London, Feb 21 – Fans of RoboCop in the US have raised 50,000 dollars to erect a giant statue in his honour.
The whole idea to have a statue in his image started with a message sent via the social network Twitter to the mayor of the Motor City, Dave Bing.
“Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky, RoboCop would kick Rocky’s butt. He’s a great ambassador for Detroit,” the Daily Mail quoted a Detroit resident called ‘MT’ as tweeting.
The mayor responded: “There are not any plans to erect a statue of Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.”
But despite the mayor’s lukewarm response the idea quickly sparked an Internet campaign and the Facebook page, Detroiters for a RoboCop Statue, rapidly gained fans.
Then a local non-profit organisation, Imagination Station, set up a fund, ‘Detroit Needs A Statue of RoboCop!’ where people could donate online.
Within days 25,000 dollars had flooded in from Detroit residents and fans of the 1987 sci-fi movie.
And Californian man, Pete Hottelet, then gave a whopping 25,000 dollars of his own cash to double the money for the RoboCop tribute.
Hottelet, 32, owns a company called Omni Consumer Products, the same name as the fictional jumbo-conglomerate that controls the dystopian society in the movie.
Detroit man, Brandon Walley, who is the brainchild for the campaign, believes the statue will be a great boost for tourism in the Michigan city, which was left financially-crippled after the near collapse of the motor industry.
“It will bring people to visit. It’s also just a cool idea,” he added.
The project has enlisted the help of robot-expert Fred Barton whose company, Fred Barton Productions, makes high-tech replicas of famous Hollywood androids for museums and collectors.
Barton, 53, has been restoring the original silicone RoboCop suit for the last five years and will provide the pieces so the iconic figure can be digitally rendered and enlarged before being cast in a durable material for the statue.
“It’s a very exciting project. As soon as I heard about it I wanted to be involved. I’m not sure what pose RoboCop will have yet, but we’re thinking of going for something non-threatening yet majestic,” he said.
“So we won’t have him pointing a gun in your face. We want it to be a positive symbol of hope for the new Detroit,” he stated.
Peter Weller, who played RoboCop in the movie made a statement declaring that the statue would be good for the city.
“I think it’s a great thing as far as a public service. As far as a personal emblem, it doesn’t make any difference to me,” he added. (ANI)
