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Detroit mayor: 'No RoboCop statue'; Geeks: 'Grrr'

Mayor of Motor City seemingly rules out statue of RoboCop as way to revitalize city. The Twittering and Facebooking masses disagree.

Matt Hickey
With more than 15 years experience testing hardware (and being obsessed with it), Crave freelance writer Matt Hickey can tell the good gadgets from the great. He also has a keen eye for future technology trends. Matt has blogged for publications including TechCrunch, CrunchGear, and most recently, Gizmodo. Matt is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. E-mail Matt.
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Matt Hickey
2 min read

Even Seattle has a Jimi Hendrix statue. Twitter/Matt Hickey

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has shot down on Twitter an idea for the last remaining thing that would have gotten me to visit that city again. He said there are no plans to erect a statue of RoboCop.

RoboCop, of course, is the titular character in one of the greatest films of all time. Set in postindustrial Detroit, the movie presents the half-man half-bot police officer as a fighter for truth and justice--even if it means going above the law (and other cliches).

It's an iconic film that could be considered a pinnacle of the ultraviolent action cinema of the '80s. And it was directed by the great Paul Verhoeven, the mastermind behind "Showgirls" (go on, I dare you to dis "Showgirls"); "Starship Troopers;" and "Basic Instinct." There's nothing he's done that's bad, and "RoboCop" is perhaps his finest work.

Bing had asked the people of the Internet for ideas on how to help with the city's revival. A user, @MT, suggested the statue, as Philly has one of Rocky. A RoboCop statue, @MT posits, would "kick Rocky's butt." I tend to agree.

Sadly, Bing doesn't appear to. His response was "There are not any plans to erect a statue to Robocop [sic]. Thank you for your suggestion." Twitter, predictably, went crazy with tweets and retweets by those in support of just such a statue. I am now one of them.

"Duh. Of course Detroit should get a Robocop statue," wrote one Twitter user. Said another: "The Robocop statue in Detroit should be at least double the size of the Statue of Liberty." There is also a Facebook group, almost 1,300 strong as of this writing, in favor of a RoboCop statue in downtown Detroit.

Mayor Bing, I am among those who can think of no better symbol for the revival of Detroit than the badass part-robo, all-cop who helped bring order to a crime-ridden Detroit in an epic film. Please reconsider.