Review: 70126 Crocodile Legend Beast

Posted by Huw, 20 Dec 2013 09:38

The third of five Legend Beast I'll take a look at is the crocodile.

It seems that one of the tribes, the ravens, has been dropped from the Chima universe this year. Is the reason given in the cartoons? Perhaps they've just been retired for a while...

Whatever the reason, we have just five Legend Beasts this time round and this is the first proper quadruped I've reviewed. It should therefore be chock-a-block with new micro-joints...

The box is much the same as the others so I won't dwell on it. The parts selection however, is well worth dwelling on. In addition to the new joints there are eight of the new tooth piece and new 1x2 plates with three claws on. All these new tooth/claw/beak parts seem extravagant but of course LEGO is making more and more creatures, beasts and soon, Mixels, so they are obviously justified. There are plenty of olive green parts, too.

The eyes and tongue are printed.

The minifig is the same Cragger as in found in 2013 sets and this is my only criticism of the Beast sets: new versions of the characters would have been much better.

The croc's body is neatly articulated using the old-school 2x4 plate hinges. As well as being used for its claws, the new three-tooth pieces are used to good effect to form the ridges on its back.

Underneath you can see how the legs are articulated. The placement of the boat stud in the middle is a bit of a mystery because it just serves to make the body unstable when on a flat surface.

Cragger can ride on its back, as you'd expect.

And here are it's teeth in all their glory!

This then is another very satisfying Legend Beast, and apart from the minifig re-use issue, I have no complaints. MOCers will find much to like about it, what with the new parts and olive green, although it does contain only two of the four types of micro-joint.

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18 comments on this article

By Vector_C_ in United States, 20 Dec 2013 10:16

According to the cartoon, the premise for the 2014 wave is that one warrior from each tribe of the eight main tribes is heading out into the outlands (this dangerous place filled with green mist) to rescue the legend beasts who have been captured by the spiders, bats, and scorpions. Razar (the warrior from the Ravens) is supposed to be heading out with the rest of them, so unless he drops out in the season 2 premier, I'm not see why he isn't in the wave.

By SirBrickalotOfLego in United Kingdom, 20 Dec 2013 10:45

Wow... I'm in love with these sets!

By Aanchir in Canada, 20 Dec 2013 11:26

Beautiful parts and a beautiful set. Incidentally, for those keeping track of price-per-piece, this one has the highest piece count out of all of the Legend Beasts. There have been a lot of complaints about the Legend Beasts being awkward and blocky (it's startling how many people would prefer giant molded animals to something you can actually build), but there's really no reason to complain about this one. It's actually MORE streamlined and organic in its design than the classic LEGO System crocodile!

The minifigures being reused isn't the kind of thing that would bother me. I love the 2013 designs, and since I really didn't consider any of the 2013 sets "must-haves", under normal conditions I'd love getting the classic, familiar designs in these sets. Of course, as luck would have it, my twin brother was much more into Chima this year than I was, and between the freebie sets we got at Brickfair Virginia and the sets he deliberately picked out on shopping or Christmas lists, we're definitely going to have all six of last year's main character figs by the time these sets start to become available over here in the States. Ah, well! Duplicates aren't the end of the world — I'm sure I can find somebody who wants them, if I don't decide to keep them myself.

It's entirely possible that the wolves and ravens will have a bigger role in the summer sets. After all, 70127 Wolf Legend Beast is the only set this wave to have Worriz, but I'm confident that he will be getting a new costume for the regular-size playsets just like Laval, Eris, Gorzan, and Cragger did this wave. I'll be very happy if there are new Legend Beasts in the summer sets! And if not, these sets provide plenty of useful parts so MOCists can fill in the gaps themselves.

By meclo in Canada, 20 Dec 2013 12:21

I haven't purchased any of the Chima sets (apart from a couple of the polybags I was lucky enough to nab at TRU), but these Legend Beast sets are must-haves for me. I love all of the minifigs that I've seen in this theme but I can't justify buying the (existing) sets on 'figs alone...but these Beast sets are fantastic and I'll definitely be picking up all 5 of them, and hoping for more in the summer wave.

Thanks for the reviews Huw!

By shaase in Canada, 20 Dec 2013 12:28

Huw I hope Lego is paying you a finders fee. I didn't think much of this series originally but after seeing the Eagle and Croc I may have to buy these. The new joint/socket pieces are going to be very useful in MOCs

By Cult_Of_Skaro in Austria, 20 Dec 2013 12:39

I wonder if the printed mouth/eye pieces in these are a gift to AFOLs, so you can have a face for your Legends beast without having to use stickers.

By The_Creator in United States, 20 Dec 2013 13:37

Oo, nice collection of pieces and a good price-per-piece ratio - probably going to end up getting this one for parts also, although not as high on my list as the other two Legends beasts already reviewed.

By Lordmoral in Puerto Rico, 20 Dec 2013 13:38

This crocodile is going to my Jurassic Park MOC.

By Aanchir in Canada, 20 Dec 2013 14:46

@Cult_Of_Skaro Actually, sets that use prints instead of stickers are usually a gift to young kids, not AFOLs. After all, Technic has used stickers since 1978, and Exo-Force had a wealth of stickers that were even NUMBERED, like you might find in an advanced Gundam model kit. These sets were targeted at an audience that is expected to be "grown up" enough to apply their own stickers. In contrast, very young-kid-oriented themes like Cars, Toy Story, Jack Stone, and 4+ had LOADS of printed parts even for extremely specialized decorations, and used stickers quite sparingly.

I can easily understand the mentality behind this. When I was very young I would always have my dad apply the stickers to my sets for me. It wasn't until I grew older that I was able to apply stickers on my own (and ever since, stickers have just been another part of the building process to me). The LEGO Group knows young kids will want to play with a set as soon as or even before they've finished building, and might not want to wait for a parent to be available to apply the stickers for them. So things like faces that make a critical difference in a character seeming lifelike or recognizable will be printed.

The modular buildings SEEM to be an exception to this, until you realize that they don't tend to have a lot of unique prints either. So in those sets it's less about "AFOLs prefer printing to stickers" and more about "these sets are about creating detail with bricks, not creating detail with decorations". The Palace Cinema, the first of the modular buildings that really NEEDED a lot of non-brick-built decorations, went ahead and used stickers for the more specialized decorations, as is the norm in other themes.

By Bezter in United States, 20 Dec 2013 16:04

In the second episode of the cartoon, they talked about the legend beasts. They also had a clip that showed the legend beasts walking away into the distance, because the didn't want to become like the other chima animals. In the shot, you see a wolf, a crocodile, an eagle, a gorilla, and of course, a lion. You do not see, however, a raven. It could be that there is no raven legend beast, because all the ravens turned into the chima version. Or it could be that there never was a raven legend beast, but that wouldn't make sense because all the chima animals evolved from the legend beasts doe to contact with chi. Hopefully we will find out in the next series.

I also agree with Aanchir when he says the ravens may have a bigger role in the summer sets. But I don't think they would just have one legend beast to go along with it.

Anyway, good review Huw!

By lego613master in United States, 20 Dec 2013 16:36

^Maybe Ravens end up to be mutated Eagles? :P Just another theory.

By Falcon_Knight in United States, 20 Dec 2013 19:20

@Vector C
The Rhinos and Bears don't have their own beasts, so maybe there'll be another wave

By Zordboy in Australia, 21 Dec 2013 05:24

I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I still really don't like these sets. I don't know why, but I'm just not a fan. They don't look good to me at all.