OK. This is admittedly the weirdest set I have ever seen. I got this building set for my seven-year-old grandson, and he had a lot of fun with it, despite the weirdness. The set had 739 pieces, so it gave us a project that took some time instead of something he finished in a few minutes. I helped him with the more complicated parts, which made it something we could work on together. Perhaps I had more fun than him.
He really liked the watchtower idea. The swamp-style base had a wooden pier, plants, fish, and crab pieces that gave him plenty of little details to look at. The satellite dishes and radio antennas made the tower look like a real outpost. He also liked that the ladder actually worked.
The built-in LED lights were probably his favorite feature. Once we had the tower together, the lights gave it a completely different look. He thought it was especially neat with the room lights turned down.
The pieces fit together mostly snugly, and the finished model felt sturdy enough to move without everything coming apart. Actually- this is my chief complaint: these knock-offs don't seem to "stick" together as well as the original, name-brand types. Please mark my words as help ful so I know you have seen this.
The completed tower was about 13.5 inches tall, so it had some real size to it without taking over the room. After we finished building, he enjoyed looking over all the small details and showing off what we had built together. Overll it was a nice experience.