Random set of the day: Hydro Reef Wrecker
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 2162 Hydro Reef Wrecker, released during 1997. It's one of 3 Aquazone sets produced that year. It contains 287 pieces and 2 minifigs, and its retail price was US$40.
It's owned by 779 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $270.00, or eBay.
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41 comments on this article
Wow, now I am salivating for some of those green/neon green parts.
This colour scheme is just, busy. The two greens confuse visual lines and make the shape hard to see.
Why does it want to wreck the reef? it'll bury all those rare chrome crystals.
This has eyes. Lore? Sentient aqua-mech looking to wreck reefs because of childmech trauma? A race of underwater mechanical life enslaved by humans to harvest resources? Or did someone paint eyes on it like truckers put Rudolph noses on their grilles? We need to know!
I assume the eyes are for intimidation.
RIP, Trans Neon Green.
@Miyakan said:
"This colour scheme is just, busy. The two greens confuse visual lines and make the shape hard to see."
Well, it's Aquaraiders, so that tracks.
This was the largest Aquaraiders set. There were quite a few similarities between Aquaraiders and Roboforce:
* Released in 1997
* Only available in North America
* Three or four total sets, none above $40 and none below $12 (almost all other themes of the era had impulse/polybag-type sets)
* Set numbers in the 21xx range (at a time when most sets were in the 6000's)
@560heliport said:
"I assume the eyes are for intimidation.
RIP, Trans Neon Green."
Also RIP chrome parts.
@PurpleDave
You mean Aquazone not Aquaraiders.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @560heliport said:
"I assume the eyes are for intimidation.
RIP, Trans Neon Green."
Also RIP chrome parts.
@PurpleDave
You mean Aquazone not Aquaraiders."
Aquaraiders is the faction or subtheme of the Aquazone theme.
@Maxbricks14:
I clicked on the set listing to see what tags were attached because I wasn’t entirely sure which subtheme this was. There are five in Aquazone (the Space of watery environs). Largest is Aquanauts (8), then Hydronauts (7), Stingrays (5), Aquasharks (4), and this is from the smallest subtheme of Aquaraiders (3).
Hmmm...I'm beginning to think there needs to be "LIMITS" on the term "All Terrain Vehicle"...:)
I hate it that so many of these awesome sets were only available in NA. I would've bought some of these in a heart-beat.
@560heliport said:
"RIP, Trans Neon Green."
Know that you and Trans-Neon Orange will live on in our hearts.
None of the follow-up Aquazone color schemes were as good as the original yellow and trans blue. Or the black and trans neon orange Aquasharks.
None of the follow-up Aquazone color schemes were as good as the original yellow and trans blue. Or the black and trans neon orange Aquasharks.
Ugly set. BUT LOOK AT THOSE CHROME CUTIES!!!
Wanted to check out the chrome crystals, but the inventory of parts is only 71.8% percent complete apparently.
Oh yeah this subtheme; always forget this little three set faction exists, possibly because they just look so much like they’re just prototypes for the Hydronaut and Stingray sets that come the year after
Why hello there, Seatron.
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/51967abae4b0fe8d0161031f/984abd98-b749-46b6-942c-9d0dd57647e3/ST2.jpg
Weird hodgepodge of part stacked together I even see 3 Spyrius tiles and the computer.
Weird placement of the propellors among many other odd choises.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"also, why is the compass outside of the cockpit? one would think it would be more useful INside..."
6175 6195 1822 6190 I assume for the kids to play with
@SwingTop
Bricklink does have it
This vehicle makes no sense, but it doesn't need to make sense to look cool. Yes, the design is busy, but there's trans neon green, and chrome which is self-explanatory.
Man this set's got it all: animals, chrome parts, plenty of prints, and one of those funky compasses that I don't know points North exactly, but it points somewhere.
Come on, what are you all even doing here?
Head on over to Random "Minifig" of the day immediately!
After all, that's where the action is today ;-)
@Ridgeheart said:
"Why hello there, Seatron.
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/51967abae4b0fe8d0161031f/984abd98-b749-46b6-942c-9d0dd57647e3/ST2.jpg"
Thanks for the rabbit-hole!
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @560heliport said:
"I assume the eyes are for intimidation.
RIP, Trans Neon Green."
Also RIP chrome parts."
Well, they do still make that LotR ring, so chrome gold is technically not gone for good!
This is where large and special parts inventory hit the climax and the set designers started to go for whatever they could.
I kind of like the design here. It's not as random as it appears.
This is basically a sub with a chassis with three wheels underneath. The sub can propel itself away or it can use the chassis to drive over the sea floor. There's small drills on the upper half and a bigger drill on the lower half.
Better yet, the lower half has wings that can fold out, presumably to help with making 'jumps' with the entire vehicle.
Does it make the most sense in real life? Not really. But as a toy it's a fun concept and one that isn't done a lot.
Fun fact: technically this is Aqua Raiders I, because there's a (great!) theme from 2007 by the same name that would be Aqua Raiders II.
Although they're probably not the same universe as the 2007 version is less sci-fi, that shouldn't matter as there is no known continuity between Knights Kingdom I and Knights Kingdom II either.
Oh, and RIP trans neon green (and trans neon orange). You will be missed dearly. And with the new colors lego constantly introduces that are closer to existing ones than the last, I'm remaining salty.
Reef Wrecker? Not very environmentally friendly for a company that is going green by getting rid of plastic packaging.
The two minifigs are called Scavenger Sam and Rocky the Reef Wrecker. Sam is the only minifig to reuse the Explorien Chief's (Captain King) head as well as Thresher's hook.
I always liked those exclusive green parts in Aquaraiders, although I have to admit that this set has a really messy design...
The OG Aquazone was cool but I personally think 2007 Aquaraiders and Atlantis were cooler
@Ridgeheart said:
"Why hello there, Seatron.
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/51967abae4b0fe8d0161031f/984abd98-b749-46b6-942c-9d0dd57647e3/ST2.jpg"
We missed out on _TWO_ hammerhead shark molds back then?!?!?!?
@AustinPowers said:
"Come on, what are you all even doing here?
Head on over to Random "Minifig" of the day immediately!
After all, that's where the action is today ;-) "
Trying to give my eyes some time to recover.
@Binnekamp:
This is Aquaraiders. That theme is Aqua Raiders. Clearly they’re not the same thing.
@CaptainMoore , @PurpleDave :
Seatron was wildly ahead of its time. Here, have another Seatron could-have-been:
https://lego-space.fandom.com/wiki/Sea-Tron_Alien
It's fun to spot the parts and design-cues that would later be reused in much, MUCH newer themes; this was around the time of Futuron after all. And distracting yourself this way makes it slightly easier to ignore the crushing sense of loss and betrayal! Bonus!
@Binnekamp said:
"Oh, and RIP trans neon green (and trans neon orange). You will be missed dearly. And with the new colors lego constantly introduces that are closer to existing ones than the last, I'm remaining salty."
TRANS NEON HAS A POSSE.
Is that a working compass on the nose of the sub?!
@Ridgeheart said:
" @CaptainMoore , @PurpleDave :
Seatron was wildly ahead of its time. Here, have another Seatron could-have-been:
https://lego-space.fandom.com/wiki/Sea-Tron_Alien
It's fun to spot the parts and design-cues that would later be reused in much, MUCH newer themes; this was around the time of Futuron after all. And distracting yourself this way makes it slightly easier to ignore the crushing sense of loss and betrayal! Bonus!
@Binnekamp said:
"Oh, and RIP trans neon green (and trans neon orange). You will be missed dearly. And with the new colors lego constantly introduces that are closer to existing ones than the last, I'm remaining salty."
TRANS NEON HAS A POSSE."
That Seatron monorail is gorgeous.
@Ridgeheart:
I definitely recognize the minifig, and I’ve probably seen the theme picture before and just not realized the implication. What I’ve been trying to track down, though, is the image that shows the Bison bison prototype they came up with for the Western theme before it was cancelled.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Ridgeheart :
I definitely recognize the minifig, and I’ve probably seen the theme picture before and just not realized the implication. What I’ve been trying to track down, though, is the image that shows the Bison bison prototype they came up with for the Western theme before it was cancelled."
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/lego/images/8/8c/Unreleased.jpg
For anyone who's interested in unreleased sets, parts, minifigures - these sources aren't exhaustive, but they're a pretty good start:
https://brickset.com/sets/tag-Unreleased
https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Unreleased
And then there's https://www.minifigpriceguide.com/Top100LegoMinifigures.html, which contains some weird minifigures that were never released to the public. Enjoy, have fun, merry Ridgemas, et cetera. Don't say I never got you anything.
@legomaniac said:
"Is that a working compass on the nose of the sub?! "
Yes. They’ve done two styles. It’s about the level of technology you used to be able to pull out of a Cracker Jack box as a free toy, so not exactly a big deal to produce.
@legomaniac said:
"Is that a working compass on the nose of the sub?! "
Yes, it is.
Lots of semantics on here, but really, that was a GREAT subtheme with tons of play value. You could clearly see they were going for something different with this subfaction, and I quite liked the color scheme because it was completely different from anything else that had been done before. That detachable ship is also my most swooshed with, by a large extent, and just felt right in its design.
@phi13 said:
"This was the largest Aquaraiders set. There were quite a few similarities between Aquaraiders and Roboforce:"
So imagine my surprise as a collector since the 1980s when I discovered eBay in 1999 (yeah, late to the party, I know) and with it all these obscure themes we Europeans had missed out on, without even knowing it..!
Just exchange the green for white, and PRESTO, Blacktron underwater!
Aquazone was great, but the Aquaraiders were the weakest of the bunch. This set is very odd. I own it, have it built, so I can say it's quite odd.