Chinese farmer who makes giant Transformers from car parts cashes in on success of film

A Shandong farmer has capitalised on the popularity of Transformers by making life-sized models from old car parts based on characters in the film series that he sells for as much as 100,000 yuan (HK$125,630) each.

Liu Xianhui, 45, a part-time welder only a year ago, has now opened a workshop where he and 11 other workers assemble robot models inspired by the hit science fiction action movies, according to iqilu.com.

More than 40 models – some higher than 12 metres tall – are stacked in his Zhangqiu workshop. Each figure resembles a character in the film like Bumblebee or Optimus Prime.

“The one-metre-tall models are each sold for 10,000 yuan. Those ones taller than 12 metres are over 100,000 yuan,” Liu said.

Most of the replicas are sold to amusement parks and property developers keen to adopt a mascot. Others are leased to shopping malls to display outside the main entrance in an effort to attract customers. The buyers “rely on them to attract eyeballs and boost their popularity,” Liu said.