One of the few Rock Raiders sets I have, and a beloved part of my collection. It's very rugged-looking, and even more so in person.

A vehicle with giant, 20-foot claw arms that swing up and down doesn't seem super-practical for digging caves, though. Is that just me?

This was my second Lego set ever, and my first to come with a minifig.

Good times :)

Wow, that lava-rock-hippo monster is amazing.

@Zordboy said:
"A vehicle with giant, 20-foot claw arms that swing up and down doesn't seem super-practical for digging caves, though. Is that just me?"

The Claw Digger; creating random pot holes wherever it goes!

Every set I had from this theme (which was not much really), had at least one part that broke. I don't know why these bricks were so brittle then.

While I thought this theme was cool, all those transparent colors were lovely, Rock Raiders has a special place in my heart and it always seemed better to me.

One of my favourite themes, because it that helped hook my son on LEGO. He has every set!

@PurpleDave said:
" @StarWarzFan7777:
TNG rock monster is missing two eyes. Excavator bucket holds two TNG crystals. Coincidence?"
Coincidence…..
On another note, I love this set! It’s simple, looks amazing and was dirt cheap! Such an awesome build and I do need to get around to owning the power miners sets. That crystal sweeper is my white whale….

This looks like a cool vehicle and gives me a great idea to add to my growing space base.

At the time I wondered if you could create a mechanism that moved the claws up and down as you pushed the digger along, now that I understand mechanics a bit more I might give it a go as the result could be quite fun. Looking forward to more Power Miners as RSODs.

@ambr said:
"At the time I wondered if you could create a mechanism that moved the claws up and down as you pushed the digger along, now that I understand mechanics a bit more I might give it a go as the result could be quite fun. Looking forward to more Power Miners as RSODs."

Oh do they not? I always assumed they did, but never had the set (Power Miners never spoke to me, I was a Rock Raiders kid). Would be easy to do with a cam behind the wheel.

@Murdoch17 said:
"You forgot the part about tickets being "just" two chrome green crystals (kids under 6 get in free with paid admission!), it being Bring-you-Own-Rock-Monster night, and about the Rock Raiders cover band performing in the parking lot."
You know, I knew I was forgetting something...

Coming back to this set after a while last year (through browsing instruction scans), it surprised me how small this vehicle is without the wheels and arms. But yet it's nicely detailed, especially in that engine! Just like with Space Police III there was a strange sacrifice of affordability for size and/or detail. At the time I didn't really find them worth the money, but looking back these were some nice models at least.

That said, I must say I can't really understand how the generation that grew up with Power Miners were that fond of these sets, as it's another vehicle-heavy theme with single-driver-capacity and usually one function per vehicle and next to no interaction with the rock monsters. But I digress, I think it's just me being into different things at the time (again, SP3 but also Bionicle's back catalog) and not having the budget some people have. And if anything, it's far more memorable than licensed theme X providing a scene that may or may not be remade a few years later.

Ah, my second Power Miners set. As a kid, I tried to refrain from applying stickers to my sets, but I found the subterranean map sticker to be too cool not to put on the gray 2x2 tile. The "dig" function has high play value, although it requires manually turning the knobs at the sides of the vehicle. I think it would have been better if gears were used to make the arms move up and down when the vehicle is pushed, like how the Thunder Driller's drill moves when that vehicle gets pushed. Otherwise, this was a solid set.

On the subject of Power Miners itself ... People have nostalgia for it now, but I remember some fans disliking it when it came out. The lime green and orange color scheme was particularly criticized. Interesting how opinions shift as time passes.

@NatureBricks last time I checked my driver’s license it didn’t read “No one”, thank you very much.

@StarWarzFan7777 said:
"Where's the rock monster's eye print?"
Hiding

Power Miners was such an awesome theme, currently trying to complete it.

@Bricknave said:
"Ah, my second Power Miners set. As a kid, I tried to refrain from applying stickers to my sets, but I found the subterranean map sticker to be too cool not to put on the gray 2x2 tile. The "dig" function has high play value, although it requires manually turning the knobs at the sides of the vehicle. I think it would have been better if gears were used to make the arms move up and down when the vehicle is pushed, like how the Thunder Driller's drill moves when that vehicle gets pushed. Otherwise, this was a solid set.

On the subject of Power Miners itself ... People have nostalgia for it now, but I remember some fans disliking it when it came out. The lime green and orange color scheme was particularly criticized. Interesting how opinions shift as time passes."

That's probably because the kids (whom the set was intended for) are now grown up and have a voice now. I don't own a single Nexo Knights set, as they just didn't interest me. In some years, I bet the kids who have fond childhood memories of Nexo will probably be praising those sets.

@PetesBricks said:
" @Bricknave said:
"Ah, my second Power Miners set. As a kid, I tried to refrain from applying stickers to my sets, but I found the subterranean map sticker to be too cool not to put on the gray 2x2 tile. The "dig" function has high play value, although it requires manually turning the knobs at the sides of the vehicle. I think it would have been better if gears were used to make the arms move up and down when the vehicle is pushed, like how the Thunder Driller's drill moves when that vehicle gets pushed. Otherwise, this was a solid set.

On the subject of Power Miners itself ... People have nostalgia for it now, but I remember some fans disliking it when it came out. The lime green and orange color scheme was particularly criticized. Interesting how opinions shift as time passes."

That's probably because the kids (whom the set was intended for) are now grown up and have a voice now. I don't own a single Nexo Knights set, as they just didn't interest me. In some years, I bet the kids who have fond childhood memories of Nexo will probably be praising those sets."

Yep, that's the cycle all right. And just like how there will be nostalgia for Nexo Knights, there will probably be nostalgia for Vidiyo, too.

I grew up with Lego Power Miners, and this theme is easily my favorite of all time. The design of the rock monsters is so perfect, and each vehicle set has some sort of unique feature that is awesome to play with. The Claw Digger is actually quite possibly my favorite set ever, even if this is mostly because of nostalgia.

Just a few years ago I spent hours digging through my old buckets of LEGO and re-built all my Power Miners and Space Police III sets back together for the first time in over a decade, and I can confidently say that these sets still hold up years later. I really wish future generations of children had more options in terms of original themes from LEGO as I absolutely loved ones like Power Miners.