REVIEW: 8957: Mine Mech

[slimninj4]

Update: After getting a yellow crystal I requested LEGO to send me the correct color and they did. Got it last week and it is green. Do not know why I got the yellow.

This was the only PM set at Target so I picked it up.

Set Name: Mine Mech

Set Number: 8957

Year of release: 2009

Price: 7.99$ USD

Parts: 67

Minifigures: 1 man and one monster

Stickers: 1 sheet with 5 stickers on it.

First the box.

Front side.

Rear. This shows some features and what you can make when combining the smaller crap mining bike.

Opening the box you get three bags. Two for parts and one for the rock monster which I love.

You also get a sticker sheet and instructions. NOTE: The stickers have a raised rough texture to them. Almost like sandpaper. Neat.

Here are some cool parts that I like. Great helmet and of course the TNT!! I am sad to see that this is not a GREEN jewel but a yellowish one. Many lime green parts which I love. The roll cage is a nice new part from Lego. I see lots of good uses for this.

YUMMY rocks. Rock monster compared to the older rock monster.

.........and 10 minutes later....

The rear is bare but I expect this.

Comparison time..

Final Verdict.

Overall design: 3/5 It is not bad. The legs and arms do not move that much and it not very stable so I take points for that. Exo-force has better leg and arm designs before.

Playability: 4/5 This is made for kids and I think they will love it. How do I know. I had my nephews play with it and asked them. They want more Power Miners

Pieces: 4/5 Lime parts are gravy for me. New TNT is a plus and the moster rocks. New fig with double face. Also comes with a crystal and a pick ax and a cool orange light on top. Would of liked some cheese slope in lime.

Price: 4/5 8$ for me.

Overall rating: 4/5 Good set that I consider impulse (under 10$). I think this theme will work well.

Edited December 29, 2008 by slimninj4

[GloriusShadow]

Nice review

[Tim Bit]

Great reveiw and ok set.

I love the rock monster.

[The Rancor]

I wonder why you got Sulfurix's favourite crystal?

The set looks good, I think I'll buy it now, when it's out

Love the dynamite. I'll have to inspect those rough stickers for myself to really feel what they are like.

[Algernon]

I didn't like Exo-Force, so this set has almost no appeal to me outside of minifig collection. In my opinion the aesthetics are laughable.

Great review, however.

[Saint]

Nice review !

I think that the set is quite nice, loads of uppertunity , and best of all, the price is good .

Under € 10 you don't get much LEGO these days, and when comparred to the new crane , I for one think it's quite cheap.

The lime-green does nothing for me, but, when you look at the bigger picture ( kids and bright colors ) I think this is a hit !

grtz Saint

[Tacitus]

Interesting. I got the dark green crystal with my set.

[slimninj4]

I called Lego and they are sending me a green crystal. Also I agree that this is a kids theme as I stated. Not so much for adults but the kids 7 and 10 that tested with me agreed this is the BOMB and put down their Pirate sets to give me their opinions.

[hollisbrick]

I quite like this set I bit overpriced IMO but it's alright. Definately going to buy it though! Thanks for the review

[Svelte]

I didn't like Exo-Force, so this set has almost no appeal to me outside of minifig collection. In my opinion the aesthetics are laughable.

Great review, however.

I agree with Algernon. This is a really bizarre little set, worse even than the most ill-conceived Exo-Force sets. A lurid and stumpy abomination!

The only good thing about it is the fig, and even that is so-so.

The review is very good though

[xenologer]

Thanks for the review.

The snot cockpit construction looks pretty interesting for an official set.

it's really just the stocky legs that look off, but with some modding this has potential I'd say.

At any rate, it is nice to see some vestige of ExoForce live on in other themes.

P.S. regarding this being the 'only' set at Target.

When I went to Target (and got ahold of 8959) there were none on shelf, but I asked an employee to look up Power Miners and clearly there were most of the sets in the stockroom.

So now there's a few 8985's on the shelf, since when he pulled one out for me he also grabbed a few extra and just put them on the shelf randomly.

I'm guessing, the stores may actually have a few sets, but haven't re-allocated their shelf space for them... so just ask next time.

Edited December 18, 2008 by xenologer

[Brainbox]

I'm liking this set more now than I did when we first saw pictures. The squat stance isn't quite as... odd now we're getting proper pictures. I guess lime green is a neat colour, but the main attraction of this set has to be the rock monster. They are so cute, in a sort of weird way. But it's a cheap set, and I guess it's kind of fun.

In a slightly bizarre sort of way.

[Oky]

Nice review. But you could have showed the mech from more angles and in more poses.

Cool set. I have it too and am disappointed about the crystal as well. Although I love lime green and trans-lime pieces, I have enough trans-lime crystals from my Insectoids sets, so I'm pissed that they included one of them instead of the trans-green one advertised. I'm sure it's a mistake since the crystal on the box art and in the instructions looks definitely green, especially when compared with the rock monster. Do you think we can get a green one from S@H as a replacement?

[user]

Nice review. But you could have showed the mech from more angles and in more poses.

Cool set. I have it too and am disappointed about the crystal as well. Although I love lime green and trans-lime pieces, I have enough trans-lime crystals from my Insectoids sets, so I'm pissed that they included one of them instead of the trans-green one advertised. I'm sure it's a mistake since the crystal on the box art and in the instructions looks definitely green, especially when compared with the rock monster. Do you think we can get a green one from S@H as a replacement?

Yes it is a mistake I have seen two other reviews of this set and in both of them that crystal is the same color of the rock monster boulderax!

So don't worry Oky it is just a mistake the Lego company made you can return it later!

P.S Trans neon green crystals came from the Rock raiders sets. Not insectoids!

[UsernameMDM]

From the box art and such, I thought this set had a transparent green crystal rock piece and not a neon green one.

[user]

From the box art and such, I thought this set had a transparent green crystal rock piece and not a neon green one.

Well I have this set and it has a green crystal not a light green crystal!

[Algernon]

I bought this set, and I have to say it's turned me on for the rest of the theme, but I'm not very drawn to this set in particular. The construction is lazy.

[puddleglum]

I also got the lime green crystal. I plan on contacting LEGO to get the proper green one.

As for the set, I will echo what someone else said, which is that I did find the heavly-SNOT construction of the body interesting for such a small official LEGO set. I really don't like the legs on this thing, though. The two huge 2x2 bricks with sockets make them look silly. Really the only angle they look good from is the angle on the box. That being said, I bought this and the bike to get a taste of the PM theme and I can say I like them more than I thought I would, but I probably won't buy any more. It's always nice to get more parts in unusual colors like lime green, but there is too much technic and bionicle stuff in them for my tastes.

[Thee Pirate]

I just picked this set up at Target, aaaaand it's my first PM set. I also went ahead and added all the PM sets on Brickset to my want list. Whether or not I'll actually get them is a different story. The only other PM set they had at Target was Crystal Sweeper (8961) but $70 is a little much for me to spend on a set when I'm trying to save up for an engagement ring.

I have now had enough to drink to make putting this set together a hell of a lot of fun. Here it goes.. I'll time it, aaaand let you know my final time

[Thee Pirate]

It took me 15 minutes, I would like to comment on the painted legs, the right leg has a wallet chain which can be useful for a rocker/biker in city MOCs, and the left leg a flashlight... I'm probably not gonna use this set for too much MOCing...

[calebexo01]

i have this set and it is really cool. i actually like the squat little thing. its not too good for poseing but looks cool and does its job well. its the only power miners set with a claw/hand/somthing to pick stuff up with and it can pick up crystals or monsters.

none of the pictures in this review would come up on my computer but a nice review anyway.