LEGO Rock Raiders
LEGO Rock Raiders was a LEGO theme focused on underground mining equipment. The theme consisted of eight main construction sets released in 1999, followed by seven smaller promotional sets in 2000. It also had a number of tie-in products, including three books and a video game.
Story
The Rock Raiders
LEGO Components
Sets
The Rock Raiders sets
| Set No. | Name | Released | Pieces | Minifigures | Designers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4910 | The Hover Scout | 1999 | 39 | Jet | |
| 4920 | The Rapid Rider | 1999 | 38 | Bandit | |
| 4930 | The Rock Raiders (UK) Rock Raiders Crew (US) |
1999 | 38 | Axle, Bandit, Docs, Jet, Sparks | |
| 4940 | The Granite Grinder | 1999 | 108 | Axle | Jens Kronvold Frederiksen |
| 4950 | The Loader-Dozer | 1999 | 89 | Axle, rock monster | |
| 4970 | The Chrome Crusher | 1999 | 167 | Axle | |
| 4980 | The Tunnel Transport | 1999 | 341 | Docs, Jet | |
| 4990 | The Rock Raiders HQ | 1999 | 402 | Bandit, Docs, Jet, Sparks, rock monster | Jens Kronvold Frederiksen |
| 1274 | 1 Light Hover | 2000 | Jet | ||
| 1275 | 2 Chain Dozer | 2000 | Bandit | ||
| 1276 | 3 Heli Transporter | 2000 | Docs | ||
| 1277 | 4 Drill Craft | 2000 | Sparks | ||
| 3347 | Rock Raiders #1 | 2000 | Chief | ||
| 3348 | Rock Raiders #2 | 2000 | Bandit, Docs, Sparks | ||
| 3349 | Rock Raiders #3 | 2000 | Axle, Docs, Jet |
Play Features
Minifigures
Unique parts
The theme introduces an abundance of unique parts. Many of the parts are large and have been criticised for being "juniorized".
Media
Video games
A video game of the same name as the theme was developed by Data Design Interactive and released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. The Windows version is a real-time strategy game featuring resource management, while the PlayStation game is an action game where the player controls a character.
The Rock Raiders franchise got 2 separate video games: One for PC, and one for PlayStation. They featured vastly different gameplay, where the PC game was a resource management RTS game, and the PlayStation game was a third-person action game.
PC
The PC game was a RTS-style resouce management game where the player has to complete tasks while fending off hostile creatures and managing environmental dangers.
PlayStation 1
The PlayStation game
Comic books
Each set had comic books!
Rock Raiders comics also appeared in a number of magazines, including LEGO Mania Magazine, LEGO Adventures!, Klick, and The Beano.
A number of comics were also created for the theme. Each of the original eight sets featured small mini comic books in certain specially-marked releases (which ones?). There were also Rock Raiders magazine comics published in LEGO Mania Magazine and LEGO Adventures!, as well as an appearance in the Time Cruisers comic and an eight-part comic in The Beano.
Story books
Rock Raiders got 3 separate story books:
- Rock Raiders: An Interactive Puzzle Storybook– An illustrated storybook written by Anna Knight, illustrated by Roger Harris, and published in 1999 by Dorling Kindersley as part of the LEGO Game Books series. The book is divided into fully-illustrated two-page spreads, with each scene containing a short amount of story and a puzzle for the reader to solve.
- Rock Raiders: High Adventure Deep Underground – A graphic novel written by Alan Grant and illustrated by Robin Smith and LEGO Media, published in 2000. The story is divided into chapters, and features occasional narration by Jet, as well as puzzles on certain pages and ideas for LEGO models the reader can build.
- Race for Survival – A short novel written by Marie Birkinshaw and published in 2000 as part of the Dorling Kindersley Readers series. Unlike the other two books, which retell the theme's story, this story is set six months later, featuring the Rock Raiders returning to the theme's alien planet. Each page features brief articles on geology relevant to events in the story.
History
The Rock Raiders theme began production in 1997 with the codename "Underground". The sets stopped being produced in 2000.
The sets were designed by Jan Harder Blaesild, André Sang-Tae Stenbryggen, Betina Krøigaard, Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, Troels Halken, and Søren Dyrhøj at LEGO Futura.
Prototypes
RR Prototypes r kewl.
Release
Rock Raiders was commercially okay-ish.
Legacy
Many speculate the Raiders are still Rocking to this day.
LEGO Rock Raiders was succeeded by the incredibly popular BLock Raiders - an absolute marvellous game made by Stewart Green, a legendary computer programmer.
Oh yeah there's also Power minurss
