When Chinese farmers manufacture Transformers

A group of Chinese farmers have developed a very particular hobby: give life to the creatures they see in the cartoon series and now feature film Transformers. By recycling old automotive body parts, the farming group produces giant robots that are almost-identical replicas of the original toys produced by Hasbro and Takara Tomy. Having appeared in the eighties, these Transformers were cars capable of transforming themselves into a robot and vice-versa. Following the toys' enormous success, a cartoon and film series were produced and are watched even in China’s most rural confines.  

That’s how, in the rural town of Shandong, some 10 farmers were inspired enough by the series to conceive their own creatures made of rusted metal. Some measure more than 12 meters tall!

“It’s what I do with my free time: I had seen the film and studied the models online, and decided that I wanted to make my own Transformers. We’ve used car lights for their eyes, and on some of them the arms and legs can move too,” confides Wang Shizun, one of the farmers. 

With the help of a farming colleague, Mr Shizun supervised a team of 11 people in rebuilding the giant Optimus Prime; the protagonist leader of the good-guy Autobots in the series. Of course, the farming team did not forget to include models of the Decepticons (bad-guy Transformers). While the robots’ appearance is very close to the toys they attempt to replicate, the Shandong Transformers still lack the power to transform themselves into a functional automobile. “We have plans to make them capable of transforming, but at this stage it remains very difficult,” discloses Mr Shizun. 

Article generated from content at Vroom.be