Robocop Statue to be built with private funds!!!!

[Reverend]

Peter Weller doing a Funny or Die bit about the statue.

Great stuff. I love that he can still do 'the voice' while still acting like a total loon. Nothing against the other actors that wore the costume, but for me Weller was the only "real" RoboCop. None of the others sold it like he could.

 

[Samurai8472]

Next up, getting a Walter Bishop statue put up on the Harvard campus!

In true Harvard tradition, it won't actually be Walter Bishop but instead the statue will be Doc Brown.



Reasons why the statue is a bad idea from someone who lives in the Detroit neighborhood where it will be built.

http://supergaydetroit.blogspot.com/2011/02/10-reasons-robocop-statue-is-bad-idea.html

Hey John,
I am writing you today as one of the developers or organizers of the Robocop statue. I see that you were not here 24 years ago but I was, so I am enlightening you here on the situation that you missed out on. You were not here during the tipping of police cars for fun after the Tigers won the pennant in 1987, or the shootout on Gratiot that same year after the Pistons won their championship like I was. Let me tell you about Detroit in 1987. Hopefully you will ponder what I am telling you and consider what you are doing. The last thing we want to do is bring back or glorify 1987 Detroit, when the film was made.

I WAS here 24 years ago, up on the west side and did witness quite a bit; the crack epidemic was in full swing and so was corruption and crime. I am going to tell you some shit that will blow your mind if you were not around then. The police were corrupt and racism within the department was amazingly strong. The white cops hung out in bars where you had to be let in by a buzzer and they did not let black people in at all; that was the whole point of the buzzer.

In how many ways can I explain that it is a really bad idea to put up a statue that depicts Robocop and recalls the general violence of this era?

You were not here but many residents were here and know what I am talking about. Also consider the proposed location, Where Michigan and Verner meet and who will see it there. It will not just those heading in from Corktown or Ferndale to eat at Slows or Detroit Soup. Think of the residents of Southwest and west Detroit just trying to go about their business who are people of color and therefore do not get a warm fuzzy feeling when they see the police.

I can say some positive stuff too about the same people who support the statue and many of you are friends and aquaintances; but this is about what the truth is no matter what you may feel at this time. To say that the good outweighs the bad or I don't understand why you want it or anything like that is to accept collateral damage for this decision. Why hurt anyone at all when it is completely unneccessary? And why bulldoze ahead with a plan that is oppressive to most and culturally ignorant at the least? Why justify and embrace your own ignorance and keep arguing with us?

Respectfully in Peace,
Jean Wilson
Executive Director
United Peace Relief Detroit
Detroit Artist and Community Activist

 

[Captain Craig]

That guy wants to focus on 1987 Detroit but geez if you want to pick and choose a focal point of anger how about this: The movie depicts a FUTURE Detroit.
Sadly, that Future Detroit is ironically not too far off of what the PRESENT day Detroit actually is. Sad but true. Hell the movie seems damn near prophetic.

Let's keep picking our angles: The Cops.
Sounds like it was a bad time and perhaps the cops weren't the most benevolent benefactors. Robocop however WAS COLOR BLIND, justice was his master. I'd argue a force for good that didn't taken race, gender or any other conceits into the equation would be something I could get behind.

So would Jean Wilson rather have the 8 Mile legend himself out there as the face of Detroit? Chrysler seems to think so, has to be why he was asked to be in the latest ad. A face that promotes crime, drugs, abuse and thug living OR a face about justice and cleaning up Old Detroit, which sadly is Present Day Detroit.

Easy choice for me.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Detroit Artist and Community Activist = Communist, enough said.

 

[Balrog]

They'd have better luck with a Dan Aykroyd 'Dr. Detroit' statue...

 

[Captain Craig]

A little update I stumbled upon concerning this project.

Fred Barton http://the-robotman.com has completed his brand new, custom, kicka**, MGM-licensed RoboCop sculpture which is now on its way to an undisclosed facility (hint: not Area 51) for 3D scanning, digital scaling, and foam fabrication. From there the forms will arrive at Venus Bronze Works in Detroit where the statue will be cast and poured by liquid metal ninjas who've lovingly roundhoused many other important works...

This news was about 6 weeks ago so I wonder if it can be assumed the statue has begun the process of being poured now?! I edited out the links to the company doing the pouring/sculpting but they are there if you want to check them out in the link.
I find it ironic that of the Robocop posters found plastered about Detroit during this that one has tagging for Occupy right under it.

 

[StevenR]

Thousands of years from now, archeologists will be digging threw what ever is left of the North American land mass, and they'll find a dirty old bronze Robocop statue.
Just what will they think...

They won't think anything. A month after the unveilling, there will be a news report about how the bronze statue was found to be missing one morning. Police will have no clues, but will suspect it was stolen, broken up, and sold for scrap.

 

[HotRod]

Well it is Detroit....