Sunday, November 2, 2014

Transformers 30th Anniversary Exhibition


The Transformers 30th Anniversary Exhibition is now on till 1 March 2015 at the Annexe, Science Centre Singapore. Learn the history of the Transformers, step into scenes from the movies and most important of all, for me anyway, see the toys!


The exhibition is divided into eight zones. I like the first zone. There's a ton of stuff here There are consoles where you can learn more about the main characters from the movies. You can read about some of the various Transformers series and toy lines from the colourful displays.  A timeline shows the evolution of the Transformers. The All-Spark cube is also here and there are some toys on display which whet my appetite for the main collection.  



As you make your way through the exhibition, you'll encounter various Transformers. Hear them speak or hear a sound effect at the push of a button.


One of the activities you can do is the Laser Maze challenge. It is located in the Pyramid from Revenge of the Fallen. What you have to do is to hit the flashing buttons on the wall while avoiding the laser lines in the room. There are several levels of difficulty which you can try out. It's not as easy as you think. I struggled on medium level, breaking six lines and ending with a time of over 200 seconds... There are no prizes for being first though. I feel they should give a weekly prize or something.


A highlight of the exhibition is the Optimus Prime 3D Mapping featuring cool graphics and effects. The full sequence takes around 3 minutes. Here's a short clip of it.



There are movie screenings which you can catch in a theatre. There are two shows daily, one at 11am and the other at 2.30pm. The first Transformers movie is currently being shown. I spoke with an attendant and he said that the movie will change every month. Age of Extinction (AOE) will not be shown though.


Here's a dose of AR. (Augmented Reality) Watch as various Transformers jump out on screen. Pretty cool.


The main highlight would have to be the 7m statues of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Awesome to see! 


The venue being the Science Centre, you can learn some things. Trivia such as the following are pasted around the exhibition.


You know what a cube is, but how about the following shapes? 


While not exactly Transformium, you can watch iron filings being manipulated to the tune of several pieces of music.


There's an activity zone for the kids. They can do colouring, make clay models, make scrap metal art and cardboard art. These activities are at extra cost though.


I'm getting to the good stuff now. From concept to final product, we get to see the drawings for a couple of Transformers. They are Generations Skybyte, Jetfire and the AOE Starfe. I like that they had the grey and colour models on display. 


With the cream and green colours, I initially thought the figure was Tigatron.


The Transformers Collectors Showcase! Majority of the toys were contributed by three collectors. A big thanks to Chee Seong, David and Tyron for sharing. I don't own many Transformers and I love viewing collections. G1, Binaltech, Masterpiece and Generations to name a few are represented. I am a little disappointed that there are only a couple of Beast Wars and Animated. And I felt Transformers Prime could have been better than what was shown.



Here's a sample of what you can see.



























Some of the items which caught my eye include the Transformers Commemorative Boxset. They were limited to 100 sets. 2 of these were presented to the Hong Kong Ani-Con in 2008. The box was made of a leather-like material and each contained 5 movie toys with official certificates. I wasn't aware of this and it was my first time seeing it in person.


Another thing of note is the Action Toys Ultimetal Optimus Prime. The figure is die-cast and some of the parts are removable to reveal the skeletal structure. It also features lights and sounds.


I like that that are some artwork and books displayed as well. Transformers is more than just the movies and toys.

Page from Transformers ReGeneration One by Andrew Wildman

Transformers: The Covenant of Primus

There are some custom painted works on display. The following was done by SengZhong.


Singapore is the final stop for the exhibition in Asia. I think kids will like it. If you're thinking of going, I suggest doing so before the school holidays start. I imagine things will get very busy then.

The gallery will not be uploaded at this time. But if you have a pic request you can message me through Facebook and I'll see if I have it.

That's it for my visit to the exhibition. For more information, go to Science Centre and also TF30.sg.

Thanks for viewing!



4 comments:

haha said...

Are there any convention exclusive figures for sale there? Cheers!

Jason said...

No. The toys when I was there are the same as what you can find in stores.

Unknown said...

How much is the entrance fee

Jason said...

Hi, the entrance fee is SG$30 for an adult. SG$22 for a child. You can find more info through the following link:

http://www.science.edu.sg/exhibitions/Pages/transformers.aspx