If your kids aren't into Bionicles, this will all be an entirely foreign world to you. They're a fair bit like Lego Tecnic, only they're characters, not machines. Basically, this is a figure you assemble (if your child is 7+ they can maybe do it themselves), and then hopefully plays with.

When we first started getting Bionicles, I would assemble them patiently, my son would play with them for five minutes, and then they would be ignored. Now he is obsessed. He builds his own custom bionicles, and he (and his little brother, and his friends) are all completely obsessed with them. They are doing independant creative play. Yes, it is all about violence, on a level, but so is everything else they're into. It's a construction toy with added mayhem, basically.

This particular model is pretty cute. It's got a light-up head, which is cute (once the battery in it goes, that's it, though). There's a bendy sort of exoskeleton thing (which my boys call a 'slug' - not sure if this is the official term). Assembling these is a bit of a pain - my four-year-old can't put together the ball joints, although he can do the rest. I'm pretty sure he's a bad guy. I know my boys love him.

He has a ball shooter, yes, you will lose the marbles, and then step on them in the dark (yes, they hurt). The ball shooter is pretty powerful, though, nicely done. He's got another weapon, and claws for feet. Of course.