chinese real-life Transformer

The folks at AsianOffbeat must have a really good network for scouring Chinese websites for the bizarre and wonderful!  “3 Nanjing Youths Build 4.5 Meter Transformer” appeared on QQ.com news on Oct. 9, and AsianOffbeat posted it the same day.  Even with a time difference, that’s pretty fast.

The three fans, who grew up watching the Transformers cartoons and comics, started with parts from a Citroen C2, and sculpted, built, welded, and screwed together by hand someone they call “X2” who is based on the Bumblebee and Jazz characters from the popular movie. It’s got a Chinese flavor, according to the makers, which can be seen in its more square head, based on ancient Chinese headgear designs. During the 3 months that they were building X2, the makers say: “Every time we saw X2 we felt like he was full of life, you could talk to him, and you felt that at any moment he’d start moving.” The three spent 50-60,000 RMB (~ US $8,000) to build him.  X2 weighs more than 600 kg and uses original Citreon C2 lights and tires; the rest is hand-sculpted synthetic resin, glass, and metal.

They’re planning on making more.