Toy projectile launcher with over arm lever cocking mechanism

A toy launcher for launching projectiles, comprising:

• a housing;
• a toy projectile holder on or connected to the housing;
• a lever arm extending outside of the housing and being connected for pivoting movement relative to the housing;
• a trigger that is mounted for movement relative to the housing;
• a piston and cylinder arrangement located in the housing, the piston being resiliently biased toward a first end of the cylinder by a biasing element, and the piston being moveable toward a second end of the cylinder to a cocked position by the lever arm being pivoted relative to the housing from a first position to a second position, a portion of the lever arm that extends outside the housing being adapted to be gripped or engaged by a user for pivoting the lever arm relative to the housing in order to move the piston from the first position to the second position;
• the cylinder including a compressed air delivery opening at or connected to the first end that is configured to deliver compressed air from the cylinder to the toy projectile holder;
• and
• a releasable piston catch that is configured to hold the piston in the cocked position, the releasable piston catch being releasable upon the trigger being pulled such that the piston that is held in the cocked position is driven by the biasing element toward the first end of the cylinder to deliver compressed air via the air delivery opening to the toy projectile holder that is adapted to launch a toy projectile located in the toy projectile holder.