I really liked the idea of the Ice Age-themed tribes, I just hated the zombie gimmick. Like, was that super-necessary?

@MCLegoboy said:
"I wonder how many of these translucent parts still have their clips in tact because this was before the recent change in formula for translucent parts. I know I would be incredibly frustrated if the claws and the palm fronds couldn't be used like that anymore."

Yeah, when I saw the picture, I was like, Ooh! Transparent leaves!" But yeah, that's a possibility, especially since one of them can't be put into place by just sliding it down the bar.

Chima sets both went hard and looked ridiculous in any context

Frozen pot leaves are nice, though

There's something very unfinished looking about all those exposed technic parts. Looks like its all part of a mechanism to reveal a laser cannon in the jaws but still could have been dressed up a bit better

I never really followed the story after the first few episodes but Cragger was the main enemy in all this, was he not? Suppose they went with Lord Garmadon becoming an ally route on this one.

Set designs like this are why I couldn't really get into Chima. This was a very big (and therefore both expensive and space-consuming) vehicle remotely resembling an animal that's mostly technic frame and such a huge empasis on weapons of war that it loses most charm an animal-themed vehicle could have. The design is also quite busy.

There were a lot of nicer vehicles in the line (Eris' Eagle Interceptor for example) but a lot of sets didn't really do it for me for that reason. Arguably it's actually more about the great minifigs, but I personally don't see sets as gatekeepers of minifigures. They're sets and the figs are only a part of what makes them sets.

All that said... I miss themes like Chima. And I don't mean Ninjago, which is immortal now so I can't exactly miss it.

Anyway, this one has some cool parts. Those half dark green half orange spikes are either exclusive to this set, or very very rare. I've never noticed them elsewhere. The trans blue leaves are cool (pun intended) too. And that olive green is always really nice to have for landscaping.

@Jack_Rizzo said:
" @Jack_Sassy said:
"I never really followed the story after the first few episodes but Cragger was the main enemy in all this, was he not? Suppose they went with Lord Garmadon becoming an ally route on this one."

If I remember correctly, Cragger was being mind-controlled by his sister, and broke free at the end of the first year, to become one of the heroes. Year two's villains were creepy crawlies, and year three's villains were ice age zombies."

It was dumber than that. First, he took dru- I mean chi at too young an age and it gave him an addiction to power. He was then legitimately at odds wirh Laval and manipulated by his sister Crooler to act on it. The reason was dumb too: he lost his parents to a bottomless pit because he cut the rope holding them out in anger but blamed Laval. Then Crooler's manipulations became ineffective so he was mind-controlled. Then the mind control plant ran out. But he was put in a forced trance when the plant was thrown in a fire by Crooler that made him crave power all on his own. So now not even Crooler could reel him in. Finally, Cragger just sort of realized the error of his ways when he learned the pit was not bottomless and his parents were alive. After that he became a permanent ally. Crooler was just sort of put in a timeout and nobody trusted her anymore I guess.

@Crux said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I wonder how many of these translucent parts still have their clips in tact because this was before the recent change in formula for translucent parts. I know I would be incredibly frustrated if the claws and the palm fronds couldn't be used like that anymore."

It's true that the old transparent parts were more rigid, and therefore more prone to snap - but they were still pretty durable. For finer detail and more pliant small parts such as clips, we are better off with the newer material, but the old stuff should still be plenty servicable.

It's not old transparent parts you should be worried about - it's brittle brown and dark red that should keep you up at night."

No, there definitely were problems with early parts using the new homogenized C-clip design, where the clip had just a bit too much clutch, and was prone to cracking off one tine or the other if left attached to a bar that was just _slightly_ too large a diameter. I remember being all excited about being able to switch to C-clips for sideview mirrors on some of my vehicles (box trucks, Routemaster bus), only for them to start breaking within the first year after the swap. I think they changed materials used for C-clip elements, though, as I've never encountered that problem again with later runs. The trick here is that these are transparent plastic, which may not have the same issue as whatever (probably ABS) was used for the opaque parts that I had break so quickly.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Crux said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I wonder how many of these translucent parts still have their clips in tact because this was before the recent change in formula for translucent parts. I know I would be incredibly frustrated if the claws and the palm fronds couldn't be used like that anymore."

It's true that the old transparent parts were more rigid, and therefore more prone to snap - but they were still pretty durable. For finer detail and more pliant small parts such as clips, we are better off with the newer material, but the old stuff should still be plenty servicable.

It's not old transparent parts you should be worried about - it's brittle brown and dark red that should keep you up at night."

No, there definitely were problems with early parts using the new homogenized C-clip design, where the clip had just a bit too much clutch, and was prone to cracking off one tine or the other if left attached to a bar that was just _slightly_ too large a diameter. I remember being all excited about being able to switch to C-clips for sideview mirrors on some of my vehicles (box trucks, Routemaster bus), only for them to start breaking within the first year after the swap. I think they changed materials used for C-clip elements, though, as I've never encountered that problem again with later runs. The trick here is that these are transparent plastic, which may not have the same issue as whatever (probably ABS) was used for the opaque parts that I had break so quickly."

All my trans blue claws from 70141 are still completely fine.

@Binnekamp said:
"It was dumber than that."

You nailed it. The Chima TV show was not a masterpiece, even by the standards of its genre.