Giant 15ft Transformers invade China
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There's definitely more to these Transformers than meets the eye.
Industrious (and perhaps slightly bored?) farmers in rural China have built their own versions of the iconic Transformer robots out of car parts.
"It's a personal hobby," Wang Shizun, one of the farmers who built the robots, . "I watched the movies and learnt the models online, so I wanted to make my own."
And did he ever. The tallest of these impressive robots — some styled as the brightly-coloured Autobots like Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee, others in grey like the evil Decepticons — is a whopping 12 metres high.
Unfortunately, they're just statues for the time being, and don't actually fly or transform into vehicles, like the "real" Transformers.
"We're thinking about making them transform," Wang said, "but it's hard to make them transform into cars at this stage."
Wang and his partner oversaw the group of 11 farmers who participated in the construction of the giant robots. They'll apparently sell for about $1,600-$16,000 each.
Transformers started out as popular toys in the 1980s made by Hasbro, and were promoted to children through a cartoon television series. They've found a new audience with the live-action film series that has taken off over the last few years.
In fact, just days after the farmers put their homemade Transformers on display, "official Transformers showed up elsewhere in China to promote the upcoming film Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Maybe they're just trying to get the whole gang together?
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They're hardly in disguise! Giant 15ft Transformers invade China to drum up interest for latest film in multi-billion dollar franchise
Giant robots have invaded China.
But never fear, it's not the start of some alien takeover or hi-tech world war, it's just a Hollywood publicity stunt.
The man behind the multi-billion dollar Transformers movie franchise, Bay, 49, has sent his fleet of Autobots on a tour of the country to drum up interest in the fourth installment of the series.
Big, brash and full of explosions, the Transformers movies - which have taken more than $2.6billion at the global box office - embody American cinema's gonzo inclinations.
It is a hugely popular franchise in China. When the last film was released 2011, it raked in $177.3 million and holds the record as the second highest grossing foreign film ever screened - after James Cameron's Avatar.
Three of the key robots from the films - Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime - are travelling around
China and have been pictured today in Shenyang, in the northeast of the country.
Standing at more than 15ft tall, the models cut imposing figures as they tower over local buildings.
China plays a key role in the new film, with part of the film's funding coming from Chinese financiers and several sequences being filmed in the region.
Transformers: Age of Extinction will be released in the UK on July 10.