Voltron camera transforms into robot in time for Transformers 2

Posted by Katherine Hannaford on Fri 12 Jun 2009

Who needs a 12-megapixel digital camera when you could have a robot camera?

Unearthed just in the nick of time for the launch of Transformers 2, this camera from 1985 is not only a real working camera (albeit with the hard-to-find 110mm film), but it transforms into a robot looking not unlike Optimus Prime.

It's actually based on a character from the '80s Japanese cartoon, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, which has been made into a movie and should be released sometime this year by Paramount Pictures.

The medium-format camera was popular in the '80s (and has since seen a revival in recent years due to the Lomographic Society), and by the sounds of it, this Voltron Star Shooter was one of the coolest of the bunch. The plastic camera was made in Macau for Impulse Ltd. of Missouri, United States, in 1985, and was inspired by the Japanese Voltron robot.

Unfortunately an eBay search doesn't turn up any results, so the chances of finding this camera are fairly low - unless the film finally gets released after years of complications, in which we hope some enterprising company will resurrect these brilliant-looking snappers.

Link: Voltron Star Shooter (via Gearfuse, pic via Flickr)