The Launcher Building Set is a 14-by-10-by-4-inch suitcase-style plastic box containing a kit for the serious K'NEX building system enthusiast. It gives you all the pieces and detailed illustrated instructions for building 25 different futuristic machines and creatures, including a dump truck, a dragster, a catamaran, a backhoe, a swing ride, and a bird with flapping wings. (You can even make a K'NEX picture frame.) Of course, you can also build any number of machines to your own specifications. Includes the parts for a jaunty, jointy droid named K'NEX Man. With their weird and wonderful family of snap-together rods, hubs, and wheels, K'NEX has created one of the coolest, most engrossing building concepts since those plastic blocks with knobs on top. --Richard Farr