South China Morning Post
Keira Lu Huang
24 July, 2015
The troops with their creation crafted out of old car parts. Photo: China Military Online
A group of PLA soldiers in China have built their own take on the next generation of high-tech weaponry – a four-metre high model based on the futuristic Transformers action movies.
The model of the robotic being was made from old engines, gears, springs and other discarded car parts, China Military Online reported.
Four soldiers from the frontier corps in eastern Jiangsu province have spray painted it in battle fatigues and armed it with a machine gun and laid belts of bullets across its chest.
Soldiers working on their model. Photo: China Military Online
It took the soldiers three months to build in their spare time, according to the report.
The troops’ work has been praised by the Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily, which said they had taken “recycling to a higher level”.
It is not the first time the military, and more particularly the media, in China have shown a fascination for science-fiction animated characters.
The state broadcaster CCTV ran a report last month on Japan’s plans to expand the role of its military and showed a picture of a giant robot from the Japanese animated TV series Mobile Suit Gundam. Japan’s military plans have been strongly criticised by China.
CCTV mistakenly showed a picture of a plane from the series three years ago, describing it as the PLA’s latest fighter jet.
