On July 30th, Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated his 73rd birthday. The man is legendary not only as a badass actor, but also as a professional bodybuilder, politician, and an all-around amazing guy.
So, it should come as no surprise that he has an enormous fan base that has jumped in to wish him a happy birthday, with one particular Reddit user carving out an awesome Terminator smoke pipe. Oh, and the story didn’t end there because, as most of you probably know by now, Mr. Schwarzenegger is a Redditor too, so you can guess what happened next!
By now you probably know that Arnold Schwarzenegger is very active on Reddit, right?
Image credits: GovSchwarzenegger
A bit over a month ago, a Reddit user by the name of u/RadonLab, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for an interview, posted a picture of a tobacco pipe that he carved for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s birthday. That alone drew the attention of many internauts.
Max is a tobacco pipe maker who ever since childhood loved to draw and sculpt. "I've never really studied this specifically. For a long time, I could not find myself in life, I worked various jobs, did airbrushing, worked in a newspaper, but I have always felt that this is not my calling. However, in 2018 it all changed when I took up pipe carving."
"Since I paint a lot and have never done carving professionally, I thought that carving will be like drawing, except in 3D. I observed the work of different artists and took from each of them what I saw fit—yes, I watched a lot of videos on YouTube. I took in and analyzed a lot of information, tried to find out what works best for me."
A Reddit user posted a picture of a Terminator-themed tobacco pipe that he made for Arnold's 73rd birthday
Image credits: radonlab
The pipe is a hand-carved and painted head of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic character, the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 or the T-800, more commonly known as the Terminator. Everything from the hair to the skin texture and popped out veins to the metallic parts and the wounds on his face were intricately made to provide a realistic resemblance of the Terminator.
It also came with its own pipe tamper that is, yes, you’ve guessed it, also Terminator-themed. It is made in the image of the T-1000, the shapeshifting android assassin in the Terminator franchise. It has intricate details present on his face, and also isn’t cut off at the neck, but rather provided as a bust with visible details of the police uniform he wore in the movie.
Being a Redditor, Arnold Schwarzenegger noticed the picture and commented under it saying that it is fantastic and that he wanted to buy it from the pipe carver. Max, however, honored by the kind words, insisted on simply giving it to him as a gift as it was intended originally.
Schwarzenegger responded: “If you insist on giving it to me, I insist on sending you back a signed photo of me using it (Now that it’s 2020, I just sign things on my machine and send in email if that works for you). You can send me a message and I’ll give you the details.”
And the Governator saw it, thought it was amazing, and wanted to have it
Image credits: RadonLab
Image credits: RadonLab
"I like different monsters and charismatic characters. I love it when there are many small details. It also feels quite satisfying when it turns out as a recognizable face," explained the inspiration behind his calling and the Terminator tobacco pipe. "About half a year ago, I came up with the idea to make a Terminator pipe—I really love watching old films from f the 90s. And then I remembered that Arnold smokes cigars and pipes too. This inspired me even more—I thought it won't be just another useless gift."
And, sure enough, as promised Max got an electronically signed picture of Arnold having a go at the pipe. The photo is signed as follows: “To Radon, thank you for the great pipe.” There’s also the Governator’s signature at the bottom right.
Sure enough, a month later that same Reddit user uploaded a signed photo of Arnold smoking the pipe!
Image credits: RadonLab
Image credits: radonlab
Max elaborated a bit on how he made the pipe a reality: "First, I started carving the tamper of T-1000, after which I went to make the pipe. There were a lot of photos of the Terminator online. What helped was I didn't have to make two identical eyes, because one side of the face is in the form of a skull—I think artists will understand what I mean! I won't go into detail and reveal all the secrets, but I will say that the work took a long time, in between my primary work."
The photo went viral on Reddit across multiple subreddits, most notably on r/NextF!@#$%Level where it got over 193,000 upvotes and hundreds upon hundreds of Reddit awards. This is besides another 100,000 upvotes he got on other subreddits, including r/Pics and r/Woodworking.
The pipe itself is intricately made with small details like skin texture, veins, wounds—all of it painted
Image credits: radonlab
Image credits: radonlab
There were people who were skeptical of this though, with one now-deleted user calling shenanigans on this post, saying that the text on the photograph is fake. He probably didn’t get the memo that Arnold digitally signed it, so he himself responded to the comment:
“I signed it on my machine, using my hand and my stylus, like I said I would on the first reddit post, so I think it counts as hand-signed. Everything is not a conspiracy, sometimes you can just enjoy things.”
The post went viral on multiple subreddits, gaining over 300k upvotes throughout all of them
Image credits: radonlab
Image credits: radonlab
Believe it or not, it was a bit difficult getting the Governator's attention, as explained Max: "I corresponded with one guy, he said that his wife communicates with someone from Arnold's team on Facebook and I can send a pipe through him. I believed him, because he had already ordered a pipe from me. But after a while, the coronavirus epidemic began and this guy disappeared somewhere. I was very upset, I no longer hoped for anything, and when Arnold's birthday came, I published a pipe on Reddit."
But it all was all right in the end as he eventually found some help online in helping draw Arnold's attention, as explained Max: "But you know what, people helped me, yes, they started to tag him and me many times so that he would pay attention to this post, and it worked. That night I did not sleep! I am very grateful to them for that."
Apart from this, people loved both the pipe and the whole situation. Besides the heaps of people saying how awesome the pipe design is, one commenter shared that he is super impressed and super jealous as he’s an '80s guy, so he empathizes with giving a gift to a childhood hero. Others said that Schwarzenegger is darn wholesome as always and that he’s a legendary badass in general for these exact situations.
Many Redditors loved both the pipe and the entire wholesome situation
Image credits: radonlab
Image credits: radonlab
There was one person who didn't get the memo, but was soon enlightened by the Terminator himself
Image credits: beerbellybegone
"I will say that it was a great honor for me to make and present the pipe to Arnold, he is a legendary man, the way I always imagined him," concluded Max.
If you’ve enjoyed this pipe, RadonLab has tons more displayed on his Instagram here, all intricate and masterful designs, so be sure to check it out. But before you do that, why not let us know what you’ve thought about this in the comment section below!
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