Tenorikuma

Nice review. Is that one minifig breaking out of prison? (Just wondering about his clothing.) The worst thing is the name. Anything with Xtreme in the title almost deserves the lowest score possible on principle.

Good names are often reminiscent of a similar word. How about something like "Darth Zarkon"? or Darth Kazar?

I'm not sure, I can't make out the characters on those stickers from Bricklink's scan.

Sinner: I wish your wife the best of luck! Japanese is a greatly rewarding language to learn. If she's studying from textbooks, she'll certainly learn the standard polite forms of the language, but she can always pick up the colloquial stuff on the side. Whitefang: Japanese usage of kanji often varies quite a bit from the original meaning in Chinese. In Japanese, 部 bu means "part" or "section". Is it possible you thinking of 陸 or 地 meaning "land"? 隊 tai can be short for 軍隊, meaning "military". Like I said, the 他勢 (他 "other" + 勢 "force") bit isn't a standard word, but it feels like the way a Japanese person might have tried translating "exo-force". 他 is similar to 地 visually but unrelated in meaning. Class dismissed

Yep, that's right.

It would be cool to see a review comparing this set with the newer orange garbage truck.

Japan, 2008 No Agents No Belville No Spongebob No Trains No impulse sets 2008 Batman and Technic are available but difficult to find. Japan does get some bulk brick sets not available anywhere else.

Literally, "Exo-Force Corps". The 他勢 bit is a made-up word with ambiguous meaning like "exo-force" is, but the components are more-or-less the same as the English. 部隊 means a corps, squadron, or other military unit.

I just got an email from Amazon Japan letting me know that the Castle Advent Calendar is being sold here. :)

Can you post a legible picture? I'm looking at the Bricklink scan, but I can't quite make out sticker #34. It's definitely kanji, maybe some kind of yoji-jukugo (four-character expression).

I appreciated this review, because the quality of the photos was excellent.

Agreed. 90% of all Lego is ABS, and they can certainly make a consistent purple with ABS. If they can't get a perfect match for rubbery Bionicle bits and Technic hoses, just avoid those parts. I mean, it's not like we even get those parts in brown or dark blue yet anyway.

The colour balance of the photos is too far off to correctly determine the colour. I think the models might just be red and grey, not verdigris or lime.

It's hard to be certain, but judging from the pictures, the models appear to have a lot of Technic functionality, possibly combined with Lego's new power blocks (hence the Power Miners moniker). That alone would set the new line apart from any previous city or space line.

Colour me disappointed. I love all the odd colours, including purple. In fact, I had a theme I was planning that would require a fair amount of dark purple. Lego, it's not the 80s any longer. We need a comprehensive palette of colours to make our MOCs.

I find it amusing that the numbers on the decal (for the flag) were chosen so that it wouldn't look stupid if you put it on upside-down by accident.

Here's a nice vegetable plot that includes some corn.

I don't hate the piece, but I did object to the way this set fills in the middle recessed area with a 2 x 2 plate that is nearly impossible to get out again without doing some damage to it. What's more, if you fill in the recessed area, you've eliminated the only rationale for using the car base in the first place.

This set only gets an "average" from me because of the big <insert that tiresome argument> landing-skid piece. I love how this year's helicopters have much nicer landing skids made from multiple pieces.

Strangely enough, Agents is not being sold at all in regular Japanese stores. It's possible the Lego Store carries the Agents line-up, but those are all located in outlet malls so I haven't had a chance to check yet. I wouldn't be surprised if Lego decided not to bother marketing Agents in Japan. The notions of super-spies and super-villains is not part of the collective consciousness here like it is in the West. Here they concentrate more on City, Castle, and Creator sets.

Nice review and outstanding photos!

I gave up on LDD after only a few minutes. The selection of pieces and colours is far too limited for it to be useful for serious Lego building. I use a Mac, and Bricksmith seems to be the best Ldraw-compatible Lego modeller. There are lots on the Windows end too but I don't know what's good.

Zenaiid, by spending time in recreation playing and creating with Lego, you are not only rejuvenating your mind and spirit -- something as important for your overall health as food is for your body -- you are taking the time to enjoy the most precious gift ever given you, your life. And at the same time, if you do not contribute to the suffering of those around you, you are more virtuous than 75% of the world. By all means, give to charity and help out those more needy than yourself. But don't feel guilt for enjoying your own success and exercising your creative impulses with Lego. Moreover, you could do much worse than spending your money on Lego. In doing so, you not only support those people in Denmark, Hungary, the Czech Republic and China who design and make this product, but also the overall advancement of healthy, educational toys and pursuits.

Thanks for the replies so far. Hopefully the rest of my pieces will arrive in the next day or so and I take a photo of the model in progress. Regarding Colours: I originally wanted the roof to be dark green (regular green seemed too bright), but that 1x4 wedge plate doesn't come in dark green yet. Perhaps I'll experiment with other colours within this "theme" later on. Since it's fantasy-themed, I want to keep my model fairly colourful instead of using grey and black a lot like real castles do. Cakeman: The vendor who gave me brown tiles instead of reddish-brown tiles hasn't responded to any of my emails, even though he is very prompt at filling and sending orders. I've simply re-ordered the pieces from another store and won't use his services again. Fortunately, the pieces were only a few cents each. The feedback I leave will warn other buyers about him. WhiteFang: I love the Forestmen too, and I just hope I can get my hands on my old minifigs (they're still back in Canada) when I assemble the forest king and his men. hopeso009: Bricksmith is quite easy to use once you get the hang of it, but I like the idea of using substitute colours and designing by hand. Maybe I'll try that for smaller MOCs. For a MOC like this, I just don't have enough loose Lego period.

Wow, that's perfect.