(Advisory: We will be taking the New Year's break from today. Regular publishing shall resume on the 2nd of January of the new year). I have to be honest here, my feeling for 2011 has been relatively mixed, with some causes for joy and even more causes for sadness. It has been a year that has been full of tragedies, strife, and tribulations. For the case of airsoft, it has been a good year, especially for us at Popular Airsoft. How I wished it were a good year for everyone.

As we welcome the new year, we wish everyone a better year that would put 2011 quickly behind us. The natural calamities that struck a good part of the world and the Arab Spring that have taken big tolls in human lives. The economic crises besetting the developed world which might engulf the whole world into another round of recession, worse, economic depression, are just ominous for 2012. I have met people, ordinary ones and airsofters alike, who have lost jobs, saw their incomes greatly reduced, and sometimes on the brink of despair. Whilst they have toiled hard to make a decent living for themselves and their families, some things are really just beyond their control. Many have poured into the streets to show their disgust at their deteriorating quality of their daily lives, and if things get even worse next year, they may just protest with pitchforks.

We hope and even more, we pray, that the new year would bring us good news and an even better condition, economic-wise, health-wise, and political-wise. That our leaders may do the right things to the betterment of people and not just a few.

There's nothing for us to do but hope, and even better if we do something to keep that hope alive.

As for the case of airsoft, things are looking up, even if other sectors are going down. We have seen more affirmation of airsoft as a valuable tool for training, and the efforts of the airsoft businesses and communities in California to shoot down Senate Bill 798, has made airsoft even stronger. It was rather a close call, since we see the US, in particular the State of California, as a very vital airsoft market. If SB798 was approved, it could've affected a great deal of livelihood that will have repercussions to airsoft business even outside of the California.

Real world tactical brand names are going into airsoft, as we see Magpul, KRISS Systems, and CAA pushing to come out with airsoft versions of their tactical gear and firearms. Airsoft events have been growing bigger with the main big events reporting an even bigger number of participants in their annual events. We saw airsoft as being a low-cost and indispensable tool in creating big budget and indie films, and more improvements and innovations in airsoft being pushed to the market by various companies, whether these are established or start-ups.

Even with these positive developments and gains in airsoft, we can never tell if these will get eroded next year if all the problems of the world combined to make things worse as airsoft players get affected more. We'll have to work harder than ever before. Non-action would just lead to more problems.

We would like to thank our readers. Without them, we would lose the inspiration and motivation to write about the latest airsoft news, and post stories that would be of interest to them. It is to them that we dedicate our efforts at Popular Airsoft. It is a hobby that we love and would like to see grow to new heights.

We would like to thank our partners and advertisers. Without them we would be able to improve our tools for reporting. We started Popular Airsoft with nothing, just on a wing and a prayer. With some primitive reporting tools to start writing, we have improved over the years, which by the second half of 2012, we shall be hitting our 5th Year of regular airsoft publishing. We still want to do more than just reporting, we want to help create an even better airsoft experience for our readers and partners. But we still need eveb more support for us to realise these.

I and the rest of the Popular Airsoft team, we raise our glasses with you as we greet the new year:

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MAY BETTER THINGS HAPPEN IN 2012!