Following my blog post from yesterday, there are the photos I took of the outdoor displays at the Singapore Airshow 2010.

If I misnamed any of the displays, I do apologise for that and please correct me.  I’d appreciate that.  I took so many photos that after a while, I can’t tell most of the displays apart from one another.

I did my best to take photos together with the labels of the exhibits.  For those that I didn’t, I used a guide booklet that I got from the venue to identify the displays.  But sometimes the photos in the guide booklet are taken from different angles, that I still needed some guess work.

F-35 display by Lockheed Martin - a long queue of visitors were waiting at all times to have a chance to sit and pose for photos in the cockpit.

The massive crowd moving slowly along a bottleneck to enter the outdoor static aircraft display area.

RSAF CH-47 Chinook display.  You could go nearer to view its interior.  But to get near to all these RSAF aircraft, you needed to queue up to enter the cordoned section of the entire RSAF outdoor booth. 

RSAF AH-64 Apache display.  One of these Apaches performed a combined aerial display with a F-16 that day!  The Apaches also perform during our annual Singapore National Day in August.

Visitors posing with the military men at the RSAF AH-64 Apache display.

Visitors had the chance to sit and pose with RSAF men for photos inside the cockpit of the RSAF AH-64 Apache display.

Another long queue of visitors formed nearby to sit and pose for photos inside the cockpit of the RSAF F-16D display.  Generally people are more interested in the military aircraft.  I wonder if they can “feel” the “killer energy” emanating from these war machines?  Well I guess that’s part of “thrill factor”.

Airbus A330-200F display - the first time this plane is on public display.

I can’t identify this passenger jet display.  The main reason why I took its photo because of the next photo that follows… 

…visitors seeking shelter in the shade of the aircraft wings from the scorching sun!  It was indeed terribly hot that day.  A perfect weather with clear skies for aerial displays but sweltering for walking about on tarmac ground with no trees nearby!

I can’t identify this aircraft either.  The main reason for taking its photo is once again due to…

…the aircraft crew seeking shelter from our Singapore sunny weather!  It also shows how huge this plane is.

They call this mini helicopter “Little Bird”.  The name sounds rather cute until you see the artillery attached to the sides.  Then you wonder if it should be named “Lethal Bird” instead!

Anoher plane I can’t identify.  I took a photo because of the little red ribbon-like streams attached to parts of the jet.  They remind me of mini red couplets decorations for Chinese New Year!

Here’s another passenger jet on display.  Can you see the visitors sitting under the cockpit?

This sheltered area comes with a red carpet too!  It sure beats sitting on the hot tarmac ground!

The helicopter displays by Eurocopter.  They look like the ones used for the Grand Canyon helicopters tours  that I saw at Las Vegas in the US last year!

A closer view of a Eurocopter helicopter on display.

C-47J display - A very huge military plane.  You noticed how far I had to take this photo from so that most of the plane fits into my camera frame?

C-130J Hercules display - an even larger military plane.  I was informed that our NS men ride in one of these all the way to Taiwan for training.  They all had to sit knee to knee inside the cramped space for the entire trip!

One of the many games stalls at the outdoor family carnival area.  The kids were having fun racing one another and winning prizes for the efforts!  They didn’t seem to be bothered too much by the heat of the blazing afternoon sun overhead!

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I brought back some souvenirs (including sunburn) from my visit to the Singapore Airshow 2010.  Most of them were reading materials which I will send for recycling soon after I’m done reading them.  Without those brochures and booklets, most of the description of this blog post and the one yesterday wouldn’t be possible. 

The shuttle bus rides arranged by the organisers were comfortable and prompt.  No waiting time was required as I arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 3 at around 9am and left the Airshow venue at around 3pm during the second repeat aerial performance (I’d already seen the first same performance in the morning). 

Food and drinks stalls were readily available when you need them.  Queues to sit in the military vehicles and other interative displays were rather long but orderly.  There were ample clean washrooms in the air conditioned exhibition hall.  Overall the organisers did a great job to leave me a good impression for my first visit. 

Only the blazing sun and scorching heat of the day proved too much for some people like me.  You don’t see much of it in the photos, but the sunshine was super glaring and burning hot.  I received some souvenir sunburns on parts of my skin where I didn’t cover thoroughly with my sunblock.

This year, the aircraft performances were done by a single aircraft at a time, except for the Apache & F-16 combined aerial display.  I hope to see more spectacular group aerial displays for the Airshows in 2012 and beyond. 

I hope you’d enjoyed my coverage of the Airshow.  The Airshow will be back again in Singapore in 2012. 

Meanwhile the next military aircraft and naval display I can think of will be during our Singapore National Day in August, and on selected Saturdays leading to it.  If you love such performances, you can head down to the Marina Bay area to view them.  Just keep a look out in the local newspapers nearer to National Day for the exact dates and timings!

The Singapore Airshow 2010 is opened to the public this weekend and I was there to soak in the sights and sounds on display there.  Here are the photos of some indoor exhibits that I took. 

If I misnamed any of the displays, I do apologise for that and please correct me.  I’d appreciate that.  I took so many photos that after a while, I can’t tell most of the displays apart from one another.

I did my best to take photos together with the labels of the exhibits.  For those that I didn’t, I used a guide booklet that I got from the venue to identify the displays.  But sometimes the photos in the guide booklet are taken from different angles, that I still needed some guess work.

Warthog display - Visitors could queue up to sit inside and have a feel of driving this heavily armored vehicle.

Trailblazer - Land Assault Minefield Breaching Equipment (LAMBE) display.

Unmanned Ground Surveillance Vehicle (UGSV).

Singapore Airlines among the model planes display.

Changi Airport booth - Butterfly Garden display.  Can you see that butterfly perched on the sign?

The colors of nature complementing one another!

Butterflies feeding on pineapple juice!

Ammunitions display - These mean things were on average longer than the length of my hand!

More ammunitions display.  Seeing these “giant bullets” makes one feel kind of sad that such things have to be made.  If only humans could live in harmony in this world, then the weapons industry ideally wouldn’t need to exist.  But the real world’s not like that…

Pilot attire mannequin display.

Venus Unmanned Surface Vehicle.

Interactive machine guns displays.

 I can’t remember the name of this vehicle.  The crew were there to pose with visitors for phototaking sessions with the vehicle.

Come back again tomorrow to view photos of the outdoor displays at the Singapore Airshow 2010!

I chanced upon this article on Seibertron.com some time ago and found it interesting.  It covers money matters, where to buy toys, discusses the emotions behind buying and collecting toys, more ultimate levels like toy fairs, methods of collecting, and coming to an understanding with your family members about your toy hobby. 

These are all topics I had covered  before in some way or another on my blog.  Now you get to read them from the perspective of collecting Transformers toys!  

Do you like to read more of such articles about toy collecting?  You see, most toy collectors go online to search for information of where to buy the latest toys they want, or to view photos of other people’s toy collections. 

If you want to read more articles about how to collect toys, or how other collectors manage their massive toy collections, do let me know.  I’ll post their links here to share with you whenever I come across them! 

Happy toy collecting!

ROTF Human Alliance (HA) Mudflap & Chromia with Agent Simmons toys video review

Nope, this trio of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) toys have not been spotted at mass retail in Singapore yet.  However, their video review is available on YouTube.  Enjoy!

They say that photos speak a thousand words.  Well, here are my sightings of the latest Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) toys this week! 

They were all spotted at various departmental stores along Orchard Road.  I didn’t get the ones I want yet, as I’m holding out for a sale.  If you can’t wait, happy ROTF toys shopping!

ROTF Scouts Slap Dash & Trenchmouth 2-pack @ SGD 29.90 (at T*********a & M***0).

ROTF Scouts Beachcomber & Deadlift 2-pack @ SGD 29.90 (at T*********a & M***o)).

ROTF NEST Deluxe Battlefield Bumblebee & Infiltrator Soundwave 2-pack @ SGD 49.90 (at T*********a & O*).

ROTF Legends Devastator box set - SGD 69.90 (at T*********a & M***o). 

ROTF Deluxe figures wave 9 - SGD 27.90 (at M***o).

ROTF Legends 2-packs - SGD 19.90 (at M***o).

Top row - Smokescreen & Nebula Starscream

Middle row - NEST Bumblebee & Shadow Striker

Bottom row - Off Road Mudflap & Skids

ROTF Deluxe Ice Cream Truck Twins & Voyager Demolisher Shanghai Showdown box set - SGD 69.90 (at O*).

Today’s the start of the Singapore Air Show 2010 (2 Feb to 7 Feb).  The first 4 days are for the exhibitors and trade visitors only.  The show will be opened to the public on 6 & 7 Feb (Sat & Sun).  The flying displays on those days will begin from 11.30am and 3pm.

I’ll be visiting the Air Show on Saturday and I hope to snap some nice photos of the aircraft and other military vehicles etc. on display there.  I’ve never attended such military related events, so this shall be my first time!  I’m sure it’s going to be an eye opening experience for me!

If you are an aviation enthusiast and are keen to visit the Air Show, you can still purchase the tickets online.  Shuttle bus services to and fro the venue are available from Changi Airport.  Do note that parking space is limited, and there will be a surcharge of SGD 8.00 if you take a cab from the venue. 

For security reasons, prepare to get screened before you enter the premises, so don’t bring too much bulky stuff along.  Some essentials to have with you for such outdoor events would be the usual - sun shades, sunblock lotion, caps, comfortable clothing and shoes, digicam or videocam, lots of drinking water, and some money to buy souvenirs, just to name a few.

Enjoy your visit to the Singapore Air Show 2010!  For readers who are not going to this event, you can commence or continue with your spring cleaning chores in preparation for Chinese New Year (14 & 15 Feb)! 

We’re already in the 2nd month of 2010.  Time flies by very quickly doesn’t it?  Chinese New Year (CNY) is just 2 weeks away.  Have you began your spring cleaning yet?  I started doing mine bit by bit early last month.  There are still a load of old stuff waiting for me to clear out, so that they can make room for my latest possessions that do not have a proper space to ‘live’ in my home yet!

Some of the old stuff have served me for a very long time and I had stopped using them in recent years.  Hence, it’s time to “let them go”, so as to “bring in the new”.  Emotionally, I sometimes find it a bit hard to dispose of my old stuff, but logically I know that it’s the best way for me to move on.  Like they say: “Time waits for no one”.  So we better make the best of time and live our lives to the fullest while we can right? 

Here’s happy spring cleaning to readers who are preparing to celebrate CNY!

Avatar Interactive Battle Pack Set

This is a follow up on my earlier blog post on “Avatar Toys Augmented Reality Demo“.  I’ve seen the above Avatar item on sale online and wondered how does it really work?  Then I got my answers when I found the following YouTube videos:

Avatar toys i-Tag Battle Pack: Battle Stumbeest vs AMP Suit.

At the moment, the level of technology only allows limited and continous repetition of a fixed set of movements on these 3-D images.  I’m sure in the near future, so much more could be potentially achieved in this field! 

When you see these videos and if you didn’t know how such augmented reality stuff actually works, you could have easily thought that those 3-D images had physically materialized above the i-Tags!  In actual fact, they only materialized virtually on your computer screen when you activate those i-Tags with your webcam.

Avatar toys i-Tag Battle Pack: Neytiri’s Banshee vs RDA Samson Gunship.

If only these 3-D images could materialize in our real world when we activate those Avatar i-Tags.  It would be even cooler if we could also control the actions of these 3-D images to fight an opponent Avatar i-Tag!  This would be more advanced than how those Digimon games of the 90’s (where you could make 2 Digimon characters fight together on the same screen when their game consoles are physically connected!).

Avatar toys i-Tag Battle Pack: Navi’s vs RDA Soldiers. 

Oh my, those Navi’s are so tall when they are to scale with the humans!  But in a real fight against soldiers with such modern weapons, the Navi’s are no match unless they take the soldiers by surprise in an ambush.  Fortunately these are virtual images and no ones gets hurt, phew!

——– 

In a way, the Avatar battles between the humans and the Navi’s remind me of the early days conflicts between the cowboys and the native Americans (aka Red Indians).  I observed (when I watched American TV shows made in the 60’s and 70’s) that little American boys in those decades liked to role play the cowboys vs native Americans gun and arrow fights. 

Back then, the latter were viewed negatively as “savages”, much like how the bad humans in the Avatar movie viewed the Navi’s.  Of course those past decades were the times when people were less sensitive about ethnic tolerance issues in the US.  Now people are more aware and accepting than before.  Hopefully the Avatar movie manages to reinforce the important of human harmony in our real world.

Last but not least, I leave you with this video on the 3-D i-Tag image of the Pandora landscape.  Watch what happens to the image when the i-Tag is removed from below it (yeah I was surprised by the result too)! Enjoy!   

James Cameron’s Avatar movie has become a worldwide success and it had been the most talked about movie to watch for the past 2 months.  Its toys however, are extremely hard to find in retail stores.  They are not sold in our departmental stores, and I doubt that they will be available at mass retail in Singapore, considering that the movie has finished screening in almost all the cinemas here. 

The Avatar movie toys are made by Mattel and it seems that detailed information and online photos or video reviews of these toys are very hard to come by on the internet.  I’ve been so used to the much easier research of Hasbro’s Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) toys that I find researching on just a list of Avatar toys rather frustrating. 

Even YouTube has very limited good quality video reviews on the Avatar toys.  It could mean that either the Avatar toys are not popular in the US (where most of the fans and toy collectors are), or that its toy distribution is very limited, even within the US itself.  Such a pity really, as I do find the toys quite nice looking.  I’ve previously blogged about some Avatar toys video reviews.

Here is a video that shows a nice view of all the Pandora Creature toys available in the Avatar movie toyline so far, while its African-like background music is from the Avatar soundtrack (”Jake’s First Flight” by James Horner).

The Avatar Pandora Creatures featured in the above video are Jake’s Leonopteryx, Tsu-Tey (Neytiri’s fiance), Tsu-Tey’s Banshee (Glow in the Dark), Jake’s Banshee, Thanator, Jake & 2 Viper Wolves (is this what you’ll get when you mix the DNAs of the Cobra Vipers with G.I.Joe Snake Eye’s wolf!?), Eytukan (Neytiri’s dad) & Direhorse.

If you are in Singapore and you wish to add these Avatar toys to your collection, they can be found at some collectors’ toy shops, one of which is Simply Toys.  For overseas Avatar fans, you can get them online from Entertainment Earth, which ships outside the US as well.

Happy Avatar toys admiring and shopping!

Well Hasbro has indeed listened (a bit) to the My Little Pony fans.  We had wanted the return of the G1 Seaponies.  As such for 2010, we are getting the following Merponies (!??):

G3 My Little Pony - Merpony Cheerilee figurine

I’m speechless!  I wonder how do these Merponies swim with front hooves belonging to land ponies?  I still prefer the G1 Seaponies that resemble actual seahorses, and are hence more aesthetic in appearance.  So far the online reactions from My Little Pony fans around the world have been mixed.

G3 My Little Pony - Merpony Cheerilee figurine MOC

For the younger pony fans who didn’t grow up seeing the G1 Seaponies toys from the 80’s, I guess the G3 Merponies might please them enough.  Nevertheless, I do find the little marine animal friends that come packaged with the G3 Merponies rather cute!

G3 My Little Pony - Merpony  Pinkie Pie figurine

G3 My Little Pony - Merpony Pinkie Pie figurine MOC

G3 My Little Pony - Merpony Rainbow Dash figurine MOC

G3 My Little Pony - Merpony Rainbow Dash figurine MOC

G3 My Little Pony - Merponies Scootaloo & Cheerilee 2-pack figurines MOC

Cheerilee is noted to be a repeat Merpony character here.  Upon closer inspection, I realise that the 7th of the “core 7″ G3 My Little Pony characters - Starsong the pegasus, is missing from the Merponies line up.  Perhaps it’s because she has feathered wings, which might be “confusing” to swim with when she’s underwater?  I guess so.

G3 My Little Pony - Merponies Sweetie Belle & Toola Roola 2-pack figurines MOC

The above photos are taken from Hasbro’s website.  Their background story is: “Whenever the ponies visit the sea, they magically become beautiful mermaids!  Join them as they have waves of fun discovering a brand new world!”

I think these Merponies can go hang out with Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid!  They would all make such good friends with one another, provided Ariel’s crab aide Sebastian approves of them, LOL!

I have a feeling that the Merponies might be available at mass retail here sometime this year.  I’ll keep a lookout for them and will blog about them again when they arrive on our shores! 

Meanwhile, to readers who are preparing to celebrate Chinese New Year (14 & 15 Feb 2010), happy spring cleaning!