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    Discuss This Story ReviewWednesday, April 30th, 2014 at 7:26pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager
    [Source: Nuju Metru]

    Today is the last day of Chima Month (although not the last day of Chima content you'll see!) and we've got another set review for you all. Forum Assistant Nuju Metru takes a stab at 70132 Scorm's Scorpion Stinger, weighing its pros and cons. If you want to find out if this is a set for you, read on!

    Hey guys, and welcome to the BZPower review of set 70132 Scorm's Scorpion Stinger from the Legends of Chima line! As always, I'd like to thank TLG for giving us at BZP free stuff, and thank Andrew for passing some of it on to me. Read on to see my thoughts - captured for you in both a video and BZPower's traditional text/image format - on this model. Is this scorpion worth snagging with your pincers, or is it better left alone? We'll find out!

    Presentation
    From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.

    70132 Scorm

    The front of 70132's box is nothing really different from the other boxes of the Legends of Chima sets of this line (for more in-depth descriptions of those - which are probably rendered obsolete by the pictures, anyway - see some of our other recent reviews). The old blue is now accented with green; the usual oversized eyes in the corner are Scorm's. Something a little odd and different about the header on this set is that the shadowy side of Scorm's face dissolves into scorpion silhouettes. Creepy!

    The Scorpion Stinger itself pops out of the middle of the box - spurning things as trivial as box borders - intent on turning our leonine and crocodilian heroes into armored road kill. An old timey Zamor Sphere, aimed pretty poorly by Scorm, shoots far above the heads of the heroes from the stinger-tail of the oncoming vehicle. In the bottom left corner are detailed/isolated looks at the set's characters.

    70132 Scorm

    The rear of the box highlights 70132's play features, including the aforementioned sphere launcher (which, we're loudly informed, comes with five shots), pinching claws, and an opening canopy. We also get a secondary action vignette, which looks a whole lot like the box front's image (only this time, the sphere is aimed better) and an advertisement for Legends of Chima Online.

    Building
    Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?

    70132 came together at a nice pace, and considering its price point, with satisfactory complexity. The frame of the set was more Technic than I expected, and due to the dominance of this system, many parts of the build involved constructing and then attaching discrete modules, like the head, front wheels, or sphere holders, to the core of the set. Something I didn't like about the build was that it indicated where stickers should be put on after the sticker-bearing parts were already attached to the model, which was inconvenient sometimes. There were a lot of stickers.

    For the most part, 70132 comes out stable. The only exceptions to this are the front eyes and pincers, which aren't really attached to anything but each other; there's no security at the top of this 1x2 section, but this didn't prove to be a problem. The way that the claw snapping function was wrought was nice to discover through the build, but aside from it, there weren't many surprises.

    There's not a ton to say about the build. There's more to say about the product itself, so let's move onto that.

    Set Design
    Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.

    70132 comes with several interesting parts. Since many of these are interesting by virtue of their dark brown color, I've separated those from the rest. Parts are described roughly from left to right.

    70132 Scorm

    The dark brown assortment:

    • The 1x2 rounded slope is, I believe, new in dark brown;
    • I think the same is true for the 2x4 rounded slope,
    • The 4x4 wedge slope,
    • The "Cars" hood piece,
    • And the 2x2 round plate.
    • The 2x2 corner slope isn't new, but it's also dark brown;
    • And, lastly, the spider leg/scorpion tail is dark brown and a new mold for the theme.

    70132 Scorm

    Other interesting parts include:

    • A 3x3 dish, which I think is new in silver;
    • Metallic spines (not new, but always good to have more of);
    • A big, and I think new, hexagonally-spoked wheel, with bar-sized holes along the perimeter;
    • The LoC lion sword part is new in black;
    • Scorm's helmet and body armor (at the back of which is a plus-axle attachment point extending perpendicularly from the minifig body) are new molds, with the latter being available only in this set, and the former exclusive in this color and print;
    • A 5-long plus axle with stopper pin in dark tan, which I think is a new mold;
    • And, finally, the new multidirectional brick with firearm-esque handle.

    70132 Scorm 70132 Scorm 70132 Scorm

    70132 includes three minifigures: Scorm (obviously), revamped Laval, and revamped Cragger. All three figures are, at their bases, typical LoC figures: they have animal head helmets over similarly printed minifig heads, body armor - adorned with trans-blue 1x1 round Chi tiles - over finely printed, double-sided torsos, all on top of legs with front and foot printing. Laval and Cragger are as we've always known them, but given new matching armor.

    Scorm is the really interesting minifigure for this set. He's an exclusive character, and looks the part. Dominantly black and gold, with some green diamond accents and intricate armor printing across his whole body, Scorm is as regal as he's menacing. The top of his helmet is adorned with a really nifty scorpion design (which I now realize I neglected to photograph...). The new torso armor part is pretty excellent, gold with broad shoulder plates. I only wish that the attachment point for Scorm's tail were less bulky; I'd really love to have used this armor on a non-Chima figure.

    70132 Scorm

    But the minifigures of 70132 don't come as nakedly as we examined at them above. Rather, the figs in this set are burdened with enough gear to equip a small army. Cragger carries a hefty (read as: unwieldy) laser bow that he can't stand with unless he balances on it, and Laval is armed with his oversized sword, a heavy shield, and a pair of grenades, all of which actually weigh him down in enough different directions to let him stand on his feet. Scorm outdoes them both by being armed - according to the instruction book, this wasn't my choice - with two cannons that, unless he uses them as crutches, he can't stand while holding. These are eventually attached to the Scorpion Stinger.

    70132 Scorm

    Laval and Cragger, though, don't look ridiculously over-armed when set against the finished Scorpion Stinger. They look positively outmatched - ridiculously over prepared though they may be - in the face of the imposing, venomous vehicle. Verily, victory is vain against villains' venomous vehicles. England prevails. Er, what?

    70132 Scorm 70132 Scorm 70132 Scorm

    The Scorpion Stinger is aptly named. With forward-facing claws, an arcing tail, several "eyes," pincers, and a triangular carapace, the only thing really missing here are skittering legs, which have been replaced on this scorpion by three wheels (the big one we looked at earlier makes an appearance in the back). There's a well-wrought sense of flow in the dark brown armor plates, especially in the "Cars" hood parts, which are very cleverly used to give the Scorpion a burly carapace, and the 2x2 corner slopes that angle down in front. The stickers on the tail definitely enhance the set's appearance when seen from the top. The vehicle's general appearance is fairly nice; I like the dark brown, gold, and green together.

    However, I'm not crazy about the variant hues of certain colors that appear on the Scorpion Stinger, which weaken its overall scheme; for instance, the set employs dark and regular red in immediate proximity (as well as trans-red), and both dark and regular brown. The worst offender for me, though, is 70132's employment of lime and regular green alongside trans-apple highlights and necessarily unmatchable green Zamors. I wish that the set had chosen to go with only one hue of solid green (preferably lime, a bolder and more interesting choice). The variant greens - and, sometimes, the stickers - make the model look cluttered, undermining its unity and drawing attention away from the design's stronger points, like its shape and well-chosen principal colors.

    Although the set's Technic framework makes it very stable, and allows its distinctive shape, I would have liked for less of the framework to be visible, or for it to be better integrated into the product. I find the undisguised Technic infrastructure to be most distracting at the rear of the scorpion, in the back wheel and tail support area. There's a palpable hole here that should have been filled somehow.

    70132 Scorm 70132 Scorm

    The Scorpion Stinger has, by necessity, a pretty spacious cockpit, which accommodates Scorm's tail and the snapping claw mechanism's triggers with a raised cage. The head is shaped well; I appreciate the way that it's primarily black, but still fits with the whole. As we can see, Scorm's blasters from earlier have found their homes on the Scorpion Stinger, where they're on versatile pivots midway down the claw arms.

    Playability
    The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?

    70132 Scorm

    Aside from being able to roll, 70132 has a two advertised play features. The first of these is the Zamor launcher (or rather, the Hero Factory adapted Thornaxx launcher) on its stinger. Attached to a good old-fashioned Hordika neck, the stinger/shooter is highly mobile. This poseability, as well as the considerate, knowledgeable inclusion of extra ammunition, definitely encourages a game of Chi Tribal Warrior Target Practice. I'm a fan of the extra ammo holders, by the way, as extra shots - let alone places to keep them - are so seldom included in sets with projectiles.

    70132 Scorm

    The other function of the set is less commonly seen in LEGO products: pinching claws. Each of the Scorpion Stinger's front claws is attached to an independent mechanism, whereby at the push of a button near the cockpit, that claw will open, and at the button's release, it'll snap shut. Realizing how this mechanism was achieved was a joy during the build, and it's just as much fun in its completed state. The claws are effective at snagging minifigures, and dragging them along the ground (or dropping them off the edges of tables!). The claws can open slightly wider when pressed alone rather than together, because the buttons hit each other, but it's hardly a noticeable difference.

    70132 Scorm

    70132 constitutes a pretty uneven-seeming battle: souped-up Laval and Cragger versus a huge vehicle. I can't imagine the fight going too many ways, but I guess that sort of thing is up to you! If the good guy is the underdog, things may just work out...

    Final Thoughts
    Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?

    Well, those are my in-depth opinions. Let's see how the set stacks up...

    Pros
    What's to like?

    • Nice assortment of new and recolored parts, especially in dark brown
    • Figures are neat, especially the exclusive Scorm
    • Scorpion Stinger is of stable shape and fitting design
    • Model has some great detailing, especially in the carapace and head
    • Extra shots for launcher included, along with storage
    • Cool claw function

    Cons
    What's not to like?

    • Too many, sometimes inconvenient to attach, stickers
    • No legs?
    • Figures may have difficulty standing up with their allotted accessories
    • Color scheme muddied by variants of similar hues
    • Some details look cluttered (see above bullet for possible explanation)
    • Hole at the rear of the build gives the back of the model an unfinished feeling

    70132 Scorm's Scorpion Stinger is a middling set. Although the product is generally well-designed and of an enjoyable conceit, aside from some elements - among these, the function of its pinching claws, its elegant carapace, its combination of dark brown and gold, and the figure of Scorm - its execution is underwhelming. A cluttered color scheme and an abundance of disconnected detail undermine the set's strengths. However, the flaws aren't so severe as to make this a bad product, or to overcome all of its positive attributes.

    70132 Scorm
    "Not fair!"

    Thanks to Nuju Metru for putting this review together - I hope you all enjoyed it! Questions and comments are always welcome in the Talkback topic. Like I said at the beginning, just because this is the last day of April doesn't make it the last time you'll see Chima content on BZPower, so keep checking back for more and all the latest LEGO news!

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