But the lipless leader of the Autobots will be showing up in various (non truck) forms prior to the movie launch. To wit: Nike Japan and toymaker Tomy recently teamed up to make a transforming shoe dubbed "Convoy" (Optimus's Japanese moniker), which morphs from a half-size sneaker into the fearless leader of the Autobots. I'm not sure how useful a leader who transforms into a shoe no one can wear is, but I think he's supposed to be really good at film marketing.

Also, from the makers of the Optimus Prime speaker iPod dock, comes a pair of transforming earphones. Yes, I said earphones. These suckas will feature a clip-on design and come complete with a little foldout robot that is sure to fetch you either a ton of geek cred or looks of pity (depending on where they are worn).

Autobots...transform and rock out!