February 16th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^
i work for dick jones
DICK JONES!
February 16th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
Dick Jones runs the cops! You're a COP!!!!!
February 16th, 2011 at 2:40 PM ^
neg away...
this might be one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard.
edit: maybe I should clarify. art, yes please. robocop, no thank you. Detroit needs some serious renovation and sprucing up, but not with one of the worst movies ever made.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:46 PM ^
Why anyone thinks it's a good idea for a city that is trying desperately to change its image to pay tribute to a movie that portrayed that city as an uninhabitable piece of shit is completely beyond me. This sounded like a stupid joke when I first heard about it a few weeks ago. Now, I can only wonder if there are actually people out there willing to drop $50k to keep the joke alive.
No one actually likes this idea, do they?
February 16th, 2011 at 2:48 PM ^
I completely agree.
The city does need to change its image, however, this is not the way to go about it.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
So what exactly should the city do? Deny private citizens the right to put up a statue on their own land?
February 16th, 2011 at 2:58 PM ^
I said nothing about denying citizens the right to do anything. I didn't say it shouldn't be allowed. I said its a terrible idea for a statue. One that makes a mockery of Detroit.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:07 PM ^
Whereas that property's current abandoned, weed-infested state doesn't make a mockery of Detroit? Pretty much any proposal that makes use of the city's endless amounts of vacant land is a good thing. Tackiness > vacancy.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
You are correct, in my opinon Tackiness > Vacancy.
But you know what. Vacancy > Tackiness + Vacancy.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:35 PM ^
Tackiness plus vacancy is still better than plain vacancy. (Case in point: the Heidelberg Project.) If it results in even a very modest amount of foot traffic to that area, that's something.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:25 PM ^
yes. and its funny. and its funny. and its funny. droves of people will visit the statue and it will exponentially increase tourism revenue in detroit and we'll all be rich soon.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^
You have distilled my argument to its very core. Bravo.
As long as no realistic alternative use for this land exists, there is no plausible argument against this.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^
That there are "no plausible arguments against this" doesn't change the fact that the idea is remarkably stupid.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:46 PM ^
sorry dad, we'll take the robocop statue down now and go to our rooms.
February 17th, 2011 at 10:15 AM ^
Or are you assuming that this endless amount of vacant land would be used for a statue? Most of that vacant land are in neighborhoods and not a place where's you place a statue, especially since the city is trying to buy up as much vacant land as possible for other uses.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:32 PM ^
you are failing all throughout this thread. Are you seriously trying to say that the government can't (or, at a minimum, shouldn't) regulate how people use their property?
February 16th, 2011 at 5:06 PM ^
Read the article, dude!
The proposed location is NOT Central Station. That is their location of last resort. The proposed locations are downtown, near Comerica Park. That is not "Vacancy". That is in the middle of the little vibrancy the city has.
This point, your ignorance of the ideas genesis (a computer programmer in Boston, not Detroiters, as you say) suggest that you have a small enough basis of knowledge on the issue to prevent you from uttering another word.
At least, read the linked article before posting 27 times on this thread about how wrong everyone else is - everything you've said is verifiably false at worst, a distortion of facts at best.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
Would 50K people buy that for a dollar?
Edit: Yes.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:20 PM ^
you guys are missing the point that robocop is bad ass. and it's funny.
also, nobody is "dropping 50K" people donated for the most part in small increments under $35. that's like, going out to dinner one night. id rather have a robocop statue and miss shrimp scampi one time then no robocop statue.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^
the movie was an extremely cynical budget production, full of lurid murder and (okay) really kind of fun BUT the last thing--down to its inference of police corruption--that I want to associate the city where I was born with. The whole endeavor smacks of a desperate clutching at straws. . . make a damned statue to Detroit's survivors, or people doing great things there now, not some p.o.s. movie.
February 16th, 2011 at 7:32 PM ^
its like the anti-Rocky statue.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:48 PM ^
If the city were spending its own funds to build it, I'd agree, but the money is being privately raised. If there are people willing to make a pilgrimmage to Detroit to see a statue, that's a good thing. And the statue's proposed location (near the old Michigan Central Station) might actually spur people to do something about that building.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
I can see that too. But, I just can't fathom any rational person driving any great distance or making a pilgrimmage to see a statue of robocop.
Again, this is just one man's opinion.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:57 PM ^
People will do all sorts of weird things in their spare time.
The bottom line is that Detroit has way, way too much vacant land that's just sitting there growing weeds. Anything that makes use of this land is pretty much better than the status quo - especially if the city doesn't have to pay for it.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:02 PM ^
Fine, I will make a pilgrimage to Detroit to see the Robocop statue (and family). Then again, I am not to be confused with rational...
February 18th, 2011 at 1:20 AM ^
Next time I'm in Michigan I'm taking a side trip for pictures.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^
It's gonna be right near Slow's BBQ. I'd travel to have some Slow's.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
I can't fathom any rational person donating $25,000 to build a statue of Robocop in Detroit either, but someone has. I personally think it's hilarious, and any publicity is good publicity for the city. As mentioned before, it was done with private funds and will likely bring some sort of attention to the city, that can only be a good thing. If it was done with city funds or replacing something else, I'd be against it, but it isn't.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^
it says that the real life company that was in the fictitious movie donated the money so it's not COMPLETELY RANDOM that they did that.
but anyway, I'm gonna watch Robocop now. all this Robocop talk has me excited!!!!
February 16th, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
It was all people clicking on an online button to pledge money. I'll be interested to see how much they actually collect(I'm guessing no more than $5k.)
February 16th, 2011 at 2:58 PM ^
There are plenty of freaks out there willing to pay. That won't be a problem.
February 17th, 2011 at 11:50 AM ^
When you donate using Kickstarter, which they used, you have to commit to the money via Paypal. As I understand it, the money is collected and as long as the project hits its goal, forwarded to the planner.
February 16th, 2011 at 5:50 PM ^
If they have the balls to put the statue in the Detroit's most crime plagued neighborhood and then that manages to attract tourists then...yeah, sure, why not? I'm all for it. Otherwise I think it's just a dumb fucking idea.
On a tangent, when I used to live in Boston, there were some girls visiting who were huge fans of the current boy bands. This was around 2000. So I told them they should make the pilgrimage down to South Boston to see the statue of the New Kids on the Block who, of course, are a legendary boy band. Surprisingly, the girls didn't catch on that I was BSing them and they spent the evening asking people at the bar how to find the statue. Somehow eventually clued them in but it was pretty funny for a while.
With that in mind, maybe Detroit should not build the Robocop statue but, you know, just say that they did. Anything to keep the tourists in town, right?
February 16th, 2011 at 2:53 PM ^
I'm not going to neg you for your taste in movies, but Robocop is far from being in the realm of the worst movies ever made. The sequels were terrible but the first movie is actually good, and I'm not the only one to think so (88% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.6 on IMDB).
February 16th, 2011 at 3:24 PM ^
The first is actually one of the better science fitcion movies ever made. It's even better now that I recognize the ruthless Detroit crime boss as Red from That 70's Show. Part 2 is awful, but it still has entertainment value. Anybody know where I can get some Nuke around campus?
February 16th, 2011 at 3:10 PM ^
I will feel much safer walking the D with the Robocop Statue around
February 16th, 2011 at 6:30 PM ^
This is nothing an ED-209 can't solve...
BTW, you have 20 seconds to comply....
February 17th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^
I won't neg you becuase its an honest opinion, but I neg you in spirit. Quirky culutral tokens are pretty central to healthy communities, and how many geeks now will consider visiting the D to see a ridiculous statute, bring tourism money, and many consider a job when offered by the new battery industry?
February 17th, 2011 at 11:55 AM ^
Ask the people of Winslow, AZ about their statue of Jackson Browne standin on a corner.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:49 PM ^
You also have to name your first kid Murphy because that was Robocop's name
February 16th, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
Grocery store yes......Robocop...........no , find the person that pitched this idea and......well, fire his ass.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^
The people who "pitched this idea" are private citizens proposing to build a statue on their own property. Kind of hard to fire them.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:59 PM ^
The person who pitched this is a blogger in Massachussets. This is people failing to realize that irony is only funny in the abstract - like "Jessie Ventura for mayor!" not in reality - like "Jessie Ventura is mayor :("
February 16th, 2011 at 5:53 PM ^
...but I believe that it is Governor Ventura. Unless, of course, you thought he was a good governor are actually poking fun at his time in Brooklyn Park.
February 17th, 2011 at 8:33 AM ^
Massive fail on my part. Neg accordingly.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:37 PM ^
good thing you decided to comment before knowing anything about what's being talked about.
and anybody that thinks it's wasteful should to go to kickstarter.com and raise money for the good people in detroit. there's nothing stopping you from doing that.
February 16th, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
Hey we're not Cali or NY. We take what we can in the D!
Why the hell not!
February 16th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^
Here's to hoping New York gets their Cloverfield statue!