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February 12, 2011 5:44 AM Subscribe
Paging Clarence Boddicker; Clarence Boddicker, you have a call on the red courtesy phone.
posted by bwg at 5:53 AM on February 12, 2011
posted by bwg at 5:53 AM on February 12, 2011
I'd fund that for a dollar!
posted by condour75 at 5:54 AM on February 12, 2011 [13 favorites]
posted by condour75 at 5:54 AM on February 12, 2011 [13 favorites]
Fund quickly or there will be...trouble.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:02 AM on February 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:02 AM on February 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
Robocop was filmed in Dallas.
posted by orville sash at 6:07 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by orville sash at 6:07 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Expanding the focus outward a bit, I think this sort of thing is a great way for cities to stimulate tourism and boost civic pride. Just imagine the attention a Videodrome statue in downtown Toronto would attract.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:09 AM on February 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:09 AM on February 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
Just thinking how cool it would be to use all that money to get a micro finance initiative started that solely focuses on Detroit.
Today I learned that Detroit city's unemployment rate is 19.1% (Dec 2010). Wow.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 6:12 AM on February 12, 2011
Today I learned that Detroit city's unemployment rate is 19.1% (Dec 2010). Wow.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 6:12 AM on February 12, 2011
This post is just two links to a kickstarter page. While I am ambivalent about the idea of building a robocop statue, I don't like the idea of just linking to a cool idea so people can give money.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 6:14 AM on February 12, 2011
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 6:14 AM on February 12, 2011
I like it!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:20 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:20 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
And anyway, it would be lots more fun to build an ED-209 statue that, you know, really works...
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:24 AM on February 12, 2011
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:24 AM on February 12, 2011
So uh, have they licensed Robocop? Because that's the expensive part.
posted by empath at 6:40 AM on February 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by empath at 6:40 AM on February 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
Tear it all down, build Delta City.
posted by Artw at 6:41 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 6:41 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
So uh, have they licensed Robocop? Because that's the expensive part.
Eh, if you owned the Robocop IP you'd be all for this. Free promotion.
There was also a tweet from the current mayor of Detroit saying they weren't planning on building an RC statue.
posted by delmoi at 7:02 AM on February 12, 2011
Eh, if you owned the Robocop IP you'd be all for this. Free promotion.
There was also a tweet from the current mayor of Detroit saying they weren't planning on building an RC statue.
posted by delmoi at 7:02 AM on February 12, 2011
I think this sort of thing is a great way for cities to stimulate tourism and boost civic pride.
Yes, but if they build it in Detroit it will probably stop working when the warranty expires.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 7:22 AM on February 12, 2011
Yes, but if they build it in Detroit it will probably stop working when the warranty expires.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 7:22 AM on February 12, 2011
Just imagine the attention a Videodrome statue in downtown Toronto would attract.
I imagine a statue of The Fly down in the hospital district, which is rigged up to play gooey squelch noises and stammering Goldblumian apologies when people walk past.
posted by Beardman at 8:00 AM on February 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
I imagine a statue of The Fly down in the hospital district, which is rigged up to play gooey squelch noises and stammering Goldblumian apologies when people walk past.
posted by Beardman at 8:00 AM on February 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
This would boost tourism. I'd go
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:06 AM on February 12, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:06 AM on February 12, 2011
This is a bad idea, and another example of white folks playing tourist in other peoples misery
posted by PinkMoose at 8:41 AM on February 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by PinkMoose at 8:41 AM on February 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
Because white tourists would in no way benefit Detroit.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:11 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:11 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I myself have scolded the Mayor for his intransigence.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:51 AM on February 12, 2011
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:51 AM on February 12, 2011
:( Just what Detroit needs, an ironic tie-in to a shitty movie about what a nasty place it is. Another pointless project so hipster "tourists" can gawk at the spectacle of our misery.
posted by rodii at 11:10 AM on February 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by rodii at 11:10 AM on February 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
Yes, this is exactly what Detroit needs. Perhaps next we can crowd-fund a postapocalyptic themed amusement park where white tourists can ride roller coasters while they gawk at all the homeless people.
Actually, though, who wants to go through all the hassle and danger of actually going to Detroit? Why don't we just build a replica of the city (including, of course, only the boarded up buildings and the epic urban decay) so that every photographer in the world can snap up pictures of the ruins without having to worry about the actual residents of the city getting in the way of their shots?
posted by overglow at 11:15 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Actually, though, who wants to go through all the hassle and danger of actually going to Detroit? Why don't we just build a replica of the city (including, of course, only the boarded up buildings and the epic urban decay) so that every photographer in the world can snap up pictures of the ruins without having to worry about the actual residents of the city getting in the way of their shots?
posted by overglow at 11:15 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
We should encourange multicultural gawking.
posted by Artw at 11:33 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 11:33 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
And anyway, it would be lots more fun to build an ED-209 statue that, you know, really works...
I went to Universal Studios cineplex to see Robocop 1 on the first day in release. So I'm walking down the boring dim-lit hallways of the cineplex with my ticket, herp derp OH HOLY SHIT what is that? A lifesize ED-209 prop used in the movie.
The problem with a "real" ED-209 is that it's a design created for stop-frame animation. Yes, they were still doing stop-frame in the days of Robocop 1. So it's an articulated leg structure that is designed to look cool in animation, and used a familiar bipedal locomotion that they were used to animating. But it's not very practical in the real world, ED-209 is the symbol of technological failure. This might be obvious from a scene in one of the movies where an ED-209 chases someone into a stairwell, it falls down and can't get up.
If you want a working ED-209, I think what you really want is a Dalek.
posted by charlie don't surf at 12:30 PM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I went to Universal Studios cineplex to see Robocop 1 on the first day in release. So I'm walking down the boring dim-lit hallways of the cineplex with my ticket, herp derp OH HOLY SHIT what is that? A lifesize ED-209 prop used in the movie.
The problem with a "real" ED-209 is that it's a design created for stop-frame animation. Yes, they were still doing stop-frame in the days of Robocop 1. So it's an articulated leg structure that is designed to look cool in animation, and used a familiar bipedal locomotion that they were used to animating. But it's not very practical in the real world, ED-209 is the symbol of technological failure. This might be obvious from a scene in one of the movies where an ED-209 chases someone into a stairwell, it falls down and can't get up.
If you want a working ED-209, I think what you really want is a Dalek.
posted by charlie don't surf at 12:30 PM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Eh, if you owned the Robocop IP you'd be all for this. Free promotion.
Perhaps they don't want free promotion. Perhaps they have a legal obligation to license all derivative works, lest the companies who are paying $$$ for licenses take umbrage. Perhaps they want to carefully control how and where and why the brand is seen. Who knows without asking.
Hopefully you're right, but a lot of people have ended up with a lot of grief because they thought that IP law wouldn't be an issue because they assumed that anything (that they perceived to be) good the for the brand would naturally be ok with the IP owners.
posted by -harlequin- at 12:40 PM on February 12, 2011
Perhaps they don't want free promotion. Perhaps they have a legal obligation to license all derivative works, lest the companies who are paying $$$ for licenses take umbrage. Perhaps they want to carefully control how and where and why the brand is seen. Who knows without asking.
Hopefully you're right, but a lot of people have ended up with a lot of grief because they thought that IP law wouldn't be an issue because they assumed that anything (that they perceived to be) good the for the brand would naturally be ok with the IP owners.
posted by -harlequin- at 12:40 PM on February 12, 2011
:( Just what Detroit needs, an ironic tie-in to a shitty movie about what a nasty place it is. Another pointless project so hipster "tourists" can gawk at the spectacle of our misery.
Get over yourself Detroit, this isn't about you, and this kind of shitty attitude is not beneficial to anyone.
People like it when cherished fiction crosses over into the real world. This Robocop idea started with the Rocky statue in Philadelphia. If Robocop was set in Kansas, this would be happening in Kansas, and if Wizard of Oz were set in Detroit, you would already have the statue
You're turning lemonade into lemons.
posted by -harlequin- at 12:50 PM on February 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
Get over yourself Detroit, this isn't about you, and this kind of shitty attitude is not beneficial to anyone.
People like it when cherished fiction crosses over into the real world. This Robocop idea started with the Rocky statue in Philadelphia. If Robocop was set in Kansas, this would be happening in Kansas, and if Wizard of Oz were set in Detroit, you would already have the statue
You're turning lemonade into lemons.
posted by -harlequin- at 12:50 PM on February 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
cherished fiction
Really? Robocop is cherished fiction? A whole lot of people who live in Detroit will disagree with you.
posted by ofthestrait at 5:29 PM on February 12, 2011
Really? Robocop is cherished fiction? A whole lot of people who live in Detroit will disagree with you.
posted by ofthestrait at 5:29 PM on February 12, 2011
Well then they should drop it.
posted by adamdschneider at 9:51 PM on February 12, 2011
posted by adamdschneider at 9:51 PM on February 12, 2011
They should build a Robocop 2 statue, that thing was great.
Movie was awful, mind...
posted by Artw at 10:56 PM on February 12, 2011
Movie was awful, mind...
posted by Artw at 10:56 PM on February 12, 2011
Are there still seriously people who think Robocop is just a dumb action movie and don't see how it fits into the cyberpunk genre as a parody?
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:03 AM on February 13, 2011
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:03 AM on February 13, 2011
There's a lot of jokes at the expense of the American auto industry in Robocop (including the design of ED-209), I could see that not going down too well in Detroit.
posted by tomcooke at 8:01 AM on February 13, 2011
posted by tomcooke at 8:01 AM on February 13, 2011
There's a lot of jokes at the expense of the American auto industry in Robocop (including the design of ED-209), I could see that not going down too well in Detroit.
Having worked as tech support for different levels of General Motors, employees from plant floor to executives, I would hazard a guess that a lot of the jokes about the American auto industry come -from- Detroit.
posted by waxlight at 9:20 AM on February 13, 2011
Having worked as tech support for different levels of General Motors, employees from plant floor to executives, I would hazard a guess that a lot of the jokes about the American auto industry come -from- Detroit.
posted by waxlight at 9:20 AM on February 13, 2011
Really? Robocop is cherished fiction? A whole lot of people who live in Detroit will disagree with you.
I live in Detroit and think Robocop is awesome. Stop being such a stick in the mud. It's frickin' Robocop, not a documentary! +1
posted by fusinski at 11:23 AM on February 14, 2011
I live in Detroit and think Robocop is awesome. Stop being such a stick in the mud. It's frickin' Robocop, not a documentary! +1
posted by fusinski at 11:23 AM on February 14, 2011
Really? Robocop is cherished fiction?
Yeah, it is to me. Hell, some of the movies were filmed right in front of my old loft. I remember one day, I couldn't get home because the Robocop production was blowing shit up in the middle of the street, a half block from my front door. Watching the movie is like a visit back to Old Detroit, incarnated as 1987 Traction Avenue.
And let's not even get into the R3 story. I knew Frank Miller and he used some of my life events in the movie, I was shocked.
posted by charlie don't surf at 8:26 PM on February 14, 2011
Yeah, it is to me. Hell, some of the movies were filmed right in front of my old loft. I remember one day, I couldn't get home because the Robocop production was blowing shit up in the middle of the street, a half block from my front door. Watching the movie is like a visit back to Old Detroit, incarnated as 1987 Traction Avenue.
And let's not even get into the R3 story. I knew Frank Miller and he used some of my life events in the movie, I was shocked.
posted by charlie don't surf at 8:26 PM on February 14, 2011
According to the Detroit Free Press, the lion's share of the funding has come from OmniConsumer Products. For real.
posted by Uncle Ira at 8:06 AM on February 18, 2011
posted by Uncle Ira at 8:06 AM on February 18, 2011
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posted by Fizz at 5:52 AM on February 12, 2011