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

Music stimulates the brain and encourages early learningskills. This interactive cube lets children choose from any combinationof five different instruments--harp, French horn, piano, flute, andviolin--to collaborate on eight Mozart tunes. A solo flute might playan excerpt from "Ah! Vous Dirai-je, Maman (Twinkle, Twinkle)," or aFrench horn intone a theme from The Marriage of Figaro. Otherchoices include "Country Dance #5," "Come Sweet May," "Der Vogelfanger"(from The Magic Flute), "March in D," "Landler," and "LàCi Darem la Mano" (from Don Giovanni). Press the "orchestra"button and hear all the instruments play together. As the songs play,each selected instrument button flashes to the beat. The sound is notorchestral quality, but you get a fair electronic approximation of eachinstrument. Operates on three AA batteries (not included). --TamiHoriuchi ... Read more

Reviews (107)

fabulous for babies and toddlers
My daughter loved this toy when she was six months old, and still loves it at 18 months. I have had no durability issues, and when I noticed the instruments playing out of sync I replaced the batteries, which solved the problem. I love that she can select different instruments to listen to, and that it exposes her to more than the usual canned electronic baby music... she now has a love for instrumental music! This is a fantastic addition to her toybox.

Great music, but it doesn't hold my son's interest.
I seem to be more interested in this toy than my 8 month old. There are lots of beautiful songs and the music is very high quality for an electronic toy. It's too bad my son doesn't like to play with it, because the music is so much nicer to listen to than any of his other toys!

BEST toy we have, by far!
This toy was given to me for my 1 yr old daugther. She is almost 2 yrs now, and she still LOVES playing with it. It is very durable, considering how much she tosses it (and that another baby played with it before they gave it to us). Also, we have only had to change the batteries once. We take it with us every where we go, and it has served us very well in the car - especially in those moments when she just doesn't want to be put in the car seat. It has been very educational as well, in that she can now identify each instrument by name and picture, and presses the appropriate button. She will keep playing the instruments over and over - and yet we don't get tired of it either. This is one of the best toys we have, by far.

He loved it- while it lasted
This toy gets my son's attention- and did since he got it for his first Christmas (9 months)- but unfortunately, it is NOT DURABLE. You cannot let the child actually play with the toy- if they throw it at all, it's history. And guess what- most babies throw things when they get excited. They tend to drop things, too- the toy is heavy for a small child. He loved the lights, and he loved pressing teh big buttons- the music is not too bad, either- but for the cost, you want it to be durable so the baby can play with it.

Best toy yet!
My parents gave this to my daughter when she was three months old, and she seemed to like the musical sounds as we pressed the buttons. She is now eight months old, and she STILL loves it! It is her favorite toy. At 5 months, we would put it between her legs for balance while she learned to sit up, and she would make the music play. Now she's learning to crawl, and she always goes for this toy! The music is NOT annoying, and we enjoy listening to it as much as she does. We feel like she will enjoy this toy for a long time to come! ... 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

Young children have a seemingly infinite capacity for exploration, investigating everything thoroughly and relentlessly as they try to learn about their world. While this Fisher-Price set is not likely to fully satisfy that curiosity, nothing ever will, it is likely to keep young kids quite busy and occupied. Eight blocks are included in the set, the clear cubes found in many modern Fisher-Price sets, and they are the key ingredients in the five interactive sides of the cube. There are options to stack the cubes up on a rack and then release them to tumble down with a turn of a lever, put them though holes to initiate perky sounds and flashing lights, and plenty of other fun games that should delight toddlers. Inside the block is room for up to 30 Fisher-Price blocks. There is some cause and effect teaching going on here but, as with all good educational toys, toddlers are not likely to think much about the learning; theyre too busy having fun. --Charlie Williams ... Read more

Editorial Review

Fully equipped for looting and plundering across the high seas, this pirate ship sports a massive wooden hull powered forward by six sails, three adorned with skulls and crossbones. Triple-firing cannons lay above and below deck, while a sword-wielding captain commands two crew members. A parrot can rest atop the captain's shoulder. There's also a working wench for hauling up all that misbegotten treasure and a removable dinghy for one-off raids. Other elements include a deployable anchor, a walking plank, and a yellow guard rail that circles the deck. The boat measures over 2 feet long once assembled, and can be put together in several ways, outlined in the accompanying booklet. --Andy Boynton ... Read more

Reviews (1)

My son loves it, but its a little wobbly
My son just loves this toy. He is 13 months old, and he returns to it several times per day. That said, his interest is almost entirely in the piano portion, which is detachable. So far, he has no interest in the "lego-like" things. He does play with the other half (little creatures which move and make noise), and enjoys them, but not as much as the piano. Of course, he has many music toys, and comes to this more often because it is raised, and as a pre-walker, he prefers to stand.

Problem: he loves to climb, and tries to climb ONTO this table all the time. It is way to wobbly (spelling?) for that, so I'm constantly telling him not to do that. He does seem to be learning, but I still have to keep an eye on him. However, I wouldn't trade this toy for any other he has right now. Not a day has gone by that he hasn't spent 30-60 minutes at it throughout the day since it arrived. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Great Toy
I bought this for my one-year old tomorrow grandson and he loves it! It's much more stable for him than his other stand up walker, and he is able to get over the threshold dividers between rooms, which he couldn't do with his other walker. He has no problem scooping up the blocks on my hardwood floors - - just have to push further. He also thinks it's funny when he scoops up a cat toy instead of a block. Highly recommend this item, great value!

My son's favorite toy
We bought the hippo for our son when he was 6 months old. He is now a year and he still loves it. He pushes it all over the place. When he was first learning to stand/walk, this helped him. He was so proud of himself because he could walk with it's help. I am going to buy this for all of my friend's babies! Highly recommended.

OK....but better if picked up blocks
My son received this for his 1st Birthday...he liked the blocks more than the Hippo. It doesn't pick up the blocks on the wood floor. My 4 yr old tried it on the carpet...and he was only able to get it to pick up 1 block. It is OK, but after seeing it's lack of performance...I wouldn't buy it. The Wagon in this series is much more fun.

Excellent!
We just bought this for our son who will turn 9 months in just two days. He has been cruising the furniture for a few weeks already and as soon as I brought this out, he was taking his first steps forward (w/the help of the hippo) within five minutes. It was so cute to see him take those first awkward steps forward! :-> Also, I have to agree w/what another reviewer said about Fisher-Price making the best quality toys. In my younger days, I worked for a couple years in a toy store and the one thing I vowed after working there is that I would always buy Fisher-Price toys for my kids because the quality is so much better. We almost never got returns on Fisher-Price toys, but some of the return rates on other brands are as high as 75%! And, all the recall notices we would get for other brands are also scary! Really scary because most of the parents who buy those toys never realize there was a recall. Not saying that Fisher-Price is perfect, but they certainly are at another level when it comes to safety and quality. Now that we have a son, almost all his toys are Fisher-Price or LeapFrog and we have not had any problems w/those brands.

Great toy!
My son received this for his first birthday and loves it. My three year old also loves it and they fight over this a lot. It is very sturdy to push for beginner walkers and also fun to ride on. The only negative to this toy is that it doesn't pick up blocks very well on hard surfaces. It is best used on carpet for that reason but it is still fun without picking up the blocks. ... 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

Teacher Review

Little ones with a knack for building and creative play will be drawn tothese lightweight and durable cardboard building blocks. A staple item in many preschools, this set can spark endless imaginative play as children buildlarge, life-size structures. Builders practice mathematical skills as they addthe number of blocks stacked on top of each other, and the various-sized blockscan facilitate a conceptual understanding of fractions. When kids aredevelopmentally ready, parents can encourage them to discover that one large redblock is the same size as two medium yellow blocks or four small blue blocks.Made from 50 percent recycled cardboard, the blocks have a smooth, water-resistant coating that's easy to clean. These blocks won a Parents' ChoiceClassic Award and a Dr. Toy Classic Award. One word of caution: Make surethere's enough storage space to hold all 40 blocks once assembled. --LaurenBernard, mother and elementary school teacher ... Read more

Features

• Durable cardboard construction
• Water-resistant coating

Reviews (15)

YOU assemble; other factors still unknown
I found it amazing that no product listing or review mentioned an obvious question that we had when considering this purchase. YES, as you might suspect, these cardboard blocks come as individual, precut flat pieces that you must assemble yourself. Also not mentioned is the distribution of sizes. In this set of 40 total, 24 of them are the small size (blue). Even with practice, assembly takes time. Plan on an at least an hour to do all 40 of them, unless you are very nimble-fingered.

Our 2-year-old found them instantly intriguing, but quickly became frustrated by the difficulty of stacking them without knocking them over. We are not worried about that, as we expect this to be a skill-building process in dexterity, balance, large-motor coordination, and so on. But it is worth mentioning that some children, depending on age or taste, may not instantly love these blocks; and we can't say for sure that our child will either, until more time passes.

I think it also important to note that the stackability of these blocks will depend somewhat on the precision with which you fold each one during assembly. There always seem to be a couple of blocks that don't fit together quite as well as others, leaving a bit more tilt than one would like to blocks piled atop it.

However, one does get a very sturdy block when all the folding is done. The design creates "walls" of cardboard within the body of each block, making it strong enough that a small toddler can lean or even sit on one without flattening it.

We will have to wait a while to find out if our child "grows into" the specific skills required to really enjoy these blocks, or if they remain piled in a corner somewhere. The immediate reaction has not been as glorious as we were led to expect from other reviews,

And we really felt that the "assembly required" issue should have been mentioned quite clearly. Although we assumed that these came in "knock-down" form, a clerk at the local [store] (where we would have bought the blocks if they had been in stock that day) said she thought these came pre-assembled. I think that example alone proves that the information should be included in the product listing.

Questionable purchase
The idea of these blocks was brilliant. But the reality is a different story. I just purchased the "Giant Building Block 40-piece Set" for my 2-year old who loves building. The blocks were significantly smaller than I had envisioned. And 40 blocks may sound like a lot, but its not! Also, I believe that I read that they can support up to 200 lbs. My child is only 40 lbs and stepped on one and it began to give (yes, I did follow the directions and put them together correctly). (...) This product should be twice as big, double in quantity, and "durable" and then it would be perfect.

"Slightly" disappointed.

Great!! But make sure they are old enough
This blocks set is wonderful...my 22mo twins love them and have played with them on and off for quite some time. The only problem is, they received them when they were 18 mo old and my little boy still but things in his mouth. They are made of strong cardboard, but several "bites" have been taken out of them. I would recommend your children be out of the "oral" phase before purchasing these.

Best Building & Toy For all ages!
-Sometimes Basic is Best!

Team this wonderful toy up with a set of bean bags and you have loads of fun for all ages! I found these blocks when my son was 6 (he is now 13) and four children later I am now ordering two more sets because they have finally given out or been lost over the years. All my kids at every age and both my boys and my girls love these blocks! The have been used to stack and knock over with bean bags; army men, cowboys and indians, dolls, stuffed animals - you name it. We have created little windows in the blocks as targets and practiced tossing the bean bags through (Even us parents love this! While we are watching tv we toss our bean bags at various targets etc.)My girls have made Barbie castles, Care Bear houses, Dora the Explorer adventures and Blues Clues dog houses as well as baby play pens, and all sorts of creative play with whatever doll that happens to be the latest hit. This classic set of blocks takes all types of play to a 3-dimensional level.

They are sturdy for in the house and outdoors and have even survived a rainstorm or two. I highly recommend them! You will be pleased!

Classic Toy!
My brother & I had blocks like these (slightly larger)as kids. We played with them for years. This is one toy that will grow & evolve with your child's imagination. Now I have a couple of sets for my grandchildren. They love to stack them up & knock them down(they're durable enough to take it). They build towers and bridges and castles and "falling domino" lines around the dining room table. The possibilities are endless. You can amost see their imagination and hand-eye cooordination growing! ... Read more

Editorial Review

This neon green and grape roller coaster is impressive in both size andscope. When fully built the coaster stretches 6 feet long and stands 3 feethigh. The directions are detailed and clear, and we had no trouble putting ittogether. It did take us a bit over five hours, though, and it's likely that anychild under 12 will need parental assistance. But assembling it is half the fun.When finished, the track careens so hazardously, it's hard to believe the carswill stay on, but they do! The plastic chain hauls the three cars up slowly,just like a real roller coaster, and the sound effects box re-creates the noiseso perfectly you'll squirm with anticipation. After reaching the top and passingthrough the serpent's mouth, the cars begin their dizzying descent past thesound effects box, which has now switched to emitting enthusiastic and terrifiedscreaming. Gravity and centrifugal force whip the little cars along the rest ofthe track until at last it reaches the beginning of the ride, only to be towedup for another round. If you don't have 6 feet of space, there are instructionsfor a smaller version, and you can turn the sound effects off if you prefer toplay quietly. Entirely worth the time and effort, this is ideal as a familyendeavor. --M. Sullivan ... Read more

Reviews (112)

This is Awesome!!!
I'm 13 years old and thought this is the best toy ever. I got kind of bored with the set that it tells you to make so I built my own. I built the new boomerang ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain called "Deja Vu". I ran out of pieces, so I love it so much that I'm going to buy another one. I think that it should come with more pieces so you can build your own coaster, but that is the only flaw in it. I think it's the best toy ever especially to roller coaster enthusiasts like me.

Fun, but lots of work
I'd first like to say that I find the claims of other reviewers here that this toy can be assembled in 2-3 hours to be pretty unbelievable. My adult brother and I spent about 7 hours building this model, mostly working in parallel. This was our first KNEX model, but we are hardly novices at building complex toys.

I generally avoid Chinese-made toys due to their notoriously poor quality, and I was concerned about the not-completely-specified Chinese content of this model. Apparently, all of the standard KNEX parts are made in the US, and were of a very high quality plastic that snapped together nicely. It looked like only the electrical components (motor and sound box) and the train were made in China (and were of noticeably poorer quality plastic).

The actual construction process was a lot of fun. My only complaint here was that some parts of the manual dealing with the track support system were difficult to reproduce exactly, and failing to exactly reproduce this left us with a track fit problem. We finally had to fudge and use an unspecified part to make the track support work.

After construction, very little tweaking was required to get the model working as advertised. As other reviewers have noted, the model moves a lot when in use. This was resolved easily by building the model on a piece of pegboard and using a few strategic tie-wraps to hold it in place.

My major complaint: the motor assembly. It has a small, difficult to operate power switch. To make matters worse, it's apparently a generic KNEX motor module, and the power switch also has a "reverse" setting which, when accidentally activated while trying to turn the model on or off, can cause the model to jam (and possibly even cause damage).

Once the construction process is completed, this is not much of a "hands on" toy. There's really nothing you can "do" with it other than watch the train go round and round. The actual "ride" from the top of the lift to the bottom is only 2-3 seconds long.

This toy is awesome!!!
Its definately worth the 90.00 bucks that you spend on it cause it is VERY fun to build and even more fun to play with...The only thing is that you have to know and use your imagination to be able to build this thing cause it can be pretty hard in some spots...but never the less awesome!I'm 13 and built this in a Day in a half(took alot longer than most people)but I had fun doing it.If you do order this item TAKE YOUR TIME on it and don't rush it cause I did that and I had to start all over cause I couldn't figure out where I was at on building it.so I hope this review helped you and if you liked this try building the other knex theme park rides such as other rollercoasters and the ferris wheel.

The Screamin Serpent Rollor coaster rocks !!!
This toy is amazing and very entertaining. It is just a little complicated by with a little help it looks awsome. One of the best parts about it is that if you dont' like the the way the instructions tell you to build it you can build your own. You can have your own mini millenium force if you choose to in your own house. If I was to rate this out of five I would give it a four and a half. The only little flaw is that the instructions are a little hard to understand.

screamin serpant roller coaster
my son has one and it isnt extremly hard but slightly difficult to build. it has been almost a year and he still hasnt fixed all the bugs! some problems were bad design, track shortage and when the car goes through the loop sometimes it doesent go over the small hill or get a head start on the chain lift. I think that after awhile it gets boring and takes up too much room and money. ... 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

Editorial Review

Tinker Toys have entertained kids for decades--ever since their 1913 invention by Charles Pajeau, who was inspired by children playing with pencils and empty spools of thread. This set features 102 versatile wooden spools, connectors, and brightly colored dowels packed in an easy-to-store keepsake canister. Simply add a child's imagination for hours of creative fun. --Jane Snyder ... 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