Random set of the day: Drill Craft
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 1277 Drill Craft, released during 1999. It's one of 13 Rock Raiders sets produced that year. It contains 27 pieces and 1 minifig.
It's owned by 162 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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37 comments on this article
Drill Craft... whose only tools are Chainsaws...
Okay.
Where's the drill on this craft?
That’s a funny looking snowmobile…
That looks a lot more like a chainsaw murder-mobile than a drill craft, but, sure, okay.
Quick lore!
Spaceship fall in wormhole.
Spaceship crash on planet.
Planet have magic energy crystal.
Crystal power spaceship.
Rock creatures want crystals.
QUICK LORE!
@VintageDude said:
"Whoa!
Anakin Skywalker as a
Rock Raider?
"
Now this is rock raiding!
I played the game on PC a lot as a kid, but never got far. Went back and played it again as an adult and it did not hold up to the nostalgia! At least execution-wise. The concept is awesome, I'd love to see them take another shot at the formula.
"Drill Craft"...good, good name; if they called it "Mine Craft", that'd be just silly.:D
@utlf said:
"RR Slugger has a ton of great Rock Raider videos on his youtube channel, definitely worth checking out! (delete this part before posting the advertisement on social media platforms)"
Wow! I just went down a rabbit hole of Rock Raiders lore. They came out just as I was entering my dark ages and I never had any or played the game (though my little brother had a few).
I like the worn out look of the Rock Raiders. It's the bluish green parts that put me off.
So it is a box with chainsaws?
@MCLegoboy said:
"Drill Craft... whose only tools are Chainsaws...
Okay."
Nah, it’s a practice craft used for training drills.
Hell yeah Rock Raiders! Always loved how chunky, heavy-looking and ever so slightly ramshackle their stuff looked. Nice counterpart to all the sleek lines and aerodynamics of other sci-fi themes
It was really interesting how many Kabaya Sets there were in the late '90s...
This 4 pack is very high on my wanted list, as they are the only Rock Raiders Sets I'm missing :( Although If I had to chose one, I would have picked the Docs set for that rare printed Plate/dish thing.
I still Wonder how Kabaya candies taste ...
@Atuin said:
"I still Wonder how Kabaya candies taste ..."
IIRC a lot of candy and gum packed with small Japanese toys tends to have a nonspecific fruity flavor, which wears off very fast.
I loved the Rock Raiders game for PS 1 - still play it from time to time!
I have no idea what RR is. But, I love getting those crazy rock monster figs. They're fantastic!
Edit: Oops! I was thinking of Power Miners more than RR. Is Power Miners just a reboot of RR?
Lego Rock Raiders, one of the best lego games ever made and one of my most favorite themes.
This is a good moment to recommend a fan-made remake of the game, called "Manic Miners". Nostalgia trip guaranteed, and it has even more features than the original game.
Rock Raiders: a.k.a. my hands-down absolute favourite Lego theme ever. Not necessarily for the set designs, though they're cool in their way too, but for the characters and the lore.
...and it lasted for less than a year. Although for all that, it had a surprising amount of story material. Aside from the video game (games? The PC and PS1 versions were vastly different in gameplay, from what I've heard, though they had the same overarching story; I've never played the PS version myself though), it also had several storybooks and, a couple of years later, a graphic novel that could be ordered through Lego World Club magazine. It also had distinct characters with unique designs and personalities - and a lore that, for perhaps the first time, was the same on both sides of the Atlantic.
And, of course, it had a spiritual successor in Power Miners... though I, personally, don't talk about that.
Sparks here was the engineer of the team. He had a brilliant mind and kept all of the Rock Raiders' technology in good working order - however, at least in certain media, this was offset by him being incredibly clumsy. The graphic novel portrayed him as rather absent-minded, too: he spent much of the story onboard the LMS Explorer, the Rock Raiders' spaceship, trying to figure out why he couldn't get the teleporter working properly... only to realise, when things were at their worst for the rest of the team on the planet's surface, that he had simply forgotten to plug the thing in.
Despite that, he was EASILY my favourite Lego character as a kid. I always was drawn to the engineer / inventor characters when I was younger, anyway; and, in addition to that? Cool helmet? Cool goggles? Cool detailed outfit, and in my favourite colour no less? Instant favourite! :D
@sir_vasco said:
"I played the game on PC a lot as a kid, but never got far. Went back and played it again as an adult and it did not hold up to the nostalgia! At least execution-wise. The concept is awesome, I'd love to see them take another shot at the formula."
Have you heard of Manic Miners? It's a fan remaster of the Rock Raiders PC game. They have a discord and community forum
Rock Raiders - best Space theme ever. Played the PS1 game about five hundred times and logged a hefty amount of hours on the PC version. And I still own all of the regular sets.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said: ""i hesitate to ask, but is it functional?"
"that depends entirely on your definition of, 'functional,' sir..."
-overheard moments before the Drill Craft's first (disastrous) test flight."
The body count was tragically high.
Why does the larger image look nothing like the smaller image? Is that an alternate build or something?
The googles and helmet make me think of a young Anakin playing with cardboard boxes and chainsaws before life become too complicated. The patterned slope is the most expensive part now.
@Atuin said:
"It was really interesting how many Kabaya Sets there were in the late '90s...
This 4 pack is very high on my wanted list, as they are the only Rock Raiders Sets I'm missing :( Although If I had to chose one, I would have picked the Docs set for that rare printed Plate/dish thing.
I still Wonder how Kabaya candies taste ..."
I got the Kabaya Fortress Maximus toys (Transformers fir those that don't know), which came with gum. I tasted like cardboard. Kind of like the gum that came with Topps cards, but with less flavor/sugar.
@Darth_TNT said:
"Why does the larger image look nothing like the smaller image? Is that an alternate build or something?"
I think so, yeah. Several of the Kabaya polybags like this one also display something else that can be built with the same pieces, much like the back of many set boxes did back in the day. The rest of Rock Raiders ones have them too, as did the Insectoids (e.g. 3072), Space Port (e.g. 3067), Dino Island (e.g. 1281) and Extreme Team (e.g. 1188) ones.
I thought, "I don't remember this one." Then I looked at the set entry: "Kabaya." That explains that.
@StyleCounselor : I wondered how you could be such a fan of the BURPMAN (Big Ugly Rock Person Made Annoyingly Non-mobile), then I saw your edit.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
""i hesitate to ask, but is it functional?"
"that depends entirely on your definition of, 'functional,' sir..."
-overheard moments before the Drill Craft's first (disastrous) test flight."
...and that is how Chief lost his original, organic left arm.
https://brickset.com/minifigs/rck006
But don't worry, he knows a good plastic surgeon. ;-)
@utlf I was looking for mentions of RR Slugger. His videos on Rock Raiders and a bunch of other older themes are incredibly well made. His video on the Kabaya Rock Raiders sets were my first good look at them aside from these awfully shot box images. It was refreshing to see someone love a theme so much he would even include all the alternate builds in each review! He's even done a video on Galidor which I would recommend.
Fun fact: this set contains Sparks, which is otherwise only available in 4930 The Rock Raiders and 4990 Rock Raiders HQ. Although the former was widely available, it's still not bad for a set that comes with sweets!
In fact, 3075, 3077, 3076 3021 come to mind on other Kabaya sets that include otherwise difficult to get figures.
@chuckschwa said:
"Have you heard of Manic Miners? It's a fan remaster of the Rock Raiders PC game. They have a discord and community forum"
No kiddin'? What a world we live in, where fans will revive a relatively obscure 20 year old game! I'll absolutely check it out.
@Atuin:
One of my friends was living in Japan when the SW Kabaya promo hit and picked up a few for me. I got gum (two per set), which I tried out. They were white or really pale yellow gumballs about 1” in diameter and probably not even 1/8” thick to the hollow core. What flavor it had was weak, in terms of both longevity and potency. Based on the color, I figured it was supposed to taste like pineapple, but I would not care to bet money on that.
@TheOtherMike:
Hey, that rock monster was my first Clayface! And he’s crushing a mime’s head in his right hand, so that’s a bonus.
@kdu2814 said:
" @Atuin said:
"It was really interesting how many Kabaya Sets there were in the late '90s...
This 4 pack is very high on my wanted list, as they are the only Rock Raiders Sets I'm missing :( Although If I had to chose one, I would have picked the Docs set for that rare printed Plate/dish thing.
I still Wonder how Kabaya candies taste ..."
I got the Kabaya Fortress Maximus toys (Transformers fir those that don't know), which came with gum. I tasted like cardboard. Kind of like the gum that came with Topps cards, but with less flavor/sugar. "
Haha^^
Good to know there's at least something I don't need to regret about missing this Part of Lego History :D
Oh and Sparks was also in one of the 3 'Minifigure Collection' Sets from 2000. Another one had the exclusive Chief Minifigure, that seems to be quite expensive nowadays^^
@PurpleDave: ironic that you would use such an unposable figure As Clayface, considering how fluid he is.
@TheOtherMike:
It was gifted to me, and it worked. In terms of a brickbuilt design, the best I could come up with at the time was Bleyface (based on B:TAS Clayface):
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/Minifigs/1961-12_bleyface_ii_front.jpg
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/Minifigs/1961-12_bleyface_ii_rear.jpg
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/Minifigs/1961-12_bleyface_ii_smash.jpg
At the time, I could build that design in black or dark-bley, but no shades of brown. Eventually, new reddish-brown parts came to market, and I was able to build a slightly revised design in that color, with a very different attack arm.
@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike :
It was gifted to me, and it worked. In terms of a brickbuilt design, the best I could come up with at the time was Bleyface (based on B:TAS Clayface):
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/Minifigs/1961-12_bleyface_ii_front.jpg
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/Minifigs/1961-12_bleyface_ii_rear.jpg
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/Minifigs/1961-12_bleyface_ii_smash.jpg
At the time, I could build that design in black or dark-bley, but no shades of brown. Eventually, new reddish-brown parts came to market, and I was able to build a slightly revised design in that color, with a very different attack arm."
That dude needs a Bro. Otherwise, that heavy a chest is bound to lead to lower back pain. ;)
Dig that long arm!
Rockraiders! (I don't know why, but the space has always vanished between Rock and Raider in my spelling and I could have sworn it came from LEGO that way--either I picked up on some weird, Canadian one-off or this is a Berenstein/Berenstain thing...)
This is not a good set, by any sort of design standard, but I won't hear a word against it, because it's got that pure, unadulterated Rockraideriness to it. I second the call for some Rockraider minifigs in the classic themes. It doesn't have to be a Jet/Axle/Sparks/Bandit/Docs/ redux* but something with teal and brown and dark grey and a clear miner would be great.
*A CHIEF REDUX, on the other hand, would be awesome for all of us who don't want to shell out for the collector.
@Formendacil said:
"Rockraiders! (I don't know why, but the space has always vanished between Rock and Raider in my spelling and I could have sworn it came from LEGO that way--either I picked up on some weird, Canadian one-off or this is a Berenstein/Berenstain thing...)
This is not a good set, by any sort of design standard, but I won't hear a word against it, because it's got that pure, unadulterated Rockraideriness to it. I second the call for some Rockraider minifigs in the classic themes. It doesn't have to be a Jet/Axle/Sparks/Bandit/Docs/ redux* but something with teal and brown and dark grey and a clear miner would be great.
*A CHIEF REDUX, on the other hand, would be awesome for all of us who don't want to shell out for the collector."
You know that there were those orange Overall suit Guys in the 1999 PC Game, that would be your Basic workers with more Print decals in them than what was usual at the time? I want one of them in a Future CMF!