With my new found love of Galaxy Squad, I’m really reluctant to get started with another new Lego series at the same time. Nonetheless, all my attempts to turn a blind eye to Legends of Chima isn’t going so well and I decided to break down and pick up one of the small polybag sets that Target had in their Valentine’s Day dump bins. Because I guess nothing says “I love you” like a cheap Lego set. I’ve found the polybag sets can be hit and miss, but at least it gives me a chance to sample the line for a five dollar bill and still get change.

What the hell’s a Chima? Well apparently it’s a world where a bunch of anthropomorphic animals are battling each other for a rare and magical resource. The two main opposing forces are the Lions and the Crocodiles. If this is sounding to you a bit like the Thundercats reboot, you’re not wrong. And yet while on the surface it may seem like a rip-off, I think it stands to be one of the most creative and potentially long term original lines we’ve seen out of Lego in a while. It’s f’ing Lions and Crocodiles fighting each other with tanks and warplanes for crying out loud! In what universe can that not be awesome?

But forget about crocs and lions for now, because today’s polybag set features Winzar, from the wolf tribe. The set includes 38 pieces, which builds the Winzar minifig and his little sled. You also get a blue crystal, which I presume is a piece of Chi, the magical substance that all these critters are slaughtering each other to possess. Lego must be onto something here, because I’m pretty sure my cat stole mine.

Winzar features a generic minifig body with some cool printing showing tribal accoutrement and a nice six-pack that tells us this dude likes to do his crunches. The head is printed on both sides, and would look fine on its own, but there’s also a proper wolf head that fits over it so that the printed eyes on the inner head show through. Lest you thought this was a cutesy kiddie line, think again. Winzar’s face is all kinds of messed up. He’s got bloody gashes all over the left side of his face and his left eye has been literally clawed out. That shit is seriously hardcore!

The sled is about what I expected from a polybag set. It’s a little better than the token rocket sleds that I was bitching about a while back when I was looking at one of the Galaxy Squad sets. It sits up high in the back on a pair of blades, which can easily be pulled out and used by Winzar as weapons. The front sits low and there’s a dog bone axel holding the front skis in place. How adorable is that?

Obviously, this set isn’t going to take anyone more than a few ticks to build and the sled isn’t likely to impress anyone. Still, a little taste of Lego in the middle of the week is sometimes just the thing that hits the spot until I can get myself a bigger and more substantial set. But above all, this set is worth picking up for the Winzar minifig. He’s an awesome little figure, and even if I manage to hold out against the temptation to start buying Chima sets, I’m pretty happy to have him in my collection.