The Energon Pub

News Credits: 335 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:29 pm

Now this is messed up.

According to an article on ShanghaiDaily.com a 14-year old boy drank gasoline... for FIVE YEARS to mimic his childhood hero's: The Transformers. After watching an old episode of The Transformers where the robots consume fuel for sustenance the boy quickly developed gasoline dependency.

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy drank gasoline for five years to obtain "energy" - just as his idols "Bumble Bee" or "Optimus Prime" do in "Transformers," the Sichuan-based West China Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

After the boy, in Yibin City, southwest Sichuan Province, had watched the animated TV series, he began to drink gasoline to become a "valiant fighter" like "Optimus Prime," his father told the newspaper.

"He began to drink gasoline five years ago, when we found he liked smelling lighter fuel," he said.

The boy's mother owned a grocery stall, selling small goods such as lighters.

In 2004, she often found lighters missing two or three days after she'd bought them. She later found that her son had been stealing them.

The parents talked to their son and asked him not to do it again. "But afterwards we found our motorcycle's gasoline was always disappearing, and one day when we found the boy had drunk a half bottle of gasoline stolen from the motorcycle, we were too shocked to say anything," the father said.

IQ dropped

They locked the motorcycle away after that but the boy began to steal gasoline from neighbors and was drinking more and more - two or three bottles at a time.

"Since my son started to drink gas, his IQ has dropped sharply and now he can't figure out simple addition and subtraction," the father said.

"Before that, he was a very smart boy, and he could even repair the television. But now he does not know the answer of 7 plus 17."

The worried parents finally took their son to hospital where they were told the boy had a mental disorder and a strong "gasoline dependence."

"The gasoline contains a lot of lead, which can do harm to people's brains. To make thing even worse, the boy is in the physical development stage, and the lead has caused serious damage to his body," Peng Houquan, a doctor from a hospital in Yibin, said.

"Transformers" is now a Hollywood blockbuster movie franchise and the second live-action film is currently breaking box office records in China.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" has gained 400 million yuan (US$58.4 million) in the country, breaking the record set by "Titanic" 10 years ago.

To read the original article, click here

Honestly.. I know I don't have to say this but I will. Please please please always watch your children carefully. It is up to us as adults to teach our children right from wrong and in a case like this, fantasy from reality.

Our thoughts and wishes go out to this family in what is no doubt a very difficult time for them.

Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:32 pm

Geez, what's wrong with kids these days...

Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:39 pm

To quote Optimus Prime in "S.O.S Wheeljack":

"That's the most retarded thing I 've heard"

Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:41 pm

Dude how stupid can you get hes lucky he didnt freakin die :shock:

News Credits: 1 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:42 pm

Down Shift, you are a way nicer person than I am. I admit that my very first thought reading this story was, 'great, now someone's going to try to find a way to ban Transformers as being dangerous.'

Does China actually still use leaded gasoline? We haven't had that in the States since before *I* started driving. (NOT that I think it's much smarter to drink unleaded gas).

HK, okay, everyone, spread the word: it's *energon cubes*. Not gasoline.

Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:52 pm

yesh, this kid gives teenagers(like myself)a bad name. I would not have even done something this stupid at six. What is the world coming to?

News Credits: 3 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:53 pm

So the kid started drinking gas at 9 years old. WTF?!? this kid doesn't sound like he would have been a productive member of the gene pool any way if hes willing to drink gas.

I wonder what episode and what series. TF's normally consume energon in cartoons to avoid this i thought. (i know in animated they drank oil like beer but thats a whole different bad lesson)

Good think the kid didn't watch a Freddy or Jason movie and hack up all the kids in the neighborhood or watch superman and try to fly. Even as a kid i could differentiate a cartoon from real life. I think the kid was unbalanced and drank gas and the parents wanted in on recent transformers publicity.

News Credits: 8 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:00 pm

...Why didn't they bring him to the hospital the first time they found him drinking gasoline...?

News Credits: 11 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:05 pm

Wouldn't drinking that much gasoline kill someone? I'm pretty sure it's fairly poisonous.

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:11 pm

Considering the glaring health/saftey issues China has always had when it comes to its industrial enterprise, I'm not suprised that leaded gasoline is still so prevalent. What surprises me is the fact that this child didn't actually DIE years ago. This is Transformers fandom gone wrong...

:oops:

News Credits: 5 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:12 pm

Well, on the bright side, atleast he wasn't a kid during the G1 era.

Probably gonna be a lawsuit against Hasbro for not warning us not to drink gasoline.

News Credits: 10 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:15 pm

I know parents need to watch their kids and all, but 5 years of drinking gasoline and now they are doing something about it? C'mon. That is plain neglect if you ask me.

I also highly doubt that he was thinking of Transformers every time he drank gasoline. You would think after the first or second time he could not transform after drinking it that he would realize he was not a car.

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:18 pm

That kid's crazy. Couldn't he have just eaten ice cubes and called them "energon cubes :???:

News Credits: 3 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:25 pm

Mirage22 wrote:That kid's crazy. Couldn't he have just eaten ice cubes and called them "energon cubes

use frozen pink lemonade

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:27 pm

is this kid retarded?! there is a big line between machine and human! how is he not dead!?

Barrelass wrote:Well, on the bright side, atleast he wasn't a kid during the G1 era.

Probably gonna be a lawsuit against Hasbro for not warning us not to drink gasoline.

be prepared for the end of transformers
this is the most retarded thing i have ever heard. who in there right mind would drink that stuff?! why would his parents let him do this!???! WTF? h4x0rd!

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:41 pm

d9:the end of transformers predicted to be April 13 2021

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:41 pm

Wow some people are just downright stupid. Why didn't his parents say anything to him? My parents would have said something right away and grounded me..or you know taken me to The ER the first moment they saw what I was doing..

It's a good thing this kid doesn't smoke too.. that wouldn't end well...

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:43 pm

I have to admit, I've always loved the SMELL of gasoline...

drinking it never crossed my mind

News Credits: 8 · Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:51 pm

Gutter Bunny wrote:I have to admit, I've always loved the SMELL of gasoline...

drinking it never crossed my mind

Likewise!

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:53 pm

Possibly prevented a Darwin Award. Definitely child neglect.

Stupid kid. It's energon, not gasoline, dummy!

Besides, the stuff tastes bad (NOTE: Never stand near exhaust while a tractor is heavily flooded).

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:55 pm

aside from the retardation (not ment in any mean way) i think he might have been either a) slightly robotic b) that guy who can eat anything or c) actually built up an immunity to the stuff. this why i hate people

14 year olds are getting stupider by the year... wait i am 14

i probably built up an immunity to coal, thankyou grandmother

Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:57 pm

hellkitty wrote:HK, okay, everyone, spread the word: it's *energon cubes*. Not gasoline.

Agreed!

Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:08 pm

Man i hope they dont make a issue saying Transformers are dangerous if they do im going to find that idiot :evil:

Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:13 pm

"The worried parents finally took their son to hospital where they were told the boy had a mental disorder"

It boils down to this. Transformers is not a negative influence. This child has a disability and—for any number of reasons—was not able to get the appropriate help he needed.
*edit* meant to quote the article, not the OP.