LEGO reveals new line - Power Miners

[SirNadroj]

Or Rock Raiders.

That's the first thing that popped in my head. Considering they're taking old themes and bringing them into 2009, I'd expect these to be very similar to the original Rock Raiders. I'd also suspect that the monsters will be very much like the new castle trolls vs. the old rock monster (with a whole ONE point of articulation! )

But that's just my speculation.

[iamded]

Omigod omigod omigod omigod Rock Raiders!! :laugh: You may tell that I am very excited about this new theme. It sounds very promising, and it kind of sorta maybe reminds me of Rock Raiders just a little bit... I love the sound of these rock-crystal monsters, I have to admit the Rock Raider's rock monster wasn't the best, with only 1 arm being articulated and nothing else. Still, it was cool. Just like all the Rock Raiders sets, and hopefully just like this new line. I've got this picture in my head of a sort of Rock Raiders / Ice Planet hybrid, which is actually kind of weird, especially colour wise. Anyway, this has to be the best news I've heard all year, and I may even choose this over Castle, once I've seen the sets. Oooh, I can't wait!! :grin:

iamded will be pleased as a Rock Raiders fanatic

I'd say that's an accurate guess.

~Peace

[KDog]

This tells me two things. One is that Mars Mission is done, since Lego wouldn't do two mining themes. The second is that perhaps this means that we will get a Space theme (like the rumored Space Police III), sort of like Mars Mission is dividing into two.

And yeah, it's hard not to think about this as Rock Raiders II. :-)

[Deinonychus]

Fantastic news! The spirit of Rock Raiders lives on!!!

Along with the sort of re-imagining of Alpha Team that is the Agents line I'm really enjoying the in-house themes LEGO has been churning out here as of late. Makes me not miss Exo-Force at all. Now if only they'd redo Dino Attack somehow in a couple of years...

[fallentomato]

You think? Dunno...

I dont rember this though on Whungs list, It was definatley wasn't there.

There were two sets at the very bottom of the list that are quite possibly from this theme. To quote myself:

"Mini saw blade/Stone Chopper

Mini walker/Mine Mech

I’m curious as to what theme these sets are from. Almost sounds like rock raiders and while Lego seems to be bringing back some old themes next year, I highly doubt rock raiders is one of them?"

Guess I was wrong. These two set names definitely sounds like a cross between Rock Raiders and Exo-Force.

But if this new line is to Rock Raiders as Agents was to Alpha Team (which had a couple gems in an otherwise substandard line-up) then its going to be great.

-Tohst

Yes, hopefully Lego will learn from the mistakes of Rock Raiders (especially that color scheme! I mean I was happy to have turquoise, but those sets were ugly). I'm looking forward to the half crystal monsters - hopefully this will mean a lot of color trans-colored parts.

I still think that sub-themes should fit in a major theme:

- A new space theme could fit with Star Wars.

- Elves, dwarfs, trolls, samurais can fit in a castle theme.

- A lot of sub-themes fit into City (trains, racers, divers, even Indiana Jones...).

Rock Raiders, Dino themes, Aqua themes, Alpha Team, Time Cruisers (worst of all...) etc. fit in nothing. They all had too few sets to be interesting.

Are you dismissing Aquazone as a legitimate theme? Them's fighting words! I think your point is valid for some of the older attempts at one-off themes, they were mostly flops. However, Exo-Force, AquaRaiders and Agents are examples of one-off themes Lego has done in the past couple years that have all been pretty well-designed and successful. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. At least until photos come out.

Rock Raiders was a good concept if nothing else.

[Adam]

Or Rock Raiders.

Could this be the rumoured Space theme?

Quite correct, it reminds me of Rock Raiders very much. As SirNadroj said, however, it does seem very alike the 1959 film, "Journey to the Center of the Earth". This tells me not only what others have said, but that something is amiss. Two themes will be released in 09, and we already know Pirates is one of them. That means that it's either Galaxy Patrol/Space Police or Power Miners, and because the information was given by LEGO, it'll be Power Miners. However, with the drilling sets fallentomato mentioned, seeing as there are only two, maybe Power Miners will be released as a Factory line, with brick-built baddies . I'm eager for pics of this and the possible Galaxy line.

[hollisbrick]

Rock raiders was the first thing that poped up in my head, I hope it is some-what like that theme. It was pretty good Hopefully this is an improved version of the theme Need to pic optomistic

[I Scream Clone]

Sounds cool! Though no one has noticed the Power Miners, We have seen Power elements used recently in sets like Crystal Reaper etc, so this may be a huge thing to include in a whole theme, hence the mass marketing planned.

Should be well worth a look.

[Dadster]

Thanks for the news. I'll have to see the Miners before making any decisions because right now - from the small blurb we got - it sounds like a redo of Rock Raiders. Not really my cup of tea.

It'll probably get some interest though - what's it been, about 10 years?

Bring on the Elves!! (if we're really getting them...)

[LEGOMAN132]

Sounds like a new Rock Raiders thats preety cool can't wait to see them.

[5150 Lego]

Never. That's the point in preliminary pics, sin't it?

They're preliminary and not meant to be published.

Now please stay on topic here.

What? We've seen quite a few preliminary pics here before. What makes you think we wouldn't possible see any at a later date? And i don't see how wondering when the first pics of the line is being off topic. He just asked a question.

Anyways, this new line could have a lot of possibilites. Heavy duty minning vehicles, bases, monsters... Hopfully it works out. But for some reason when i think of this newminers, i keep getting pics of current mars mission stuck in my head, since thats what a lot of Mars mission already consist of. So we can probbly rule out that this will be a sapce related theme.

[Derek]

I'm not trying to sound pessimistic, but am I the only one that thinks that this sounds sort of lame? I'm sure the sets will be good, but just the whole concept seems a little strange. Who knows, maybe it'll turn out to be great. I'm surprised we haven't seen pics with the other ones. Maybe it will come out with the summer sets?

[darkrebellion]

Now this are really cool news . The Rock Raiders theme comes to my head instantly too, when I see the name of this new line . I really think this is a theme with much potential and looking at the old Rock Raiders HQ (Assuming this is like the rock riders theme ) I think this is going to be a great theme . I don

Edited August 28, 2008 by darkrebellion

[Scyzoryk]

Oh wow, one of my all time favs is coming back. That's Rock Raiders if your new. I always loved RR when I was a kid. I just wish it's somewhat better, because the rock monsters only had one moveable part. And why do people complain about RR? It was a very successful theme, and it even had it's own video game. But the downside is that there was no second wave. ( Not counting the Kabaya and minifig packs). And another good thing about RR is that it had a color that no other theme had, Teal. (Which was kinda ugly)

I just hope for a better hq. The old RR hq was like a big construction site.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Scyzoryk

[Karto]

Are you dismissing Aquazone as a legitimate theme? Them's fighting words! I think your point is valid for some of the older attempts at one-off themes, they were mostly flops. However, Exo-Force, AquaRaiders and Agents are examples of one-off themes Lego has done in the past couple years that have all been pretty well-designed and successful. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. At least until photos come out.

Exactly. Aquazone is one of those crappy short-term lines.

Same thing for Exo Force and Agents. The first one has already been discontinued. Hopefully, the second one will follow soon.

I guess there are some remains at TLC's marketing and designers team that brought the company from the world's biggest (and greatest) toy producer in the 80s to its Dark Ages and the global bankrupt. Then wining around saying it was all due to computer games and not because of its own bunch of crappy lines. It took them almost 10 years to understand and finally the past two years were great; a nice and real city line (besides the RC trains...), Pirates wich are coming back, the Star Wars line stronger than ever, the new Power Functions concept, adult-oriented huge models, a few great licence-based lines, etc.

Note: this is only my opinion

[bj McBrick]

so just like pretty much everyone else here i immediatly though rock raiders. but with a slightly SWish glimmer of hope... it seems to be a trend that the RR monster would be used as a rancor for jabba's palace etc. perhaps this new line will give us a better replacement... move movable first off would be good... slightly bigger perhaps. as for any chance of it being slightly neon greenish... its slime.. obviously we'll have to see pics, but i'm looking at this with optimism

[The Brick Rat]

However, with the drilling sets fallentomato mentioned, seeing as there are only two, maybe Power Miners will be released as a Factory line, with brick-built baddies .

To date the LEGO Factory sets have only been available through Shop @ Home and LEGO brick and mortar stores. But according to the posted article:

Launching in January, Power Miners will have year-round marketing support including a full PR campaign focused on the childrens’ press, online marketing, Lego Club campaign, in-store promotions including Toys R Us end-caps from February and FSDUs and window displays for independent stores.

Sounds like a full fledged theme to me. I just hope the "half-rock/half-crystal monsters" are better than the old Rock Raiders monster or the newer Mars Mission aliens.

[Algernon]

First of all, Rock Raiders was awesome and I don't understand all of the hate. It wasn't <insert that tiresome argument>- it had inarticulate rock monsters, sure, but the remainder of the sets were difficult enough to build, and the theme itself was very original. It provided some interesting parts and great minifigs. All of the sets were constructed well, especially the main base and the tunnel transport.

Second of all, I think this is brilliant if it's true. The name... sort of sounds stupid... but then, most LEGO themes sort of had crappy names. "Alpha Team"... "Exploriens"... etc. I'll withhold my opinion until pictures arrive, but in the meantime I've VERY excited.

Rock Raiders, Dino themes, Aqua themes, Alpha Team, Time Cruisers (worst of all...) etc. fit in nothing. They all had too few sets to be interesting. All these lines sell bad on eBay or Bricklink. Stores had always plenty of them and kept them a year long on the shelves until they put massive discounts... During the late 90s, TLC released many of these themes. During the same period, TLC almost got bankrupt (and I'm not even speaking about the city line which was replaced by the <insert that tiresome argument> crap...).

Hold on now... you need to check your facts. The Aqua themes are actually subthemes derived from one HUGE theme- Aqua Zone. That had PLENTY of sets, some of which are very interesting and well conceptualized. Alpha team had several waves as I recall. Rock Raiders was short lived but well received by the core fanbase.

Why are you so positive on licensed themes? TLC is all about imagination. Lately they've just been stealing crap from George Lucas... and these themes have been the most successful. Because nowadays imagination doesn't sell. But LEGO persists anyway, coming out with fresh themes every year- and even if they don't sell all that well, I still give them massive kudos for being dedicated enough to imagination to come try something new.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Algernon

[blueandwhite]

It almost seems like LEGO needs a line or two to go on clearance each year. I'm not going to lie; this line sounds very dull to me. I still don't understand LEGO's obsession with these obscure themes that inevitably fail to attract buyer interest. Whether it's Time Cruisers, Dino Attack, or any number of short-lived themes, why does LEGO continue trying these things if they alway fail?

[xenologer]

Miners who find rock/crystal monsters?

Isn't this pretty much describing Mars Mission already? Just on earth instead of mars?

Those glowy transparent green martians look half like the crystals they were mining to me...

I'm hoping they don't go too steampunk with this...

[Kliq]

I...I don't know what to do. I've never been this excited for more than a couple lines. I still need to pick up the latest Star Wars...

Pirates, City Construction, City Farm, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and now Power Miners. I can't keep up with what we have, let alone what we're going to get in the future.

[iamded]

I'm not trying to sound pessimistic, but am I the only one that thinks that this sounds sort of lame? I'm sure the sets will be good, but just the whole concept seems a little strange.

Strange concept? But it's pretty much the same as Rock Raiders! Although Rock Raiders crashed on an alien planet and had to mine for crystals in order to power thei ship so they could get back to Earth, but I'm sure this one will be similar! Anyway, I certainly don't think it's lame.

I'm hoping they don't go too steampunk with this...

What's wrong with Steampunk? I thought everyone liked Steampunk? Besides, even if they were Steampunk, they'd still be great for parts, all those tubes and pipes and shiny parts...

Ooh... Steampunk and Rock Raiders... Let's just stop speculating, iamded, lest we be disappointed by the actual product. We don't want to set our expectations too high.

~Peace

[Algernon]

A steampunk theme would be amazing, actually.

[Asuka]

That new line sounds interesting to me. I wonder if this should become the suspected more story driven theme.

If this is so, I hope it´ll be schemed a little different to EF, without all these permanent repitition in its set conception.

The Rock Raiders theme comes to my head instantly too, when I see the name of this new line

You did it well. I made the mistake to imagine this, for one second, as a mix of Power Rangers and Snow White. *shudder*

Exactly. Aquazone is one of those crappy short-term lines.

In the last two years I sometimes think that TLC is its own strongest competitor, with just to many good lines at the same time.

However, I don´t think that every line needs to last for more than a year. Short living themes can bring in some fresh air, and at

least some interesting MFs... In the end, I guess, it´s all about set design. I´m pretty curious.

[WhiteFang]

This looks very interesting. I am looking forward to see what are their encounters in their adventure into the earth's crust. Seriously, I don't really know about Rock Raiders until I look at it in Brickset. It's a theme which is released in my Dark Age.

I wonder what kind of concept will this theme be.