GEEKPR0N visits Ankara; Home of the Giant Robot Statue
I touched down in the Turkish town of Ankara. This place, despite being a den of interest to the internet news, still retained the civility of any other humble home. As my cab drove me to city hall I convinced him to pass by the object of interest at the Atatürk Forest Farm.
Like a silent sentinel of hubris.
I stared at it long and hard from my seat before urging the driver to city hall (or asking if he smoked goat, my Turkish is terrible). I arrived and entered, quickly escorted through the building to the mayor’s office. There I saw the man in question: Melih Gökçek, Ankara’s mayor and the man responsible for the giant robot. He stood looking out the window, staring in the distance in what I could only assume was the direction of his now world-famous blunder.
“Have you come here to interview me, American? Interview the mad mayor about his ‘Transformer’?” he asked, not looking at me.
“I’m no American sir and that’s no Transformer. That’s clearly a Zaku I with the wrong right shoulder and a distorted face.”
Seriously! How hard is it to tell them apart?
Gökçek looked over at me, astonished. I put my bag down and continued to speak. “They made the commander fin look like a Mohawk. What kind of assholes did you hire for this job?” He walked over to me and we embraced as brothers. “Lalah Sune is my waifu too sir and Quess is a bitch.” I felt tears touch my shoulder but said nothing.
Later we sat and spoke on the subject as fellow Gundam fans.
“So why a Zaku sir?” I asked.
“It was supposed to be part of the whole park project. I wanted to have around twenty different Gundam mechs up.”
“Your AnkaPark project? Would I be out of line in assuming you were planning on creating famous scenes from Gundam?” Gökçek nodded.
“The whole thing was going to be an image of A Baoa Qu and would have the final statue be… well I imagine you can guess.”
“Amuro’s last shot against Char’s Zeong. A bold move.”
“Thank you. But now this lawsuit and the international shame will ensure that my project will never see the light of day. I don’t think my statue will remain where it is by year’s end.” Gökçek rose and walked over to stare back out at the window. “I fear, despite my years of service, this great shame will sit upon my memory forever.” I got up and walked over to stand next to Gökçek.
“It was a bold idea sir, beautiful and faithful. Tomino would loved it… except for one thing.” I said.
“What might that be?” asked Gökçek.
“To do something on this scale and not consider the people… that is akin to what Char did during the Char’s Counterattack movie.” Gökçek smiled.
“Why do you think the first statue I erected was a Zaku, my lad? Char is the man.” He paused and looked at me. “Promise me lad, promise me you’ll tell my tale truthfully to those who would listen. Let me not be lost in a sea of idiots who call themselves Geek News but can’t tell the different between a Zaku and a Transformer.”
“I will sir. I swear it.” With that I left with only the gaze of a fellow Gundam fan, and the shadow of a shitty looking Zaku to see me on my way.
