My robot says, “yes.”
I was in a 100 yen store they other day, checking out what sort of stuff they had. (¥100 shops are like “dollar stores” in the US – mostly junk, but some interesting finds every now and then. Well, except that the ¥100 stores have useful stuff too.) Nothing much caught my eye, until I found this little guy:
Okay, a little robot – nothing special, right?
No, not right.
As you might have guessed from looking at him, he transforms:
Into a tombstone!
That’s what it looks like to me, anyways. But that’s not even the best part. You see, my robot has a secret:
Yup. He’s a lighter!
Now, I don’t smoke, so I don’t have much use for a lighter, but how could I pass on the tonbston/robot/lighter transformer combo? Could you have passed it up? Could anybody?!?
I think not.
Now, I know that Japan is the world’s “Capital of Cute” and that people of all ages, genders and orientations like cute stuff, but still – who the hell is the target market for a transformer cigarette lighter?
Kids, that’s who.
Oh sure, they’ve got their “No sale to anybody under 20” signs wherever cigs are sold – but they’ve also got them in vending machines where anybody can get at them. Now, you might think I’m reading too much into this, but I don’t think I am.
We’ll know for sure once Decepticon brand smokes show up in the machines…