[Review] 70005 Laval's Royal Fighter (Chima)

[Meiko]

Since TCW hasn't launched a review branch yet and I got my first Chima set the other day, I'm gonna share it with you here (in a minimalist form).

 

Here would be set 70005 Laval's Royal Fighter, the largest of Lion vehicles in the first wave of Chima.

 

 

And the back of the box:

 

The box is nice. Nothing too special, but it is really thin compared to other boxes with similar amounts of contents. I noticed this when I first opened the box, and later had to try to fit the unopened bags back into the box. LEGO seems to be conserving a lot of space this year in their boxes.

 

Now for the minifigs:

 

 

 

The set has three good minifigures included: Laval, Longtooth, and Crawley. Laval of course is the young lion prince, and the main character in the Chima series. Longtooth is personally one of my favorite characters in the series. His minifig overall is gorgeous, and his character in the TV series is just as awesome. Crawley isn't very special story-wise, but his minifig is very cool nonetheless. The olive green color is very nice—this being my first set with it, and hist printing is also top-notch.

 

Now to the set!

 

End of bag 1. Nothing special:

 

 

End of bag 2. Finishing the chassis:

 

 

End of bag 3. The head is amazing. Much better designed to look like a lion head with fewer pieces than anything I could have designed. The flame yellowish orange color is great for the lions, and this set is a great way to get your hands on some useful pieces in that color.

 

 

And now the finished model:

 

 

The set turns out very nice when complete. It doesn't have a real 'action' feature, but the features it does have are quite nice. It has a raising turret for Laval to ride in (which also rotates and can aim up and down), a working jaw for the vehicle to nom on some crocs, and of course treads!

 

Front:

 

 

Back:

 

 

Top:

 

 

For Chima!

Closing thoughts:

 

Pros:

• Great minifigs
• Lots of useful Flame Yellowish Orange pieces
• Great-looking set overall

Cons:

• Just a tad bit pricey, but not too much for it to not be worth the money.

Edited January 22, 2013 by Meiko

[Creep Of The Deep]

I have to say, the Chima minifigures sure look ugly without the headgear. But otherwise they look fantastic. Laval's Royal Fighter looks really nice, but I would have liked if Crawley had a vehicle of his own.

[dotcom]

I'm rather conflicted on this set.The vehicle itself doesn't look very great. The head construction is fairly good (though I don't like it as much as the one on the Lion Attacker) but the frame it's put on looks very bare and just generally unappealing. The back is just...what is even the back. The whole thing looks incomplete.On the other hand, this is the cheaper way to get Laval, Longtooth and Crawley ($40 as opposed to $54-65) and although Laval is probably my least favorite character and minifigure in the entire theme, Longtooth and Crawley are both pretty cool even if neither is amazing.It's an at-best okay-looking set with minifigures I need but don't really NEED. I'm much more interested in getting the three other $40 Chima sets than this one. (especially Equila's Tequila Striker, the more overpriced but better other tank of the theme.) That being said, the completionist in me will probably still want to get it...

[Meiko]

I have to say, the Chima minifigures sure look ugly without the headgear. But otherwise they look fantastic. Laval's Royal Fighter looks really nice, but I would have liked if Crawley had a vehicle of his own.

Yeah, I thought the same thing after I posted this. He really doesn't stand much chance in a battle against that tank.

 

 

 

I'm rather conflicted on this set.The vehicle itself doesn't look very great. The head construction is fairly good (though I don't like it as much as the one on the Lion Attacker) but the frame it's put on looks very bare and just generally unappealing. The back is just...what is even the back. The whole thing looks incomplete.On the other hand, this is the cheaper way to get Laval, Longtooth and Crawley ($40 as opposed to $54-65) and although Laval is probably my least favorite character and minifigure in the entire theme, Longtooth and Crawley are both pretty cool even if neither is amazing.It's an at-best okay-looking set with minifigures I need but don't really NEED. I'm much more interested in getting the three other $40 Chima sets than this one. (especially Equila's Tequila Striker, the more overpriced but better other tank of the theme.) That being said, the completionist in me will probably still want to get it...

I think it looks 'complete' enough. It's certainly a lot more lightweight-looking than Equila's Ultra Striker, but it's certainly enough to be an armored vehicle able to go into a battle, which is what it's supposed to be. We haven't really seen much of it in the show, so it's hard to judge what it really does in a battle. I assume it has the ability to go quickly and sustain most types of blasts, from how it appears in the set.

[Lyichir]

I have to say, the Chima minifigures sure look ugly without the headgear. But otherwise they look fantastic. Laval's Royal Fighter looks really nice, but I would have liked if Crawley had a vehicle of his own.

Laval looks ADORABLE without his headgear. In fact, I hope his headgear gets released with a different print matching his innocent little smile. It looks better than the smirk he has on the headgear, in my opinion.And Meiko, Aanchir and I would be happy to give you some pointers for future reviews in private some time. Your photography and staging could use a little work.

[Meiko]

And Meiko, Aanchir and I would be happy to give you some pointers for future reviews in private some time. Your photography and staging could use a little work.

I know how to do a good review; I just didn't really want to do that much for this, since I didn't have much time, I had already built the set, and it didn't really need anything more than I have here. All this is doing is sharing my opinions on the set, in case anybody wanted to see it. Photos wouldn't have even been necessary—in fact, I've seen multiple BZPower user reviews without them.

[Elemental Ussal]

Not a bad set. I'm not all that interested in Chima. It doesn't really appeal to me. The head of the lion on front is by far the best thing included. I probably wouldn't buy the set. The minifigs look about 20 times better with their armor on.