The Flag of Singapore (If it was made of RuneScape Gems)

I'm very sure Singapore's RuneScape fans have more creative ways to celebrate National Day than making a flag of Singapore using any red and white RuneScape items...

Gemstone art by itself is already expensive enough in both the real world and the MMORPGs. But making a flag with rubies and diamonds would have cost a fortune...

On a related note, Happy National Day, folks!

Engine Upgrade

Remember those times when the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) had A-4 Skyhawks? These aircraft were, unfortunately, prone to hull losses due to multiple causes, both in combat and outside of combat. In the RSAF's case, all A-4 Skyhawk hull losses were non-combat-related cases. But the hull losses were so bad that a retrofitting campaign was needed. So ST Engineering got to work by procuring a replacement for the Curtiss-Wright J65 engines. They found a very good replacement in the form of the General Electric GE-F404-100D, which was basically a non-afterburner version of the engines found on the F/A-18 Hornet. The RSAF never recorded a single A-4 Skyhawk hull loss after the 1988 retrofitting campaign as a result, and the A-4 Skyhawk was eventually retired from RSAF service in 2012.

Hotel New World Memorial Proposal

Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the Infamous Hotel New World collapse that caused the deaths of 33 people. However, at the time of this comic being uploaded, no physical monument to the tragedy has been erected. This includes the lack of a memorial plaque inside Hotel New World's replacement Owen House by Habyt (previously Hmlet), which used to be called Fortuna Hotel before it adopted its current name. A memorial plaque inside Owen House would not only serve as a memorial to the tragedy, it would also serve as a memorial to resilience as well.

Thinking of other things other than other ladies 5

Hey folks, I'm back with yet another comic about my OCs in a lawyer-friendly version of the "Thinking about other women" meme.

While not as common as the Apple II's presence in Singapore, the Commodore C64 had moderate success in Singapore's home computer market in the 1980s. This means there is a possibility of Singapore having a community dedicated to the history of the Commodore C64 and its game library, with Jaleco's Rod Land being one of those games. The question is, if Singapore had the C64 port of Rod Land, how rare would that game be in that region?

Speaking of Singapore's home computer market in the 1980s, Japanese home computers were also marketed in Singapore. It's also possible that Singapore had the Sony MSX, the Fujitsu FM-7, and the NEC PC-8000, but they were less common than the Commodore C64.

MapleStory had multiple time-limited crossovers with other franchises, with the Japanese version having the Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Crossover Event. Now that it's over, the next crossover event could have SAMG and Nexon come to an agreement to have the Teeniepings from Catch! Teenieping come to MapleStory in another time-limited event, and this event will be in the South Korean version and the Japanese version. After all, the Teenieping series hails from South Korea just like MapleStory.

Many regions where Nintendo consoles are marketed in can only have either the Famicom or the NES. Singapore, however, was one of the few regions where the video game stores had both the Famicom and the NES.

It's unknown if Rod Land's Rit or Princess Crown's Gradriel could survive the realm of Golden Axe. Maybe Golden Axe's brutal setting would be far too much for Rit, but Gradriel would probably end up destroying Death Adder in record time.

A Tale of Two South-East Asian Democracies

Author's Note: All copyrights for the images in this comic go to their respective owners.

Yesterday marked the 80th Anniversary of Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands. However, the run-up to this special milestone was filled with protests against President Prabowo Subianto's austerity measures and the decline of democracy in Indonesia. One method used by the protesters was flying the Straw Hat Pirates flag from the anime series One Piece, which tells the story of Monkey D Luffy and his friends doing battle against rival pirates and corrupt authorities. This protest method was started by truckers who feel that the austerity measures are doing more harm to the working class. It proved to be so popular that some of the Indonesian authorities consider this method of protest an act of treason that threatens to divide the country.

Contrast this with Singapore's Housing Development Board (HDB) getting a Sega license to have Sonic celebrate SG60 with Sonic's Golden Ring Rush in 18 different malls in the run-up to the special National Day commemorating the 60th anniversary of Singapore becoming a sovereign nation-state. This is a huge win for Sega as far as their presence in Singapore is concerned.

At the end of the day, if you want to celebrate a milestone Independence Anniversary, making the people happy is far more important than you think.

SG60

Can you believe it's been 60 years since Singapore was ejected out of Malaysia? What began as one man's day of anguish became a day synonymous with true independence. Since then, we have been celebrating that very day.

Happy 60th National Day!

A Ghost Town Named Neo Tiew

If there was any part of Singapore that carries the title of "ghost town", it has to be Neo Tiew Estate. The entire area was en-bloc in 2002, with the residents moved to Jurong West. Since then, the estate is currently used by the Singapore Armed Forces for FIBUA (Fighting in Built-Up Areas) training.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Today is the day Singapore goes to the polls. As Singaporeans cast their votes, the big question is, who will prevail?

The Face of Under One Roof

Sad news, folks. Moses Lim, the man who was the face of Under One Roof, passed away at the age of 75 yesterday. His health was not in good shape since 2018, but it was in 2023 when he revealed that he had a slow pulse rate that he decided not to return to the spotlight.

Farewell, Moses Lim. You were the face of Under One Roof and Singaporean sitcom in general.

The Final Farewell Message Before RTS Became SBC

Remember the final End of Transmission announcement on 31 January 1980 before Radio Television Singapore became Singapore Broadcasting Corporation? If there was a final farewell message at the end of that End of Transmission, it would have said "Thanks For Watching! Goodbye For Now!" If such a farewell message did exist, TV viewers would have made their final goodbyes to Radio Television Singapore before it became Singapore Broadcasting Corporation on 1 February 1980.

Rejecting The Present, Embracing The Past

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro was not a terrible bus. It was, however, not as appealing as the Mercedes-Benz O405. Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club knows that the future needs to be like the past, but better. That's why some branches of Christianity would prefer that we discard our Present-Tense Culture if we are to preserve the heritage that created our national identity.

Salute To The Nation

In this National Day-themed comic, four stick figure NS Men salute to the flag of Singapore with "1965" in Arcade font on the flag's white stripe.

Happy National Day to all readers from Singapore, including myself.

The Overdue Handover

Today is the last day of Lee Hsien Loong's reign as Singapore's Prime Minister before the historic handover because tomorrow marks the day he hands the reins over to Lawrence Wong. Lee Hsien Loong was already mulling over handing the Prime Minister role to Lawrence Wong before the pandemic, but the pandemic delayed his handover plans. In other words, this is a handover that was long overdue.

Volvo B10M The Ol' Reliable

Can you imagine that SBS Transit has been part of Singapore's roads for 50 years? Well, the Volvo B10M was a part of SBS Transit's bus fleet for over 30 years, meaning they have been the "Ol' Reliable" for more than half of the 50 years SBS Transit has been moving commuters on Singapore's roads. If that's not incredible, then which part of Singapore's public transport history is?

The Flag of Singapore that never was

While Colonial Singapore did have a flag, it is unknown if there was a flag design contest in the years leading up to self-rule in 1959. If there was a flag design contest, the proposed flag of Singapore featured in this comic would have been one of the many competing designs that eventually lost out to the current flag.

Keeping Up With Commodore

As an Australian Commodore C64 commercial slogan goes, "Are you keeping up with the Commodore? 'Cause the Commodore is keeping up with you!" The title for this comic is loosely based on that catchy slogan from the Australian Commodore C64 commercials.

There was a time when during the days of arcades being prohibited in Singapore, computer shops would let people play on computers for a rental fee. One of these computers people played on was the Commodore C64. It was simply put it, the saviour of the video game scene in Singapore during the 1980s. The Commodore C64 also became popular in Poland in the years that followed after the fall of communism (In 2016, an article was written about a Polish auto repair shop in Gdansk being the owners of a Commodore C64 that was still running for 25 years). Commodore's C64 also laid the foundations for the Amiga, another Commodore product that, like the C64, has a special place in our hearts long after Commodore went out of business. It gets better when you find out that Sega had ports of After Burner and Golden Axe on both the C64 and Amiga, even when the Sega Genesis was already available on the market at that time. How's that for an incredible legacy?

Tofu-dreg Hotel

There have been many terrible things that happened on the Ides of March, and one of them happened in 1986. That's right. We're talking about the Hotel New World Collapse in Singapore. But what we hardly know about this building collapse was that Hotel New World was one of those tofu-dregs building projects, and it was showing troubling signs several years before that fateful Ides of March in 1986...

The inquiry on the Hotel New World Collapse found that the concrete used in Hotel New World's construction did meet international building safety standards, the quality of the building foundations also met international building safety standards, and the soil the building was built on was stable. However, the one factor that made Hotel New World a tofu-dregs building project was that the draftsman did not factor in dead weight.

For a structure with building plans that did not factor in dead weight to last 15 years is an incredible feat, and that's because Hotel New World was built on stable soil with building foundations and concrete that met international building safety standards. Unfortunately, 33 people died, including Hotel New World's owner because the building plans did not factor in dead weight. As a result, tofu-dregs building projects are no longer allowed by Singapore's construction authorities, resulting in no building collapses after Hotel New World's collapse.

Stronger Together

Author's Note: The title of this comic is based on 2022's National Day theme song and is also found on the Singapore flag featured in this comic. And yes, that is the top of the SAFTI Military Institute Tower featured in this comic.

Need to know more? Below is the 2022 National Day theme song, Stronger Together:

All in all, in these dark times, we will be Stronger Together. Happy National Day.

Annual Online Sale 3

Once again, Shopee and Lazada are having an annual 6/6 Sale, which as you know, coincides with the D-Day anniversary. Unfortunately, the ongoing conflicts in other parts of the world have made important anniversaries of famous or infamous events from past conflicts mean nothing at all because the biggest cataclysms are on the horizon...

Console and Computer Equality

Let's face it. All of these consoles and computers featured in this comic would have moderate success in Singapore if not for the video game prohibition of 1983 that saw arcades banned for several years. Part of the prohibition included Singapore Broadcasting Corporation banning any telecast of video game commercials whatsoever. Even educational games such as Oregon Trail and Basic Math/Fun With Numbers were also affected by the prohibition.

While video game consoles and home computers were not banned by the prohibition, the period of that prohibition greatly affected the Commodore C64 and the Colecovision, and these two gaming machines were more popular than some of these consoles and computers featured in this comic. Sometimes, we just cannot have nice things, all because we had to protect our morals.