DETROIT -- RoboCop has finally found a permanent home in Detroit.A statue looming 11 feet tall (3.3 meters) and weighing 3,500 pounds (1,587 kilograms) began standing guard over the Motor City on Wednesday afternoon.“It was snowstorm, dark and below 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-1.1 degree Celsius) and there was a steady stream of people driving by,” after it was erected, said Jim Toscano, co-owner of the FREE AGE film production company where the bronze-cast statue now stands bolted into a concrete patio.“You can walk right up to and walk all the way around it.”It took about 15 years before the idea finally found a home, and almost four decades since the popular science fiction film “RoboCop” hit theaters in 1987.Set in what was supposed to be the near-future, it portrayed Detroit as crime-ridden and poorly protected by a beleaguered and outgunned police force, until actor Peter Weller appeared as a nearly invincible cyborg, created by a nefarious corporation that was bent on privatizing policing.“RoboCop” developed a cult following, spawning two sequels and a reboot.A statue campaign appears to have started around 2010 when Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was tagged in a tweet that noted Philadelphia's statue of boxer Rocky Balboa and said RoboCop would be a “GREAT ambassador for Detroit.” Bing tweeted back, saying there were no such plans.
But some Detroiters ran with the idea, crowdfunding it through a 2012 Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $67,000 from more than 2,700 backers worldwide, and Detroit sculptor Giorgio Gikas finished the statue in 2017.Then, it got stuck, stored away from public view.Popular ReadsTrump admin live updates: Trump pardons former entertainment exec indicted by own DOJDec 4, 6:23 AMFamily of fisherman killed in US boat strike files complaint alleging he was murderedDec 3, 5:08 AMTeen on cruise ship possibly died by asphyxiation resulting from bar hold: SourceNov 21, 2:20 PMThe Michigan Science Center in Detroit ult...