Building Sets Reviews

At the moment, this is the starter set in the series, although they show an even smaller Dizzy set in the catalog but it's not yet available. You get Benny, a fence, an orange cone, a window and building piece. There isn't much to build after putting Benny together, but you can't expect much for the price. Little Benny has the front loader and rear scoop, so your child should love playing with him. The other plus about Benny is that he is small and stout and out of all the Bob Duplo characters, he withstands heavier play without his pieces popping off. The one downside is he is the only one (although Dizzy will probably be the other if it's ever released) that is not able to fit the little Bob character inside. All the other sets come with the Bob figure but this one.

If he likes construction toys, or Bob the Builder this is a great toy. It is durable, holds the lego pieces, and looks great, it is a great addition to Bob the Builder or by itself. I have even rated somewhat high for education, because my son who is four has learned all about construction vehicles, what they do and the correct names.

What makes something a good toy?? There are many aspects of a toy that are important in making it a GOOD toy, and one that is recommended. I usually look to see if it is educational in ANY way, how is the durability?, how many children can play with it at one time? and VERY important to me is HOW LONG WILL IT BE USED!!! Well, I can happily say that this toy has met ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!!! It taught Ethan how to pick blocks up and place them into different openings, there are many, it taught him cause and effect.....with a push of a button the top spins and plays music, there is a VERY large space to keep MANY blocks which he loves to "open and close" OVER AND OVER again......He has had it since he was 5 months and still LOVES it at 1 year old WOOHOO!!!!, he plays with it daily....the greatest thing about it? the durability, it came from a friend who used it through 2 children, and now we have it and it is still like new. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

My favorite part of this toy is that it keeps my daughter busy and it stores all of the blocks inside! Also, it has so many activities so that more than one child can (and has) play with this toy at the same time. My daughter got this toy with a set of nine extra blocks for Christmas when she was four months old. At that time she really liked the blocks. Now that she is nine months old, she is diligently working on accomplishing all of the other activities this toy offers. This toy grows with your child. The older my daughter gets, the more activities she can complete. She gets a big smile when she has success putting a block in a chute, in the holder or when she makes the music play by putting the block on the center square. She plays with this toy more than anything else she has and it holds many challenges for her. I think that this toy will hold her interest for a couple of years. A great investment. Definitely a toy that grows with your child as her skills develop. Also a great toy to pull up to standing on, it is very stable. I just push it up against a wall to be extra careful, but that's not even necessary. She has stood holding on to it many times in the middle of the floor, and she is not walking yet, she is "cruising" I am giving this toy as gifts to all my friends babies for their birhtdays. Their moms will love it. You get a break while your child plays. It is also fun to play with this toy with your child.

This toy has been wonderful! Keeps our baby busy and encouraged
him to stand and cruise. He stays busy placing the blocks on each side. The only drawback is that the door comes open easily
and baby can trip on the wide door. Other than that love it and most importantly, baby is happy!

I've played with some other knex toys but this one is horrable. It was so confusing to put togther and it could not stay on track! PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!

I could not get the ship to get on track. Sure you can forse it to go.that's not how it's advertised. Don't waste your money like I did.

I purchased this toy and although we had fun putting it together, it did not run as was advertised. The final models were flimsy and would not hit the wheels to spin it properly. Sure you can sit there and force ti ti go but that is not what they advertise. I built the pitrate ship that is suppose to go 360 degrees. couldn't even go back and forth without help. today we built the g-force ride. Very flimsy and again will not go without your adjustments and you sitting there coaxing it. Although it is good for children to learn to read the directions; the toy does not live up to its billing. Basically I think it is a waste of money. Tom

Builder of weapons!
The most talented engineer among the Piraka, Avak can make a tool or weapon out of virtually anything. He can use his X-ray and telescopic vision to seek out foes and then create a perfect prison from thin air to hold them! If it comes to a fight, Avak can rely on his zamor sphere launcher and his seismic pickaxe/jackhammer combination.
Includes zamor spheres and launcher!
Piraka eyes light up and teeth glow in the dark!

Avak is a very good toy that I would recommend to any bionicle fan. I got him just yesterday and I think that the Piraka are the coolest bionicle sets EVER. Avak's weapon can transform from a Jackhammer like thing into a little arm saw. The coolest fact about him is that his eyes light up (you can't replace the battery) and his teeth glow in the dark.(no battery required for teeth) The zamor sphere launcher launches the spheres really far. Even my mom likes the fact that he has really cool spikes in his back. He is very flexible and is very easy to put him in many different poses.Avak can stand up really tall. He combines with 8901 Piraka Hakann to make an even bigger beast.

The new figure Avak is my favorite villan canister set EVER!!!!
He is so cool, with a great bio,not to mention the fancy weapons And his mask is just the coolest!!!!!!!
His nickname is "The Beast", thats ......Amazing!
Why am I shouting of his greatness?!!?!?!!? Well I should be!!! He is amazing!!!
Why don't you have one yet?!?!?!!?!? Buy it NOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!
yay!

this toy is awsome with the skin and its eyes light up it supposed to be lazer vizion) the orb lancher well works well but you can lose the orbs easily and its hard to move its head bt over all this toy is cool peace out.

On the can, you can make the "can-mask"'s eyes glow. Just push a button on the back, and the eyes glow! Vezok is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this toy is cool has a wierdo orb lancher and an cool new tool built like a toa hordika and a skin sorta thing when u need to put on its face(his face is like a skull) and thats about it peace out


p.s omfg

I am writing to inform you that my 3 year old son, Kevin, alerted me to the fact that he believes Lego Toby is not snapped together correctly in your photo; the number "7" needs to appear in the center of the tram engine. The rear piece is misplaced. Thank you! Does he get a prize??!!! Sincerely, Beth King and Kevin King (age 3)

My almost [...] son received this in his Easter basket, and he played with it immediately for a good while independently from the rest of his train set. Later in the day he incorporated it into a new layout. He has been adding to his GeoTrax set for almost 3 years now, and it is still one of his most favorite toys. I like the relatively inexpensive additions like this barrel loader as small seasonal gifts that keep his interest in the overall toy. I recommend GeoTrax trains to all of my friends with kids age 3+ who like trains.

The GeoTrax train system is a great line of toys for toddlers and young children. The recent addition of "GeoMotion" train stops takes the fun even further. When the motorized train passes through, it stops and automatically powers the building. Your child can then flip a switch and send the train on its way again.

In the Workin' Lifting Barrel Loader, the train powers a conveyor belt which lifts the included barrels to the top of the tower and then sends them down a series of chutes and into a hopper on the other side. With a tip of a lever, the barrels will load onto the waiting train car. There is also a manual crank in case your child wants to run the Loader without the train.

The best thing about the Barrel Loader is that it's designed to load right into the train where it's stopped. (Contrast this to the GeoMotion factory in the Working Town set, which stacks up cargo in a chute that's not lined up with any car on the train; you've then got to time it just right as the moving train passes by, which is often frustrating if not impossible for younger kids.) It's not foolproof - you've got to have the barrel car linked just behind the locomotive and the car inexplicably only securely holds one barrel at a time (the set comes with three) - but it's fun nonetheless.

The downside of this design is that the Barrel Loader is quite big, both in width and length. Keep in mind that if you're pressed for floorspace, then the addictive world of GeoTrax trains probably isn't the best choice to begin with. Also, I was disappointed that the crosspiece (blue in the picture) isn't securely fastened to the two towers. This is the most obvious place to pick up the set when you're moving it, and it falls off every time, often causing you to drop the entire set.


PROS
* Fun to watch and use
* Properly designed/sized to load barrels onto the waiting train

CONS
* Takes up a lot of floorspace, even by GeoTrax standards
* Snap construction is a bit flimsy

My 5 year old Grandson loves trains!! He plays for hours with these items! Product is very durable & has taught him quite a bit determination and ability to create new track systems.

GET THIS SET!!!! IT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER CASTLE!!!!! It is really fun. BUY THIS NOW!!!!!!! YOur son will LOVE IT!!!

I got this for christmas and it took four hours+ to build. Overall it is totally awesome. Though the amount minifigures leaves something to be desired and there is no way to get to the upper levels other than the first. other than that it is great.I added a trap door the floor under the tower on right wing for hanging people. I got this and the viking fortress and this blows that away
great set!!!!!!!!!!!

This imposing medieval fortress is a magnificent piece of work, and it has plenty of action for our knights in shining armor. This is the type of Lego castle I've wanted to see for a long time.

The colorful Knights Of Morcia are back, once again fighting against Vladek, the black knight. Although King Mathias does not make an appearance here, all four of the good knights are present with their colorful armor (blue, purple, red, and green). Defending the castle from siege are Vladek and three soldiers. This is a step in the right direction for Lego. One of my biggest complaints with 2004's Castle Of Morcia set is that Vladek wasn't given an army. The black knight and one henchman versus four good knights and the king; that seemed hardly fair. We were expected to shell out more money and buy other Knights Kingdom sets just to add a few more soldiers to Vladek's army. I used the prevalent scorpions as his army instead. This time he at least has enough soldiers to match the good guys. Four bad guys versus four good guys.

The minifigs are as charismatic as ever. Each of our four heroes has his own characteristic expression. Vladek and his soldiers have that cute "I'm evil" Lego frown. The knights each carry a different colored sword and a shield with animal emblem that matches his personality (hawk, wolf, bear, monkey). Vladek's emblem is a scorpion. An added bonus comes in the form of armor and hatchets with a realistic weathered metal look for our bad guys. Very nice.

This set has just about everything you need for an epic castle siege. A horse-drawn catapult that can launch boulders at Vladek's towering castle, a cute mini-catapult strapped to the blue knight's horse, a battering ram that two knights can use to knock down a wall, and a manually operated ballista that fires a soft-tip missile (not spring-loaded). The only thing missing here are the siege towers, which are sold separately (and might not even be all that necessary, considering all the action going on here).

Vladek's fortress is so big and packed with cool stuff, I'm not sure where to begin. It has a cavernous main hall, large central tower, battlements with wide walkways that lead to the left and right towers, a "spooky section", scorpion den, staircases that offer access from the ground floor to the second floor, secret doors... An expansive castle full of secrets and surprises for our knights to discover as they battle Vladek and his dark soldiers. It's also packed with details both outside and in. Lots of cool stuff. Going into the defense of the castle are two fireball catapults, a cauldron of transparent orange lava rocks that can be tipped over on attacking knights, and a really nice working drawbridge. The mechanism that raises and lowers the drawbridge is expertly designed and lots of fun.

As if this weren't enough, the castle has a modular design and can be reconfigured in a variety of formations. There's the two-foot wide version featured in the instructions, and a few other variations including a more compact version with battlements circling all the way around the castle. No disassembly required. The modular design allows us to focus on building one section at a time, then just connect them all together with a few Technic connectors.

This is a lengthy building project (over 900 pieces). Going into the construction of the castle are a variety of building blocks of all sizes, walls, pillars, floorboards, some of those nice walls with barred windows, and Knights Kingdom signature battlement pieces. There's a lot of black, dark gray, and dark red here. All of the construction is straightforward. Nothing too difficult. The finished model's durability is only average, but the castle is easily moved. Just disconnect the modules and move them one at a time.

This set gets a big thumbs up from me. Really nice design, some fun action features, nice details and extras, and for once poor Vladek has a semblance of an army to fight for him. This set is solid fun, and then some.