This Is the World's Only Optimus Prime Replica, a Bonkers and Most Inspiring Build

There are countless but nonetheless incredibly valuable pieces of car-related movie memorabilia out there. The bigger the movie, the more valuable and desirable the piece of memorabilia offered for sale. Transformers collectibles do exist, but they never achieved the kind of collectible status as, say, James Bond's DB5 or the KITT car.

This Optimus Prime is bits of a lot of many things, though it's not for sale. It is, as of the time of press, the only fan-made, authorized, and faithful replica of the Optimus Prime shown in the Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) movie. It's also real-size and, while it started as an exact replica, has grown into something else thanks to subtle changes that add personality to the build.

Designed, built, and owned by Joe Fiduccia, it was completed in 2016 and has been traveling the U.S. and Canada ever since, doing tours, charity events, fairs, and all types of events with a generous budget. Its message is to fight bullying by inspiring self-confidence; its mission is to spread joy wherever it goes.

This Optimus Prime actually got started because Fiduccia's young son was being bullied in school. As per his own words, at the time, Fiduccia had plateaued professionally, so getting to work on what had been a lifelong dream for him was a "now or never" moment. Years later, he's still recovering from the financial strain the project has taken on the family's finances, but he has no regrets.

As you must know if you're reading this, the Optimus Prime from the 2014 movie is a 2015 Western Star 5700-based semi, wearing a very distinctive – and quite iconic for Transformers fans – blue-and-red paintjob with lots of exposed chrome. Fiduccia's Optimus Prime is identical, except for the subtle personal touches he added over the years, which stand out only when you come closer for a better look.

About 25 people in total were involved in the build, including Fiduccia himself. At the time he took the leap of faith and decided he was going to build Optimus, he didn't even have a Commercial Driver License, so that was a priority. However, the number one thing he had to check on his to-do list was to seek permission from Hasbro to build the thing.

Hasbro gave it to him but didn't provide him with any detail, let alone a blueprint. Fiduccia had to build the replica with whatever knowledge of the design he could gather from online photos and footage, which makes the similarity between his own build and the official one even more impressive.

Only two other such Optimus trucks exist, and they're both property of Paramount and Hasbro, as they were built for the film. Fiduccia recalls seeing one of them months after he completed work on his own.

His Optimus is 30 feet long and 12 feet wide (9.1 by 3.6 meters) and tips the scales at 21,000 lbs (9.525 kg). It's lower by two inches (5 cm) than the "real" Optimus would be, on considerations of road safety, and is entirely road legal.

You probably anticipated this, but no, this Optimus Prime doesn't transform. It does do some transforming (if you're being generous with the understanding of the word), thanks to a more recent mod, where it opens the rear doors with hydraulics, lights up, and puts on a pretty neat smoke show.

Power comes from a standard, stock Detroit DD15 motor, with Optimus maxing out at 65 mph (105 kph). Not that it ever needed to go faster since it only travels to and from events and draws enough attention on the way as to make it unsafe for it to move any faster. The two videos available at the bottom of the page show just what this means – including drivers coming out of their vehicles at the light or a stop to get a photo.

To those thinking that this Optimus replica is "just" a truck with a fancier paintjob, Fiduccia would probably say this: come closer, give it more of your attention. Everything, from the massive, one-piece emblem on the front to the motivational phrases on the cabin doors, the logo made up of the family's initials, and the ginormous sword in the back, is a custom piece done with exquisite attention to detail and love.

Fiduccia loves his Optimus so much – and implicitly, the kind of work it does – that he doesn't even want to consider talking about the costs. He does say this, though: building and, later on, maintaining and running Optimus took its toll on the family's finances.

"We lost a life savings, obtained a second mortgage, and entered into a plethora of debt because of it," he says, explaining how the project took everything the family had. "To this day, we struggle to keep it on the road while attempting to restore everything we lost along the way."

But Fiduccia and his Team Optimus are determined to keep Optimus Prime in working condition and out there for the entire world to see. Because Optimus Prime is more than an expensive truck, with or without the ability to transform: it's concrete proof that dreams come true, a vehicle for hope, and a never-ending source of joy.