LEGO reveals new line - Power Miners

[Cardinal Brick]

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.

I noticed that to, personally I reserve judgment for the time being. While I liked rock raiders it was nothing amazing but was just different. I assume Lego must think the theme is good if they’re going to put a huge marketing effort into it, well I’d hope so rather than the line being week and needing adverts to boost the sets.

[ReZourceman]

WWWWHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS BRILLIANT NEWS

SOUNDS SO COOOLOOLLOLLOLOLOLLLL!!!

[Shadows]

I can live with this. I actually bought a lot of Rock Raiders at the very end of their existence while being clearanced out. I intended to use them as some kind of rebel workers or misc slightly space styled SW characters, but ended up liking the official line enough to leave them be.

I will say this, though, unless they're amazing on their own, they'll end up a lot like Exo-Force / Agents to me, sets to buy at a bargain for parts salvaging.

Shame they didn't officially release any pics before someone finds them on their own. Would save all that nasty leakage mess.

[brickzone]

Rock raiders was an interesting concept, but imo, poorly executed. I'm quite excited about the potential of this Power Miners theme to pull it off far better (Agents is after all, simply superb, whereas alpha team despite good concepts is similarly not as well executed).

Half-rock, half-crystal suggests a monster made partly out of ordinary colour, and partly out of trans. If it is one main mold, maybe it'll be two-tone solid and transparent? Potentially very cool!

[Pencoin]

I'm not to excited unless it's something super-good but I doubt that. I just hope for some good parts.

[Dr. Brick]

This will be interesting. I missed the rock raiders, which I thought was a big mistake.

Dr. Brick

[Karto]

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.

OK, I'll check the facts:

Aquanauts: released in 1996 had 7 different sets (some of them were resleased under two different numbers but were still the same...)

Aquasharks: released in 1996 had 5 different sets.

Aqua-Raiders: released in 1997 had 3 different sets.

Aquazone: released in 1998 had 7 different sets.

Stingrays: released in 1998 had 5 different sets.

Hydronauts: released in 1998 had 4 different sets.

Aqua-Raiders 2007: released in 2007 has 7 different sets.

You call this a huge theme with PLENTY of sets? I don't see it that way...

Now I would like to see where's the 'core fanbase' who received well the Rock Raiders line because all the sets I've seen so far for sale on eBay are selling as good as ZNAP... They probably must have drowned when trying to play the big aqua monster in daddy's pool.

I don't buy licensed themes such as Harry Potter or Star Wars, but I can easily understand that people like them. So, I'm positive about them because TLC makes profit which is, 'I think', the purpose of a company. If releasing ugly sets with a lot of worthless parts is called imagination, I'm glad they haven't too much imagination lately

[Zzz]

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?

...something like this popped into my head also! They had already much better lines than Rock Raiders (which is in my opinion completely nonsense and dull), why do they try so hard to let some poor lines live? They just stated in their half time report that the classic themes sold very well. The new city line seems to be a success and I think the next year will also sell really good; Castle sold like hell (I guess they regret that they stopped that one for so long) and the licences sell better than ever. A reason not to resurrect WW or Ninja seems that it is too close to existing themes, they want diversity. But if you can say from the start which line is going to fail, why make 8 new sets for it and all the marketing and production effort, why not just make one more set for each city, castle, AFOLs, creator, Indy and SW? Don't get it.

[JINZONINGEN73]

So Lego is bringing hands out for Bionicle characters in 2009, and NOW the other thing I've been bitching for, an underground mining theme is coming too?!?

Man, if they have tons of trans and use a UV blacklight element to light the sets up, I'll KNOW they've been listening.

Which is fine by me.

[Nikola Bathory]

hm, I'm not interested in this new Line.

I'd better buy the Dwarf mine instead!

[Karto]

hm, I'm not interested in this new Line.

I'd better buy the Dwarf mine instead!

Who knows, maybe the miners will be some futuristic dwarfs digging their way to the Earth's core with Pie bombs.

[JINZONINGEN73]

I dunno', but I'm going to laugh my megablocks off if I see this old idea I had utilized:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1945068

[Pate-keetongu]

I'm not very intersted, but maybe we got some accessories to dwarves mine!

[Nyundi]

Power Miners features a team of miners that dig into the Earth’s crust and encounter half-rock/half-crystal monsters. The range features collectible vehicles and mini-figures and monsters.

Nobody seems to be picking up on this interesting word usage here: "collectible". Is it possible that they intend this theme more of a collectible game type thing... buying booster packs of monsters, and mini-figures that have randomly inserted elements with varying scales of rarity (like CCGs)? This makes sense given that the theme seems sorta odd, and yet they are going to throw huge amounts of marketing behind it.

If so, watch out wallet, you're about to be drained

(Of course I could be reading way to much into this!)

[Ikki o' Moopyville]

Personally, this is incredible. Rock Raiders (ooh, the game!) was a favorite series of mine until Bionicle took over -- yes, you may now brand me a weirdo. With this, classic-looking Bionicle, Pirates, Castle, and heck, even Indy, I will love 2009 more than my wallet will.

Underground exploration is one my favorite things in fiction, and in Lego too. Even if the sets aren't fantastic, there's always the chance of gear, good parts, and stuff that can be combined with RR.

Lego, I love ya.

-Ikk

[Spirit of the Air]

Seriously, I agree with Ikki. RR was my fave too, until Bionicle and Exo-Force came along. When EF want downhill it was Bionicle all the way.

Now I'm glad I didn't spend all my money on Agents.

[Skipper 24]

I hope it is similar to rock raiders. I really did like the machines minifigs and the monsters which would be nice to see again. I guess it's the Exo-Force replacement.

[PMJ]

I really wish TLG would stop taking off of Rock Raiders. First with Mars Mission and now this!

[Wrinkledlion X]

A steampunk theme would be amazing, actually.

YES

[Eilif]

A few things.

1)

Nobody seems to be picking up on this interesting word usage here: "collectible". Is it possible that they intend this theme more of a collectible game type thing...

My thought exactly, though at this point collectable could mean a bionicle-like business plan, collectable gaming elements like some of the old adventurers sets, or it could just be collectable as in collect them all. It is notable that LEGO specificaly used the word "collectable.

2) It seems like alot of AFOL's still haven't come around to LEGO's stated plan to continue to release small short lived lines along with what they call "evergreen" lines. Lets give LEGO the benefit of the doubt that this new line will be as good as the other post-TLG-turnaround lines like agents, exo force and dino attack.

The lesson here is that in the fast moving toy market LEGO has found that it's profitable to develop alot of small lines that may only last a few years. LEGO's prime market is not AFOL's who will be dedicated to LEGO lines for decades, it's market is kids whose total LEGO experience (pre-dark ages) will likely total less than 9 years (ages 5-14), and whose interests/trends may change yearly.

So enjoy these lines for what they are, but if it ain't "evergreen", don't get too attached.

[canadianD]

Power Miners sounds awesome like rock raiders i loved rock raiders,i grew up with RR.New bionicle sounds.....like it has potenial.Can't wait for these!

[GloriusShadow]

Rockraiders is BACK!

I loved that theme..man,im looking forward to 2009!!!!

[Algernon]

I just hope it doesn't go the same direction as Mars Mission and end up with an ugly color scheme, unrealized enemies, and stupid "tube" gimmicks that don't make it into the second wave.

On the other hand, Mars Mission had some token sets that really justifies the rest of it.

[Karto]

The lesson here is that in the fast moving toy market LEGO has found that it's profitable to develop alot of small lines that may only last a few years. LEGO's prime market is not AFOL's who will be dedicated to LEGO lines for decades, it's market is kids whose total LEGO experience (pre-dark ages) will likely total less than 9 years (ages 5-14), and whose interests/trends may change yearly.

That's exactly what TLC did starting mid 90s and that's probably the main reason why they lost almost everything. The toy market moves a lot like any other one for sure, but there are always trends that remain unchanged: children love the 'adult world' for example, so they like to build towns with policemen, firefighters, workers and other classic elements. In the past they did it with wooden cars, today it's with video games or advanced light&sound toys. A company has to evolve and stay tuned with the latest technology developments, this to increase the quality / playability of their success products (more parts, more details, more features and bigger) and not to make some weird turnarounds and leave everything behind. During the past few years, TLC came back to their success lines (castle, classic town and pirates soon) and guess what, the profits are growing with amazing amounts regarding today's difficult market (20% improvement only for the first half of 2008!), what a coincidence!

What would happen if the Brandstätter group would stop (or juniorize) their Playmobil city line and replace it with a bunch of aqua- rock raider- dino- time cruiser- ZNAP- alike short-term lines? I bet it will be quite ugly to see.

Today, the few small lines such as Agents and the upcoming Power Miners will probably stay as secondary product lines behind the main themes (Mindstorms, City, Castle, Star Wars, TECHNIC). I doubt TLC would make the same error twice by giving the importance to the amount of small lines instead of the amount of sets within a few main classic lines.

[Algernon]

OK, I'll check the facts:

Aquanauts: released in 1996 had 7 different sets (some of them were resleased under two different numbers but were still the same...)

Aquasharks: released in 1996 had 5 different sets.

Aqua-Raiders: released in 1997 had 3 different sets.

Aquazone: released in 1998 had 7 different sets.

Stingrays: released in 1998 had 5 different sets.

Hydronauts: released in 1998 had 4 different sets.

Aqua-Raiders 2007: released in 2007 has 7 different sets.

You call this a huge theme with PLENTY of sets? I don't see it that way...

Now I would like to see where's the 'core fanbase' who received well the Rock Raiders line because all the sets I've seen so far for sale on eBay are selling as good as ZNAP... They probably must have drowned when trying to play the big aqua monster in daddy's pool.

I don't buy licensed themes such as Harry Potter or Star Wars, but I can easily understand that people like them. So, I'm positive about them because TLC makes profit which is, 'I think', the purpose of a company. If releasing ugly sets with a lot of worthless parts is called imagination, I'm glad they haven't too much imagination lately

Aqua-Raiders 07 was a rival a-la Mars Mission and I wouldn't include it in the theme. But why don't you see the rest of it as a huge theme? It's a variety of underwater-themed warring factions. They all take place in the same world and they're clearly meant to be played with together. Also notice that Aquazone, Stingrays, and Hydronauts were all released the same year. If they're classified as different themes, LEGO wouldn't have released three incredibly similar underwater themes in the same year. :P

Go to BrickLink and see how much the Rock Raider's HQ is going for. Also, have a look through this topic. More people are positive about the return of Rock Raiders than otherwise.

Making profit is what a company needs to do in order to remain competitive- but it is NOT the purpose of a company. Most companies begin because the founder has a belief or talent that inspires him to begin a business in whatever it is he feels so strongly about. In LEGO's case, it's all about imagination. That's why you can break your models and rebuild them into something else. It's the core foundation of the LEGO company and it's a rarity to find such an old foundation that still values that. Another important point: if all LEGO was concerned with was making a profit, they'd go the same direction as Mega Bloks. Because most kids don't care about rebuilding their sets into something else and LEGO would probably make more profit is they simplified their sets into cool-looking action figures and playsets that can kind of come apart. I bet you wouldn't want that. And the reason why that isn't the case is because LEGO has remained true to the core fanbase and their deep set mission statement.

Also, please don't generalize every short-lived theme into "ugly sets, useless parts" because it's simply not the case. A lot of people thought Rock Raiders were cool, and they had plenty of useful parts. If you don't know what to do with them then I'm not surprised you seem to undervalue imagination.