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WUPPERTAL, Germany — A German man has turned his love of the "Iron Man" franchise into profit: he created a working replica of Iron Man's laser-firing arm gadget.
Patrick Priebe, 29, started building gadgets when he needed something to distract him from being dumped by his girlfriend. He used to do it as a hobby, but ended up selling most of the gadgets through his website. He decided to turn gadget-building into a full-time job after he was let go from his job in September, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Iron Man gadget took Priebe 130 hours and $650 to build, but he was offered more than 2,000 euros — about $2,660 — shortly after posting a video on YouTube showing how it worked.
The red and gold metal shell is equipped with two 1.2-watt blue lasers and two 4-milliwatt red lasers. Priebe shows off his creation throughout the first half of the video, and puts it into action in the second half. He uses the red lasers to aim at two balloons, and the blue lasers to destroy them.
The "Iron Man Guantlet," as Priebe calls it, is not the first of his gadgets to get mainstream attention. In 2001, he built a wrist-mounted, laser-sighted crossbow because he was "bored and injured."
