Lego Power Miners

Set #8956

I picked up the $5.99 set of the new Lego Power Miners line, the Stone Chopper. I heard about the Power Miners line a while back, but the sneak peak pics kinda turned me off with all of the brightly colored pieces, even if one of them was my fave; green. There were rumors of a new mini-fig type though, I don't what you'd call 'em, some kind of dwarf elementals, (the site lists them officially as 'rock monsters') so my curiosity was piqued.

The colors aren't too bad once you get into building the set. Although a small box, you get two mini-figs, and a pretty nifty bike with some interesting build techniques and a rubber wheel as well. The human doesn't come with any equipment, just a helmet, which is the older Rock Raider style in a new color. There is a new colored crystal (transparent red) and an old school red ruby in the set. The rock monster is a nice addition to boot.

The Rock Raiders line by Lego was a very short-lived theme almost a decade ago. It was in a similar vein (pun intended) as the new guys and featured very similar figs and equipment. There was even a rock monster in there too. I really liked the Rock Raider lineup, but there wasn't much going on, they lacked true adversaries, which is what Lego's hoping to fix with these little rock monsters.


The two mini-figs of the set

The human mini-fig is a good one. He's got a Raider style helmet, which is visor ready, and molded in a new, bright blue. He's got a double-printed head (one mean, one surprised) and his torso is also double printed. Not only is his torso printed on both sides with cool pouch and equipment motifs, his legs are also printed with some gear. My one complaint, as mentioned already, no equipment. It would've been nice to give him a pick axe or a radio or something.

The rock monster, named Firox, is a great little addition, and so much better than some of the aliens and what-not Lego has put out in the past. He's way better than the prequel Battle Droids too. This little guy is a transparent red, with opaque gray 'rocks' painted on, and comes with a red transparent crystal too. Something like a flame-pike or what-not would be nice, but he's good as is.


Open wide!

Firox is a stout fig with a large, hollow body and a widely hinged mouth joint. I was able to fit both of the set's crystals inside with some room to spare. I'd say a mini-fig head or two would fit just as neatly. The coolest part are his rocky arms...which will fit into the shoulder sockets of a regular mini-fig, and vice versa!


Rock on!

The human mini-fig with the rock monster's arms. This opens up a lot of new possibilities with swappable arms, even more so if you include the robot arm from the Agents lineup too.