The Power of Crystals. Again

like this, the LEGO Company turned to increasingly short-lived sci-fi themes to keep the wolves from the door. That meant some quirky new pieces, new colours, and plot development so lazy it makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe look like Christopher Nolan.

Yes, we’re talking crystals, the go-to for half-a-dozen late-’90s themes when LEGO couldn’t be bothered to think of anything else. One such theme was the amusingly-iconed Rock Raiders, which lasted just a single year, featured a comic and a video game, and – of course – a quest for crystals, because… shut up, that’s why.

Flickr’s Mathijs Bongers has returned to the crystal mines of the Rock Raiders theme with this immensely playable-looking ‘Modular Mining Unit’, complete with working suspension, drill, laser, magnetic crane, container modules, mining station, and on-board speeder.

There’s much more of the MMU to see (plus a whole heap more rock-based machinery) at Mathijs ‘Rock Raiders; Planet ONYXX Expedition’ album, and you can join him mining for crystals (as LEGO did about five times too often) via the link in the text above.