Transformers 3: The War of the Earth plugs contemporary online culture into a slick parody of Transformers II and a slew of other action movies from the past two decades. (Spoilers follow.)
In the first half of the short, Earth finds itself subject to an invasion from alien property developers. All defenses fail, and world leaders react to the setbacks through online buzzwords, catch-phrases, and strange regional accents.
Ultraman, Spiderman, Schwarzenegger, and the Incredible Hulk are beaten down, as is Iron Man (who demands an appearance fee before he’ll help out). Finally, some Internet surfers manage to locate Zeng Yike.
Zeng, a contestant on this year’s Super Girls talent competition famous for her catchy melodies and unsophisticated singing voice (which gets compared to the bleating of a lamb later on in the clip), fit the androgynous style made popular by earlier Super Girls winner Li Yuchun. Like Li, who is parodied online as “Brother Chun,” Zeng became the subject of an online joke and Photoshop meme that referred to her as “Brother Zeng.”
When even Zeng’s painful voice fails to have any effect on the invaders, she’s injected with a serum to increase her power and masculinity, turning her into Sylvester Stallone. She ends up restoring peace to the world.
The short contains a surprising number of close-ups of brand-name products — Master Kong instant noodles, Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Durex condoms, and Pepsi are just a few. There’s speculation that these could be product placements, but they could just as easily be a parody of the rampant product placement that goes on in today’s Hollywood action movies.