When TF Idolatry Goes Too Far...

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Seibertron.com has found a news story that puts brandishing G1 Megatron around to shame in the stupid stakes.
A boy in Sichuan has been drinking leaded gasoline for 5 years to mimic Transformers. Needless to say, nowadays the kid ain't too bright, especially since he started at 9, and has a gas addiction to boot.

Truth be told, I'm quite (morbidly) impressed - this kid was downing 2-3 bottles at a time, that's dedication alright. Perhaps more to the point, surely if your kid was regularly drinking leaded gasoline you'd be, I dunno, taking him to a doctor or a shrink or something? Y'know, stopping your kid from drinking poison? As in before 5 years? Especially if it was your only child, and your country had a one-child policy?
So, to all you parents out there, be sure to explain the difference between 1: fantasy and reality, and 2: people and robots. If that doesn't work, point out Transformers drink Energon not gasoline (one of the comments on Seibertron suggest making frozen 'energon cubes' out of pink lemonade - it's worth a shot and might also stop them trying to fuel up by sticking their fingers into electricity sockets), and if that doesn't work then take consolation that at least you won't have to save to send your kids to college.

[1AZRAEL1]

Funny I just read the same article.

And if I were the parents, after finding out he went from lighter fluid to gasoline? I would have taken im straight to the docs and said it then, not after 5 years.

[kup]

I read this too.

I wonder if he tried to Transform after drinking the gasoline?

As far as I can remember, G1 Transformers cannot drink 'raw' fuel anyway - It needs to be converted into Energon first.

At least he should have taken notice of the Insecticons who eat organic crops to make Energon.

[GoktimusPrime]

Fossil fuels are usually converted to Energon before consumption anyway. What a noob.

I wonder if he tried to Transform after drinking the gasoline?

Buahahahahahahahaha!

[Lint]

Transformers is just being made a scapegoat for a plain old gasoline addiction.

Besides, Primes a truck, he'd drink diesel

[Kyle]

As much as I feel sorry for the kid and his family, I can't help but think that he was probably of below average intelligence before he even started drinking...

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

According to the father he was "a very smart boy" who could even repair the TV, but I have my doubts...

Does anyone knew which TF series he probably would have been watching 5 years ago? I looked it up on the TF wiki and 2004 was apparently Energon (which I haven't seen) but the TF wiki is really USA-centric and I don't know if it would have been the same for Chinese TV (assuming it was TV and not video or DVD, or reruns). I seem to recall energon was an element in and of itself in Energon and so wasn't made from other fuel sources, which casts a bit of doubt on the TF influence.
Just looked it up, in Energon the element was even portrayed as actively dangerous to Transformers apart from Omnicons and Terrorcons, with only the Terrorcons actually ingesting it!
"I want to be an evil drone and get blown up by the good guys all the time!"*glug* *glug* *glug*
I'm thinking the kid (who to be fair was diagnosed as having a mental disorder, though that's sort of a chicken-and-egg question at this point) just developed a petrol-sniffing habit and this Transformers-made-him-do-it bit is a face-saving (i.e. cop-out for bad parenting) exercise.

[kup]

I think he was watching the G1 cartoon.

[Zahhak]

Being under 18 I hope it's just unleaded

[Saintly]

it's a really sad story