With the Avatar movie fad finally at an end, its movie toys are on sale at a local collector’s toy shop.  If you are keen to collect some of those Avatar movie action figures and their vehicle toys, now’s a good time to do so, while stocks last!

Quoted directly from Simply Toys‘ blog post: 

“The following Avatar movie toys are going at up to 35% off retail prices at Simply Toys:

Offer valid while stocks last!”

Happy Avatar movie toys shopping and collecting!

Here’s a couple of Avatar movie toys video reviews that I came across some time ago. 

Well, talk about the ultimate level of doing toys video reviews, such that the reviewer even dresses up to suit the theme of the toyline!  Happy viewing!

Avatar Interactive Battle Pack with 3.75-inch Jake Sully action figure review

Avatar AMP Suit toy review

You can also check out my previous blog posts on Avatar movie toys:

Avatar toys review

Avatar toys Augmented Reality demo

Avatar action figures - Pandora creatures

Avatar Interactive Battle Pack Set

What I really mean is that the Avatar movie toys have appeared at one of the major mass retail stores here in Singapore!  Previously, only certain local collectors’ toys shops were selling them since the Avatar movie was screened in the cinemas here about 3 months ago. 

The above Avatar movie toys were spotted at “the biggest toy store there is”, the one where “I don’t want to grow up”.  The outlet is in Orchard Road, inside the building that faces a pair of massive Chinese Stone Lions sitting opposite.  Its other less accessible outlet along Orchard Road doesn’t have them, as of today. 

No other departmental stores along Orchard Road, Chinatown or Bugis area have any Avatar movie toys, as of today.

The 6 inch Avatar Movie Masters action figures cost SGD 29.95 each while the Avatar Interactive Battle Pack Set with 3.75 inch Avatar Jake Sully are at SGD 34.95 each.

The medium sized Avatar vehicles like RDA Grinder and AMP Suit (version 2) cost SGD 49.95 each. 

The large Avatar Creatures like the Leonopteryx figure and the large Scorpion Gunship vehicle toy are at SGD 59.95 each.

No other Avatar movie toys were seen there.  They must have either been sold out or they did not come yet.

Judging from the looks of the half empty shelves above, the sales of the toys look rather good.  Or perhaps only limited stocks came. 

Nonetheless, if you are keen to add these Avatar movie toys to your collections, you might want to start checking the departmental stores nearest your homes soon!  Happy Avatar toys collecting!

You can also check out my previous blog posts on Avatar movie toys:

Avatar toys review

Avatar toys Augmented Reality demo

Avatar action figures - Pandora creatures

Avatar Interactive Battle Pack Set

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!

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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!

Following my earlier blog post about the Avatar movie trailer and its toyline preview, here are the video reviews of the main Avatar toys to look out for, when you finally get to see them here at mass retail.

Avatar 3.75″ Action Figures Video Review.

This video shows Jack Sully (w/wheelchair), Avatar Jack Sully & Neytiri.

My thoughts: The packaging and virtual cards gimmick look interesting, and then it stops there.  The little action figures do not seem to have anything great to shout about, other than they look quite like the movie characters that they represent.  The humans and supposedly taller Na’Vi figures are not in scale too! 

Overall, this action figures toyline is mainly for the fan boys and fan gals to collect, and also for the kids to play with.

Avatar Vehicles & Ride-Ons Toy Video Review - Part 1

This video shows the DireHorse & the Scorpion Gunship.

My thoughts: Like reviewer, I’m also surprised that the DireHorse looks rather small for a toy that comes packaged in such a big box.  That was very wicked of Mattel to pull a stunt like that!  The range of articulation for the DireHorse could have been more and better too.

The Scorpion Gunship is very impressive in the movie and it’s my favourite vehicle in Avatar.  Here the actual toy is green in color, while it was more grey in color on screen.  The false missiles at the sides are also a letdown.  Nevertheless, this vehicle still looks quite cool on its own, and will indeed display very well with in scale G.I.Joe figures!

Avatar Vehicles & Ride-Ons Toy Video Review - Part 2

This video shows the Leonopteryx & the AMP Suit.

My thoughts: The Leonopteryx toy could have been better designed with more points of articulation.  It’s an awesome gigantic flying dragon-like creature on screen, but its toy is more of a statue than an action figure.  However it still makes a great display piece, especially for toy collectors who don’t plan to play with it much!

The AMP Suit looks to have the most articulation, which makes it more fun to pose and play with.  The size is good too.  My guess is that this piece will be 1 of the most popular Avatar vehicle toys.  If only all these Avatar vehicles come with an exclusive pilot action figure like the Movie G.I.Joe vehicle toys do. 

——–

Currently, I still don’t see Avatar toys selling at mass retail in the local departmental stores.  It has largely to do with Mattel Singapore.  They probably don’t have much experience in making sure that they release movie related toylines on time with the respective movie screenings in the cinemas.  The same goes for Disney’s “The Princess & the Frog” toyline, also by Mattel.  The movie toylines by Hasbro tend to hit the stores at least about a month before the movies are screened.

Luckily for Mattel, the Avatar movie is proving to be a big hit in cinemas worldwide and in Singapore.  Hence when the Avatar toys do eventually come, they should be quite popular with the usual circle of regular toy consumers here.  Right now, you can buy Avatar toys from collector’s toy shops like Simply Toys, while limited stocks last.  Happy Avatar toy waiting and hunting!