Review: 70102 CHI Waterfall
Posted by DrDaveWatford,
OK - here we go with the next in our series of Brickset Legends of Chima reviews...
When Huw sent a message to the Brickset staff informing us that LEGO were sending some Legend of Chima sets for us to review I figured it’d be pretty straightforward, so I offered to help. And then Legends of Chima Set 70102 CHI Waterfall arrived in the post and I started to wonder what I’d let myself in for...
I freely admit I had no idea what it was when it arrived; indeed, had it not been for the LEGO logo on the box I might not initially even have recognised it as LEGO at all. The packaging (below) basically consists of a cardboard backing with all components (parts, instruction booklet etc.) sealed in a moulded, transparent plastic shell.
I initially thought I’d have to face the personal horror of completely destroying the packaging in order to gain access to the contents, but thankfully it wasn’t quite that drastic. The rear of the packaging has perforations which, if you cut or tear along them, allow you to access most of the contents. Not all, unfortunately – I did need to take a craft knife to the lower corner to release the element with the flywheel and the printed orange flywheel cover from the packaging, and you can see the results below....
You can see the package contents below laid out for your inspection – 2 sealed bags of parts, the flywheel element plus orange cover, a ripcord, an instruction booklet and a pack of cards.
You get 5 cards with the set (below). Each card features a large central picture of a Legends of Chima character plus a bunch of stats covering a number of different ‘Battle Powers’ – Instinct, Speed, Courage and Strength. The values assigned to each of these attributes vary from card to card. I’m assuming that each of the Speedorz sets will come with a different set of cards.
The cover of the instruction booklet (below) features the same action picture as the front of the packaging, plus a cartoon close-up of the set’s solitary minifigure from the neck up. Apart from the actual building instructions, a fair few pages are devoted to providing information about the cards, an inventory of parts (below), the obligatory LEGO survey and other stuff.
Although the set only contains 106 pieces, there are nevertheless a few parts of interest worth mentioning including those in the picture below. Aside from the new LEGO flywheel element and the orange flywheel cover, I assume that the ripcord is new, as are the bright light orange double cheese slope and 3 x 1 curve slope without studs. The trans blue crystal is also a first, I believe, and there are 6 of them in this set.
Brickset staff member atkinsar has already commented on the quality of the Legend of Chima minifigs in his review of Set 70004 Wakz’ Pack Tracker and I have to say the quality is maintained in this set. The set contains just one minifig, Leonidas (pictures below), but he’s great - nicely detailed, and featuring a bare-chested, gold-detailed torso with back-printing and printed legs. He has a standard-sized reversible minifig head, over which fits a headpiece giving him his goofy expression and a shock of bright orange hair making up his mane.
Once you’ve assembled Leonidas you need to build his vehicle, which is I assume called a Speedorz (or maybe a Speedor….). This consists of the flywheel element, the printed orange cover and a couple of rudimentary rocket boosters which attach to the rear. The cover attaches to the flywheel element by means of a couple of Technic pins; beware that you’ll need to sit Leonidas in his seat before you drop the cover on, otherwise you won’t be able to squeeze his legs in underneath. You can see Leonidas in his Speedorz below.
Next to build is the gantry (below) complete with a rather neat brick-built lion head. The two supporting pillars are connected by axles, from which a pendulum-like structure hangs. On top of the pendulum is a blue plate, and sitting on the plate is a blue Zamor sphere. When the red 2 x 2 round bricks at the bottom of the pendulum are touched the pendulum swings; hit the pendulum hard enough and it’ll swing sufficiently to dislodge the ball.
As you’ll no doubt have guessed by now, this is not your average LEGO set. Part construction set and part action toy, putting the set together is only the start of the fun…. Thread the ripcord into the slot in the Speedorz alongside the flywheel and feed it in as far as it’ll go, then pull the ripcord as hard as you can; the flywheel starts to spin at an insane speed, and when you put the Speedorz on a (non-carpeted) floor it will shoot across the floor like a rocket.
To play the game itself you’ll need an opponent who has their own Speedorz; set up the gantry, and then both players simultaneously unleash their Speedorz towards the gantry from opposite directions in an attempt to be the first to hit the pendulum hanging from the gantry and dislodge the Zamor sphere. Game instructions are provided by way of a series of pictures in the instruction booklet; so far as I can tell, the player who dislodges the sphere draws a card from the pile and picks one of the Battle Power stats from the card. The other player picks the next card and the scores for the chosen Battle Power are compared; the player with the highest score wins 2 of the transparent blue crystals. The gantry is then reset, and the race to the gantry is then repeated; the first player to win 6 crystals is the winner.
I’m clearly not the target audience for this set, but I can imagine that anyone who loved the Ninjago Spinner sets will lap these up. Making the Speedorz zoom about is fun, and the minifig is great. Even the price - £9.99/$14.99 - seems reasonable. The only downside is probably the fact that you need two Speedorz to play the game, and you only get one in each set….
Thanks to Kim at LEGO for sending us the set to review.
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12 comments on this article
An interesting set, with a surprisingly good parts selection by the look of it. The price also seems much more reasonable than the Ninjago spinners were, I suppose the spinner itself in those packs must have been a significant contributor to the cost whereas the ripcord and flywheel included here were probably not as expensive to produce. Thanks for the review DrDave.
Great little set but ill probably only buy the playsets if I buy any.
This has stepped too close to generic toy aisle for me, never the less it is an excellent review dave.
If you had starter set 1, you would have received 2 speedorz but set 2 - 6 only have one, hence their lower price points.
These aren't a bad deal at all, actually. I won't be getting one, but these are a much more reasonable price (and are cooler) than the Ninjago spinners.
@Huw: The ad thing has happened to me too, possibly when I'm logged in, though I can't confirm that ATM. I was worried that you were selling out to money!
Excellent review, Dr. D. Your thoroughness and clarity will help me grasp what all the giddy squealing is about.
Great review. I like the concept of the Speedorz (yes, the singular seems to be Speedor, and it's pronounced just "Speeders" or "Speeder"... weird, I know). Unlike the Ninjago spinners which were mostly identical in function aside from the different gameplay rules the cards imposed, each Speedorz set has unique gameplay. And what's more, the gameplay function can easily be enjoyed independently, unlike Ninjago spinners which were mostly only used competitively except in the Skeleton Bowling set.
The flywheel element is nice and compact, and the covers (although specialized) have a substantial number of connection points for use in MOCs.
Now for the negative point that this review doesn't really mention but which the pics call attention to-- look how awful the names of the cards are! All of them bizarrely mangled words, as far as I can tell. I much preferred the names of the Ninjago cards, even though the advantage here is obvious: these made-up terms don't need to be translated from country to country, nor in fact do any of the card contents.
I also have to say the card illustrations don't seem nearly as appealing to me as Ninjago card illustrations are. Perhaps that's partly because for some reason Leonidas's dopey look has been reimagined into a bizarre slasher smile that is repeated across every one... but then, that's hardly the only thing repetitive about these illustrations compared to the more imaginative Ninjago card art.
So overall, nice parts and the set seems fun to play with, but the cards are a huge disappointment.
1: Leonidas looks drunk, quite bluntly. Even more so on the cards.
2: I would've liked to see more focus on the waterfall, instead of just including a scrawny-looking one.
Leonidas? "THIS IS CHIMA!!!"
I don't like Leonidas face, it looks like he's dumb founded or something
In India chi means waste also great review