This past Sunday was the very last day of the week long South Florida International Auto Show. I read about it in the local paper the day before it started and I wanted to go when they said the Corvette Stingray from Transformers Revenge of the Fallen would be there but I kept putting it off. Then my 15 year old nephew R.J. came over and I finally found motivation because he is everything I used to be-young, energetic and excited about today's toy robot Camaros and their transforming Corvette cohorts. I have updated Flickr Macrocrania with a new set of pictures called "SFIAS 2009" that we took while at the show.
So we walk in and right off the bat there's a robot. I guess Ford did not want to be outdone by the Transformer cars in the Chevrolet displays so they had an animatronic robot that would talk to people. Apparently instead of cars they are trying to build Terminators to go back in time to get your mom to buy a Ford. It was pretty impressive except that the robot couldn't walk and his voice sounded exactly like Stevan from Microsexuals.
As we got closer to the Chevrolet section there was a display of all the Indianapolis 500 Camaro pace cars! I stopped paying attention to Camaros in 1993 so all I remembered were the '67, '69, '82 and '93 pacers. They also had a 2009 pace car and a Pepsi 500 pace car. It was pretty cool to see them all in one place. I'd only ever seen one or two at car shows and dealerships before so to see them all in one place was incredibly cool.
Had I known that a 2010 Transformers edition Camaro would be there I would have gone during the week. Although R.J. is too young to drive I told him this is his car. This really is the Bumblebee of his generation. Trying to get a picture with this car proved nearly impossible with all the people swarming around it but R.J. had crazy Moses-like powers and whenever he stood in front of a car the sea of people would part around him. We couldn't get any good shots of me with Bumblebee because whenever I tried standing near it I'd get overrun like a paralyzed guy being attacked by zombies.
Sideswipe was a totally different story. What's funny is that while the Transformers edition Camaro was just an approximation of the car used in the film, this concept Stingray was one of the 'vettes used in Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. People didn't seem to know or care, though. Everyone around the Camaro was explaining to each other how it was the one from the Transformers movie (I guess having "Transformers" written on the hood helped) but talk around the Corvette was about how great it looked without Transformery mentions. Ditto for the 2010 Jaguar XKR that looked a lot like Alternators Ravage. There were probably more real life Transformers alt modes there (didn't they do a movie Cliffjumper?) but I wasn't knowledgeable enough on the new stuff to know which ones they were. It is as if they were robots in disguise.
IT'S THE DRACULAMOBILE!
10 comments:
You saw Sideswipe?! And.... and... HIM?! :bawling: It's official: I hate you. ;)
If I had been there, you would have gotten great shots of Bumblebee. Never get between a crazed fangirl and her sweetie-bot.
...and if you see either one of 'em again, steal 'em for me.
I kid, I kid. More or less.
Well it wasn't really Bumblebee, just a production Camaro with the Transformers emblem package you can order at the dealership. The first movie Bumblebee doesn't have all those Autobot emblems and the TF2 movie Bumblebee is radically different looking. This is just Chevrolet trying to squeeze some money from Transformers fans with what amounts to a $1,000 sticker and emblem set.
If that were really one of the movie cars I'm sure nobody would be allowed to touch it.
Look, I openly flirt with Camaros now. Any make or model. I'm. Not. Kidding. (Prime can confirm this.) "Real" Bumblebee or not, I'd be going nuts. We can't even drive by our local Chevy dealership without me squealing over all of the "cute little Camaros".
Dear Primus, I'm pathetic.
I don't know you anymore! Anakin, you're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I can't follow!
Sad, isn't it? I think I may have been VW's last lone holdout and they managed to turn me against them. (Not that I don't think V-Dubs aren't adorable, I'd just never buy one from VW themselves...)
It was a commercial in '07 that killed it for me: VW threw their support behind the latest Bourne movie. The ad in question featured the Toureg and was insanely violent. (It involved a high speed car chase.) It was that ad that made me say "That's it. I'm done."
So yeah, 'Bee can stay with GM. It's obvious that they seem to appreciate his presence. VW sure as hell doesn't. Which is really sad, because if they knew anything about his character they'd be happy to have him. Oh well. =/
Someone in my town actually has one of those new Bumblebee Camaros.
To me I think one would be simultaneously awesome and unforgivably douchey for owning one of those cars. You'd be awesome because, let's face it, you pretty much fucking OWN Bumblebee. Put an Autobot symbol on it and you have the most awesome car one could actually own (next to a Delorean with the outatime license plate that is). On the other hand though you're making a statement that you must really love the Bay Transformers movies by owning one and that's like saying "I'm an idiot sexist frat boy who likes Jon Turturro dick jokes and Jar Jar Autobots." If I were going to own a Bumblebee car I'd rather own the classic yellow bug. Put an Autobot symbol on that and you have an awesome car associated with a better version of the character IMO.
Let he who is without douche throw the first bag, dude. If you've bought any movie toys you're directly supporting the movie and Bay. At least a car is fulfilling a transportation need but unless you have kids there's really no reason to be buying the movie toys other than you love what Bay has done with the franchise.
And it would only be like owning Bumblebee to those that aren't paying attention. Like I wrote before, it's an option package lacking the movie car's ground effects that puts emblems and decos where movie Bumblebee didn't have them.
If I were going to own a Bumblebee car I'd bypass the emblems and try to get something that looks like the RotF Camaro. THEN I'd put Transformers stickers and emblems and fancy embroidery all over it. And I'd get a seat cover for the passenger side with Michael Bay's image on it and on the driver's seat there'd be a Shia LeBouf seat cover. Maybe I'd even glue a Bumblebee voice changer helmet to the roof just to get the point across. I'd be so far beyond douchebag I'd be a doucheBARGE.
^ I would totally do that.... except I'd keep Megan Fox in the trunk. For personal usage, of course. (Oooo-kay, that didn't sound right.)
Personally, I'd love to own every itertion of Bumblebee. Hell, I'd love to lay hands on a Chrysler ME Four Twelve concept car; paint him up yellow and I've got 2007 Legends 'Bee. I do not kid. I am that crazy.
Now where the heck can I find a Suzuki Swift? Or are they even sold here in the states?
I met a guy and saw his Bumblee camero in real life. It's really not that impressive to me, because it's just an expensive car that has some badges on it.
Touché on the movie toys.
Regardless, I'd rather get the classic yellow "love bug" if I were going for a Bumblebee car. This guy at my apartment complex owns one and it's in really great shape. Every time I walk passed it I just want to put a big Autobot emblem on it.
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