Legends of Chima is an animated science-fantasy television series created by Tommy Andreasen and produced by The Lego Group. It was created to coincide with the Lego Legends of Chima line of construction toys. It centers on the fictional world of Chima, a place inhabited by warring tribes of anthropomorphic animals. The series was broadcast on Cartoon Network in the United States. It began with two episodes that aired on January 16, 2013, with the Season 1 finale airing on December 5, 2013. On March 15, 2014, Season 2 premiered on Cartoon Network and ended on April 19 of the same year. Season 3 aired on August 9 and ended on November 22, 2014.
Plot
Chima is a pristine realm filled with tribes consisting of various anthropomorphic animals. It is a parallel universe to the realm of Ninjago. As told in the great stories by Fluminox and Lagravis, Chima used to be inhabited by incipient, ordinary animals until the mysterious elemental Chi evolved them. Only a handful of species evolved initially, but evolution increased after the war between the Phoenix and Hunter tribes, led by the warlord Fangar. To defeat them, the Phoenix performs a "Great Illumination" to imprison the Hunters in a dreamless sleep, causing the mountain, Cavora, to suspend above the continent and distribute Chi water to every species in the form of drinkable water. They existed for thousands of years, and inevitably, the civilizations suffered from regular warfare even before the present.
Season 1: Power of the Chi
When young Prince Cragger loses his parents in the Gorge of Eternal Depth and becomes the King of the CrocodileTribe, his sister Crooler uses Persuader Plants to force him to do whatever she wants (mostly to destroy the Lions). His former best friend, Prince Laval of the Lion Tribe, becomes his worst enemy. Thus, a terrible war breaks out between the eight animal tribes over the powerful Chi, a substance that can both sustain and destroy life. Before the final battle, a black cloud stops the Chi Falls. At the final battle, since Crooler has run out of Persuader Plants, and Laval fakes his death, Cragger is redeemed and apologizes for everything he has done. It is revealed that Laval faked his death to find the Crocodile Legend Beast, along with Cragger's mother.
Season 2: Quest for the Legend Beasts
When the Crawlers use the advantages of the tribal war for the Chi to steal the Chi from Mount Cavora by blocking the falls, representatives from the eight main tribes of Chima must travel to the Outlands to rescue the eight Legend Beasts, which are the keys to restoring the falls of Mount Cavora. After the defeat of the Crawlers, the Legend Beasts enter Mount Cavora and unclog the Chi Waterfalls. Chima becomes a peaceful land again. Meanwhile, in the Gorge of Eternal Depth, Scorm, King of the Scorpion tribe, and the Crawler Tribes are angry at Laval for giving him his Chi. He blames the substance for their newfound sentience and feeling of defeat and hopelessness, responding by throwing the Chi to the bottom of the gorge, and unintentionally awakening the Hunter tribes.
Season 3: Legend of the Fire Chi
As the threat of the ancient Hunter Tribes emerges the heroes of Chima must find the legendary Fire Tribes and unlock the new Fire Chi power to stop the Hunter Tribes from freezing all of Chima. Toward the end of the battles with the Hunter Tribes, the heroes begin their quest for the Fire Wings to stop the Hunter Tribes. The heroes eventually find all 9 and spark another Great Illumination. Because of this, the lands are no longer covered in ice, the Hunter Tribes are redeemed, and Chima becomes a peaceful land. The epilogue reveals that Chima is a realm of a giant floating island hovering above an even larger unknown world.
Laval - Laval is the Prince of the Lion Tribe and the main protagonist of the series. He attempts to do the right thing as the soon-to-be king, but his childish behavior and arrogance get the group into trouble.[2]
Lagravis - Lagravis is the gray-maned King of the Lion Tribe and the father of Laval.[2]
Lavertus / ShadoWind - Lavertus is Lagravis' brother and Laval's uncle and one of the greatest lion warriors. After being exiled upon Crominus using Persuader Plants on him to commit a crime, Lavertus took up the alias of ShadoWind where he sported a helmet that is shaped like the head of a common warthog.
Li'ella - Li'ella is the only named female lion who was raised by Tormak of the Fire Tribes and is also the girlfriend of Laval.
Leonidas - Leonidas is a brave warrior member of the Lion Tribe and cannot do two things at a time.
Lennox - Lennox is a brave warrior and foot soldier of the Lion Tribe.
Longtooth - Longtooth is an older warrior of the Lion Tribe with scars and scratches.[2]
Lothar - Lothar is an Elder Lion of the Lion Tribe.
Cragger - Cragger is the Prince of the Crocodile Tribe, the son of Crominus and Crunket, and the twin brother of Crooler and the former enemy of Laval due to his sister's manipulation with Persuader Plants. He ends up becoming one of the main protagonists in Seasons 2 and 3. He also has one white eye.[3]
Crominus - Crominus is the King of the Crocodile Tribe, the husband of Queen Crunket, and the father of Cragger and Crooler.
Crunket - Crunket is the Queen of the Crocodile Tribe, the wife of Crominus, and the mother of Cragger and Crooler.
Crooler - Crooler is the Princess of the Crocodile Tribe, the daughter of Crominus and Crunket, the twin sister of Cragger, and the main antagonist of Season 1.
Crug - Crug is one of Cragger's two lead henchmen, is brown has a lower jaw of his mouth that is made of metal and is a big strong member of the Crocodile Tribe. He is known to sleep with a teddy bear.
Crawley - Crawley is one of Cragger's two lead henchmen in the Crocodile Tribe. He is olive green in color and leads Cragger's Crocodile Warriors into battle.
Crokenburg - Crokenburg is a Crocodile general who has a half-metal face.
Cranvil - Cranvil is the blacksmith of the Crocodile Tribe and names weapons after the noises they make when hitting a solid surface. He is seen in the TV series.
Razar - Razar is the Prince of the Raven Tribe and will ally himself with anyone with the right price tag, regardless of if it is right or wrong in morality.
Rawzom - Rawzom is the unofficial King of the Raven Tribe.
Razcal - Razcal is the accountant of the Raven Tribe who is very greedy, like Razar, but also seems to be conscious as well.
Rizzo - Rizzo is the cyborg-like leader of some packs of the Raven Tribe.
Ripnik - Ripnik is the Master Thief of the Raven Tribe.
Bladvic - Bladvic is the Prince of the Bear Tribe who would often sleep which makes him and his tribe seem a bit lazy, however despite this they are mighty warriors when the Ice Hunters reawakened their enemy the Ice Bears.[5]
Balkar - Balkar is the King of the Bear Tribe with light brown fur.
Bungey - Bungey is a member of the Bear Tribe with light brown fur and a dark brown muzzle.
Bumpy - Bumpy is a member of the Bear Tribe.
Bozy - Bozy is a member of the Bear Tribe.
Buchuma - Buchuma is a member of the Bear Tribe who is very similar to Bozy.
Bulkar - Bulkar is a member of the Bear Tribe with brown fur.
Bezar - Bezar is a white beaver who is the apparent leader of the Beaver Tribe, obsessed with building or fixing things for other tribes, and will punish his subjects with vacations.
Breezor - Breezor is a light brown beaver that resembles Bezar and is the apparent leader of the Beaver Tribe.[5]
Buber - Buber is a foreman worker and warrior member of the Beaver Tribe who is brown and white.
Bubic - Bubic is a foreman worker and warrior member of the Beaver Tribe who is brown and white.
Braptor - Braptor is the King of the Bat Tribe who commanded his army to form the "Black Cloud" to deplete Mount Cavora of its supply of Chi. Unlike Scorm and Spinlyn, Braptor does not argue about who gave Chi to the Crawlers.[6]
Blista - Blista is the suspected Prince of the Bat Tribe.
Tormak / Panthor - Tormak is a Tiger Cat Guide and Li'ella's adopted father after he hescued her after the Hunters burned down her native village. Tormak is a noble adviser to Fluminox,and convinces him to give the Earthborn tribes of Chima a chance to prove themselves worthy of Fire Chi. After the Phoenix Map exploded, Tormak was burned badly by its energies which he absorbed which caused him to take on a black tiger appearance and be mistaken for a Panther by some characters. A symbol is on one top of his head. He was later restored to normal by the Illumination that also purified the Ice Hunter Tribes.
Tazar - Tazar is a Tiger Cat Guide and one of the guards as seen in Episode 31.
Trakkar - Trakkar is a Tiger Cat Guide. Assuming by his name, he's the Tribe's main scout. Trakkar is also one of the guards as seen in Episode 31.
Sir Fangar - Sir Fangar is the cold-hearted leader of the Saber-Tooth Tiger Tribe who has a transparent left arm and a transparent right leg. He serves as the main antagonist of Season 3.[6][8]
Stealthor - Stealthor is the General and suspected Prince of the Saber-Tooth Tiger Tribe. He has dark grey fur and a transparent left arm.
Strainor - Strainor is a member of the Saber-Tooth Tiger Tribe. He has a transparent right leg.
Sykor - Sykor is a feral member of the Saber-Tooth Tiger Tribe chained on a leash that is owned by Strainer. He has transparent ribs. Sykor tends to run off dragging Strainer with him.
Sibress - Sibress is a female member of the Saber-Tooth Tiger Tribe with a transparent left arm and right leg.
Sirox - Sirox is the General of the Saber-Tooth Tiger with dark blue fur and a transparent right leg.
Saraw - Saraw is a member of the Saber-Tooth Tiger Tribe.
Mungus - Mungus is the Prince of the Mammoth Tribe with an icy trunk and transparent ribs. Mungus is the younger brother of Mottrot anthe d son of Maula. As the biggest of the Ice Hunters, it took three Chi Orbs to reawaken him from his frozen sleep. Mungus is prone to playing with the Rhinos.
Mottrot - Mottrot is the Prince of the Mammoth tribe who is the son of Maula and the older brother of Mungus. He has a transparent left arm and a transparent right leg.
Maula - Maula is the Queen of the Mammoth Tribe who has a transparent right leg. She is the mother of Mungus and Mottrot.
Vardy - Vardy is the leader of the Vulture Tribe who has a transparent left arm. He is Sir Fangar's second in command and he was the one ordered to revive the feared ice bears. His strategy in battle is to wait.
Voom Voom - Voom Voom is an upbeat member of the Vulture Tribe with a transparent right leg. He is also suspected to be the Prince of the Vultures.
Vornon - Vornon is a depressed Vulture with a transparent left arm and a transparent right leg.
Vultrix - Vultrix is a female member of the Vulture Tribe with a transparent right leg.
Icebite - Icebite is the ferocious leader of the Ice Bear Tribe. He has a transparent left arm.
Icepaw - Icepaw is an Ice Bear with a transparent right leg.
Icerlot - Icerlot is an Ice Bear general with a transparent right leg and a transparent left arm.
Iceklaw - Iceklaw is an Ice Bear with a transparent right leg.
Nomads
Skinnet - Skinnet is a nomadic skunk who always seems to cause a stink-literally-at exactly the worst possible moment, which makes it extremely difficult for most other inhabitants of Chima to become friends with him. According to Skinnet's LEGO.com bio, it indicates that the rest of the Skunk Tribe has mysteriously disappeared. His stink turned to a more perfume-like smell after the great illumination.
Furtivo - Furtivo is a mischievous nomadic fox. He is one of the trophies in Sir Fangers trophy room and is later thawed out by Flinx.
Dom de la Woosh - Dom de la Woosh is a nomadic peacock who is good at Speedorz racing.
Lundor - Lundor is a Leopard Cat Guide that works for the Fire Tribes. He is a historian that keeps track of all events that have occurred in Chima and thinks that there are more leopards somewhere in the world.
Plovar - Plovar is a small plover that is obsessed with dental hygiene and drops in to clean Cragger's teeth (and sometimes even Crooler's teeth) from time to time, He is the only animal not evolved by the Chi but is capable of speech. He is later captured and frozen in Sir Fangar's trophy room but escapes after using his mouth to free himself from the ice.
Reegull - Reegull is a flightless Eagle/Raven hybrid as his father was an Eagle and his mother was a Raven (both kinds wouldn't accept him into their kind), he is skilled in manufacturing an artificial kind of Chi called "Chigull" which would give the same powers as regular Chi, but at the process makes them act like a chicken.
Legend Beasts
Lion Legend Beast - The Lion Legend Beast is an ordinary Lion that will become a big part later on.
Crocodile Legend Beast - The Crocodile Legend Beast is an ordinary Crocodile.
Eagle Legend Beast - The Eagle Legend Beast is an ordinary but large Eagle. It also has two eggs.
Wolf Legend Beast - The Wolf Legend Beast is an ordinary Wolf. It is also believed to be the mother wolf that birthed all the existing wolves and gave them the "mother tooth" to "light the way in the darkness".
Gorilla Legend Beast - The Gorilla Legend Beast - also known as "the legend dude" - is an ordinary brown Gorilla.
Raven Legend Beast - The Raven Legend Beast is an ordinary but large Raven. Like the Raven tribe residents, the Raven legend beast has a strange affinity to gold thins, and loves stealing.
Rhinoceros Legend Beast - The Rhinoceros Beast is an ordinary Rhinoceros. The Rhino Tribe malebecomeey smart when near this beast since the females are already smart.
Bear Legend Beast - The Bear Legend Beast is an ordinary Bear. The Bear Tribe and the Bear Legend Beast can both telepathically communicate through dreams.
Sabertooth Legend Beast - An implied existing beast from ancient Chima, believed that its fang is now Sir Fangar's sword.
A series of mini-movies of extra adventures in the land of Chima were uploaded on the Lego website and YouTube channel. A selection of them appeared on special Season 1 Part 1 DVD releases.
Background and production
Development
Legends of Chima was produced by M2Film, an animation studio in Denmark. The supervising producer was Ole Holm Christensen. Each episode consists of 22 minutes. The production involved a team of 300 that were based in various locations including Denmark, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Bangkok. Christensen commented, "Our designers, art directors, animators, everyone couldn't wait to sink their teeth into the project. Our art team, which is spread out all over the world, created lots of concept art for the series. The goal was to create something special that, at least in our view, was unique and hadn't been seen before on television." The artists took their inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including "many different elements of pop culture". The demands of the animation required a Maya-based CG pipeline and heavy render farms, with each episode taking about 12 weeks to produce. The Chima characters were animated to resemble the shiny plastic surfaces of Lego minifigures, rather than recreating animal fur.[49]
In 2021, the co-creator of Lego Ninjago Tommy Andreasen revealed unseen concept art for Legends of Chima on Twitter. Andreasen explained, "This is a concept film that was made to explain Legends of Chima's ending internally. The search for the Fire Wings was intended to be a 6-episode arc which would also have introduced Florax, Flinx's mother, chief botanist of Chima, but plans were revised."[50]
Writing
The storyline was written by Los Angeles-based writer John Derevlany. He commented, "Usually things get dramatically scaled back for production reasons. In the case of Legends of Chima, everything got even more epic. I think the show is quite special because it tells simple children’s stories set against incredible action scenes and a very deep, immersive mythology."[49]
Cast
David Attar - Cragger, Lennox, Rogon, Ripnik, Reegull, Stealthor
Bethany Brown - Eris, Crooler, Spinlyn, Rinona, Wonald
Matt Cronander - Willhurt, Ewar, Elon
Bill Courage - Crominus, Lagravis, Longtooth, Lavertus, Mottrot
Chris Durchand - Dom De La Woosh, Sir Fangar, Strainer
On 9 July 2013, Brian Lowry for Variety commented that Legends of Chima is, "an elaborate hodge-podge culled from a half-dozen familiar properties — including the Force-like powers Laval's dad possesses and the hovering vehicles upon which characters zoom around — and appears to exist for no other reason than to sell brightly hued little action figures."[52] Emily Ashby for Common Sense Media gave the series a four out of five-star rating and commented, "Legends of Chima is a thoughtful, beautifully designed animated series that exceeds expectations for a story designed to sell accompanying toys. From the characters' complicated relationships to the mysticism behind the evolution of the talking animal species, this is far more than a one-dimensional tale meant to merely fill kids' time. Instead ,it explores friendship, trust, loyalty, and honesty against a backdrop of conflict that's mild enough to appeal to grade schoolers (and their parents)."[53]
Ratings
The series premiere was watched by 1.5 million viewers, making it the 10th highest-rated show overall on cable that night.
Tommy Andreasen John Derevlany Erik Legernes Phil McCormick M2Film Lego
Won
Soundtrack
The music for Legends of Chima was written by Danish composer Anthony Lledo who had worked together with Peder Pedersen on the director's Indiana Jones and Star WarWars-themedgo shorts. The music was awarded the 2013 Cue Award for Best Television Score and has been released on two soundtrack albums by MovieScore Media.
^Pucci, Douglas (August 21, 2014). "Saturday Cable Finals". TV Media Insights. Cross Mediaworks. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
Eris to the Rescue. Authored by Marilyn Easton. Published by Turtleback Books, 2013. ISBN0-60632-398-8
LEGO (R) Legends of Chima Brickmaster the Quest for CHI. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2013. ISBN1-40932-606-3
Lego Legends of Chima: Tribes of Chima. Authored by Ruth Amos. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2013. ISBN1-46540-863-0
Lego Legends of Chima: The Race for Chi. Authored by Ruth Amos. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2013. ISBN1-46540-865-7
LEGO Legends of Chima Official Annual 2014. Published by Penguin Books Ltd., 2013. ISBN0-72327-583-1
LEGO (R) Legends of Chima Ultimate Sticker Collection. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2013. ISBN1-40933-086-9
LEGO Legends of Chima: Wolves and Crocodiles Activity Book with Minifigure. Published by Penguin Random House Children's UK, 2013. ISBN0-72327-561-0
Gorillas Gone Bananas. Authored by Greg Farshtey. Published by Scholastic Inc., 2013. ISBN0-54551-752-4
Lego(r) Legends of Chima: Attack of the Crocodiles (Chapter Book #1). Authored by Greg Farshtey. Published by Scholastic Inc., 2013. ISBN0-54551-649-8
Lego Legends of Chima: Beware of the Wolves (Chapter Book #2). Authored by Greg Farshtey. Published by Scholastic Inc., 2013. ISBN0-54551-650-1
Lego Legends of Chima: Danger in the Outlands (Chapter Book #5). Authored by Greg Farshtey. Published by Scholastic Inc., 2014. ISBN0-54562-788-5
LEGO (R) Legends of Chima Character Encyclopedia. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2014. ISBN1-40935-054-1
How to Draw Heroes and Villains. Authored by Ron Zalme. Published by Scholastic Inc., 2014. ISBN0-54564-992-7
Lego: Legends of Chima Official Guide with Figurine. Authored by Tracey West. Published by Scholastic Inc., 2014. ISBN0-54553-754-1
Lego Legends of Chima: Heroes' Quest. Authored by Heather Seabrook. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2014. ISBN1-46541-982-9
LEGO (R) Legends of Chima Ultimate Factivity Collection. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2014. ISBN1-40935-258-7
Lego Legends of Chima: Ravens and Gorillas (Activity Book #3). Published by Scholastic Inc., 2014. ISBN0-54564-527-1
Lego Legends of Chima: Character Encyclopedia. Authored by Beth Landis Hester and Heather Seabrook. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2014. ISBN1-46541-666-8
Lego Legends of Chima: Character Encyclopedia (Library Edition). Authored by Beth Landis Hester. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2014. ISBN1-46542-291-9
Lego Legends of Chima: Power Up!. Authored by Julia March. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2015. ISBN1-46542-950-6
