Lego's Chima: Brilliant idea or ripoff

[Burtonnut]

Is it me or does the upcoming show Lego's Chima remind anyone of the 2011 Thundercats series? The main character is a lion who looks like Lion-O! Both my little sister and I agree that it looks too much like Thundercats (even the palace looks like Thundara).

[Barbecue17]

I saw these yesterday and didn't even think about Thundercats. I mainly thought of Battle Beasts. I guess there is really only so much you can do to differentiate anthropomorphic animals. While looking at them, though, I did think about how awesome of a job Lego could do with MOTU.

[chrisbryan]

I thought the same thing, but my five year old flipped over the idea.

[Orko's Magic Hat]

Yeh, they have ripped off TCats slightly - they're cool though, not sure if I'll get them though.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

From what I understand some of the vehicles in Chima are based on designs Lego had for a possible MOTU line. Either way it looks great and I am really going to miss Ninjago.

[slackrguy]

Interesting observation, but I think Chima is its own thing. At least I took it as a stand alone property when I heard about them ans saw a few pics online.

[80's Enthusiast]

The cat tribe ABSOLUTELY has a T-Cats vibe, and you can certainly see some MOTU influences in the vehicles.....

Looks a little Cat's Lair-esque:
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Road Ripper/Attack Trak hybrid:
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This looks Talon Fighter-ish to me:
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Lion-O and his Ancestor's armor?
legends-of-chima-lego-5.jpg

I dig it. MUCH better than Ninjago.

[Captain Marvel]

From what I understand some of the vehicles in Chima are based on designs Lego had for a possible MOTU line. Either way it looks great and I am really going to miss Ninjago.

That's interesting -- when I first saw the promos for Chima, specifically the 1 hour tele-movie that Cartoon Network is going to run soon, I was very much reminded of MOTU from what was shown.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

That's interesting -- when I first saw the promos for Chima, specifically the 1 hour tele-movie that Cartoon Network is going to run soon, I was very much reminded of MOTU from what was shown.

For some reason the super popular Lego brand thought they might be able to get the ultra-rare MOTU license as they did with Star Wars, Marvel, DC, LOTR, the Hobbit, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter. I guess Lego just can't hang with MOTU.
Who knows, maybe Chima will be better than anything Mattel could do on their own when it comes to mini-figures but a Lego Castle Grayskull just sounds too good to be true.

[slackrguy]

Who knows, maybe Chima will be better than anything Mattel could do on their own when it comes to mini-figures but a Lego Castle Grayskull just sounds too good to be true.

I dunno, I've purchased some World of Warcraft Mega Bloks recently and if MOTU was to be licensed to a building block brand I'd prefer it be them.

The minifigs have more poseability than Lego and the swappable armor is pretty nifty.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I dunno, I've purchased some World of Warcraft Mega Bloks recently and if MOTU was to be licensed to a building block brand I'd prefer it be them.

The minifigs have more poseability than Lego and the swappable armor is pretty nifty.

That is very ture but if Mega Bloks was doing MOTU then it wouldn't be Mattel doing it, it would be Mega Bloks. The Mega Bloks stuff is pretty cool, I love their HALO and WoW stuff. Mega Bloks MOTU would probably be better than any mini-figs Mattel could do on their own. They put out a Mega Bloks set from Amazing Spider-Man that included Spidey, the Lizard and a Lizard Cop and they looked really nice. But, if we are talking Mattel licensing MOTU for mini-figs there is really only one company I would want and that's Mini-Mates.

[Alexx]

Yeah I wouldn't really call this a ripoff OR brilliant idea; just the standard animal people idea. I do agree that one of 'em looks like Lion-O, and it probably is a homage, but I still wouldn't call that a ripoff.

Anyway, I like the idea a little better than Ninjago, which is kinda nutty for me...i'm usually all about the ninja stuff. I just found most of Ninjago's builds kinda boring. These guys look more interesting, but I'm still not big on most of the builds. I DO want some of the figures and items though, so I'm looking into the line to see what I can get from what sets. So far the only set that totally interests me if that bird-plane.

[Stratos*Major]

I agree...

The minifigures themselves are cool. But the building sets look really...just...well...not thought out.

The Falcon/Bird Jet/Plane whatever...is really the only set that looks cool.

To me, it looks like they took Thundercats/MOTU/Star Wars and mashed them all together.

- - - Updated - - -

OMG...Alexx ebay Lego Chima and set the preference to lowest first...

Those minifigures are AWESOME!!!

If yer a Lego minifigure collector get them NOW...those things jump in price quick!

[Alexx]

OMG...Alexx ebay Lego Chima and set the preference to lowest first...

Those minifigures are AWESOME!!!

If yer a Lego minifigure collector get them NOW...those things jump in price quick!

Ya know it's funny; I never really thought of just buying minifigures by themselves! Would make things easier when the figures are the only thing that interest me out of a certain theme. I also really like the glowy swords they got goin' on in these sets.

[Stratos*Major]

Oh heck ya...

You just gotta get them in the first month after first release...after that you start spending $10 - $15 just for the minifigure.

Right now its looking like you can get them for $5.00 and under.

[80's Enthusiast]

Here's a little food for thought: Dan Norton (the lead designer on the 201X Thundercats show) seemingling just found out about Chima today and, he's not happy (https://www.facebook.com/Dingo107/info#!/). Apparently there were discussions between WB and Lego about a TCats license but the talks fell apart and now we have this all new "original theme".

Norton even pointed out that the images of the land of Chima are nearly identical in style and even color to the press packet WB presented for TCats.....

[slackrguy]

Well, there we go then.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Wouldn't it be something if Chima took off like Ninjago and lasted longer than Thundercats? It's too bad that Lego did not get the license; we might have had some new Thundercats items in stores for this past Christmas. A Lego Cat's Liar? Yes, please.

[King Kahn]

I saw these yesterday and didn't even think about Thundercats. I mainly thought of Battle Beasts. I guess there is really only so much you can do to differentiate anthropomorphic animals. While looking at them, though, I did think about how awesome of a job Lego could do with MOTU.

I get a battle beasts vibe too. The bird jet reminds me a bit of silverhawks.

[wolfsfang]

it's... a brilliant ripoff

[seth-man]

Looking at them this past weekend..i Thought right away...Lego must have a 30 sonething solid works monkey that collected BattleBeast....Even That bird screams BattleBeast playset!
Shows airs on 1/10 on CN.

[illicitjedi]

Here's a little food for thought: Dan Norton (the lead designer on the 201X Thundercats show) seemingling just found out about Chima today and, he's not happy (https://www.facebook.com/Dingo107/info#!/). Apparently there were discussions between WB and Lego about a TCats license but the talks fell apart and now we have this all new "original theme".

Norton even pointed out that the images of the land of Chima are nearly identical in style and even color to the press packet WB presented for TCats.....

Looking at the diorama target has set up, and the backgrounds on the Chima packaging, it looks just like the 2012 Third Earth and Tcats art. Even without their animal helmets the minifigures look decidedly even more Tcats like! (Why do they all have two painted faces if you just cover it up with a mask?) The lizards, wolves, and Birds are totally the evil mutants.

[Captain Marvel]

I caught the commercial advertising the telemovie on Cartoon Network again over the weekend, and recalling what 80's Enthusiast posted about what Dan Norton mentioned I paid attention for specific 2011 ThunderCats influences (beyond the lion figure). I was surprised I had completely missed a big one -- the cat/good animal city that is shown at the end of the teaser is highly reminiscent of the 2011 Thundera. Check it out...





I'm highly disappointed that Cartoon Network is picking this show up as a series. CN knew months ago that the Ninjago series was ending ergo they had to know that LEGO readying this series -- a series that, at a bare minimum, bears a striking resemblance to the ThunderCats. The same ThunderCats that Cartoon Network has currently put on hiatus for whatever reasons.

I bet everyone that everyone who worked on the new ThunderCats show is pretty frustrated right now, for them this situation must seem a lot like getting stabbed in the back.

[Uncle Montork]

Oh God... my wife's not even big on this kind of stuff and even she said Thundercats the second she saw it. I was expecting Larry Kenney's voice out of the orange haired Lion-O looking guy... geez....

[slackrguy]

I amend my previous comment....

After only seeing pics of the toys I did not think Thundercats and figured it was its own thing.
However, after seeing the commercial for the cartoon, totally thought Thundercats.