The Transformers are toys that really exercise the imagination. Pick up an Autobot or Decepticon, and like magic your mind unfolds with various world-saving scenarios, and your mouth, with machine-mimicking noises. But for one Russian stuntman and father, simply playing with a toy Transformer wasn’t enough. He had to build one, and for some reason — an Earth invasion we’re unaware of? — he had to arm it with live machine guns.
The father and stuntman (can we call him Father-Man?), Gennadi Kocherga, was inspired to build the real-life Transformer after he witnessed an RC car transform into a robot at a market in Singapore (the transforming toy was either a genuine Transformer or a knock-off). Kocherga, who’s interviewed in the video, says that he had been working on plans for taking the toy and turning the concept into a real-life Transformer since the end of last year.
The result is a Lada, a Russian-made vehicle (possibly this one, although it’s unclear), morphed into a one-off hatchback that can go from car to imposing, machine gun-firing robo-overlord in about 20 seconds. Above, it’s roaming the Russian city of Oryol before an understandably apprehensive audience.
The Lada 112, which is possibly the vehicle used to build the Transformer.
Although Kocherga has dubbed his creation “Optimus Gennadievich Prime,” it’s probably a bit too jiggly and tentative to be considered for membership on a team of world-defending heroes from Cybertron… Although it does have those machine guns, which may or may not fire live ammunition.
What do you think about this real-life Autobot? Would you take this over that BMW 3 series Transformer? Thoughts, roll out! in the comments below.
