LEGO Power Miners 8957 Mine Mech Review

Want more video reviews? Of course you do. Here is the review for Lego Power Miners set #8957 Mine Mech.

Watch the review here!

Or if you prefer reading, read on.

This is LEGO Power Miners set #8957 Mine Mech. The set was originally released in January 2009 for $7.99 and came with 67 pieces.

 

Fun fact: Brains is also on the Atlantis team!

The first minifigure that comes with this set is Brains. Of the four different Power Miners on the team, Brains is the scientist. He has a test tube symbol at the center of his chest that shows what he specializes in. In place of the standard grey torso the other Power Miners have, Brains has a white one. Other than that, he has the same printing and helmet as the others.

His head is double sided: one side is his smiley face, and the back side is his scared face.

 

The dark green color is a rarity of sorts.

The second minifig is Boulderax. His dark green translucent color is the only thing that distinguishes him from the other rock monsters. He has the same hinged mouth and comes with a dark green power crystal exclusive to this set. You can feed him the power crystal.

The mech looks pretty good from the front, and it
actually might look better without the #2 sticker.

This is the Mine Mech. In the center, there’s a brick built seat for Brains to sit and pilot the mech. All arms and legs are ball jointed. There are stickers on the legs and feet. Usually there’s a #2 sticker that goes on the front 1x2 smooth plate, but I’m missing mine. On the back, the underside of the bricks and plate that make up the leg and body are left uncovered. This looks kind of bad. The back is also where the roll cage is attached.

 

The action functions are kind of weak, but it is
cool to carry Boulderax with those pincers...

Unlike every other Power Miners vehicle, the Mine Mech is the only one without any automatic action function. On its right arm, there’s an orange blade you can spin by turning a little technic gear attached at the end. On its left arm, there’s a set of orange pincers you can open and close manually. You can hold Boulderax with them, but the mech’s arms are too short to reach him on the ground without having to put him there yourself. There’s also some clips at center that hold a pick ax and some dynamite.

"Let go of me!! PUT ME DOWN!!"-Boulderax

To make the mech move, you’re going to have use your imagination a bit and pretend because the only way to actually do it is to move the legs manually. The feet are smooth, so they can’t connect to studded surfaces. It can be tough to pose the mine mech, if at all. 

Eh.

That last demonstration was pretty much how I feel about the Mine Mech. It looks awkward, it plays awkward, and it’s built awkwardly. When you’re not looking at it from the front, it looks super ugly from almost every angle. The use of ball joints and nothing else for the arms and legs seems kind of lazy to me. They could of tried using longer ones to possibly help with its ability to pose and move around. From the first time I saw the Mine Mech, I thought it was ugly. I still think it’s ugly, but over the years it’s sort of grown on me. Personal feelings aside, I wouldn't recommend getting one.

 -Will