Oh let's face it, I got it for the Bowser Minifigure

I've lately gotten pretty into the Mario Kart K'NEX Toys. I picked up the Bowser track set and was shocked to learn that there are two types of Mario Kart toys. One consists of the stand alone Karts that are constructed using Lego like bricks and feature a pull back motor. The other is the Mario Kart toys that come with tracks. These are actually just a few model pieces that snap together, feature battery powered motors, and have no brick parts (although the engines do allow for some bricks to be connected to the Kart.) Shocking. So while I kind of liked the Brick cars, I've found that I rather enjoy the track pieces and the battery powered cars.

The minifigures are a bonus, but so far there's only been four minifigures released, so if you collect all the playsets you'll end up with a dozen minifigures of Mario alone. They're of amazingly high quality and designed so that you can place only their upper torsos on the appropriate vehicle peg to simulate the look of them driving from a cockpit.

The track pieces are a little flimsy, and I'm not putting on the stickers that come with the set that you put over the grid to simulated road textures like stone or gravel. Instead I'm leaving them neon pure. Oh, an awesome inclusion is that the track pieces come with peg pieces so you can lock the pieces tightly together and then easily remove the pegs to take them apart again.

 The track versality allows you to create your own track layouts. Although the type of track pieces are sorely limited. I had to pick up a track extension pack, and even that only came with three normal straight track pieces. So many freaking curves. I get it. Curvy tracks, but sometimes I just want the damn Karts to go straight.

Then there's the obstacles. Like these Fire balls that came with Bowser and attach to the track border via K'NEX technology. So now you can temporarily knock a kart off the track, or just delay it. That is if you're willing to let your $25 Karts get banged up.