X-Men Fan Walks on Ceiling with Homemade Magnetic Shoes
Colin Furze is posting a series of do-it-yourself videos online that are becoming quite popular. But Furze is not assisting YouTube viewers with tidying up the house or cooking a special meal over the long weekend. Instead, the “X-Men” enthusiast is educating his audience on how to build props from the movie series based on the comic books.
In his latest tutorial, he walks on a ceiling with homemade magnetic shoes, à la Magneto.
How did he do it? Furze experimented with some weak electromagnets, finding that they weren’t strong enough to hold up his body weight. He mentions in a tutorial video that factory-made magnets are a bit too expensive for his taste, so he’d need a cheaper, or even free, alternative. Furze, being the efficient, industrious man that he is, happens to know that the transformer from an old microwave can be turned into a strong electromagnet. After some light welding turning his old sneakers into magnetic kicks, he’s ready to experiment. Lo and behold, it works.
"I can’t move metal with my mind, so I’ve made magnet shoes!" he shouts at the beginning of "DIY X-MEN MAGNETO walking upside down with magnetic shoes," which was posted on YouTube on Thursday.
The clip, which runs 3 minutes and 20 seconds, shows Furze strapping on the shoes, activating the magnets, and then hanging upside down from a metal beam in his basement. Still upside down, he begins to walk, lifting one foot after the other and using straps that extend from his feet to his hands to hold himself up.
"Why does this guy not have a job in MI6’s Q Division?" asked one YouTube user, referencing the research and development division of the British Secret Intelligence Service in the James Bond movies. "Next thing you know this guy is walking on water," predicted another viewer.
Furze, who lives in England, dropped out of school at 16 and entered the plumbing business. He uses YouTube to show people that they “don’t need an expensive lathe and huge welder to create something amazing,” he said.
He clearly has found an audience. Furze’s other video related to “X-Men” features his DIY automatic Wolverine claws. It has been viewed over 3 million times since it was posted on May 15. On his website, he teases that a third DIY “X-Men” video will be released on May 29.