After fifteen years of planning, Detroit has unveiled its RoboCop statue, placing it in a popular public market.
A 3,500-pound bronze statue was placed in Eastern Market on Wednesday, December 3rd. Located on Russell Street, just south of Mack Avenue, the sculpture sits on a 1,500-pound base and was created by sculptor George Gikas and his team at Venus Bronze Works.
The recent installation concludes a decade-long project that started in 2011. Detroit filmmaker and designer Brandon Walley, along with the arts group Imagination Station, initially funded the idea through a Kickstarter campaign. They raised over $67,000, with almost $60,000 specifically used to create an 11-foot-tall replica.
It feels amazing – a real mix of triumph and relief,” Walley explained. “We’re thrilled about what this statue will mean for the city and the people of Detroit, and we’re excited to see how it impacts the area.
How the RoboCop statue came to life
The 1987 film RoboCop, about a cyborg police officer safeguarding a futuristic Detroit, turned the character into a pop culture sensation. Surprisingly, the idea for a statue honoring the film didn’t come from Detroit itself. It began with a fan tweeting then-Mayor Dave Bing, despite the movie being filmed primarily in Dallas and portraying a dark, fictionalized city.
A tweet jokingly suggested that RoboCop could beat Rocky in a fight and that RoboCop is a great symbol for Detroit, referencing the statue of Rocky in Philadelphia. Although the mayor wasn’t interested, the idea resonated with a group led by Walley, who then launched a crowdfunding campaign to make it happen.
Gikas accepted $65,000 to create the statue and finished it even though the project ended up costing him more than he earned. The sculpture is now installed at Eastern Market, marking the end of a long process that involved years of planning, creation, and overcoming challenges.
In March 2025, a Chinese province began using a police robot for patrols, bringing the fictional ‘RoboCop’ concept closer to reality.
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2025-12-04 19:48