LEGO: Legends of Chima: 70134: Lavertus' Outland Base

Pieces: 684

Release Year: 2014

Price: US $59.99

Box/Instructions

The box is a standard size that you would expect a set in the near 700 piece range to be. The pictures and visuals on the box are great as expected with LEGO Chima sets. The front of the box shows an action shot of the base and all the characters but leaves our the included plant trap. You also get a close-up of each of the minifigures on the front. The back of the box shows some more detail into the set and some of its play functions.

The instructions come in two booklets. The first one being smaller where the two vehicles are made and the second being for the construction of the base. They both have great quality as has become the norm for all LEGO instruction manuals.

Overall: 4/5 Great quality, standard for LEGO sets

Parts

The set come with some unique parts that I imagine were created for Chima. Some parts are also utilized here that are hard to get other places. The set has a good selection of pieces, but does not have signature pieces that cannot be collected elsewhere.

Overall: 4/5 good selection of pieces, some harder to find, but none rare

Minifigures

Like most Chima sets the minifigures are the draw for me.

Lavertus: Appears in one other set (70129) but is unique in this set because he has a different set of armor here. Still being one of the more unique figures in Chima gives an added value to the set overall. However, the other set you can get Lavertus in is $19.99 and has a truly unique figure in that set. However, Lavertus is a stunning figure. His clothes are tattered since he has been exiled to the jungle from the lion tribe to fend for his own. The level of detail on him is astounding. He is also has a darker tinted fur color than the other lions which makes him stand out.

Laval: Appears in 8 total sets in his various forms but is unique to this one with the armor that he wears and that is printed on his chest. The printing on his chest is of some new silver armor, thus making him unique to this set. If you want a complete Chima collection he would be required, but if your just interested in one of each character than the difference is small.

Sparratus: Shows up in 3 other sets (30263, 70130, and 70138) all being much cheaper in price when compared with this set. Still Sparratus is a great minifigure and will add to any collection. The level of detail on the minifigure is great as mentioned above.

Blista: Is in 1 other set (70137) which is alot cheaper than this set. He is one of the two bat tribe characters available to collect and is worth it! He stands out with his light purple color and black wings. Worth it to collect.

Overall: 4/5 Chima minifigures are great overall, but without the inclusion of a truly unique figure you can collect all the minifigures in cheaper sets while collecting other truly unique figures. Thus that makes this set not a need to collect if you aren't looking to collect on of each.

The Build

The two vechicle builds were very interesting. Both have not appeared in any other set and the spider half track vehicle was very fun ad interesting to build. The base however had alot of repetition. The two sides that stem off from the middle are mirror images pretty much all the way until the turret guns. A neat technique was used with the three sided helicopter rotors to get the angles of the walls which I thought was very ingenius. Other than that though the build was pretty straightforward and not complicated.

Stickers: The set comes with two sticker sheets. One mostly applies to the base and the lion bike, while the other is for the darker spider half track. One thing I did appreciate is that the three control panels (1 for lion bike, 2 for spider half track) were printed panels and not sticker ones.

Overall: 4/5 some interesting techniques, but alot of repetition in the base, the uniqueness of the vehicles is what saved the grade here

The Completed Model

The playability with the set is quite high. The set comes with 4 minifigures with 2 'good guys,' and 2 'bad guys.' Thus allowing for alot of play. It even comes with two vehicles that the figures can go into. The base allows the outside walls to fold back for easier storage. There are multiple functioning parts to the set. It also looks decent on a shelf. The addition of the cart and the plant were something I thought could have been omitted. I would have rather seen those parts go into making the overall base more complex and appealing.

Overall: 3/5 The base is ok at best, but the vehicles again save the grade, but since they are a small part to the set can only do so much.

Price

Price for this set is US $59.99. Piece count is 684 with 4 minifigures.

Price-per-piece: $0.088. This is under my typical $0.10 benchmark I hold for all LEGO sets and is actually one of the better ratios in the Chima line. The fact that Chima is LEGO owned and not licensed helps keep the P/P down. Thus this set is at shelf price a good buy.

Counting in Minifigures: 2 Minifigures (6 pieces)(legs, torso, head, helmet, armor, and chi), 1 Minifigure (4 pieces)(legs, torso, head, and helmet), and 1 Minifigure (10 pieces)(legs, torso, head, helmet, armor, chi, clips X2, and wings X2). I count a minifigure at $3.00. Thus the rest of the set would come out to $47.99 at 658 pieces. Price-per-piece: $0.073 which is great in any case.

Overall: 5/5 not too often you get in the under $0.09 P/P for shelf price.

Overall Opinion

The set lacks uniqueness that makes it stand out and something people want to buy because it has something the other LEGO sets do not. I believe it is a ToysRUs exclusive and that is why I think it lacks uniqueness. It does in a sense, but all the minifigures (which is usually the main reason towards a sets uniqueness) can be collected in other cheaper sets. Thus I recommend this set to those who really want to collect all the sets they can, but for those who don't have to have every set, I would recommend the other sets that these minifigures can be found in.

Overall: 4/5 higher score than what I would expect, but the price is right, the minifigures are unique, but to a certain extent, and the vehicles are nice. But this is a set someone can pass on and still be ok.