x

Science

Detroit Science Center No Longer Planning for RoboCop Statue

DETROIT (AP) — The largest fictional keeper of law and order in Detroit may not stand watch at one Motor City museum as planned.

The Michigan Science Center announced Wednesday that it no longer plans to be home to an 11-foot-tall bronze RoboCop statue, The Detroit News reported.

Due to “unprecedented pressures” from the coronavirus pandemic, “resources must now be entirely focused on our core mission of serving Michigan’s students and families,” the center said in a statement.

The 1987 film “RoboCop” was set — but not filmed — in a futuristic and crime-ridden Detroit. The title character, a cyborg police officer, was played by actor Peter Weller.

The statue was crowdfunded through a Kickstarter campaign. Organizers wrote last year that the stainless-steel base weighed half a ton.

The idea for the statue appears to have started about a decade ago when a Twitter user, who tagged then-Detroit Mayor Dave Bing in a tweet, noted that Philadelphia has a statue of another movie icon, boxer Rocky Balboa, and that RoboCop would be a “GREAT ambassador for Detroit.”

Bing tweeted back, saying there were no plans in Detroit for a statue of RoboCop. But Detroiters Brandon Walley, a filmmaker, and Jerry Paffendorf, co-founder and CEO at Loveland Technologies, ran with the idea, envisioning it as a tourist attraction.

The campaign that launched in 2012 raised $67,436 from more than 2,700 backers worldwide. The statue was created by Detroit sculptor Giorgio Gikas.

The group behind the statue now is seeking a new location, according to The Detroit News.

RELATED

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — More than 100 long-finned pilot whales that beached on the western Australian coast Thursday have returned to sea, while 29 died on the shore, officials said.

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.

Video

Over 100 Pilot Whales Beached on Western Australian Coast Have Been Rescued, Officials Say

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — More than 100 long-finned pilot whales that beached on the western Australian coast Thursday have returned to sea, while 29 died on the shore, officials said.

BAYSIDE, NY – Daughters of Penelope (DOP) Ilion Chapter 135 continues to keep the light shining bright within.

NEW YORK – Mike Labatos, AHEPA District 6 Lt.

Cretans are known for loving their guns but the island has the dubious record of having the highest rates of suicide in Greece over the last 25 years, averaging 2.

ATHENS - Forgetting the 2010-18 economic and austerity crisis that saw people so desperate they were picking food out of rubbish and supermarket bins, Greeks are among the European countries with the ignominious title of food wasters.

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.