I’ve been watching the Lego aisle in Toys ‘r’ us these last few years, I’ve continued my subscription to the Lego magazine and I check the website and I must say that Lego has really let itself go. Throughout the 90’s every Lego aisle was literally exploding with radically different themes that composed themselves of often dozens of sub themes, the Aqua zone had the Aquanauts the Aqua Sharks  the Aqua Raiders the Hydronauts and the Stingrays. Now by the time the Hydronauts and the Stingrays came out I was getting on in years and eventually had to stop playing Lego, it being 1998 and me being in grade 7.
            But just in case you feel like you need it, or have the time to read it I’ve completed a slightly comprehensive list of the Lego sets I found the coolest. It is as follows

 More then anything I was totally into the Aqua zone Theme, and principally owned every set from the three flag ship sub themes.

 

The first group to be released was the Aquanauts, a sort of good guy under water exploration team that braved the ocean in search of these metallic silver coral things. The Aquanauts had quite a few sets so I won’t list the lame dinky ones.

 The Crystal Crawler a sort of tank submarine.

http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego1728.jpg 

The Sea Claw, it was like sea combine,
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego1822.jpg

 The Crystal Explorer Sub, the U.S.S. Enterprise of the deep
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6175.jpg

 The Neptune lab, this thing cost like 100 bucks but one magical Christmas I got it, and actually managed to build it, something I wasn’t able to do with my Islanders and Grey Knight sets.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6195.jpg

 
The second group released at the same time was the Aqua Sharks who served as the principle enemy of the Aquanauts posed as a sort of mercenary group who would steal the crystals from the Aquanauts; they didn’t have as many sets but they did look cooler because evil things tend to do that.

 The Spy Shark, it was like 12 bucks.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6135.jpg

 The Deep Sea Predator, This was pretty awesome when I first got it, the tinted black back canopy the overall sleekness.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6155.jpg

 But nothing beats the Sharks Crystal Cave, their HQ ship was huge! Like the size of my forearm, it would constantly break in the center given its weight but putting it back together was half the fun.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6190.jpg

 
The third group the Aqua Raiders was released in 1997, by this time I guess I was about 12 years old, I think this was the last year the age recommendation on the box would include me. I was never sure of the Aqua Raiders allegiance; they seemed to be built more like construction vehicles as opposed to the exploration style of the Aquanauts and the stealth style of the Aqua Sharks.

 The Crystal Scavenger was the first of the set, I remember getting it at Lego land at Ontario Place, It looks a lot like the Black-tron set with its neon green crystal domes and black.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego2160.jpg

 The Aqua-Dozer was a pretty sweet Christmas present, the front scoop was connected to a pulley on the back via little plastic chains.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego2161.jpg

 The Hydro Reef Wrecker, I think Lego was going for an evil environmental enemy theme with these guys. All the drills and Scoops plus the title “Reef Wrecker” and the evil glaring eyes on the domes give it something sinister.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego2162.jpg

 
After this it was 1998, and I was about to turn 13 and I had just bought my first Prodigy CD, but this time I was starting to feel like it wasn’t too terribly cool of me to still have my entire bedroom dedicated to my Lego collection so I disassembled them all and placed them in my basement in a giant box to make room for my Smashing Pumpkins posters.  Two pretty awesome sets were still to come out but I had lready left Lego behind…
Well aside from Technic, but it clearly says on the box that it’s for teenagers.

 
The Hydronauts still came out and brought with some pretty cool looking stuff, lots of cool blue metallic looking parts and some pretty big sets.

I had this one, the sea creeper but this was to be the last of my aqua Lego.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6150.jpg

I wish I had bought this though, it’s pretty huge and looks way more study then the Aqua Sharks HQ ship.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6180.jpg

 Their base was also way cooler then the Neptune Sea Lab.
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6199.jpg

 
The Stingrays were the final set released and they were fucking huge.

 Look at this thing, and the next one is even bigger!
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6160.jpg

 See I told you, can you honestly say you don’t want this?
http://www.lugnet.com/img.cgi?pause/aquazone/lego6198.jpg

 
So that’s it, pretty much everything that came from the Aqua zone during the mid 1990’s. I think at some point this week I’ll do something similar but with the space themes.

Since the above links don't work just follow this, http://www.lugnet.com/pause/aquazone.html