Legends of Chima 2014 Discussion

[Aethersprite]

Just got myself Panthar yesterday, and he's great! I really appreciate how complete and cohesive he looks! Looking forward to get the rest.

[Lyichir]

I know, but I haven't heard of a specific region not getting sets, and LEGO hasn't stopped an export due to bad sales before.

Yes they have. The fourth series of Lego Star Wars Planets was never released in the U.S. either.

[Pate-keetongu]

Yes they have. The fourth series of Lego Star Wars Planets was never released in the U.S. either.

And minifigure series 11 was not released in Northern Europe and Benelux.

I bought Laval Yesterday. A bit boring set, but some of the parts are great. Despite the chunkiness the chest armor is great, I'm working on a steampunk character using it. The printed parts and the new armor attachments are worth noting too. I just wish that the neon-orange shells would be dark red... But you can't get everything.

I doubt I will buy any other sets of this line. One new constraction set in three years is quite fine.

[DOTM Shockwave]

How does the new Chima torso piece compare to the torso build of the older Chima Ultrabuilds?

Also, can anyone do a side by side photo comparison as well?

[Karateduo1]

Interestingly, I went on Lego online customer service and put in my information as being in the U.S.A. and stated I wanted to buy parts from Chi Fangar. Much to my surprise, it worked and was in the database. I tried again with Mungus and it also worked.

While their head molds are N/A, most other parts are like Fluminox/Vardy wings and the new chest pieces.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Karateduo1

[Shakar]

How does the new Chima torso piece compare to the torso build of the older Chima Ultrabuilds?

Also, can anyone do a side by side photo comparison as well?

I made these in a rush so they might not be perfect (well, they aren't ):

Vardy with the new torso (just realized his printed shell is missing And sorry, Stormer stole the transparent hands)

Vardy with last year's torso shell+Super chest combo (yeah, it's all black..didn't have time to dig up pieces for a titanium metallic version

The two torso facing eachother. The new one is a bit longer, but the 2013 build is a wee bit wider in the chest area.

Hope these answer your questions.

[DOTM Shockwave]

I made these in a rush so they might not be perfect (well, they aren't ):

Vardy with the new torso (just realized his printed shell is missing And sorry, Stormer stole the transparent hands)

Vardy with last year's torso shell+Super chest combo (yeah, it's all black..didn't have time to dig up pieces for a titanium metallic version

The two torso facing eachother. The new one is a bit longer, but the 2013 build is a wee bit wider in the chest area.

Hope these answer your questions.

They do, thanks for the pics.

[Leewan]

Oh, this new part is big ! I didn't realize it on official and review pics.

[DraikNova]

The new piece looks a little more natural than the old one, funnily enough.

[VBBN]

Really I think the downside to this larger size is the profile shot of the armor. While it sticks out more than the previous combo, the mechanism for storing the zamor causes there to be a pretty big gap from the torso to the front of the chest section.

[Aanchir]

Really I think the downside to this larger size is the profile shot of the armor. While it sticks out more than the previous combo, the mechanism for storing the zamor causes there to be a pretty big gap from the torso to the front of the chest section.

I'm less bothered by that than by the lack of connection points. After all, the gap affects official sets more than MOCs, where you'd have plenty of options for ways to fill that space. But the lack of any useful connection points on the new torso shell disappoints me greatly. Feels like a step backward. Even the Ben 10 torso shell had some holes in the chest that could be used to connect things. This has the specialized chest cavity, the ball snap, and absolutely nothing else.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

I'm less bothered by that than by the lack of connection points. After all, the gap affects official sets more than MOCs, where you'd have plenty of options for ways to fill that space. But the lack of any useful connection points on the new torso shell disappoints me greatly. Feels like a step backward. Even the Ben 10 torso shell had some holes in the chest that could be used to connect things. This has the specialized chest cavity, the ball snap, and absolutely nothing else.

I agree, the lack of connection points is disappointing. However, I feel the zamor setup was used for sake of playability. The sets are ideally designed with kids in mind who probably want to re-enact fight scenes or make up their own in crash 'n bash play, hence the slightly simplified designs used. It could also be used in play as if an opponent made a punch so hard the Chi orb fell out. Just a suggestion of course.

[SmoothJazz]

Interestingly, I went on Lego online customer service and put in my information as being in the U.S.A. and stated I wanted to buy parts from Chi Fangar. Much to my surprise, it worked and was in the database. I tried again with Mungus and it also worked.

While their head molds are N/A, most other parts are like Fluminox/Vardy wings and the new chest pieces.

Interesting. I might just have to try that with the Brown and Dark Tan armor pieces. Does anyone know how much it might cost to buy parts in that way?

[DraikNova]

Well, for past orders, while I may have encountered some issues with the service, the prices are very reasonable: about 50 (euro)cents for some of the bones, but usually around 30 cents per piece or less. In my case, the shipping was also quite cheap.

Edited June 7, 2014 by DraikNova

[Shakar]

Yeah, I spent 5 Euro to ship the pieces here. You can find 99% of the pieces, even for slightly older sets (2011 for example).

If you want to buy pieces from licensed sets, though, you're out of luck. Lego isn't authorized to sell pieces that are related to other IPs. So, you won't be able to buy Loki or any of his pieces. Luckily there are some loopholes- his staff piece was introduced in that 2011 Egypt theme (forgot its name), which is Lego's IP, so you can buy it.

[VBBN]

I'm less bothered by that than by the lack of connection points. After all, the gap affects official sets more than MOCs, where you'd have plenty of options for ways to fill that space. But the lack of any useful connection points on the new torso shell disappoints me greatly. Feels like a step backward. Even the Ben 10 torso shell had some holes in the chest that could be used to connect things. This has the specialized chest cavity, the ball snap, and absolutely nothing else.

Yes that's a fair concern as well. Admittedly it is a very stylized piece as it is so I'm not really sure what else you'd want to place on, but I think it would have been better if it had holes in place of the large orb socket. The orb itself could have just been a section of the orb with two pins on the back, similar to the hero cores. (Actually that would be interesting to see, a hero core in place of the chi orb...)

[TheOneVeyronian]

I've noticed that, a week after the sets were made available online at S@H, I still haven't seen the combination building instructions for the Chima constraction sets anywhere on LEGO's site (neither on the microsite nor the Customer Service Building instructions download page), which I thought was a bit peculiar, and a bit of a shame as I'm eager to try the combo builds myself. I've just sent Customer Service an email on the off chance that they know anything about these combination instructions. I will post again when I get a reply

[TheOneVeyronian]

Sorry for the double post, but I got a reply from Customer Service about the combination building instructions. They said they were supposed to be uploaded by the end of last week, but that didn't happen. The assistant who replied to my email said she'd contact the people who out out the building instructions again, and she'd forward me a link to the instructions when they do have them available. Disappointing I guess, but at least it's a step in the right direction, it might just prompt them to put them out if they'd forgot about them

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Alas I revoke my previous statement of Mungus. I haven't picked up any of the sets (yet) but of all of them he has probably grown on me the most. He does look a bit unfinished compared to every other set but something about him just seems interesting. Maybe it's the head. Maybe the trans-limbs or that hammer. I dunno.

[TheOneVeyronian]

Good news! I logged into the UK Chima microsite this morning and found the combo building instructions for the constraction sets there!

CHI Laval / CHI Fluminox

CHI Cragger / CHI Fluminox

CHI Panthar / CHI Fluminox

CHI Mungus / CHI Sir Fangar

CHI Vardy / CHI Sir Fangar

CHI Fluminox / CHI Laval

CHI Sir Fangar / CHI Mungus

(note these are just the pages where the download can be found - not the downloads themselves. They all download and work fine for me)

Time for me to go buy another Sir Fangar and beef up Mungus I think

[bacem]

thanks for the news theonevexorian!. now, after looking at the instruction, i think their build is pretty interesting, considering they're an official combiner. and it seems sir fangar- mungus combiner uses stormer xl body build.

[Aanchir]

Cool beans. The CHI Cragger and CHI Panthar combi models are perhaps my favorites from these pics, though obviously unless I built them IRL I wouldn't know what they look like from all angles.

Speaking of which, I found out yesterday that I won CHI Panthar in BZPower's giveaway event on YouTube! Awesome! I would have preferred Laval or Cragger, who remain my favorites of the new sets, but beggars can't be choosers, and at least this will give me some cool new parts to fiddle around with.

[Aethersprite]

Cool beans. The CHI Cragger and CHI Panthar combi models are perhaps my favorites from these pics, though obviously unless I built them IRL I wouldn't know what they look like from all angles.

Speaking of which, I found out yesterday that I won CHI Panthar in BZPower's giveaway event on YouTube! Awesome! I would have preferred Laval or Cragger, who remain my favorites of the new sets, but beggars can't be choosers, and at least this will give me some cool new parts to fiddle around with.

Congratz! As I mentioned before, I love how complete it looks. I can't stop fiddling around with it and putting it in different poses, the opening jaw and articulated fingers and toes go a long way to make this character so expressive. He's easily one of my favorite constraction sets in recent memory!

[MakutaDreadscythe]

I would have to agree. Just got Panthar yesterday. In honesty I think he is a new benchmark for the CCBS. The figure for the most part looks complete and what hollow-ness there is is only in his legs, which is a necessity for articulation and as of yet has no solution. The chest is very impressive, having a lot of bulk with minimal weight. The toes, mouth and claw-arm add a level of expression that most other LEGO figures lack. The head as well is one of my favourite pieces. It's very stylised without looking out of place on a LEGO figure. Regardless of his lack of storyline significance or printed pieces, I highly recommend anyone that has access to this set to pick him up, even if they aren't a fan of the theme.

[Aanchir]

I would have to agree. Just got Panthar yesterday. In honesty I think he is a new benchmark for the CCBS. The figure for the most part looks complete and what hollow-ness there is is only in his legs, which is a necessity for articulation and as of yet has no solution. The chest is very impressive, having a lot of bulk with minimal weight. The toes, mouth and claw-arm add a level of exp<b></b>ression that most other LEGO figures lack. The head as well is one of my favourite pieces. It's very stylised without looking out of place on a LEGO figure. Regardless of his lack of storyline significance or printed pieces, I highly recommend anyone that has access to this set to pick him up, even if they aren't a fan of the theme.

Hmmm, maybe the set will surprise me with its quality, then. Personally, I don't find him quite as outstanding as Laval or Cragger from what I've seen in reviews. When the first wave of Chima constraction sets came out, I was impressed by how well-rounded they were. All the figs besides Eris and Razar had back armor of some sort, even if CHI Gorzan's was rather pitiful. Every fig was fully armored except for CHI Cragger, who left certain colored beams without armor for stylistic reasons. Moreover, CHI Gorzan had two articulated fists plus a club, while Laval and Worriz had not only a sword and a shield but also two articulated claws.

That's a big deal when no previous constraction set had been able to offer it. Raw-Jaw was the only Hero Factory figure that had ever boasted two articulated paws, but besides that had no weapons of any kind. Rocka XL, Pyrox, and Ogrum each had one articulated paw and one proper weapon. The Hulk had two giant fists with no articulation and no weapons. CHI Panthar and CHI Sir Fangar just return to what was standard for Rocka XL, Pyrox, Ogrum, and Frost Beast, and as such I'm not as thrilled with him as with CHI Laval (who manages to maintain the complexity of last year's version, albeit with one-piece claws instead of two-piece claws).

Now, CHI Panthar does have some cool traits going for him, like having a single energized Warm Gold and Tr. Fluore. Reddish-Orange arm rather than using those colors evenly throughout his build. I like this kind of asymmetry a great deal. Unfortunately, that also reduces his usefulness as a parts pack — unlike CHI Laval or CHI Cragger, he boasts just one Warm Gold shell detail, and just one of each size of Tr. Fluore. Reddish-Orange beam. Those two beams and the Chi orb are the set's only new recolors, and it also boasts no Dark Red shells or printed shells. He's still a very cool set — the only constraction set ever to feature articulated toes, if I'm not mistaken — just not my favorite and maybe not the most useful to me as a MOCist.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Aanchir