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“Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m Gingerbreadtron!” Brian Hall, a mechatronics student at McMaster University in Ontario, made this gingerbread house that transforms into a fighting robot. How should it be armed?
Sure, we have buds, and we love them. But no matter what they do for us, we cannot help but pine for the relationship that should have been: a trio of you, your best friend, and Optimus Prime. Especially after Wheeljack left for college and dropped out of contact. In this sweet song, James Struthers contemplates that perfect match.
-via Nerd Bastards | Singer’s Website
Hasbro has created these awesome stop motion shorts to advertise their new line of Kre-O Transformers Sets, their version of LEGOs that come in sweet box sets featuring your favorite Autobots and Decepticons. I guess Megatron was on Santa’s naughty list this year!
–via ComicsAlliance
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Paul Celantano can make a stringed instrument in any shape, even a cupcake. This ukulele with the Autobot logo transformers into…well, nothing. Still, I hope that he posts a video of himself playing the Transformers theme on it!
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Optimus Prime is the Chosen One, and into him shall be stitched the Matrix of Leadership. Lord Libidan made this Optimus Prime model using plastic canvas. Thanks to his clever use of magnets, it actually transforms.
Link -via Feeling Stitchy
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Competitive shooting champion Rico Gonzalez Papa owns this magnificent modified handgun. He calls it the “Modified Megatron.” I doubt that it transforms into something more awesome than its current form, for such a thing is not possible.
Link -via Sharp as a Marble | Photo: Rico Gonzalez Papa
Special thanks to Paul Erhardt for helping me find information about this photo.
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Alan Yang’s scrap metal Ravage reflects the modern movies. The original Ravage from The Transformers was an audio cassette tape, which isn’t quite old enough to be hip and retro. Now a Ravage that turned into a 8-track cassettee — that, I would like to see!
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You expect junk food to have movie tie-ins, but this one goes the extra mile for silliness. Hostess has two new color schemes in their snack cake line for Transformers 3: the pictured Snoballimus, colored like Optimus Prime, and Chocwave, which resembles Shockwave (if the character was a cupcake). Link -via @johncfarrier
Organizations like the CIA and Department of Defense have been assisting with blockbusters like Transformers for years. However, there have been complaints from insiders over potential security privacy leaks, raised during talks over an untitled film about the killing of bin Laden. Whether they have reason to be concerned or not, spokespeople insist there is a pragmatic reason for the comradery between Hollywood and national security: image control.
If you want to make a war film and need a fleet of F-22s, a crowd of Marines, or a Navy aircraft carrier, just call up the Department of Defense’s entertainment media office and they’ll tell you if the Army can spare that M1A1 Abrams tank you’ve always wanted for a day or two of filming.
“The scripts we get are only the writer’s idea of how the Department of Defense operates,” Vince Ogilvie, deputy director of the Defense Department’s entertainment liaison office, told Danger Room. “We make sure the Department and facilities and people are portrayed in the most accurate and positive light possible.”
Dialogue from the XtraNormal video featured on Wired explains things a bit differently:
Secret Agent Woman: “I’m glad you’re going to make a movie about how awesome the Central Intelligence Agency is. Everybody that works here is very smart and we never mess up and most people are extremely good-looking too.”
Michael Bay: “I agree because I want you to help me. Kaboom!”
Link | Image: XtraNormal Video
What could make this even more awesome? If the guy had shaved the Decepticons’ logo into his back hair.
Link -via Geekologie | Photo: unknown
Transformers Comic-Con 2011 special Ultimate Optimus Prime
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A few days ago, we had a fun Transformers Treasure Hunt in collaboration with our friends over at The Daily What Geek. That was a blast! (Here's the answer page, btw).
Congratulations to terrrtle who won the Canned Unicorn Meat, weelau who got the Wolf Hat, sharbott who won the Sharp Act Knife Sharpener. The Grand Prize, a Comic-Con 2011 special Ultimate Optimus Prime goes to Izzalily7.
Thank you everyone who played and a special thanks to Hasbro for the Grand Prize! Remember to read Neatorama every day to find out about the next game!
W00t! Look at what arrived at NeatoHQ: a super cool Comic-Con 2011 Special Ultimate Optimus Prime figure from our pals at Hasbro. And here's the best part: it's yours to win!
I'm excited to announce a quickie Transformers Treasure Hunt in collaboration with our friends over at The Daily What (a very cool blog, as I'm sure you all already know). Like our usual Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt, this contest involves finding answers to clues that we've left on both of our websites.
It's easy to play - for those who haven't played before, here's how: we'll give you a set of clues, for example:
1. What is the name of Neatorama's baby blog?
2. What is 2+1?
3. What is the name of the top grill listed in our Top 10 Coolest BBQ Grills article?
The answers: neatobambino, 3, and lynx make a web link on Neatorama: http://www.neatorama.com/neatobambino-3-lynx (go ahead, copy and paste to your browser). Easy, right?
Let's get on with the game, then! Here is the Transformers Treasure Hunt with TDW Geek:
1. word1: Check out The Daily What blog and navigate your way to the GEEK sub-blog (TDW Geek) and find the post about Balrog. It's a few pages in, so be sure to check out posts from the previous days using the "next" navigation button at the bottom of the blog.
What is the last word in the name of the documentary film?
2. word2: Somewhere in the NeatoShop's Gift for Geek category, there's an item with a Treasure Hunt clue (see above). What is the word in the clue? (Yes, you have to hunt around for it. After all, it is a treasure hunt! Go to the individual product pages and check out the images - don't forget to click on the thumbnails to embiggen).
Visit TDW Geek and the NeatoShop to find the two answers. Then string them together into a URL: http://www.neatorama.com/word1-word2 (all lower case, separated with a dash).
Good luck!
Update 8/5/11: Contest over! The clue on the NeatoShop has been removed. We'll announce the winners shortly! Thank you for playing, guys! Update 8/5/11: Congratulations to terrrtle who got the Canned Unicorn Meat, weelau who got the Wolf Hat, sharbott who got the Sharp Act Knife Sharpener, and Izzalily7 who got the grand prize of the Ultimate Optimus Prime!Comments Off 
This is some great viral marketing for the new Transformers movie, but it’s still really cool. The team from “Cake Boss” created a replica of the Bumblebee – Camaro Transformer out of cake. After all that work I can’t imagine anyone actually eating it; plus it might fight back. See full clip at the link.
Anchalee Saengtai, a female artist from Thailand, is using recycled automobile and truck parts to create very big and impressive Transformers sculptures.
Ripley’s has already unveiled a Bumblebee statue at Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in San Antonio, Texas, while Saengtai’s Optimus Prime holds court at Ripley’s Odditorium in San Francisco. Throughout the summer, her Transformer sculptures will be added to Ripley’s Odditoriums in New York City, London, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Jeju Island, South Korea, with two jumbo Autobots slated to arrive at the Hollywood Odditorium later this year.
For a while I’ve thought that one of the most useful of all possible Transformers would be one that turns into a double stroller (once you have two or more kids, you’ll understand), but Ron Tajima has topped that concept. His prototype is built into a beer can. Now, that does seem to eliminate the possibility of carrying beer inside, but keep in mind: this is just a prototype. Presumably he’s trying to solve that problem.
Once he resolves that issue, he might want to take some inspiration from the Transformers that could combine into a single giant entity, like the Constructicons, and make a series of alcohol-delivering Transformers that can…well, I don’t know, serve as a portable bar. I’m not sure what purpose it would serve, but it would automatically be awesome.
Link via Geekologie
Rachel Blackman made this Optimus Prime model out of scrap metal for the Fremont Solstice Festival. Kind of dieselpunk, don’t you think?
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Yang Junlin of Huizhou, China, loves Transformers so much that he opened his own "Legend of Iron" factory to produce his own robots out of old car parts:
A year later, Yang Junlin opened his own factory, Legend of Iron, and hired over 10 workers to help him realize his dream of building cool robot sculptures. They use all kinds of scrap metal, from old car parts to simple sheets of steel andcreate some of the most amazing looking Transformers replicas I’ve ever seen. Although he admits his work is quite time-consuming, Yang has built over 1,000 iron sculptures since he opened Legend of Iron, five years ago, and isn’t planning on stopping anytime soon.
Oddity Central has the pics: Link
According to a Chinese-language website run through Google Translate, a man in Huizhou, China, built a 5-ton steel model of Megatron in tank mode as he was depicted in the movie Transformers 2. Sadly, it does not appear to be functional…yet.
Link via blastr | Photo: ZCool
Previously: Man Changed Middle Name to Childhood Hero: Megatron
Cars are a huge part of geek culture, and nowhere is this more evident than the Transformers franchise, a comic/toy/movie line that has spent the last few decades dazzling us with stories of cars that turn into frickin’ robots and then pound the motor oil out of one another. You’ve got your good guys, the Autobots, and then there are the bad guys, the Decpticons.
The folks at carinsurance.org – you might be familiar with their work on the Evolution of the Batmobile infographic – are once again doing their part to ensure that cars get as much attention from the fans as sexy starlets, this time by means of a complete rundown of the cars that comprised the first-generation of Autobots – the ones from the original Transformers animated series.
It’s been noted by some diehard Transformers fans – myself included – that there are one or two inaccuracies here. The Batmobile infograph, it should be noted, wasn’t perfect either – but it was super-cool and the most accurate information on the subject to date, and the same is true of this.
Twitter user @Gamemoredude from Zürich, Switzerland posted this photo of an 8 meter (about 26 feet) tall ice sculpture of the Autobot leader Optimus Prime.
Update: The name of the artist is Atti.
The next Transformers movie is currently being filmed in Washington, D.C. A police SUV found its way onto the closed set and was hit by the car representing Bumblebee:
The police SUV was not supposed to be there and the wreck itself was not scripted.
The police officer driving the SUV is a 25-year veteran senior explosive ordinance technician. He was taken to a local hospital and sustained minor injuries.
Law enforcement sources tell FOX 5 that he was driving to a call for a suspicious package incident nearby and was using a different radio channel than the police officers who were securing the perimeter for the movie.
Link via Geekologie | Previously: Transforming Transformer Costume
The Encline Designs team has created this cool steampunk model of Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader in the Transformers universe, which transforms from robot to steam train.
The model features functional lights and wheels that roll, and a detachable trailer that Optimus uses as a secondary weapon, similar to the trailer in his well-known firetruck mode.
The Chinese have proven their love for Optimus Prime again… this time, a group of graduating students constructed a 9 meter tall, 4 ton hybrid Optimus Prime and Guan Gong (legendary Chinese hero) out of used car parts.
You can see a previous Chinese ode to Optimus here and a more detailed vision here.
Link via Nerd Approved
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Timothy Miller does wonderful stained glass windows in designs you’d never expect, including super hero logos and Transformers. Here you see his version of Bumblebee. See more in his gallery at Deviant Art. Link -via The Zeray Gazette
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On February 27th, someone created a Facebook group that’s called “MY SISTER SAID IF I GET ONE MILLION FANS SHE WILL NAME HER BABY MEGATRON.” Already there almost 750,000 fans, and the due date isn’t until August. And over at the discussion boards, one thread asks what the middle name will be.
Easy: Destroyer of Worlds.
Link (Image: ©Hasbro) -via College Humor
Andrew Dobrow of GearFuse worries that we could see more monstrosities like this if Disney buys Hasbro as well as Marvel Comics. The “Donald Duck Holiday Vehicle” is on sale (but backordered) from the Japanese company Takara Tomy for about $40. Most worrisome of all — it bears neither the Autobot nor Decepticon icon.
Link via GearFuse | Images: Hobby Search
Wicked Evolution, Jr. is a 750-lb miniature van that can stand upright, partially transform into a vaguely beast-like creature, roar, and breathe fire. It was made by a fellow named Skylar, and is among his many custom-built vehicles:
The entire creation was scratch built in the basement of my house without any special fabrication tools. I just used a cutter, grinder, mig welder and a homemade metal bender. Some parts can be easily found like riding mover rims, garage door springs and big casters you can get in a hardware store. You may need to look harder to find the rest like like special order quad tires, heavy duty electric motors, radio control unit, stainless steel sheet metal, linear actuators and special solenoids (from ebay) and light duty hydraulics. Some steel came from a scrap pile in a junkyard to save money.[...]
It uses 3 sets of linear actuators and hydraulics to transform. First, extensions move from the bottom to push it up while an extension on the back with 2 heavy duty casters catch it as it comes backwards. It uses those back casters to steady it standing. When it first starts to stand, it breaks in half at the back of the doors and folds 90 degrees as the front of the van pulls backwards with hydraulics. The windshield lowers out of view and the front suspension bends in the center also with hydraulics. As it comes to a standing mechanical monster, the middle lifting mechanism tucks upwards, the doors open like wings. The convertible roof opens like a tail. Then the headlights come on and the front grill becomes a face that shoots sparks and flames (from a full size propane tank)
Link via Gizmodo (where there’s a video)
It’s cool enough to have a realistic Bumblebee costume, but what makes this one Neato is that it actually transforms from robot to car mode. I don’t have any more information about this clip. CrunchGear thinks that it’s being used as a promotional gimmick in a car dealership, which seems like a reasonable guess.
Link via CrunchGear
Or perhaps this toy is inspired by Voltron, rather than the Transformers. Either way, when the island’s railways are threatened, Thomas and his friends unite to form a devastating weapon. I don’t know who makes this toy, but it’s on sale at eBay in Singaporean currency.
What do you get when you mix together Transformers, airbrush car art and Mad Magazine Fold-in?
Jeremy Kramer and Eric Vaughn of Truck Bearing Kibble, one of my favorite webcomics, have the answer! I won’t spoil the fun for you, so you’ve got to check it out yourself: Link
