Building Sets Reviews

I'm Toysrus's new critic and my (not real) name is D.L.Smith (no I didnt' pick the name Mom X5, that is my mom's review name) . I used to collect LEGO movie sets like Spiderman and Harry Potter. Now I just use those sets to make new things like forts , but occasionally I'll buy sets that have ships and tanks. This is why I like stuff like LEGO Vikings, Knights Kingdom, and Dino Attack to add cool stuff to my forts. Anyways, that is why I first decided to buy LEGO EXO Force.I thought the cool weapons and robot fighters would make a neat addition to my expanding collection, so I bought two sets so far: this product and the Fire Vulture. I must say that the Sonic Phantom hasn't impressed me much. You will see why.

Durability. That is the key word that LEGO's need to have, and I must admit this is not a very well put toy. Small parts would snap off (after it was done) and it would be annoying to keep putting them on. The one part that snapped off the most would be the laser canon. The laser cannon was pretty annoying and cramped in a narrow space so so you couldn't keep it at a decent angle. Also, the laser canon had a very pathetic beam. I turned off all the lights and put my hand in fromt of it and it didn't shine my hand. I would be willing to pay a few extra dollars for LEGO to make it at least as strong as a laser pointer key chain. If you can't stand badly-put-togheter toys then I do not reccomend buying this toy for all the annoying parts that never seem to stop falling off.

Even though this toy is not too durable, it can still be fun to run around with in your hand like a toy airplane. It has a great place to hold on to to and shoot with the missile( shoots about 7 ft.), which is why I would give the toy 2 and a half stars if Toysrus.com would let you. JUST MAKE SURE NOT TO DROP IT,TRUST ME. The set comes with a small robot to operate the set, nothing special about him. All in all, this toy is fun if you just like to run around with toys shooting stuff.
Thank you for taking your time to read my review.

This toy was just a sad rip-off of a star wars racer, I even think they used the same pieces from their Star Wars line. The packaging was cool and it looked like it would be a good toy for my little cousin Andrew, but he was pretty disappointed with it once he got the box open. Not much play value in this EXO-Force stuff.

Aside Bionicle, I haven't purchased any LEGOs in quite some time-- until EXO Force. Since it's pointless to just have one, I must have them ALL. The Sonic Phantom here was my 5th EXO Force buy, one of the only sets that does not resemble humanoid armed mecha.

The "So-Pha" is fairly simple to build, but the turbines are the majority of the set itself, making it seem much larger than it really is. It has an airship-type motif with gun turrets on the left and right rear turbines, which can pivot in almost a 360 angle. The turbines can also spin, but not very well since the other parts scrape or hinder it from helicopter-like twirling. It comes with an "Iron Drone" pilot, and one of the new light bricks (red LED). It can be activated by handling the trigger "built" into the set-- which can also shoot a projectile. The whole ship kind of has a bit of a "gun" feel about it, being flown by the kid grasping it like a firearm rather than simply holding it (of course, he/she could do thast, too). It is not as interactive as the other EXO Force sets, aside these points.

As with all the EXO Force sets, it comes with a small sheet of decals, with instructyions on where to put them. Being a tad of a perfectionist, I spent a great deal of time trying to put them on flawlessly-- if you purchase this set for a little one, he or she may want your help with it. I personally like this challenge. Just don't fudge up, there are no extra decals.

Overall, the set is not bad. LEGO always gets high marks for Durability, but this set uses a few bricks in easy-to-fall-off locations. Fun? I suppose so-- your kid will want an open space to "fly" this around in. But being a few bucks more expensive than the other bipedal mecha, along with the lack of interaction that the others have make me understand why it shows disappointment for the other reviewer. It's just a nice looking LEGO airship.

I bought this for my nine year old who thought she knew her facts, but couldn't do her tests on them fast enough. One can tell the Shark exactly what skill to test (for example, subtracting "3" from all the one digit numbers in random order). It sets the ten questions (each one is either in vertical or horizontal format - one can't specify that), and provides immediate feedback as the child enters each answer. It asks any incorrrect questions again. Once all the questions have been answered correctly, it provides the time, for example, 43.3 seconds.

My daughter enjoys seeing her time get better each time she repeats a skill. We have an agreement that she does 5 sets each day (total 50 problems). She usually does 3 sets on the same skill, and each time gets faster. Then she reviews two other skills she's already mastered.

My only complaint is the display screen can be hard to see, especially from the side (so I can't tell what problems she gets wrong, sitting beside her). Sometimes she'll get a problem wrong because she thinks a number is something else. I think the problem might be when the LED is right next to the edge of the screen, it can be in shadow or something.

You can turn off the sound (which isn't all that loud anyway). I really like how specific you can be in setting the level of challenge. This is a valuable tool for drilling math and getting immediate feedback.

Our 6 yr old is enjoying this product. She needs help with getting quicker at drilling addition and subtraction and this is helping. She likes when the green light lights up to tell her she is correct. The levels are very good since my niece (8 yrs), nephew (10 yrs) and the adults have all tried it. If it's durable enough, it should last her for years as she gets to multiplication etc. She doesn't think it's FUN though - it's just something to do when she is bored. For this reason we keep it in the van. Our plan is working though because she climbs into her seat and immediately turns it on. We had it in our home for awhile but there were too many other FUN things to do besides Math! If your child enjoys challenging math facts, they will think it's fun though - our 8 yr old niece did and so do myself and my husband.

I ordered 5 math sharks for my inner city classroom. My students were having motivational issues and this really helped. I used it in centers and during indoor recess. You can turn the sound off if your student/child is using it during a quiet time. It tells the student what their score is at the end so they can keep track. My students were at different ability levels and they could choose something that was challenging for them. I did find that by the end of the year, the display was not as clear.

this set........if put together correctly..... can stand up perfectly...and when i blow on it...it stays up. i pushed on it with all my force...and amazingly it stood up. way overpriced....but..and a good play toy for a knights kingdom collector( me...somewhat) or just someone who wants to see a purple guy being eaten by a scorpion.

It's very durable and has a lot of interesting aspects to it. I disagree that it's unstable - it's more secure than some other sets he owns. Unlike the Scorpion Palace (which was a huge disappointment in many ways), the Scorpion Prison Cave is a fun set that has kept my son entertained for hours.

If you think the Prison Cave is weak,then it means you don't have the intellectual abilities to follow the instructions the set comes with and actually build it right.And Lego's quality is FAR better than Megablocks,don't even try to say they are both bad.

The Prison Cave is actually quite sturdy,and big.Set includes:

-Lord Vladek minifigure (my favourite Knight's Kingdom minifigure so far)

-Sir Danju minifigure

-Sir Jayko minifigure

-Shadow Knight minifigure

-the classical skeleton minifigure

-Jayko's horse with saddle mounted catapult (a tad useless,but still nice and shoots far)

-a huge scorpion.Looks very cool if you put Vladek over it,like the commercial

-Main Prison tower,with gate and catapult

-a lateral part,where the skeleton in the box is

-an hanging cage.Lovely.

When built,this set is a lot of fun.Also,if you have also the Battle wagon,you cantake away the horse and put the scorpion instead! It looks awesome!

I recomend this set.

It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cool!!!! Did youknow that you can put the axe into the Shadow Knight's head? Overall the toy is great.

MY SON RECEIVED THIS TOY FOR HIS 8TH BIRTHDAY. HE PUT IT TOGETHER BY HIMSELF, AND HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH IT! HE LOVED THE RUBBERBAND, "SHOOTING" ACTION! HE WAS SO PROUD THAT HE PUT IT ALL TOGETHER, WITHOUT HELP- A KEY SELL FOR PARENTS- IT IS GREAT PURCHASE BECAUSE THE CHILD CAN PUT IT TOGETHER WITHOUT HELP, AND HAVE FUN WITH THE LEGO TOY- MY SON WAS ACTING ALL KINDS OF FUN ADVENTURES- A GREAT GIFT!

I found that for the price. this set was great! It comes with one Rascus figure, and one shadow knight. The catapult is very orginal, and powered by a rubber band, I got it to go 3 and a half feet. There were also some improvements in the pieces. For example, the flagpole was less annoying, the weapons were improved, and the head pieces came on and off much smoother.

Whether you are starting Lego Castle or are an expert builder, this is great set!

Dino Attack! Mutant dinosaurs are on the rampage, and a crack team of heroes with high-tech weapons has to stop them from wrecking the city. This set builds a monster truck humvee with firing "ballista" cannon, which one of our heroes uses to try to take down those nasty dinos.

Okay, let's have a look at these cool mutant dinosaurs featured so prominently on the box's picture. ...Umm, what? The picture shows three "mutant lizards", or raptor-esque dinosaurs, in dynamic poses with tails curled, feet stomping, heads turned... The three dinosaurs inside the box are made of stiff, semi-flexible plastic (and to call this "semi-flexible" is a bit charitable). These mutant lizards are so stiff, they're already dead. What do we need all this high-tech weaponry for? I swear, it is physically impossible to pose these guys as they're shown in the picture. This is false advertising. Presuming you're able to actually move a dino's tail a bit, it snaps right back to its original straight position. Arms, legs, neck, and head are all equally stiff.

I sat in front of the TV for about an hour, holding the fuchsia colored one with his tail and neck turned, trying to train it to stay in that position, and I didn't manage to change his pose by much. These guys are pretty much stuck in a straight pose. Forget about trying to do anything interesting with them.

The dinos have some nice painted detail on their backs, and I like their sneaky-looking grins, but it would've been nicer to have articulated figures.

With this set we also get one minifig, a courageous fellow who drives a humvee that's armed with a missile launcher. This vehicle is a monster truck humvee. The wheels alone stand taller than the guy does. It has a spacious cabin with steering wheel and seat for the driver, and out back is the missile launcher, which can turn to aim. Would've been nicer if it could also raise and lower as well. This launcher is essentially a ballista. It manually fires multiple missiles (not spring loaded). The design here is clever. Load the missiles onto the rack, then use the trigger to launch them, one right after the other. Pretty cool.

Most of the construction here is basic, with Technic parts used for the ballista. Colors are dark red, beige, gray, dark gray, black, and just a bit of light green for the missile tips. Durability is pretty solid. A good model, on the whole. We also get a sheet of decorative decals to spruce up the look of our monster truck humvee. There are two decals that link two parts together if you follow the instructions. I found that a bit odd. We're supposed to be able to disassemble this and build it again (or build something else with the pieces). I placed those two decals on a different part so that I can take the model apart later without messing up the decals.

This is a nice Lego set with an inventive action feature. My verdict: one thumb up for the humvee and its valiant dinosaur-fighting driver, one thumb down for the non-posable dinos.

i found this toy attractive because it reminded me of a military hummvee.

the 3 small dinosaurs themselves are a dissapointment to the hardened lego veteran, but they are made from a pliable soft rubber, so unlike normal lego bricks they can be left out near younger children who might otherwise suffer a choking hazard on lego's normal angular small parts. give the lego truck itself to your elder child and let the younger kids suck on the little rubber dinosaurs.

the truck itself is a big brick of a lego on giant rubber wheels and stands up well to normal abuse that a lego toy should expect to recieve. the design is rather simple and the chassis builds from the ground up, and it looks like a big hummer. the driver has plenty of room inside the cab and requires little invasive deconstruction to get him in and out of the truck.

the most remarkable part of the kit is that the truck has a turret on the back that can launch projectiles in rapid fire succession with a spring-loaded finger tab, like a miniature nerf gun. firing projectiles are a relatively new innovation for lego (primitive lego missiles were often catapults that were launched by slamming a see-saw device with your finger. this new breed of lego missile is more conducive to aiming and hitting a target) and the adult should be conscious of whether or not an individual kit has a projectile or if the toy will be played with in the vicinity of younger children. losing an eye in a freak accident aside, the lego launcher is really cool.

I gave this to my nephew for Christmas, and he absolutely loved it! He got dozens of toys, but this was the one he wanted to play with first. My husband helped him put it together (he is seven, and needed a little help), and they had a great time.

This is a very good lego set. The dino is very durable and fun. The
Urban Avenger is fun, but the antenna sometimes falls off. Parts of the engine sometimes falls off, too. I really recommend you buy this toy!

This a great lego product. The dune buggy is VERY durable. I like to ruffle up my bed covers and make the Urban Avenger ride across the wrinkles. The only thing that isn't very durable is the antennea. Everyone says the rubber rollcage is stupid, but I think it's cool. I make the raptor bite the rollcage and rip it off! The Raptor is very cool. It has the same joints as the 7 1/2 in. knight kingdom figures. I also have the Fire Hammer and that's also fun.


And for those about to rock, I solute you!

i bought this toy today as an art student majoring in toy design.

this product has value. like another viewer posted, the dinosaur alone is worth the ten bucks, hes very sturdy and his joints are on small ratchets so any child that can manipulate his limbs can play with him easily. his head and arms socket into his body, so as usual with lego toys they are nearly impossible to break because you just snap them back together.

the dune buggy itself is a favorite of mine because i'm just partial to dune buggies, but bias aside its a pretty good example of lego engineering. some of the cosmetic parts like bits of the engine and the antenna snap off the toy easily, but this is just cosmetic damage and nothing that cant be immediately remedied by the child playing with it.

the rubber rollcage does seem a little tacky at first, but after analyzing the toy i think its a good idea, the giant dinosaur can just smush it and chomp right through to the driver!

no matter which toy the child plays with you get your money's worth with this set, they'll either love the dunebuggy or the dinosaur and play with them exclusively, but legos are so durable that they'll be played with forever. i'd gladly pay double what lego is asking for this set.

I got my first K'nex set for my kids (well, and for myself as well) when my son was 4. The k'nex allows kids to make innumerable constructs. The enclosed book gets their imagination flowing, additional instructions on the web site further enhance, but then the kids let loose with their own ideas. My son is now 11 and my daughter is 8 and they are still coming up with new imaginative creations. K'nex does not have the intricate detail of Lego. However, the long rods, the connecting pieces, allow the construction of sturdy models (long bridges/tall buildings) and the pieces are generic enough that they can be reused over and over for different purposes.

Its great.

My 7 year old son got this set for Christmas last year, and with all the toys we have for our 5 kids, this K'nex set gets the most use. He built with it every day for months, and still builds something new about every week with it. He has built about every model in the book and he is getting better at building his own ideas. We've gotten a lot of the models on video tape, and he loves to show his grandparents the new ones. I loved the sea turtle that "walked" across the floor, and he builds amusement park rides and puts little people in them. This thing keeps him busy for hours at a time, and he's getting another tub of them for his birthday. His little brother wants one for his birthday this year. The motor is very cool, and he figures out how to use it with the models that don't call for it. Since Christmas, he has only broken 2 pieces, so I thought that was pretty good. Highly recommended!

I have had a KNEX set for 10 years or so. My daughter has always been envious of mine, and I don't let the kids play with it. She received money for christmas and bought this set. She has had a lot of fun putting together the models, however there are a couple of models in the book that there aren't quite enough pieces to build. If this were the only set in the house, it would be very disappointing to get as far as she did, then have to disassemble and start with another project.

This is the best Harry Potter 4 lego! it is the Durmstrang ship that the Durmstrsng's come from to compete in the Triwizard tournament. it comes with Viktor Krum and Igor Karkaroff. it has the crow's nests, trap doors, sails, and cabins. It's three floors in all!

it is an amazing ship with so much stuff that it is unbelevieble