K'Nex Toys

K'Nex styles itself as "the world's most creative construction toy" - a bold claim for a company that competes with the likes of Lego and Meccano in the construction toy genre. It has certainly managed to obtain significant popularity within this lucrative category since its launch in 1992 - and this shows no sign of slowing, thanks to the many new K'Nex toys that are launched each year.

As with many of the world's best ideas, the concept behind K'Nex toys is incredibly simple. Colour-coded plastic rods and connectors can be attached together to create an infinite number of different objects. Accessories such as pulleys, wheels, gears and motors have also been introduced to make the possibilities even more endless.

Whilst the company traditionally shunned the idea of incorporating TV and film characters into its K'Nex toys, they broke from this tradition and started to partner with various major TV/film brands such as Sesame Street. This brought K'Nex toys much more in line with companies such as Lego and Tomy and has secured K'Nex's popularity for the foreseeable future.

In 2012, K'Nex signed an agreement to manufacture a series of K'Nex Angry Birds themed sets. These feature many of the games popular characters, and include realistic launchers to help kids create some of the scenes.