Optimus Prime, 22 feet tall, built in Thailand but made better in Oklahoma.

Full-Size Transformer: Optimus Prime

Stillwater, Oklahoma

Mike McCubbin was on vacation in Branson, Missouri, when he saw an Optimus Prime statue outside a Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum (What he didn't see inside, which he never bothered to visit, is a giant ball of twine). Mike's profession is vehicle body repair work, and he was so fascinated by the transmission gears and oil pans used to build the 22-foot-tall autobot that he tracked down the manufacturer in Thailand and ordered one (And a 20-foot-tall Bumblebee as well).

The eyes of Optimus are reworked LED brake lights.

But when the giant robots arrived, Mike was disappointed; the work was slapdash, not up to his standards. So Mike spent nine months in secret improving the giant statues: grinding, welding, sandblasting, replacing bad parts and adding better ones. When he was finished, he used a crane to erect each Transformer outside one of his two auto body shops on either end of Stillwater.

Optimus stands at the east end of town. Mike explained every detail of the robot to us. We won't reveal any spoilers, except to say that Optimus's eyes are now reworked LED truck brake lights.