the late 90' saw the decline of LEGO with space, castle and pirate sets becoming more and more mediocre and juniorization creeping in. Luckily in 1996, there where still some very good themes like western and city that were able to provide us with brilliant sets.

Another theme that delivered again and again was aquasharks. Their main "base" The shark's crystal Cave is an absolute winner.

Sure, it isn't big and bulky, nor does it feature nice detail or lots of accessories . Whats it does provide however is a big-ass super-villainous sub and a lot of room for imagination.
The sharks cave is exactly what it says: a shark's cave, a cave, with a shark in it. Cool, doesn't sound like much, but just imagine that shark being the aquashark's pet. The one that helps them on there missions, a member of the crew. Yeah....Now we're talking.
On top of the cave is a small landing platform for the ginormous sub. Again, it doesn't look like much, but once you place the sub on top of it, you can see it all comes together: the ladder leading to the cockpit, perfect. And the cave with the sub on top of it form a harmonious couple. It all works!

The sub is the highlight of this set. As mentioned: it is huge, with a nice color scheme, lots of moving parts and compartments and, well, don't you just love that trans-orange? The thing actually looks like a menacing shark. Above all, it looks sleek, fast and very sci-fi-high-tec-advanced. Sure, the grabber arms are weird, the pieces are fragile and don't really work, but who cares, everything else here is perfect. The little scooter however is a miss, it doesn't really fit into the sub and feels like a bad side dish.

So, to shorten the long of it - is this a good set?

yes: great theme
yes: nice build, nice figs
YES: it all works!!

This set is incredible, and an excellent addition to the Aquashark line. It seemed that every Aquazone toyline, Aquanauts, Aquaraiders, etc. has some sort of a headquarters. To me, the Aquasharks never seemed like they were the type to own a fully-fledged base of their own. I always interpreted them as being the underwater thugs and robbers of Aquazone, the "Bandits" if you will. So a simple landing dock for their mightiest submarine seemed to suit them well. The greatest part of this set is undoubtedly the sub. it seems that this is the workhorse of their fleet, and it comes cram packed with extra compartments for storage, the awesome robo-arms, and so much more. I don't really like the little scooter thing, but hey its there and it completes the set. If you're looking to buy a retro set to add to your collection, I strongly recommend this one!

Like I said, it isn't a base. This is the largest set in the series, and it is definitely the best. The siplicity of the landing pad is so cool, since the ladder leads to the cockpit. The arms are fully posable (though the individual units tend to crack and break, but are over used in sets, so they are cheap and easy to replace). The scooter is cool and in an all water environment, it counts for helping transport Aquasharks. The double tail and dorsal fin prove this set to be very shark-like. the outer doors and double crates are cool too, plus the baseplate is handier to collecters since it looks great and allows for the display of a second set. The back panel looks cool and looks even cooler with a steering wheel airlock!

The only cons: the base is more of a landing pad, so don't get your hopes up, and the set could use just one more of those blue panels so creative builders could have a pair.

this set is truely amazing. the sub ha so many different things. first there is a place to put the little scooter which is the part right behind the shark cockpit. the fin moves back which is cool. its got the 2 arms and you can see in the picture what they have. the back is also awesome. on the fin there is 2 propellers and a compass. there is a space to hold 2 crystal boxes. it comes with 2. then there is a prison cell with 2 orange windows and a neat top piece. it only comes in this set (with this design). the base is basically just a landing pad but the cage and the blue crater board is cool. it also comes with a blue rock wall piece. it comes with both figures and the one with the green hook looks like an under water pirate. the one with the messed up hair looks like a rebal and he is cool too.

now you can get this set very cheap. i got it for $5.50 on ebay and it had all the pieces and the manuel. it was origionally (i think thats how its spelled) $50.00 and now you can get it for about $15.00. its fun to play with oh and GET IT IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOUR COLLECTION!

Shark's Crystal Cave is great...I have this set in my collection and suppose that it is the most succesful submarine for all times.
Except submarine there is a base, but it is not intresting at all.
Another parts of set are great. I like minifigs and shark is a good share of animal collection.