Cinematical

Michael Bay's Transformers hits DVD today (check out our review), and Paramount is celebrating by turning one of the film's stars loose in Los Angeles. No, unfortunately it's not Megan Fox. Standing at the West Hollywood Gateway shopping center (at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Brea), surrounded by shops like Target and Jamba Juice, stands Bumblebee. It's an actual prop from the film, it stands 18 feet tall, and it weighs 8,200 pounds. The robot had to be assembled and set up by a forklift and a ten-ton crane. Bumblebee will be standing guard there through this Sunday, October 21st.

I went over this morning to snap some pictures. As I rounded the corner, I was expecting a madhouse -- people pointing to the skies and screaming, running in terror, etc. Or at least, y'know, looking in its general direction! But then I remembered I was in West Hollywood. You need more than an 18 foot-tall robot to stand out in West Hollywood. I could have strolled through the shopping center buck naked and juggling infants, and still wouldn't have been given a second look. Transvestites, Transsexuals, Transformers, it's just another day in Hollywood. Still, I thought the display was pretty sweet, and snapped some photographs for those of you who can't make it to L.A. Check 'em out, won't you?

Side note -- while picking up the new Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers DVD at the Best Buy there, I bumped into none other than actor Peter Weller! Was he just picking up some headphones...or was he there to pitch a Robocop Vs. Transformers flick to Bumblebee? I report, you decide.

Gallery: Transformers Invade West Hollywood!