Iconic Sci-Fi & Cult Statues From Around The World - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

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Iconic Sci-Fi & Cult Statues From Around The World

Statues though...


Statues! Who would've thought that whilst the world burns against a backdrop of racial injustice, poverty and pandemic, and whilst the death rate continues to soar in some of the most developed countries in the world, government's would prioritse the protection of slabs of old marble over that of their own citizens. 2020, amiright?

The whole situation might be best summed up by Cold War Steve in one of his equal parts satirical/wonderful/horrific montage of images...




As Winston Churchill gets more PPE than any NHS worker is ever likely to see in their lifetime, and Boris Johnson pledges to defend the London monument to Churchill with "every breath in my body" (which, presumably, isn't much given the *supposed* bout of Covid-19 he's still recovering from and seeing him only working one day a week because of) and arguments about justifying keeping the many huge monuments to some of the worst slave traders continue (as a distraction from the real issues), we've rounded up some statues that just might actually be worth protecting. Statues which aren't erected to someone who trafficked 80,000 men, women and children into a life of slavery. Statues which don't belong in the bottom of Bristol docks. Statues that we can all geek out over...


Superman
Let's face it, what other statue would be erected in the U.S. town of Metropolis, Illinois? It could only be one honouring Krypton's famous son and fictional Metropolis resident, Superman.

After an official decree (Resolution Number 572) from the Illinois House of Representatives, Metropolis, Illinois, officially became the “Hometown of Superman” on June 9, 1972 . Fourteen years later, the first incarnation of the Superman Statue was erected, then in 1993, after over $100,000 was raised, a new, substantially bigger (15-foot!) version replaced the old.

It sits opposite The Super Museum. Naturally.


Sherlock Holmes
Unveiled on 23 September 1999, the 3-metre-high (9.8 ft) statue depicts Holmes wearing an Inverness cape and a deerstalker and holding a pipe, attributes first given to him by Sidney Paget, the illustrator of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories for The Strand Magazine.

It can be found in London, U.K. but as no site was available on Baker Street itself, the statue is located outside Baker Street tube station on Marylebone Road, near both the detective's fictional home at 221B Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes Museum between numbers 237 and 241.

The statue is the work of John Doubleday who had previously produced a different statue of Holmes for the town of Meiringen in Switzerland...


This statue to the great detective above is located below the Reichenbach Falls whence Holmes fell to his apparent death in the story "The Final Problem".

From The Final Problem to the Final Frontier...


U.S.S. Enterprise
In another case of 'town name leading to geeky statue', take yourself a trip to Vulcan in Southern Alberta, Canada, which is unsurprisingly known as the "Official Star Trek Capital of Canada", and you'll find a tourism building made to look like a landed space station and many Star Trek themed attractions including the statue above of the original series U.S.S. Enterprise.

Those eagle eyes of yours may have spotted that the Vulcan Enterprise has a different code adorning the underside of the saucer section. Vulcan's Starship carries the branding FX6-1995 after Vulcan Airport's designation CFX6 and the year it was unveiled.


Optimus Prime
Standing at 32 feet (10 meters) high and made from old car parts you can find this giant Transformers statue honouring the leader of the Autobots in Beijing, China. Optimus Prime was built for the 2010 Olympics and, as far as we know, does not transform into a cab-over semi-truck. Although with the way 2020 is going its only a matter of time before the inevitable alien invasion comes and we could do with a hero like him on our side.

Talking of alien invasions...


Tripod from The War Of The Worlds 
Now fair enough. There's an argument to be made that a statue to the Martian Tripod which, after making landfall at nearby Horsell Common, undertook the systematic annihilation of the human race, might be a tad problematic.

But, y'know, work of fiction and all that.

Erected in the centre of Woking, England, standing seven metres high, made from chrome electropolished stainless steel, and based on H.G. Wells literary creation The War Of The Worlds, the Tripod statue was unveiled in 1998 by none other than TV boffin and rhinoplasty enthusiast Carol Vorderman (I have no idea why either?). There are even some red weed paving slabs below and a nearby sign that reads,
“Woking: where modern science fiction took off”.
Now there's an advertising slogan for you.


Yoda
A Yoda statue sits on the top of a fountain at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in Presidio, San Francisco, and has recently been adorned with some wise words from the legendary Jedi Master...


As the diminutive wise one may have said...
Do or do not stand against racial prejudice.
There is no try.

...because removing statues of people who are responsible for heinous acts of racism, regardless of whatever 'greatness' they may have achieved, is not "Photoshopping history", rather a small step in the right direction towards a more tolerant, equal future for all.

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