Power Miners

Power Miners is a theme released by LEGO in January of 2009, and was discontinued in 2010. It is similar to the Rock Raiders theme, and may be considered as that theme's spiritual successor. Short biographies for the crew, as well as the complete assortment of monsters—including the Crystal King—could be found on the Power Miners sub-site during the theme's run. These pages have since been discontinued along with the theme.
Between 2009 and 2010, two generations of the theme were released. The first is the 2009 generation, in which the Power Miners are deep in the crust of the Earth. In this generation, they fight the Rock Monsters, including the deadly Throwing Monsters and the powerful Crystal King. The Miners use plastic molds of dynamite, rather than a 1-by-2 plate with a dynamite printing as seen in Rock Raiders and other preceding sets. The 2010 generation charts that the Power Miners have drilled into the volcanic recesses of the Earth's core. The team faces the Lava Monsters, including Eruptorr, the king of the Lava Monsters. Instead of fighting the Lava Monsters with Dynamite—in 75% of the sets, the miners do not—they use water cannons.
== Details ==
The theme is set in underground caverns—like the Rock Raiders theme—and the basic story involves a group of mining specialists called Power Miners. The team is sent underground to investigate what is causing a series of severe "earthquakes" responsible for the devastation of several cities on Earth's surface. While there, the Power Miners discover the Energy Crystals and the Rock Monsters. The team decide to attempt to collect and mine the crystals in order to stop the monsters from consuming them and causing more of the "rumblings" on the surface. The Power Miners are dressed in blue and gray clothing, and their vehicles are green and orange in a fashion similar to that of real-world mining equipment; this is a fundamental difference between this theme and Rock Raiders, which is more futuristic.
All of the theme's sets include at least one of the Power Miners and one of their vehicles, as well as one or more Rock Monsters, except 8962 Crystal King, which only contains the Crystal King himself and two of the miners with a small, hand-held drilling unit. As an exception, the two promotional sets, 8907 Rock Hacker and 8908 Monster Launcher, do not include either a miner—in the case of 8908—or a Rock Monster (in the case of 8907).
A Power Miners online game called "Rock Rocket" was released on November 28th of 2008.
Power Miners has introduced many new parts. Some of these are drills, special spiked wheels, Lava and Rock Monsters, and Dynamite that is three-dimensional as opposed to the more traditional 2-by-1 plate. This piece has also been used in Space Police III, Toy Story, and Agents 2.0.
The theme reprises several elements that were already present in the Rock Raiders theme ten years earlier, such as the occurrence of Rock Monsters and Energy Crystals. However, unlike in its predecessor, the Rock Monsters play a bigger role and are included in nearly every set. Additionally, each character—with the inclusion of the Rock Monsters—is named. Power Miners also implemented several features that only appeared in the planning stage of Rock Raiders, such as the concept of a mobile base and a common uniform for the miner minifigures.
== Factions ==
=== Power Miners ===
2009
The eponymous Power Miners are a group of mining specialists who have a large variety of mining vehicles and equipment at their disposal, such as piloted bipedal robots and tracked vehicles. Most of the vehicles are equipped with drills and include elaborate gear mechanisms. The Power Miners have a large base—8709 Underground Mining Station—and also a mobile drilling rig—8964 Titanium Command Rig—which acts as a portable secondary base.
The four main characters are: Doc, the leader of the team; Rex, the engineer; Duke, the mining veteran; and Brains, the top scientist. There are also several minor characters, such as the Engineer and Miner.
In order to investigate the cause of several mysterious rumblings on the surface, the Power Miners were sent underground by the government, where they encountered the Rock Monsters and enigmatic energy crystals. The profile for Doc on the Power Miners' website in 2009 mentioned a "Portal", suggesting that there is a large hole leading into the underground.
2010
In the 2010 theme, the miners travel farther underground. They don new silver clothing and armour to protect themselves from the heat. They encounter Lava Monsters, and are equipped with mining vehicles with water cannons to fight the Lava Monsters. One of their lower bases is Lavatraz, for the detainment and containment of errant Lava Monsters.
==== Minifigures ====
=== Monsters ===
;Rock Monsters (2009) 
Rock Monsters are the antagonists of the Power Miners and are included in almost every set. There are five different kinds of Rock Monsters—red, green, blue, yellow, and orange—that have been named. The first wave of sets contained only small versions of the monsters - Boulderaxes are strong, slow, and dumb; Firoxes are sneaky and love to mess with the Power Miners' vehicles; Glaciators are mean and very ill-tempered; Sulfurixes can melt through solid rock to make their own tunnels; and Meltroxes are very temperamental and destructive. 
The second 2009 wave introduced the Crystal King, and two larger versions of the smaller Monsters, Tremorox and Geolix. Both can throw the smaller Monsters, along with rocks. These latter two are larger iterations of Meltrox and Sulfurix, respectively.
The Rock Monsters lack any vehicles or high technology. Their only equipment comprises of small catapults included in 8961 Crystal Sweeper and the Monster Launcher.
Rather than being a serious threat, the Rock Monsters are portrayed as childish hoodlums in the videos on the LEGO website and they have silly personalities and a gluttonous nature. 
The larger Rock Monsters are more devious. Instead of being mischievous tricksters, they are sadists and bullies, throwing rocks and smaller Rock Monsters at the Power Miners and their equipment.
==== Minifigures ====
;Lava Monsters (2010)
In 2010, a new type of monster was introduced - the Lava Monster. They live deeper underground than the Rock Monsters and they must be fought with water instead of fire, due to their heat-based nature.
These Lava Monsters also have larger versions, like the Rock Monsters.
==== Minifigures ====
== New Parts (Not including Minifigures and Accessories) ==
* Crystals from a variety of themes, including Rock Raiders and Aquazone, can now come in Trans-Blue, Trans-Neon-Orange and Trans-Red colors.
* Part 2440 (Orange)
* A TECHNIC Gear can come in Orange.
* Pickup Truck part, used for carrying boulders, now comes Orange.
* The Large Pickup Truck part, first appearing in Rock Raiders, can be acquired in Orange.
* Circular Blade saws can now come in Orange.
* Part 44126 (Lime)
* Part 44818 (Orange)
* Part 47508 (Orange)
* Part 50745 (Orange)
* Part 50860 (Orange)
* Part 54091 (Lime)
* Part 54095 (Orange)
* Part 57563 (Orange)
* Part 57779 (Lime)
* Part 58827 (Lime)
* Part 61068 (Lime)
* Part 61678 (Lime)
* Part 64450
* Part 64711
* Part 64712
* Part 64728
=== Sticker Sheets ===
These parts are not actual parts; rather, they are Sticker Sheets that are sold in most LEGO System sets. They include:
* Part 84682
* Part 84757
* Part 85076
* Part 85077
* Part 85078
* Part 85418
* Part 85466
== Minifigures ==
Miners
* Brains
* Doc
* Duke
* Engineer
* Miner
* Rex
Rock Monsters
* Meltrox
* Boulderax
* Glaciator
* Sulfurix
* Firox
* Tremorox 
* Geolix 
* Crystal King 
Lava Monsters
* Eruptorr
* Combustix
* Firax
* Infernox
== Accessories ==
* Dynamite
* Banana
== Sets ==
=== Wave 1 ===
=== Wave 2 ===
=== Wave 3 ===
=== Miscellaneous ===
==== Apparel ====
;Combined sets
* Cave Cutter
* Aero Shredder
* Crystal Crawler
* Rubble Rescue Rover
* Rock Watchman
* Blast Roller
* Cargo Crusher
== Media ==
=== Videos ===
thumb|300px|right|The teaser trailer
The Power Miners teaser trailer is a film introducing the Power Miners sets from the second wave of 2009, such as 8962 Crystal King, 8963 Rock Wrecker, and 8964 Titanium Command Rig. In the video, the Power Miners chase a Meltrox that leads them into the Crystal King's lair.
When Power Miners was first released, a Power Miners movie was also released to promote the theme. These movies are no longer available, as the site has since moved off-line.
== Games ==
* Rock Rocket: In this game, the player controls a Rock Monster, and the Monster has to eat as many crystals as they can before they run out of power.
* Cave Convoy: In this game, the player must guide several Power Miner vehicles safely through the caverns.
* Lava Showdown: In this game, the player takes the role of a Power Miner in the Earth's core. The objective is to capture Lava Monsters and escape through caverns of lava. The player has three lives; if the player runs out of lives, the game is over and must be restarted.
*Tunnel 13: Tunnel 13 was a game that was canceled while it was still being developed. The reason is why it was cancelled is unknown, however, Tunnel 13 was a large game. It may of been being developed to promote Power Miners, and then canceled because of a decision by LEGO to no longer promote the theme much further.
== Gallery ==
Drill & Wheel Proto.png|Old drill and wheel prototypes.
Drill & Wheel Proto 2.png|More recent drill and wheel prototypes.
Midi Monster Proto.png|A prototype of the "midi" Rock Monsters.
Original Power Miners.png|The original Power Miner Minifigure. To the right of him is a Power Miner in different colours, and the final Power Miner Minifigure.
Rock Mini Final.png|The final mould for the mini Rock Monsters.
Original Rock Monster Sketch.png|The original sketch for the Rock Monsters.
Original Rock Monster Sketch 2.png|Another old sketch for the Rock Monsters.
Rock Proto Mini.png|The original prototype for the mini Rock Monsters.
Rock Part Proto.png|A prototype for the Crystal King's rock pieces.
Rock Part Proto 2.png|Another prototype for the Crystal King's rock pieces.
Img 1366.jpg|Rock Monsters and Lava Monsters
== See Also ==
* Rock Raiders
== External Links ==
* Power Miners- LEGO.com
* club.LEGO.com
* Brickset.com
Category:Themes
 
Category:Themes introduced in 2009
Category:Discontinued Themes
Category:Non-Licensed Themes