Talk about Transformers going downhill. Leader of the mighty Autobots has gone from battling Decepticons and saving the world, to drying some guy’s laundry, in Taiwan.

Wanting to do something nice for his son, a huge fan of Transformers’ Optimus Prime, that would also be useful around the house, a Taiwanese man built a 14-foot-tall replica of the famous Autobot and used it as support for his laundry drier.

The DIY replica of Optimus Prime cost $1,600 worth of scrap metal to make. It’s nice the dad put so much effort into building something this awesome for his son, but using it to dry laundry? It doesn’t get more degrading for a Transformer.

Photos via Mobile01

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Yup, leave it to the Japanese to invent something completely useless, yet totally cool. This time it’s a grabbing device for potato chips.

Potato chips may be delicious, but you can’t really enjoy them without getting grease all over your fingers and then the keyboard. Well the Japanese have finally come up with a solution to this pressing problem. Potechi ( a Japanese neologism derived from the English “potato chip”) is an ingenious device manufactured by Takara Tomi, that grabs potato chips, so you don’t have to.

Featuring groundbreaking technologies like NBCS (No Broken Clutch System), NTTS (No Touch Table System) and FECS (Finger Easy Cleaning System) allows you to gently pick up potato chips without breaking them. Simply press the button and let Potechi do the rest of the job for you.

The ingenious Potechi chip grabbing tool is available in japan, for just $7. Come on, a clean keyboard is worth at least that much.

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11-year-old Dayton Webber lost all his limbs when he was just a baby, but that didn’t stop him from performing in wrestling matches and riding his skateboard.

Young Dayton is a true inspiration. he lost his hands and legs when he was just 11-months-old, due to a life-threatening infection in his body. But for him, the absence of limbs didn’t mean he couldn’t live a perfectly normal life. Armed with ambition and will to succeed, Dayton took on sports other perfectly healthy people can’t do.

Both Dayton’s parents say they never pushed him to do anything, it was always his idea to try new things. These days he competes for the The Rampage Westling Team, in Waldorf, rides a skateboard, ice-skates, drives go-karts and even plays video-games like Madden NFL.

Other boys are surprised when they first meet him, especially in wrestling matches, but they soon find out he’s a worthy adversary. What Dayton can do physically he compensates in willpower. When asked what happened to his hands and feed, he simply answers “it’s no big deal”.

For over 25 years, California-based candy company HOTLIX has been creating weird sweets like chocolate-dipped-scorpions and bug lollipops. Think of it as a real-life Willy Wonka nightmare.

The first insect candy created by HOTLIX was a tequila-flavored lollipop with a worm inside it. This was back in 1982, but fast-forward to present day and HOTLIX insect sweets have spread worldwide and are more popular than ever. 70-year-old Larry Peterman was the man with the original idea of bug candy,and now he supervises the farm producing the insects needed to make these outrageous sweets.

Larry and his empolyees work hard at keeping the secret of his insect delicacies and so far they’ve stayed one step in front of the competition, despite several copying attempts. One thing they do reveal is the worms are fed things like apple and banana peal, as well as oatmeal.

If you’re wondering about the safety of eating chocolate-covered scorpions, you should know there’s no danger at all. Once dead, scorpions are no longer poisonous and their stinger is cut-off just in case. Bon appetit!

Photos by BARCROFT MEDIA

via Telegraph.co.uk

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In an attempt to highlight celebrities’ problems with drugs, talented American artist Jason Mecier has created a series of portraits made of differently colored prescription pills.

Artists like Courtney Love and Kelly Osbourne fought with their drug addictions for a long time, while Michael Jackson and Heath Ledger lost their lives because of them. By creating their portraits out of pills, Mecier tries to emphasize the dangers of drug abuse.

Jason Mecier’s pill-portraits will be a part of his Celebrity Junk Drawer show, held at the Ghettogloss Gallery, in Los Angeles, on March 17.

Photos via Entertainmentwise

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If you thought there was no way blind people could play soccer, think again. There are even official soccer tournaments for the blind, held between national teams.

The latest tournament took place in the Sokolniki district of Moscow. Four international teams gathered for a series of matches “in the dark”. It’s hard to understand how you can play a game like soccer without seeing a thing. All the players, with different degrees of blindness, have their eyes stuck shut with a kind of band-aid and covered with a night mask that provides protection and puts them all on equal footing.

But just because their vision is impaired, doesn’t mean they can’t use their other senses to coordinate. Their developed hearing helps them locate the ball and their team-mates and guides them towards the opposite goal. The ball itself is not the kind used in normal soccer matches, it’s a lot heavier, doesn’t bounce and produces a rattle noise to alert the players to its location.

The game lasts for two 25-minute halves, in which the players, guided by their coaches and team-guides, people who sit behind opposite goal and direct players on how to approach and score. One of the most interesting things about soccer for the blind is the goalkeepers aren’t blindfolded, so they can see where the ball is going. Still, goals are scored regularly, unlike in the Eton Wall Game.

Don’t imagine the game looks anything like the normal soccer games, the players hardly ever pass long or use their heads, they mainly stick to dribbling, short passing and shooting at the goal.

Photos via Drugoi

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I don’t know how they do it, but Thai trainers get elephants to do the most amazing things. After the amazing elephant painters, from the National Elephant Institute, it’s time for the extraordinary basketball-playing elepahnts.

Malie and Toktak are the stars of the Island Safari Center, on Koh Samui Island. After undergoing months of rigorous training, the two pachyderms have mastered the sport of basketball. I know what you’re thinking, Shaquille O’neal finally found someone his own size to play with.

The elephant trainers start by teaching them the basics of basketball control, before they get to the carrying of the ball in their trunk and shooting it to the basket. It takes a few months before they get the basics of the sport, but they’re improving every day. it won’t be long until NBA drafters start checking these two out, mark my words.

Photos by Bronek Kaminiski/BARCROFT INDIA

via Telegraph.co.uk

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As if ripping a model’s clothes off with your teeth wasn’t cool enough, imagine if her clothes were made entirely out of delicious chocolate. Guess what, your dreams have become a reality! Well…without the ripping clothes off part.

What’s hotter that Asian models dressed in chocolate? Can’t think of anything right now, and if you can, you’re the one with the problem. These girls took part in a parade to kick off the 2010 Salon du Chocolat, in Shanghai. I have to say this is the way every event should start.

via Telegraph.co.uk

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We’ve seen recycled toys used in sculptures before, but Kris Kuksi’s macabre art is on a whole other level.

Born in Springfield, Missouri, Kris had a rough childhood, isolated and secluded with his blue-collar mom, two older brothers and an alcoholic stepfather. This was most likely what caused him to retreat in his own imagination and realize the macabre and grotesque seemed beautiful to him.

As an adult, Kris Kuksi developed his passion for the bizarre into an art that allowed him to break free from his negative childhood. Using old, recycled toys and mechanical parts, Kris creates breathtaking sculptures that seem to host a world of their own, each filled with the most bizarre characters and creatures.

many find his work scary and repulsive, but Kris Kuksi‘s talent is appreciated by famous people like Mark Parker (CEO of Nike), Chris Weitz (director of American Pie and The Golden Compass) or Kay Alden (writer of soap-operas like The Young and the Restless of The Bold and the Beautiful), who own some of his works.

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I remember a time when witches flew on brooms. Nowadays they’re flying on the ski-slopes, using their brooms as sticks. What’s the occult world coming to?

Every year, between January 10-16, over 1,500 people from Switzerland and other European countries gather at Belalp, for one of the wackiest downhill skiing races in the world. The Witches Downhill challenge has contestants dress up as witches and race down a snowy mountain.

Races are organized for children and adults alike and between challenges there are fun parties to go to. Witches Night is the biggest, with over 3,000 participants indulging in singing, dancing, drinking and all around partying.

The Belalp Hexe Ski Race began in 1983, inspired by a real witch that apparently lived nearby and terrorized locals. she actually flew around and everything.

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Avatar fever is infecting everyone these days and a big country like China wasn’t going to be spared.

15 talented sculptors spent 10 days working on two 3-meters-tall sculptures from James Cameron’s blockbuster movie. One of them is of Corporal Jake Sully and the other of his main Na’Vi squeeze, Princess Neytiri. The Avatar mud sculptures were carved in a studio in Wuhan City and are meant to keep the Avatar craziness going even longer

Photos via ImagineChina

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This is not the first bottle house featured on Oddity Central, but it’s definitely the most impressive looking.

After finding these pics on several spam sites that posted no link to the original source, I spent quite a while trying to find some info. Finally I discovered the photos were uploaded by someone on Instructables and were of a family building a plastic and glass bottles house, somewhere in Mexico. That’s about everything I was able to find out about these photos, but what’s that they say? A picture is worth a thousand words?

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21-year-old Lisa Courtney, from Welwyn Garden City, UK, has the world’s biggest Pokemon collection in the world, according to the newest edition of Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition.

Lisa received her title in June 2009, when her collection numbered 12,113 different Pokemon items. Now the passionate collector says she owns over 13,400 items. Since new Pokemon stuff comes out in Japan almost daily, Lisa says she won’t stop collecting any time soon.

She’s been to japan five times already and is planning a new shopping trip. Lisa Courtney started collecting Pokemon memorabilia 13 years ago, when her mother gave her a Nintendo magazine featuring the popular animated characters. She fell in love with Pokemon and hasn’t gotten over it since.

During her troubled adolescence, when schoolmates bullied her, laughed at her physical disabilities and even called her names like “Elephant Man”, Lisa turned to her beloved Pokemon collection, for comfort. Her entire family understood her passion and were very supportive, especially with the giant Pokemon collection taking up most of the house.

Lisa Courtney says holding a record for something she feels so passionate about is an indescribable feeling.

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24-year-old Ruslan Moukanov managed to prove it’s not all about the money when you want to drive the car of your dreams.

For the young Kazakh, the exclusive Rolls Royce Phantom seemed like an unreachable dream, when he first saw some photos of it, years ago, in the local library. Since raising 500,000 euros was out of the question, Ruslan had to come up with another way of getting the car of his dreams.

Using only his auto-tuning skills, this Rolls Royce fan managed to give his old Mercedes Benz a total make-over and turn into a perfect replica of the Phantom. It might not drive like one and the materials used might be “a little” cheaper, but for the ,3000 euros Ruslan spent, it doesn’t get much better than this. Congrats!

via AutoRoyalty

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Stop! Don’t even think about screaming “Photoshopped!” because Mike Libby’s Insect Lab is 100% real. And so are his incredible Steampunk insects.

Mike began his unusual project on a day like any other, when he found an intact dead beetle. Thinking about how the little bug functioned as a mechanical device, he remembered he had also found an old wristwatch and decided to combine the two. After dissecting the beetle and mounting the mechanical parts, he realized he quite liked his new craft and decided to stick to it.

Now Mike Libby creates all kinds of Steampunk insects, from scorpions to ordinary beetles and dragonflies. He only works with non-endangered species from all around the world, fitting them with mechanisms from antique watches as well as old typewriter and sewing-machine parts.

Check out Mike Libby’s Insect Lab and feel free to email him if you want to purchase any of his Steampunk wonders or place a special order.

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