worst, while others think it's one of the best. Personally, I like it, but I've never been good at picking favorites so I can't say how it ranks compared to the others.

I can say that the first I get will be either the wolf or the lion since those have the new joints in the largest quantities. I've built the wolf on LDD with some substitutions and it's definitely a lovely design. Very sleek and streamlined design. The lion's a bit harder for me to evaluate since its mane and legs obscure a lot of its body in all the pics we've seen. It looks like the top of the box shows it from the side, so if I see it in a store I'll be able to compare the wolf and lion more effectively.

[Lego Spy]

It's kind of funny how many different opinions I've heard about the Legend Beasts. Very few people seem to like ALL of them, but which they like varies greatly. Opinions seem to differ the most about the gorilla — some people consider it the absolute worst, while others think it's one of the best. Personally, I like it, but I've never been good at picking favorites so I can't say how it ranks compared to the others.

I can say that the first I get will be either the wolf or the lion since those have the new joints in the largest quantities.

The gorilla is probably my least favorite but I don't dislike it, I just think some of the others have better part selections.

Agreed on the wolf/lion situation. I need those joints!

Edited November 27, 2013 by Lego Spy

[ToaJaller78]

I'll get all the Legend Beasts..........................That is.... all but the Gorilla.

[DarthPotato]

Funny, my favorite's the gorilla. I don't really collect Chima anyway but I like the look of that one the best.

[Jetrax99]

I'll get all the Legend Beasts..........................That is.... all but the Gorilla.

Why? It's better than the Lion.