The company – licensed by toy juggernaut and the makers of Transformers, Hasbro – is perhaps the first in the world to build models of the two characters of such scale (they are usually about 20 to 30cm).

The statues – Ultra Magnus stands at 70cm and Soundwave at 81cm – are also able to change poses.

They were unveiled two weeks ago and displayed at the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention that took place last weekend.

Pre-orders (a $400 deposit is required) can be placed for Soundwave, which is priced at $1,470, before 800 limited pieces of the figurine are released into the market in December.

Details on Ultra Magnus have yet to be announced. Mr Danny Lim, who founded Imaginarium Art in 2013, says the company has received 400 orders so far.

While each figure comes with additional body parts for fans to fiddle around with poses, it cannot be transformed into vehicles or weapons.

Imaginarium Art has also previously produced various replicas of Marvel Comics’ Iron Man, including a newer design of the character’s trademark red and gold helmet.

The Transformers statues will travel to Thailand and Taiwan later this year before heading to two large-scale toy and comic conventions in the United States – MegaCon (short for Mega Convention) and New York Comic Con – and the fan-run Transformers convention TFCon in Canada next year.

Based on the franchise’s very first line that ran from 1984 to 1991, the two pieces are boxier in design compared to the slicker look of the newer-generation Transformers as seen in the film series.

A Transformers fan, Mr Lim, 41, wanted to relive the nostalgia of the franchise’s early days.

He went with Ultra Magnus, the second-in-command of the Autobot army (the Autobots are the protagonists) as there are already “too much of Autobot leader Optimus Prime in the market”.

Naturally, he had to pick a character from the antagonists, the Decepticons, for the other replica, and he chose a personal favourite Soundwave, a communicator who can transform into a microcassette recorder.

“It’s always exciting to see Soundwave deploy his little cassette minions from his chest,” says Mr Lim.

He teamed up with Argentinian sculptor Pablo Viggiano to provide the art direction for the statues. Viggiano, 44, was adamant that they look as authentic as possible.

“Fans don’t want someone else’s version of the characters. They want a statue that has the same lovely feeling from when they were kids,” he says.

The statues are made out of resin, acrylic and polyurethane, and have minute details specific to each character.

Take Ultra Magnus, which comes with two grey cannon barrels made of diecast metal.

As for Soundwave, three of his cassette troops – Ravage, Laserbeak and Frenzy – stand at the foot of the statue in ready-to-attack poses.

Long-time Transformers fans are thrilled that Imaginarium Art has created classic replicas.

Mr Sathish Pillai, 39, who runs a car wash business, says it is the most accurate replication of the vintage series he has seen. He has submitted a pre-order for Soundwave.

“It’s about time someone produces statues from the Generation One era. Nowadays, many of the figurines on the market are of the newer, more modern designs similar to what you see in the films,” he adds.

Project manager Chew Liong Hong, 40, has pre-ordered a Soundwave figurine, despite being slightly disappointed that it cannot transform.

“I used to rush home from school years ago just to catch each episode of the Transformers Generation One cartoons. The statues bring back those childhood memories,” he says.

gurveenk@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on September 23, 2016.
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A woman who sued for $4.82 million over injuries from a fall but got $56,000 instead stands to see her proceeds shrink as the apex court has ordered her to pay $35,000 in costs.

This is because the damages won by Briton Pamela Mykytowych in court fell short of the hotel’s offer to settle before the case went to court.

Under the rules, if a suing party declines a sum offered in settlement and persists in the court case but fails to get a higher sum, then she or he will have to bear the costs of the party sued. The amount that the hotel offered was not disclosed.

Mrs Mykytowych, 52, had sued VIP Hotel, near Newton MRT station, for damages after she slipped on a puddle of water in the reception area and fractured her left kneecap and hurt her ankle in May 2011.

While she recovered fully from the injuries, she said she continued to suffer intense pain after developing a condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Her claim list included loss of earnings and future medical treatment.

The former car rally driver was awarded $9,000 by the High Court last year. She appealed to the apex court, or Court of Appeal, through her lawyer Salim Ibrahim. The court increased her award to $56,605 in July this year but ordered her to pay costs last month.

The appeal court comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin had found that her disability as a result of CRPS was not as serious as she claimed, yet not as insignificant as what the High Court judge had found. The court awarded her $30,000 for pain and suffering from CRPS while the High Court gave her nothing.

The appeal court rejected the £622,080 (S$1.1 million) she sought for a full-time domestic helper, but accepted she could do with occasional help. It awarded $20,000 for the services of a domestic helper for about eight hours a month for the next 10 years at an hourly rate of £10 she suggested.

Overall, the court awarded her $113,211. Based on her 50 per cent liability for the mishap, the final sum due to her was $56,605.

On top of the $35,000, the appeal court last month ordered Mrs Mykytowych to pay costs to the hotel from the date of the offer to settle on July 16, 2013 to that of the High Court decision on May 19 last year.

She was in turn awarded legal costs for the case from the date she filed the suit in 2011 to the date the offer to settle was made in 2013.

But the costs that the hotel was ordered to pay her would be based on costs in the State Courts, not the High Court, because the sum she won in the High Court was below $250,000. These sums are to be computed.

This article was first published on September 23, 2016.
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The rodent was filmed roaming near a counter at a teppanyaki food stall at Food Junction in the Bishan mall on Saturday.

The video, posted on the website Mothership.sg, showed three diners eating at the teppanyaki counter while the rat crawled on the floor, unseen by them. The video was shared on Facebook.

The NEA said in a statement on Wednesday: “We will take the necessary enforcement actions against any parties found responsible for rat infestation, or creating conditions favourable for harbourage or proliferation of rats.”

The food court has stepped up pest-control measures, Junction 8 marketing communications manager Edith Lim said, adding that the mall is working with the food court to prevent further incidents.

Attempts by The Straits Times to reach Food Junction were unsuccessful.

Yesterday, two workers at the teppanyaki stall said they had not heard from the management on the issue. They declined to be named.

Workers at other stalls and cleaners said they had not seen rats at the food court before. Workers at three stalls told The Straits Times business was continuing as usual.

A diner at the teppanyaki stall, Ms Ashley Tay, 39, had not seen the video, but said she was fine eating at the stall as it seemed clean.
But retiree Low Soh Lin, 65, said she would give a place a miss if it had a rat problem.

“Rat infestation is an NEA offence. A rat is worse than a cockroach,” she said.

jkoh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on September 23, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.