It all began back in 2011, when a RoboCop fan tweeted the mayor of Detroit, insisting that the half-man, half-machine crime fighter is a great ambassador for the city, and implying that a statue should therefore be erected in his honor - there's a Rocky Balboa one in Philadelphia, after all. Though Mayor Dave Bing thanked the fan for the suggestion, he broke the hearts of robo-geeks the world over when he also stated that there are no plans whatsoever to do anything of the sort.
Though the city of Detroit may have no such plans, however, many of its citizens do. After a Facebook page was launched to generate interest for a fan-driven quest to build a RoboCop statue, a Kickstarter campaign followed in its wake, which not only reached but far surpassed its $50,000 goal. Now nearly three years later, the statue is almost complete...
As reported by Gawker, the 10-foot bronze statue of Detroit's greatest hero is currently being built over at Detroit's own Venus Bronze Works, just in time for next month's release of the PG-13 RoboCop reboot. The only problem? A location hasn't yet been found for it to call home, and Mayor Bing still hasn't signed off on allowing it to be erected in his city. He has called the statue "silly," though that hasn't stopped the building process. Where there's a will, there's a way, as they say.
You can follow the project over on the Detroit Needs RoboCop website.
What does Alex Murphy himself think of the statue, and Mayor Bing's remarks? Take it away, RoboCop!