Rock Raiders Canon ~ R.R. Slugger's Rock Raiders Retrospective!

[@vthesnail]

As a bionicle nerd, this all seems extremely familiar. The main difference is that we were actually blessed with the guidance of one of the lead story writers, Greg Farshtey, doing frequent QNAs during and even many years after the theme ended. The 10 years of gen1 bionicle was filled with many incongruities and contradictions in the cannon that needed retconning or new lore entirely. Not having ever had that with rock raiders makes it an involved challenge of figuring out what is part of the wider story and what isn’t.

[@imahaloguy]

My heart breaks every time you show me that prototype slug mold. We’ve got to spearhead an effort to get a third-party like brick arms to create one for us all to purchase!

[@Hepabytes]

Printer go brrrr

[@levip0392]

Get someone to 3d print one maybe I’d happily buy one

[@timmygebhard]

I started 3d printing one. It is on rock raiders united somewhere. Never finished but though. I still have the 3d model though.

[@YourFoxFriendYT]

@@timmygebhard do it, do it.

[@timmygebhard]

@@YourFoxFriendYT ok. I'll get back to you.

[@Mothbean]

As a Bionicle fan, hearing you talk about how Rock Raiders has super deep lore is incredibly funny to me

[@Zeldrake]

6:31 "I don't know. Maybe I'm being too harsh on this one" - Says Slugger as the image on-screen is of some bizarrely shaped minifigures with contorted joints, mad expressions, and every single limb at an angle that minifigures cannot have Sure, you might be being harsh... But it's *deserved.* More seriously, fascinating point that the devs gave Chief (since Chief was largely designed at DDI when they realised the setting could use a captain figure) a prosthetic arm to "normalize" that! And High Adventure Deep Underground takes that all away by giving him superpowers. :(

[@hilariousskullnamedcatzo647]

Canonically, the reason why lost miners don't use their teleporters is because it's more dangerous than the situation they are in, since as chief explains in breathless, that the LMS teleporter is on low power so it can't control where it's target should be teleported at, so a miner could end up in a fate far far worse than being lost in the dry and vast darkness of the caves...

[@RRSlugger]

A grim thought! But it totally fits in with the theme and atmosphere of this series. 😊

[@Bill-oj6vj]

main problem i have with this is that i makes me wonder how it is that all the raiders who arent lost manage to teleport perfectly with no issues

[@FelrinKirla]

My headcanon is that the LMS Explorer has a teleportation guidance system separate from the teleporter itself. Anything that teleports down gets a unique hash or I.D. of sorts, but the guidance system can only reliably teleport so many unique hashes. It can support "teleport down" or "teleport up" requests reliably to the teleporter, but it takes some time for the teleporter and the guidance system to workmwirh each other. The emergency teleport system sends a "teleport up now" signal to the teleporter alone, and it takes effect immediately, but due to bypassing the guidance system communication, the teleport itself sees "teleport up now" as "teleport anywhere but here." It doesn’t have the guidance system to confirm the destination point, so it flings them wherever.

[@Robot_Eva]

I'll always miss the lost opportunity for new creature molds to exist. They're honestly some of my favorite pieces, especially the ones from the 90's and early 2000's

[@StudioGhibletz]

I studied theology and what fascinates me here are the similarities between his process for determining canon Rock Raiders and the process of determining Biblical canon. For example just the process for determining how one source is canon over another, or that power crystal thing having different names. There's several arguments in biblical theology about word discrepancies among early manuscripts. Great video!

[@RedOctober94]

man i never realized Chief had a prosthetic/bionic arm i always assumed he had a different colored sleeve but couldnt figure out why he had a teal hand/"glove". that makes him seem so much more awesome though, a seasoned space miner who suffered an injury, could also explain why he mainly stays on the lms explorer.

[@BrotherhoodWorkshop]

Between the ages of 12 and 15, I created more eight feature length Rock Raider brickfilms (real janky animation). I don't think these would be considered canon

[@Bill-oj6vj]

........ can we see them?

[@BrotherhoodWorkshop]

@@Bill-oj6vj They're on VHS tapes back in my parent's home....so....no.

[@borkwoof696]

@@BrotherhoodWorkshopcome on, dig them up!

[@Vomarsk]

very happy about how this turned out. the "canon" discussions in the manic Miners Server are always driving me mad, with people just declaring things canon that sometimes contradict every other source, just because "it'd be cool". I'm very glad to see you put emphasis on head canon versus actual canon. Everyone's free to have their own headcanon, but I've seen too many people talking about theirs as if it's the one true Rock Raiders canon - and as you've beautifully shown, there is not a true Rock Raiders canon, there's about five.

[@Vomarsk]

and btw, I still refuse to take any source that calls those crystals "Brickonium" seriously xD "brickonium" just sounds too much like they're actually referring to a LEGO piece and for me personally it breaks the immersion when the characters are just LEGO. which is why I prefer themes such as Ninjago over the LEGO Movies.

[@RRSlugger]

@@Vomarsk Thank you! I'm with you 100% there - canon can be fun to debate, but at the end of the day it's entirely subjective and up to the individual. Hopefully this video succeeds in conveying that! Hahaha, I figured you wouldn't be a fan of Brickonium given your opinion on the "Lego Mining Ship" Explorer. 😉

[@satellachannel6423]

My biggest head-scratcher about the Rock Raiders canon is that i dont know if we are supposed to consider the crew to be the six known characters, a small team operating a big cargo ship just like in the Alien movie, Or there is actually plenty of Rock Raiders like the many workers seen in the game.

[@Derpy-qg9hn]

Considering the sheer size of Explorer, and the theme's emphasis on manual labor and repair, I find it hard to imagine there's only six workers on the ship... except real-world cargo ships have similarly insanely lean crew counts, often about twenty. Best guess, there's more than six, but few enough Raiders that each and every one is important and respected by their peers - so probably a max of 50.

[@satellachannel6423]

@@Derpy-qg9hn 👍

[@Kopek-vn4mx]

And they say bionicle has the most comeplicated lore

[@SpAMCAN]

Lore wise, don't forget the Legoland PC game - the Professor uses his time machine to visit the Rock Raiders theme and learn how to harvest Energy Crystals found across the maps, unlocking the later power station building.

[@jadethenidoran]

My headcanon is that the mineral itself is Brickonium, and "power/energy crystals" are informal, descriptive names for the naturally forming crystals made of it.

[@RRSlugger]

I like it!

[@Sandwich1414]

Also, on the topic of Rock Raiders canon I don't know if you ever played Lego Stunt Rally, but the first boss racer in that game, Radium, is apparently a Rock Raider. From Brickipedia "He was a Rock Raider, but was expelled from the program for performing radioactive tests on people. He wears a yellow radioactive suit to protect others from his glowing radiation."

[@Ringtail]

The Rock Raiders - the exact models from the High Adventure Deep Underground book in fact - can be seen sitting in the audience in the Stunt Rally outro cutscene too!

[@wendigockel]

In the PC version of Lego Rock Raiders, once your Rock Raiders have been trained and automatically assigned the names Docs, Jet, Sparks, Axel, Bandit and Chief, the next Rock Raider you'll train will automatically be given the name Radium. So yeah. Radium is canon.

[@TammyCalamity]

Me: Yeah yeah I know all of- Slugger: SCABBY SCAVENGERS Me: ...wut O_O Seriously I love that you took the time and effort to compile this, it's a crime it hasn't been done sooner!

[@RRSlugger]

Haha, thank you! This is far from all of it, of course, but I did want to spark some curiosity in folks about the theme. 🙂

[@Zeldrake]

Scabby Scavangers popped up in the DDI Dump that's still (slowly!) unfolding about a year and a bit back. Wouldn't be surprised you haven't heard of them!

[@RRSlugger]

@@Zeldrake And I've got a video on THAT topic in the works! 😉

[@ThatTarkur]

Love most old Themes for their lose open ended lore but I must say that complicated lore with strict canon often times isn't a detriment to the fun especially if most of the canon is about the worldbuilding, like Bionicle, while Bionicle canon is messy and complicated its still a really fun playground for adding your own additions whether you want to be super strict about canon or not

[@RRSlugger]

Indeed! I'm not sure if Rock Raiders really had the potential for meaningful long-form story telling like Bionicle had, so it's probably best they went with the "shotgun" approach here, even if it did end up messy, haha. 😅

[@RRSlugger]

Hey folks, thanks for checking out the video! I know there are some people who have been following the channel for a better part of a year waiting for this one - sorry to keep you waiting! 😅 If you find any of this stuff interesting, please check the description for more links to lore that I wasn't able to cover with this video. There's a ton of cool stuff out there, so feel free to peruse at your leisure! In other news, I have a few vintage sets I need to build for a couple pick up shots in a new video - I was thinking of having another impromptu live stream this weekend of the building process and Q+A. I don't have a time/day picked out *yet*, but I'll reply to this comment when I do! 🙂 EDIT: Let's do 5 PM EDT on Sunday, July 10th!

[@mandostrikesback8744]

Hi Slugger! i figured out a cool way to make a minifig sized rock raiders slug using the LEGO Killer Moth Open Face Helmet, just thought I’d share :)

[@mandostrikesback8744]

Or also the new Minifigure series 22 space creature helmet head, seems like a call back to the slugs, even has the eyes on the antennae, just in a pink color

[@RRSlugger]

@@mandostrikesback8744 I'll have to check that out! Thanks for the suggestion. 😊

[@mandostrikesback8744]

Cool! I figured you’d get a kick out of that

[@mandostrikesback8744]

I hope the ice rock monsters in that one kids rock raiders book are canon, those things were dope :)

[@empatheticrambo4890]

They’ll always be canon to me!

[@upmarketcrayon]

@@empatheticrambo4890 they're in the PC game lol

[@crow7988]

Dude, ever since i found your channel I've fallen in love with it! I love how passionate you are about the video themes and that you even compose your own background music is simply astounding! Best of luck to you!

[@RRSlugger]

Aww, thank you! ❤ I have a blast making these videos - I'm just glad others are enjoying them as well!

[@RoninCatholic]

Energy crystal and power crystal are so near synonyms that I'd say they're interchangeable terminology even if one is widely preferred. For example, pooch versus pupper or doggo, pussy versus cat, couch versus sofa, pop versus soda. Brickonium would be the "formal" name for the crystal that provides _energy_ with which to _power_ devices.

[@CarsSimplified]

The "Coping With a High IQ" book shot was quite amusing. I assume that's custom. Excellent video! I am very unfamiliar with the lore and have never played the game or read any of the comics, so watching this on a clean slate seems like a good foundation to explore further with. I feel like an interesting meta video to add to the surely substantial to-do list would be a "How I Make Videos" video. If anything, it would be an interesting thing to look back on and see how you've since streamlined and changed things.

[@RRSlugger]

Believe it or not, that book is REAL! It's from a Simpsons minifigure, but I thought it suited Dr. Cyber so well, I had to track one down, haha. I kind of feel that the "Slugger's Birthday" video was a good look at how I make videos, if you didn't catch that one. It doesn't go into a ton of details, but I also don't have much to add to it; Honestly, not much has changed since my first video up until now except that I now know to adjust my stop motion clips to the correct aspect ratio, haha! 😅 Still, I'm happy to answer any questions!

[@CarsSimplified]

Haha that's pretty great! Ah, I did see that one! I guess I was wondering about specific editing details and got carried away with turning it into a video idea. I forget what made me think of it, but something made me wonder if you use edit nests (I'm sure there's a better term) for clips or if everything animated is rendered as a ready-to-go clip.

[@RRSlugger]

@@CarsSimplified Hmm, if I understand your question correctly, I think it's the latter. Any stop motion animation I use is created in a separate project file then bounced out to a short 3 or 4 second mp4 file which I can then use in multiple videos as needed. 😊 It's my goal to make all of these clips available for anyone to use, but it'll take a bit of extra work on my backend to get that ready. 👍

[@LegoSonicBoy]

They will always be Power Crystals to me, even if I call them Energy Crystals on occasion. That's because I read the catalogues long before playing the PC game. Brickonium might be a regional term as unlike Biodium from Life on Mars, I'd never heard it until this series. I draw my canon from the PC game and the sets' tie-in comics. Good enough for me.

[@jajproductionsfruitcakefil8489]

Honestly, the storylines of the 90s to mid 2010s LEGO themes used to be my favourite things about LEGO in general. When very young I used to wonder if TLG employed someone to come up with storylines, and if one day I'd be able to apply for it! The turning away from that in favour of more licensed themes with pre-told, quite rigid stories is one of the reasons (aside from price) that I don't buy many sets these days. I really liked it when there were crossovers too. It was unreal to me when I found out that in the early 2010s, almost all of the original themes were interconnected in some way: a character from Power Miners showed up in Atlantis once, the chief of the Ultra Agents used to be an astronaut in Galaxy Squad, and an issue of the LEGO Club Magazine revealed that the storylines of Pharaoh's Quest, Atlantis, Monster Fighters, Alien Conquest and Dino were all related because the big baddies of each were in cahoots the whole time. And of course I'm going to agree with you again about older sets being easier to take apart and reassemble. A few years ago now I took to eBay to finish my collection of small Adventurers Dino Island sets that I had started when I was younger (sets 5911, 5912, 5913 and 5914 to be precise), because the instructions for each had steps for a combination alt. build. Even though the sets are very small and basic, the ease at which I can disassemble them, combine, and then reassemble and repeat is very appealing to me.

[@RRSlugger]

Great comment, agreed! The crossover stories were always inspirational, (even if it was just a marketing maneuver at work, haha).

[@LM-1378]

Interesting video! Coming from the BIONICLE community, I know ALL about trying to piece together one consistent narrative from various sometimes contradictory multimedia sources. Out of curiosity, does the Rock Raiders community have an ongoing "archiving" initiative where people upload scans of old media to some sort of centralized website or database?

[@RRSlugger]

Indeed! The Discord group "Lego Research Realm" is the latest community effort towards this end; all of the findings are saved in a MEGA folder, though I'm going to have a video on *this* topic later this summer. 😊 If you're curious in checking it out, you can find it here: discord.gg/VtD99kYvUj

[@empatheticrambo4890]

This is SUCH a great topic, and I was hoping you’d talk about it! Headcanon is of course important, but I love finding little bits of lore for these old themes. It always added attachment to the sets for me, and added helpful guiderails for imaginative play (and moc inspiration as an AFOL!)

[@tonymoore78]

Yes, Brickonium is the name of the crystals! It’s been so long since I had seen it anywhere, I was beginning to think I had imagined it. But I’m glad I’m not going crazy. Must’ve seen it in the LEGO magazines back in the day as a kid.

[@wilburwhateley3858]

I like to think that Brickonium is the scientific name and that power/energy crystals are interchangeable common names but that’s just my opinion lol

[@gmradio2436]

So I have a different interpretation of Chief never leaving the LMS Explorer. I view it as old navel tradition. The captain dedicated to the ship and the crew to the point of self sacrifice. Going down with the ship. The ship may even be his life. There is also the fact the ship is best place to protect his crew. Hear me out, from where can he watch over all his miners? Where is the best area to get them out of trouble? The best place to organize them, or supply them? This is where my argument enters burden of leaders and chains of commanding logic. Take it for what you will. I do want to point out the themes shared between Rock Raiders and Alien. A crew of everyday working men is in a dirty used future. They are diverted from their route home. End up on an alien world and have to deal with dangerous hostile organism(s). The crew must survive. The amazing difference is the tone. I prefer the Rock Raiders' tone of cooperation and hard work to Alien's distrust and self interest. Am I simplifying two different narratives and comparing them? Yes. Command Rig Update Does anyone know how to make a friction/gear lock on a worm gear? I want the drill on the Rock Raiders' Command Rig to move up and down, but I am having issues figuring it out.

[@RRSlugger]

That's a pretty great perspective to have, I'd say. That definitely seems to track with what the person in charge should be doing - I guess I just took umbrage with the idea that he would *never* leave the ship and go down to the planet. Even Captain Picard went on the odd away mission, after all, haha! 😉 I too can see that gritty correlation you pointed out - both of those universes have a very "lived in" feel to them, eh? I am less than useless when it comes to gears (or Technic components at all, for that matter), sorry! 😅

[@gmradio2436]

@@RRSlugger Dirty Space Truckers/Blue Collar seems to hold more interest then space opera. Might just be relatability. Don't go overboard with gear systems. Got it.

[@thrillhouse4151]

I’ve been addicted to your videos, it makes me want to order copious amounts of old gray, old dark gray, and dark turquoise pieces, I’ve never bought legos as an adult so I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the sites though, a lot of them are clunky on mobile for me. It’s the story and imagination, that’s what I love about that era, I have very fond memories of looking through the magazines and catalogs and piecing together stories from all the themes, and coveting the giant sets from each theme.

[@RRSlugger]

Indeed - Bricklink can be a bit of a chore to learn to use as it is very user hostile… Maybe I’ll make a video on it one day?

[@EmeraldCoasttt]

Something I'm surprised you didn't mention- as far as I can tell, outside of the pc game and arguably both games' cutscenes, the main 6 ARE the rock raiders, whereas in the game they're most likely the commanders of the rock raiders, and there's hundreds of other minifigures they command

[@EmeraldCoasttt]

Another dubious aspect of the game's canon is that, in the cutscenes and in development, all of the miners were carbon copies of the main 6. You can imagine what can be gleened from that at face value.

[@RRSlugger]

That's a good point! Honestly, there are so many things I didn't cover here, which is why I didn't try to make this a comprehensive look at everything in the first place, haha. 😅

[@grandsuburbia4436]

I don’t know what it is about rock raiders but I just love it so much more than power miners. I grew up with PM but there’s just this vibe with RR that’s so mysterious

[@westondoyle1969]

Although the almighty slugger finds the rock raiders graphic novel to be the least canon, I have quite fond memories of that book. It was one of the few cool books that the kids in my elementary school library would trample each other over

[@LeumeisterVeritas]

Jet having a wavy bob/Karen haircut is absolutely perfect, and I don't know why I didn't consider that! 😆

[@EmeraldCoasttt]

The visuals and writing really don't sell it, but I love the idea of cheif having an arc of going from reserved and almost cowardly, to being right there to protect his team, working past his anxiety and becoming a true member of the team and a leader, whereas previously he had more of a boss role Just feels like this kinda arc would be much better in act 2 of the first trip to planet u than... The finale of their second trip?

[@EmeraldCoasttt]

I have similar thoughts on Cheif's arm canon- Great idea, poor execution. People with disabilities always make the best out of their situation, whether that be a kid with a wheelchair that looks like a racecar or Cheif having an integrated weapon in his prosthetic arm. But it definitely doesn't work as HADU shows it, an arm-mounted BFG I think it'd work a lot better for a number of reasons to act more as either a sidearm (badum tsss) or something slow but precise and powerful like a railgun

[@AClassicBrick]

I have a sort of headcanon for every theme I collect. Its just a fun thing to come up with, taking all the things I like about what LEGO gave in terms of story, ignore, what I don't like and fill in the gaps for myself. For example I see the dragon masters faction under Majisto as guardians of the dragons. They lure them with diamonds and treasure to their dens and keep them there, to protect the other castle factions. However they are extremely hostile towards outsiders, because they have to keep their mission secret, otherwise they might get under heavy attacks by power hungry factions, wanting to use the dragons powers. Also of course, since they hoard so much treasure up in the mountains, rumours of that make the rounds and so other factions start to try and scout into their terretory, looking to find the dragon masters treasure. Majisto is their leader and the one who recruited the Knights for this purpose. All of this headcanon I came up with, because I didn't like the idea of the blue wizard being evil, like he was often depicted in fotography and advertisements... Also what I learned is that the stories for themes like pirates and castle were vastly different in my home country (Germany) and America, which is interesting, but often they straight up contradict themselves and I like to take what I see fit for my own canon from both sides.

[@RRSlugger]

I *love* that Dragon Masters head canon you came up with there and will definitely be borrowing that for use in my own head, haha. 😉 The regional differences between Lego themes of that era was pretty unreal - For example, I've been largely sticking with the German radio plays as the primary source of canon for the Time Cruisers Retrospective videos as I feel it is far more substantive than what we got over here in North America.

[@AClassicBrick]

@@RRSlugger thank you :D you are happily encouraged to borrow it :D Yeah its kinda unfortunate these were germany only. I think what I like most about them is how much room they leave (not just the time cruiser ones, there is also Western, castle, pirates and more) since they feel like Episodes, small adventures these characters have and after that you can continue their Story with your own. They don't tell you a Characters story from birth til death, there is plenty of room. The Western episodes for example to me are almost 100% canon in my head, because I like them so much. The only thing I switch out here are the names of the bandits, since Flatfoot Thompson is just cooler than Robber Bill

[@RRSlugger]

@@AClassicBrick I really need to check out those other cassette tapes - the Western one sounds cool! 😊

[@AClassicBrick]

@@RRSlugger they are. Do you speak German or are there translated scripts for these? The Western stories are basicly 90s b movie Western flics with less violence :D I loved these movies as a kid, so its only natural that i would also enjoy these Audio tapes. :D

[@RRSlugger]

@@AClassicBrick I sang a lot in German during University, but I can't say I comprehend, no. For the Time Cruisers audio tapes, I looked up a transcript someone made in German then translated it into English so I could read it. (And then later found an English translation someone else made, haha). I'd probably do the same thing for this one as well. 👍

[@tentative_flora2690]

I don't remember when I first heard it referred to as brickonium. But that is what I have always called it. I think it's also referred to as that in other Lego games beyond the rock raiders games. My headcannon is that the fluorescent transparent yellow green crystals are the brickonium and that energy crystal is a catch all term for any crystal that can be used as an energy source.

[@bad-knight]

great video! it's interesting just how much media lego released for rock raiders, and the other themes of that time, too..

[@bowiemtl]

You know... this series, at least to me, is half fuelled by imagination. I would often make up my own ideas with my lego but this series is an exception as I never had any sets and only played the game. No, instead I would often imagine what the story could've been, even had a very vivid dream about it as a kid. This dream to me set the idea of what could have been was this series successful and built upon further but also partially reimagined. My imagination for the game was a much more grim, claustrophobic world where avoiding any conflict was the key to success instead of the relatively happy story we got where everything went smooth sailing. The details of the technology in this game are left up for discussion by others but I also imagined there would be a lot more issues with getting technology going rather than just straight up teleporting a massive helicopter and mining machine down beneath the surface. This wouldn't make for a fun game however, just a different lore.

[@Danieloasis]

I didn’t know there was so many comic lines about Lego .loved the live stream keep making these great videos :p

[@Maniac4Bricks]

I think I already know the answer but I'm going to ask it anyways. In the LegoLand PC game, the professor of the lego land park crew travels in time to in time to visit other lego themes and adapt different models and styles for the theme park. In one of the cut scenes, he travels to lego rock raiders with an almost perfect perfect reuse of a cut scene from the PC game. It does divert to the professor knocking out a rock monster to save Doc, and during some discussion, informs him about the power of the power crystals. The professor then takes this technology and power source back in time with him to with him to run the generators of the park. The brickonium is shown as a natural source as you continue forward building the parks. I think I know the answer, but have you ever considered this as part of Rock Raiders media and lore? Based on this video, I would think not, as you'd define it as a gameplay mechanic instead of storytelling, not to mention the inconsistency that power crystals on the main minifigure world would cause to Rock Raiders who find it as a foreign natural resource.

[@RRSlugger]

Haha, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with someone wanting to consider that scene as part of their own canon - I’ve never played LegoLand, (though I have seen that cutscene before), so I don’t personally put a lot of stock in it, that’s all. 😊

[@empatheticrambo4890]

What sticker or print is that at 3:18 used as Chief’s presentation?

[@RRSlugger]

That is a computer screen from Exploriens - it's a pretty cool holographic sticker that changes what you see depending on the angle you view it at! Bricklink lists it as Part #6179pb001: www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=6179pb001&idColor=11#T=S&C=11&O={%22color%22:11,%22iconly%22:0} You can also buy the sticker separately, if you want to stick it onto another brick. It was included in a number of Explorien sets. 😊

[@empatheticrambo4890]

@@RRSlugger thanks so much for the link!! Definitely adding it to my list

[@ObscurumMetallicus]

R.R., I don't see that you've done a video on the Manic Miners remake. What's your opinion on the game? Do you play it?

[@RRSlugger]

Manic Miners is incredible! The Discord community surrounding it is even better than the game itself. 😊 I don’t really play video games these days and have only put a marginal number of hours into it, so I don’t feel like I have much of an authoritative opinion on the matter. I recommend checking it out if you’re interested though!

[@Phoxtane]

waiting anxiously for you to cover nikon next

[@RRSlugger]

Booooo! Hahaha 😂

[@AnUnearthlyGay]

My head canon: Brickonium is it's "official" title within Rock Raider's canon, and energy/power crystals are just what the team call them informally.

[@RRSlugger]

I can dig it, yeah! 😊

[@erubianwarlord8208]

i wonder how hard it would be to make a full set of Rock Raiders in Space Engineers

[@googleuser3163]

"Miner minutia" Heh

[@RRSlugger]

I'm kicking myself for missing the potential pun of "canon of the highest *calibre*" though!! I thought of it too late into production... 😭

[@FooPanda]

Lovely video as always :3

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you, as always! ❤

[@Hot_SpicyGrill]

Cannon is any thing officially licensed. Continuity is a story being coherent within in and out of its self.

[@Tomatonator]

To me, the energy crystal naming issue seems like it can be boiled down to the ‘scientific’ name being brickonium, with energy/power crystal being the common name. That’s just me though

[@RRSlugger]

I like this idea! 😊

[@2Potates]

I had the game back when i was a kid, sadly i lost the disc since then.

[@StonewallBricks]

I'd place the set comics pretty high up the authority meter (just under the PC game probably)! I really liked those comics from the early star wars sets, even though they were quite different from star wars movie canon. But the lego universe isn't the same as ours so... Also, I don't know why I called those pieces power crystals when I've only ever played the PC game???

[@RRSlugger]

Agreed! After all, they are the only source of canon *that came with the sets themselves* - I think they should be a consideration more often than I see them brought up online. 👍

[@thewanderer7307]

@@RRSlugger They are probably not brought up more because they are so rare and hard to get. Not every set had them (only certain releases) and they are difficult/expensive to find on the second-hand market. They would likely be cited more if they were more widely known.

[@IsaiahSalvagno]

Can you make a whole ep on the storyline or the story that we know like the lore behind Jonny thunder and the gang from the adventures theme

[@RRSlugger]

That would be quite the challenge! I’ll keep the thought in mind though. 😊

[@IsaiahSalvagno]

@@RRSlugger ok yeah you should like basically connect the dots for us in chronological order. Only a thought tho.

[@Yonatan_Max]

I wonder if the teleportation featture was directly pulled from Star Trek?

[@RRSlugger]

Could be! I do know that they at least checked to make sure the term “teleport” wasn’t under some sort of copyright protection… though in Star Trek they call it a “transporter”, not a “teleporter”. 🤔

[@mr.strawberry13]

How different is the PS4 game from the PC game? Edit: PS2, my mistake

[@RRSlugger]

Do you mean PS2? It’s very different - you control a single character in a sort of action adventure game, rather than the RTS style of the PC game.

[@mr.strawberry13]

@@RRSlugger Yeah I meant PS2 sorry. But are there any lore contradictions? (if the PS game even has a story)

[@RRSlugger]

@@mr.strawberry13 I'm not entirely sure - I haven't played through it all the way. I *think* the events of that game can exist concurrently with the PC game, but it also has enemy and crystals types in it that aren't seen elsewhere.

[@TheHylianBatman]

As a fan of Star Wars, the term "canon" is just bad for me. That being said, this was an interesting look at how different sources can provide different tales that don't all necessarily align. Canon is such a slippery term, y'know. To me, none of it's canon. I know nothing about Rock Raiders except for this channel. And I see there's gonna be another livestream! I won't be able to make it if it's on Saturday (unless it goes super late again), but I'll gladly be there any other day!

[@RRSlugger]

Exactly - canon is what you make of it! I don't consider half of Star Trek canon (and knowing your thoughts, you probably consider even *less* canon, hahaha!) I'm still working out weekend plans, so I'll try to figure out what's going on sooner rather than later. Unless the stream turns into a colossal disaster, I don't see why I wouldn't save it and upload it to the channel later. 😊

[@TheHylianBatman]

@@RRSlugger That's fair, but I might want to pass on it, even if it IS saved. Depends on how sealed the sets are. 😆 And I'm interested to know which half. But I can save that for the Q&A. You are right, though! I love indie darling TV series Star Trek, which aired for 3 seasons in the 60's, got a couple movies, and NOTHING ELSE.

[@RRSlugger]

@@TheHylianBatman Of course - no obligation *at all* to watch my live streams. I am definitely breaking the "why would I create content I wouldn't want to watch myself?" rule with those as I generally pass on live streams too. Other people seem to have fun with them though, and I did enjoy hosting. 😊 These sets are all used - some of which I have constructed before, one of which I have not. So no sealed sets will be harmed in the making of this live stream, lol. I'll be streaming Sunday, July 10 @ 5 PM EDT (same time as last time). 👍

[@TheHylianBatman]

@@RRSlugger Count on me being there, then!

[@darthmaltodextrin1899]

@TheHylianBatman This! I love that Star Wars stories are so interconected and hate that they're so interconnected. Especially if something I liked was overwritten by something considered to be "more official." One could argue that the whills(kinda the lorekeepers/narrators based on Lucas's original Star Wars draft) are unreliable narrators (one disney story had a whill mention Kirk and Spock *facepalms*), but I personally don't include the whills in my headcanon. Also, Cheif's plasma arm (in the non-Slugger approved story anyway) kinda makes like him like Jek-14 before Jek-14(a Lego Star Wars character). Of course the powers and status of Jek-14's plasma?/robotic/turned into a real arm by Yoda/made of force energy? arm are inconsistent between like 4 different pieces of content...

[@lukaza1261]

energy crystals are energy crystals

[@RRSlugger]

Except when they're power crystals or brickonium 😉

[@lukaza1261]

*points aggressively at math homework*

[@nihili4196]

They gave chief plasma cannon? I always thought miners were more or less peaceful, only equipped with non lethal deterrents, simply repurposing their tools to fight off bigger threats. We've never seen any kind of outright weapons in the series, every source other than game that I've seen usually depicted miners avoiding threats rather than fighting back too much. I know plasma cannons are cool and all, but I feel like more pacifistic approach to this lego theme works way better. You can't fight your way through any situation, your only hope for survival are only intense, fast work and good planning. Rock monsters aren't enemy here, whole planet is. And Chief never leaving ship never bothered me. Look at how massive that ship is, I always assumed there were other mining teams that needed coordination from the main base. Him having prostetic arm and being old already suggests that he has the most experience, and went through his fair share of caverns to arrive at his position. Besides, having something so big being operated by only six people isn't just impractical, It's impossible. You would always benefit on mission like that from having multiple specialists in same field, as well as having multiple teams that go down to extract as many crystals as possible as fast as possible. But then again, the lore is so vague, and spread through quite a few sources that it's pretty much impossible to determine what is one stable cannon, other than very basic "team of miners mining crystals in space". Which is kinda fitting to how Lego was making sets back then. Easy to deconstruct and adapt to whatever you want. Probably last Lego theme with clear plot that is also vague enough to leave plenty of room for kids, or even adults to create their own stories.

[@jameshumphrey869]

when it comes to really spotty canon dont be afraid to fill the gaps with texually supported head canon. For energy crystals for instance I like head canoning that the scientifically recognized name for crystals is brickonium but the other names like power crystal or energy crystal are just colloquial names used by the average miner

[@Bill-oj6vj]

0:49 lego has largley shyed away from sets with stories in recent years: shows a friends set(lego friends has its own tv show) and also a set that straight up says:buildwith story on the box

[@RRSlugger]

"...with only a few exceptions" - got to finish the quote if you're gonna quote me on that! 😉

[@Ensign_games]

Rock Raiders is Lego's version of starfox

[@LeumeisterVeritas]

Also, while the disrespect towards HADU was kinda painful (I read that comic _so many times_ when I was younger), I did notice (also when I was younger) that there were some wack story and design decisions... :P

[@MatiNuva1724]

My idea is that Brickonium is the "scientific name" for the crystals, meanwhile Power and Energy Crystals are a name "normal people" call

[@RRSlugger]

I like it!

[@thewanderer7307]

If the PC game is highest canon, does that mean you believe... ...the Hover Scout only hovers, it does not fly?

[@RRSlugger]

Haha, I didn't want to trudge up our debate on that again here - especially in a one-way medium like a KZbin video. ❤ ...however, I did include the shot of Docs flying *upwards towards a hole in the ceiling* at 3:08 specifically for you. 😉

[@Maniac4Bricks]

you said canon, I said, I'm in 300% with 50 energy crystals and 200 ore

[@joeking6804]

The crystal name isn’t a canon breaker. There are technical terms (Brickonium) and colloquial terms (power crystal, energy crystal) which are made of common words. From personal experience, we’d be giving cattle injections of dectomax. But nobody calls it that. To us it’s either “dewormer” or “that shot”. This name “inconsistency” just makes me feel like this world of plastic toys is a little more human.

[@archiemercer5499]

Hell yeah

[@thedragonsden2004]

I have a freaky head cannon if I have enough time The idea is that the rock monsters can drain the life force of living creatures leaving behind a rocky husk Idk what do you think?

[@RRSlugger]

Cool and creepy! Definitely fitting if you wanted to take Rock Raiders in a darker direction. Someone was talking about something like this today in the Manic Miners server. I'll paraphrase here - Something along the lines of "the sad truth is that there simply aren't enough energy crystals on Planet U to repair the LMS Explorer and the miners will be helpless trapped digging holes in the planet for eternity." Grim!!

[@thedragonsden2004]

@@RRSlugger thanks!

[@brickwillstudio]

This is the charm of old Lego themes. You can say almost anything you want about the characters, and it wont break the canon, because the canon barely even exist. Look at Ninjago for instance: The episodes tell one continuous story with almost no free space between seasons and it's set in a universe with already established regions. I don't dislike Ninjago, some of the more recent seasons were absolutely amazing, but it's just not "fanficable" enough for me.

[@Lavender_Fox]

Personally I'd say the sets triumph over all else, for how little lore they have.

[@goose6112]

bruh how did this get in my recomendend

[@RRSlugger]

Sorry about that! 😅

[@goose6112]

@@RRSlugger it's alright, amazing vid btw

[@DragonxFlutter]

Mm. Original Lego IP with its own unique lore is a lost art. As a Bionicle native, I'd argue that Bionicle G1 was the last great attempt by Lego to combine a toy line with a story that would motivate sales. Obviously we still have Ninjago today, but I'm not at all seeing advertisement for it; either by way of the old TV shows _or_ standard commercials. I think Lego is scared that any _serious_ attempt to recapture what Bionicle G1 had will lead to their excuse for poor sales: "an overly complex story that scares away new fans" (🙄because it _totally_ wasn't a result of the Bionicle system pieces getting flimsier over time thanks to plastic changes; because why would it _ever_ be a fault with the accountants cutting corners to save money on producing what I'd argue to be Lego's best selling original IP of all time?🙄). That's why Bionicle G2 sucked, and why we won't get any _good_ successors to the themes from the '90s and 2000s until the licensed themes become too expensive to upkeep to be viable. Imagine a return to stuff like the various classic Space Sub-themes to replace Star Wars (Space Fantasy Genre), Castle & Ninja to replace Harry Potter (Magic Genre), Alpha Team & Exo-Force to replace the licensed Super Heroes; and even proper returns of things like Adventure, Bionicle, Pirates, Vikings, Western, and any number of other amazing things that were kicked to the curb because "well, licensed sells more". Do I enjoy the licensed stuff? I mean, yeah. I enjoy the idea of the Star Wars sets (because it's not like Hasbro's gonna do anything _playable_ with the license); especially the stuff based on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. But I think I would enjoy Lego more if they put more effort into their Original IPs instead. I only got into Lego thanks to the lightning-in-a-bottle that was Bionicle. And I'd like to get that into a Lego series again, but the Original stuff they still make (City) just isn't for me, and the Star Wars sets are getting more and more expensive as time goes on (due to inflation, cost of production materials, cost of the license, etc). I just want something original again. A cheaper underdog to compete with the big name franchises that I can look at and go "yeah, I love this alternative idea and wanna support it". But unless something _drastic_ happens within Lego's upper echelons, I don't think that'll happen within my lifetime.