transformer

There's certainly no shortage of hype surrounding this summer's Transformers movie, but one of its stars has hinted that it may end up having an unlikely main attraction: an iPod-like character.

Citing an MTV News interview with actor Josh Duhamel, iLounge says an iPod-resembling bot could steal the show. "It's pretty cool. It's like this crazy little 12-inch iPod that turns into this little killing machine," he's quoted as saying.

It's apparently possible that he was talking about a villain that changes from a robot into a tape deck. If it's … Read more

So you think the likes of Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean have saturated the market with merchandising? Wait till the Transformers juggernaut gets into full gear as the movie's July 4 opening nears.

We've already seen an "Optimus Prime" helmet, GM cars and, just yesterday, some Transformer Nikes. Now, Tokyomango says Takara Tomy is assaulting our auditory canals with the "Transformers Music Label Frenzy and Rumble" earphones. With a name like that, can there be any doubt that they're from Japan?

Nike seems to have joined GM on the Transformers bandwagon.

Manolo's Shoe Blog--yes, we even read shoe blogs here at Crave--noticed these Transformers that convert from a sneaker into a toy robot. The fake sneakers, which come as the characters Convoy or Megatron, are half-size replicas of actual Nike sneakers and even come in a shoebox. (Have fun explaining these to airport security.)

The sneakers, available this May for about $30 from Takara Tomy, are no doubt part of the marketing blitz for the July 4 release of the new Transformers action movie. A Japanese ad for Nike … Read more

LG isn't fooling anyone. In developing its first vacuum cleaner, the electronics maker predictably touted all kinds of techie features, such as "a RotaBlade that is in the rocket shaped drum, which is attached to an additional motor moving side-to-side compacting household dust into solid cubes," according to Pocket-lint.

But we know the real strategy: It wanted the "Compressor Vacuum Cleaner" to look like a Transformer. And it's done a splendid job, by the way--at first glance, we were sure it was a new version of "Optimus Prime" or some other mechanical … Read more

We don't care how much our kids love Transformers: There's no way we'll ever let them have one of these. They'd sneak around the house with it and scare us into the coronary ward.

Hasbro's "Optimus Prime Voice Changer Helmet," according to Pocket-lint, "converts the most gentle of voices into the powerful, fearless tones of Optimus himself." The $30 toy, which is scheduled to come out in June, also can be set for "battle phrases" and "conversion sounds" as it transforms from truck to robot and vice-versa. … Read more

For awhile it seemed that everyone and his dog were making iPod docks and speakers, and Crave was tempted to impose a moratorium on them as they were getting out of hand. Then along comes Takara Tomy with one we just can't resist.

The "Convoy iPod Docking Bay," which we spotted on Plastic Bamboo, is even fully licensed by Apple. It's not the cheapest at $145, but because it's a Transformer, you're really getting two toys for the price of one, right? Besides, unlike other robots, at least we know what this one's … Read more

This impressive Halloween costume, courtesy of CollegeHumor, looks way too uncomfortable to wear to any kind of party. But I'm seriously jealous of the amount of time that the creator has on his hands.

P.S.: If the video below doesn't automatically appear, click on the white space.