Editorial Review

Many high-tech toys start with a fun and fascinating idea only to make it frustratingly complicated in the execution. Leave it to LEGO to make a technologically advanced toy fun to play with. The enormous 718-piece LEGO Mindstorms Robotic Invention System lets you construct a variety of moving robot vehicles and then program them from your Windows 98- or Windows Me-compatible computer. The robots are all based around a bright yellow basic unit, which serves as the functional heart of whatever is being built. The brick receives commands from the computer via an infrared tower unit. The computer interface is incredibly user-friendly and intuitive. What's most impressive about the system, however, is the variety of robots that can be built. There are detailed instructions for each one, and since these are LEGOs, builders are free to come up with an endless variety. --John Moe ... Read more

Reviews (55)

The Best Toy I have Played with in 40 Years
This system is phenominal. We own version 1.5, purchased a year ago and we have not put it down. And trust me, this is not for kids only. I only wish there was something around like this when I was 12 - I was stuck with Robbbie the Robot replicas.
When my son opened it for Christmas, we knew it would be a big hit. We have spend uncountless hours working on this together (quality, quality time) and the problem solving skills he has gained have put him in a position that he can now program a computer in Visual Basic at 12 years. (Not that this system teaches you VB, but it sure teaches you logic and structure, necessities for any program language)
We have since bought all the expansion kits, a few books and have built robots capable of some unbelievable feats.
Keep in mind that older Technic sets work well with these sets as well as many of the other Lego sets you have.
I would recommend this set to anyone, especially those who longed for a real robot as a child, not a "flashing lights only" Robbie.

Best think ever
I have this toy for more then a yeat and it still is fun,i keep making stuff i even made a robotic hand, this is the best thing ever well what are you wating for buy it!!!

Beware of software incompatibilty
Unless you have Windows 98 or Windows ME, it may not work (who knows -- you may get lucky). I refuse to use either of these operating systems, which I consider wretched. The Mindstorm official FAQ says it was tested only on those 2 operating systems. For those who can get it to work, apparently it's a great product.

Great Product, but IR Tower has problems w/certain computer
Great Product - but like another reviewer, I had the same issues with the IR Tower and XP. Non of the Lego Support Documents were of much use, but using an older PC with Windows 98 did the trick.

A MUST!!!!!
I am an engineering student and we use these in our robotics lab. Adults with an interest in programming can use java or C to program, children can use the included software. The software is an easy to use visual drag and drop type software. I would recommend every parent to purchase this toy. It allows the kids to learn the basics of programming and see the immediate results when the program is downloaded to the robot. My 9 year old daughter never lost interest in my assignments. This is one of the best learning toys I have ever seen. I am planning on purchasing on for myself to use with my daughter (lots of little parts, messy children will need some supervision or most of the robot will be in the vacuum). Children between 7-12 will enjoy the product, with alot of assistance from parent, over 12 should have no trouble at all with it. Excellent for education, and a lot of fun for a parent - child activity. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The incredibly popular LEGO Bionicle series approaches the long-standing tradition of building toys in a different way than anyone who is only familiar with older LEGO sets might expect. Bionicle imagines an epic battle being fought in a far off planet where everybody, somewhatcuriously, is built out of LEGO blocks. In this limited edition Bionicle set, we meet Ultimate Dume (the homonym is no accident) who seeks to wreak havoc on the unfortunate residents of Tua Nuva. There are 555 pieces in all and the finished product is indeed an impressive and nimble looking towering creatures. Of course, since its LEGO, the bricks can be used for an infinite variety of other purposes to build yet other creatures limited only by the builders imagination. --Charlie Williams ... Read more

Editorial Review

You can really bug out with this 487-piece LEGO set especially aimed at the creative entomologist. The set could be used to make anything from dinosaurs to deep space stations, but the thick (83-page) manual is aimed squarely at the Legologist who wants to design crawling critters. Spiders, scorpions, snails, and worms--if it buzzes or slithers you can make it. Frogs, lizards, a crab, and a bird round out the suggested menagerie, and of course there’s no rule against inventing new species of imaginary arthropods. Hop on over to this set and get bitten by the LEGO bug! --Richard Farr ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Bugs & Other Wild Creatures Fun
I recently purchased this for my four year old son and we have a great time building the creatures in the booklet. So far, we've built the spider, lizard, and crab. He loves it! The many intricate details do challenge him but we work together and have great fun. I did purchase a container to store and separate the colors and various bricks so we can find the pieces efficiently. I am amazed by all the various pieces and how much lego bricks have evolved over the years. This set definitely provides hours of fun and creativity. We would purchase other Make & Create sets in the near future.

Well worth the money
When my son was four he was such a fan for bugs and animals that I decided to buy the Lego Wild Collection for his fifth birthday. I knew he would be a year younger than the recommended age of 6+, but I figured I could help him. When he received the toy he was thrilled and immediately engaged me to build the Crab. It was very hard because there were about 500 pieces, most of them very small pieces, but after an hour of "needle-in-the-hay-stack" hunt I succeeded in locating all the necessary bits. My boy was able to put most of the pieces in by consulting the book's step by step instructions, but about 10% of the time he couldn't understand it and I would have to show him how. Although he isn't a patient boy he was engrossed with the project and never lost focus, and in the end he was proud of the Crab and admired it for hours.

After I complained to my husband, a plumber, about the difficulty in locating the tiny pieces, he suggested that I go to the hardware store and buy a utility box that contained different compartments for the various parts. I found one such box with a lid and 12 compartments and sorted all the chunks out by size and color. Everything was a breeze to find after that - I wonder why Lego doesn't provide such a box.

Since then my son and I have dedicated about 12 hours building various creatures such as snakes, snails, spiders, scorpions, birds, fish, jelly fish, mosquitoes, daddy-long-legs, and we are not even half way done with all the possible 63 creatures yet. It was fun even for me because back when I was a kid Legos weren't half this fancy. The Lego website shows many extra pictures of various things one can build with the Wild Collection. We did have one missing piece - the Ant's belly - but Lego is sending it for free after I ordered it from their website. Today my son succeeded in building the Ant by substituting the missing piece with a different piece. He worked on it for 4 hours, mostly by himself because I couldn't find the time to do it with him, and he succeeded, to my total amazement, since the Ant is one of the hard ones to build. (There are 3 levels: easy, medium and hard.) It is amazing to see how fast he is learning to put the pieces together.

I would like to yell "Bravo!" to the Lego designers for coming up with such a wonderful toy. It isn't cheap, but in comparison to the amount of time a child spends with the toy, I think it is more than worth it. One can, of course, get a small, cheap Lego thing that can build only one thing, but after the child builds the same thing a couple of times he gets sick of it. This way, because there are so many pieces, there is a huge variety of things one can build, so you pay four times the money but you build a hundred times more critters too because you can reuse the parts. I just think it makes much more sense this way, and I highly recommend this toy to anyone.

Tip: There is a grey piece shaped like a handle. It is for taking the built legos apart. It doesn't say that in the instruction booklet, but that's what I figured it must be after I spent a few days prying stuff with the butter knife!

The part of the review is added 2 months later:
My son is done with the wild life lego set. I would say that he's spent more than 200 hours on it. On some days he worked on it day and night, and he can build every single critter in their without any help from me. Familiarity definitely breeds understanding in this case. Now he is moving on to the other Lego designer sets.

Beastly Fun Building!
My seven year old loves LEGO's, and is thinking of them in a whole new direction with this kit. Before he would only make cars, buildings and etc. (I'm not complaining!). He loved building the creatures in the book, and has started using them to invent his own animals. The creatures in the book are at different difficulty levels, but you can build even the biggest ones and still have enough left over to build more. My son has at least three of the biggest put together now, at the same time.

If you love LEGO, this is a must!
What a great set! You can build so many different creatures plus the great thing is that are enough pieces to build several creatures at the same time without dismantling other ones. I highly recommend this toy. My son has been playing with these constantly.

FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thiss toy is so much fun you can build different kinds of animals. A magazine comes in it and shows you how to make different animals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Lego has done it again; giving us another awesome addition to their Star Wars collection, this time with this two-piece Revenge of the Sith set. You construct both the Jedi Starfighter that Anakin Skywalker (figure included) pilots in combat, as well as the Vulture Droid of the Separatist arsenal. Both of these models stand alone as finely detailed Lego units equipped with some of the best decals you’ll find. The instructions take you step by step through the simple assembly of both vehicles so there is no difficulty in achieving results. Have fun outfitting the models following the step-by-step directions or go off on your own to create unique Star Wars ships. This is a Lego product so you’ll want to be aware of the numerous small pieces that aren’t suited for young children (recommended 7+ years of age). There’s fun to be had with this toy for Star Wars collectors or Lego fans alike! --Chip Quinn ... Read more

Reviews (9)

AWESOME TOY!!!
I jsut got this toy today and it is awesome!!! People lie they say it falls apart easly that is total poppycock. it is very durable and i will have much fun playing with this and all my other star wars lego sets that i have now and that i will get in the future.

Great and Durable
This lego was great and was the second episode 3 lego I got.I think that lego could have made this item a little bit better but overall, it was pretty cool. If lego had only put a little more on it, it would be the perfect lego. Still, it is a great lego and is defenitally worth the money.

Favorite Toy
This is a good toy. I think that the best thing about it is the things that open up. The only problem is that the cockpit keeps falling apart. I also like the action figure.

Return of the fragile Lego models
They're back!The fragile Lego models with parts that break off if you touch it the wrong way are back with a vengeance (pun intended).This set builds a Jedi Starfighter and a smaller droid fighter, both of which come with their own pros and cons.

This set comes with one minifig.Anakin Skywalker.He has a blue light saber (not the light-up kind).

Anakin's Jedi Starfighter is the coolest thing about this set.It's a great little ship with a unique cockpit canopy.It goes together easily enough.Nothing too difficult here.Colors are yellow, dark gray, light gray, and black.We get an interesting assortment of pieces here to work with, and a sheet of decorative decals.I have to say, these are some quality decals.When I assembled this model, I accidentally placed one of the decals the wrong way.I noticed this the next day.Removing and reapplying the decal was not a problem, and even though it was removed and replaced, it looks as good as new!There is not a scruff mark on this thing, and it sticks to the piece as well as it did when first applied.Lego knows that the point of this toy is to build, take apart, and build again; so none of the decals here link two pieces together.Kudos to the designers of this model!That's the way things should be.

The Jedi Starfighter has two wings with posable solar panels on them.The instructions say to angle the wings downward (they're on adjustable connectors), but I like it better with the wings straight.If you angle the solar panels appropriately, the ship looks sort of like Darth Vader's tie fighter.It's very cool.Sort of like a mixture of Darth Vader's tie fighter and Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator.The ship has three sturdy and retractable landing gears, and Anakin's light saber fits in the cockpit with him.This ship is loads of fun to play around with, swooping around in dogfights with the droid fighter.

In our durability department, Anakin's little ship leaves a bit to be desired.It's kind of fragile, and the two little guns on the outside of the wings can easily fall off.The larger guns on the inside of the wings are remarkably stable.On top of the wings, there are two smooth plates that could easily come loose because they're not connected to much else.This isn't a model to be rough with.

The droid fighter is reminiscent of the brown droid fighters from Episode 1.This droid fighter is a mixture of light and dark blue, with some black and white.There are some nice decals that give him some cool detail.His wings are quite flimsy and easily break apart.Just like Episode 1's droid fighter, this guy can transform into "walking mode".Just turn his wings so they're facing downward (the wings become his legs), remove his head and snap it on the front, and you've got a "walker droid".Nifty.He's a cool droid fighter; but again, he's not meant for rough play.Very fragile, and wings easily fall apart.In spite of this, he is an improvement over the brown Lego Droid Fighter from Episode 1, and I like his colors better than that dull brown one.

The fragility notwithstanding, I'm giving this set a thumbs up.If you're not rough with the spaceships, it's all good.Both of 'em are fun to build and play with.

Fun but frustrating
My 4 1/2 year old loves this toy - actually he loves all things "Star Wars" at this point.We had a lot of fun putting it together.He found the pieces we needed and helped me put them in the right place.It develops concentration and skills in following instructions.The only gripe I have is that it falls apart far too easily - so often that after two weeks my son will be able to put it back together himself after watching me do it repeatedly. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

discouraging
I bought my 4 1/2 year old this set for Christmas. I noticed that time after time he was getting very frustrated trying to build from the diagrams that came with the tinker toys (Junior set). He always came up a few parts short to build the Space Alien and just about all the rest of the examples. At first I thought he had managed to lose a part or two during the Christmas unwrapping, playing on Christmas day. I then took the canister and took an inventory of the parts shown on it and to my amazement all the parts were there. I then started counting the parts necessary to build each of the items on the example sheet and it became apparent that no one could build these examples (or at least most of them) as the examples were showing more parts than was provided by the Junior set. It has been a totally bad experience with this toy and I don't even try to get him to play with it anymore.

Oddz On and Hasbro should be ashamed of themselves for tricking these children into thinking they can build the examples. It is these two companies that are not playing with a full deck!

I like this for my older kids :)
I bought this set when my girls were smaller (around 3), and they never played with it. It was hard for them to put the pieces together and just became another annoying toy with a thousand pieces. I was disappointed as I loved them as a kid. However, now that the older ones are 6 and 8, they are asking for them. I am sure now they will have lots of fun putting them together and will understand the concept and can clean up the toys themselves also. Just thought another review might help if you have younger children :)

An Old Toy for a New World
We love this toy. We wish we had more pieces, not because there aren't enough to follow the instructions, but because you're inspired to keep building when you're playing with it. My four- and eight-year-old kids are equally thrilled with it. In fact, the last thing we want to do is follow instructions! A great toy for the mad visionaries in your house.

Regarding Missing Parts
I just read the review saying that the diagrams included with the set couldn't be created because the set did not include all parts. Just to set the record straight, I have personally constructed EVERY one of the diagrams (including the space alien), and ALL parts were indeed included.

My only complaint would be that it is often difficult to see from the pictures which parts to use in where, but that is certainly not a complaint with the toy itself.

Anyway, it's a great toy, and again, it has all the pieces necessary to complete all of the various creations shown for this set.

This is a great toy.
We got my son this set last Christmas when he was 3 1/2y.o and he plays with this all the time still. It's great if your kid likes to build. This is the one toy of his that has sustained the test of time - it is constantly all over our family room. The only down side is that we are constantly cleaning them up. Kids seem to love to pour them all out. He can make more complicated things then we can now. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Let's face it: Lego is the standard by which so many toys these days are measured--and fall short. In a world where creativity seems to be going out the window, replaced by step-by-step instructions for proper construction of toys with pre-determined stories, Legos are basically stackable blank slates. This particular bucket o' blocks features 1,000 small elementary pieces. A pamphlet with 13 instructions (and 28 ideas) is included, inspiring young builders to create anything from clowns to dinosaurs, but most children will probably do their own thing anyway…flying tractors, anyone? Parents and kids will love the big, sturdy blue storage tub with space enough to hold far more than 1,000 Legos. A true classic. --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Reviews (8)

crabby castle
this set is neato mosquito! i love it. It come with 2 skeletons with hoods & capes,some old guy,a nerd with glasses{Harry},Hermione,Ron,& Prof. McGonagoL.it took me three & a half hours to build it.its defenently worth the price.i like the classrooms & moving staircase's.it even has a moving clock.if you have the old castle{4709)you can combine it with this one(4757).I have to go now buh-bye.

cool castle
the castle is kewl. it has harry potter,ron weezly,hermione granger,basicly the whole school. i like Profesor Mcgonagal's class room the best. i like how the figures are white instead of yellow.it is definent ly worth (...).
P.S.(...) bye bye

FANTASTIC
It's Great. It took 3 days for me to build it but it's worth it.

Comparing the Harry Potter Hogwart sets
I own the very first Hogwarts Castle. This came out in 2001. The first one took me no more than an hour to build, and the instructions were all very clear.Now the first Hogwarts Castle doesn't have as good as looks, but is very fun to play with. Unfortunately the steps are hard to work and there arent as much areas to go exploring to.
The second set is much better. The steps are not like the ones on the first hogwarts set. They are very easy to control. This set also has many more locations than the first set had. It has some of the classrooms. Plus, this set you get a pair of dementors to go alng with it. This Hogwarts Castle looks a lot nicer and has many more pieces, and for what? The same azact price?
Now if i had to chose one of the two i would chose the second, and newest version, but dont take this review as saying that the other castle is not at all what you are looking for. Thank you!

The Best Lego Set Ever Made
I think this is the best harry potter lego set yet.
This set covers the entire hogwarts castle.
It also includes two dementors,Harry,Ron,Hermione,Professor Mcgonagall,Professor Dumbledore,2 owls,and Scabbers.
There is also a cool wind-up motor that makes the clock move,but you have to be very careful when you get to the where you put in the motor.I bought this set a week ago and finished it in 2 days, but it broke so I built it again.Overall,I think this set is definitley worth the price.
SO GET THIS SET!!!!! ... Read more

Editorial Review

The Castle of Morcia was a nice enough place when it was presided over by a kind and benevolent king but it just hasnt been the same since Vladek, the evil scorpion emblazoned villain of LEGOs medieval storyline, took over the place. Now its up to the assortment of good knights to recapture the castle. This set of building bricks from LEGO features numerous tunnels, secret passages, and traps. Also included are small figures of the King of Morcia and all five knights. Of course since this is a LEGO set, the pieces are infinitely interchangeable, so long after youve followed the prescribed illustrated step-by-step plan to construct the castle, youre free to imagine and build an infinite variety of new configurations. --Charlie Williams ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Tie fighter
This toy is awesome! I got this for the pilot, but it's better than I expected. It's really fragile, but it is really cool. I was dissapointed when I saw the pilot. It has no face! I feel sorry for him.

I only have one issue, Darth Vader can't move his hand. He can't come apart either. But thats just me.

easy to assemble
I have a little boy as obsessed with Star Wars as his Daddy. (ok, Mommy likes it too.)This is super easy to assemble, unlike some lego sets. It does not stay together well, but what was a tie fighter today is a blaster tomorrow, right? As I said SUPER EASY to put together.

Tie'd for the best of the re-releases
Being that I didn't get into the Star Wars Lego line until early 2003, I missed out on a huge number of sets. Now, I am not a big fan of re-releases--mainly because I was able to get about 85% of all the Star Wars sets I wanted thanks to [...] anyway, and also because the originals then become sort of obsolete. But the #7146 TIE Fighter was one I failed to obtain (at first; I have it now), and I was glad to see Lego changed almost nothing from the original. And what they did change was for the better (although they did get rid of the Stormtrooper).

The sleek look of the TIE Fighter is exactly the same as before, the colors are all identical, and they enhanced the Vader minifig by giving him an illustrious light-up lightsabre. I believe this was the first set to include that detail. And while they replaced my favorite minifig, the Stormtrooper, with a TIE Pilot, they also did away with that ridiculously unsteady stand thing (the main reason there's 10 fewer pieces on this set). Had they included that again, the durability would've been about a two, at best. The TIE stands better on its own anyway, although it is still a bit unstable. Oh well. Putting this set together took no longer than a half-hour, which is pretty average for a piece count of 159. It was a very easy set to assemble, with most of the building time going into the two (identical) wings.

The TIE Fighter is one of the most recognizable ships in the Star Wars universe, since it appeared in episodes IV-VI and is set to appear yet again in Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. Although I don't consider this set to be part of the Episode III line, it was released at about the same time and compliments a Lego collection very nicely either way. If you already own the original TIE Fighter from back in 2000, ask yourself whether or not a light-up lightsabre is worth the price of an almost-identical set. Otherwise, pick this up before you miss out on it. Again.

Awesome Toy
This TIE Fighter is the best toy I've ever had. At first some of it kept falling apart. But then I tightened it the best I could. So now, I can play with it as tight as can be.

Nice Set
I really like the Tie Fighter in this set. I don't really like the Darth Vader light-up light saber. It's one of the strongest sets I've ever built. This set has a great form and also can be a link to Death Star II or the Imperial Star Destroyer. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Awesome Set!!!
Wow, what can I say about this lego set. It is amazing! It has a new type of steering, which has never before been seen in/on a lego set. It also has eight wheels that are each huge. This set is HUGE, with 600+ pieces. I really enjoyed making this set and playing the the pieces to make other sets from my imagination. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

the best
i really like it . durabilty is good.

Bring home a piece of Empire Strikes Back Hoth battle.
This is a cool set to have if you have some other star wars sets.The best set to buy is AT-AT.So you can recreate the Hoth battle.Lego has already made an older version of this set but its hard to find.If you are buying this to play with then get it.I would have to say the Original version is better for collectibility.I have both and the old one falls apart easiely.This new set comes with a grappling hook and different colored pieces.It is also more like the ship from the movie.I reccomend this to any lego or star wars fan. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Fun to Build and Play
I got this set for Christmas last year and I had a great time building it and playing with it. This set is rather large so be prepared to have a place to store it (I built it on a piece of plywood). I would also suggest building it on a hard surface.

The Ultimate in LEGO NBA Fun
The NBA Ultimate Arena is the best in LEGO basketball. With 10 NBA players you'll hit the court in a realistic game. Shooting, dunking, blocking, and passing, this game has it all! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Lego is outdoing themselves...
So...I dont have $1M for the real thing, and since I love Legos, this is the next best thing!I built the 'Model Team' sets as a kid, which are the sets geared toward realism more than functionality; but Lego doesn't really make the line anymore.However, this would be a Model Team set if there were such a thing.For a Lego set, this Enzo looks as much like the real thing as it can and it holds together really well.I actually bought 2 so I could build both models.This is an excellent addition to the Lego Ferrari collection.

Not radio controlled...
This lego set is not radio controlled!

It is a great model team type set.
Also the lights on the front are not stickers but painted on the slopes. ... Read more