In the US, a billionaire has placed two statues of the Transformers in front of his terraced house. Since January 2021, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee have been guarding the home of Dr. Newton Howard. Neighbors don’t think it’s funny, but the billionaire threatens to sue if permission is denied to display the statues.
What are these statues? The statues are metal replicas of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. They weigh 1,814 kilograms. The statues were made from recycled motorcycle and car parts by an unknown artist.
The two Transformers were placed in January 2021, replacing two grow boxes that used to be there. There are more robot statues in the house.
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Who does something like that? dr Newton Howard is a Professor of Neurosurgery at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Among other things, he researches cures for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and has earned billions of US dollars through patents and investments.
Billionaire says: He is a man of transformation, his house a place of transformation
Why does he do this? Howard says his work with artificial intelligence and prosthetic tech inspired him to put the two Transformers in front of his house. He is a man of transformation. The statues said: transform yourself, your environment, the community.
In an interview he explained:
They represent the coalition of humans and machines working together in harmony but in different entities. We make robotic and prosthetic arms and all those things to compensate for damage. That doesn’t make us robots.
In short, he does it because he can.
Neighbors are up in arms – Say the statues attract the wrong people
What is the problem? Some neighbors don’t appreciate the fact that pop culture giants can be seen in their ritzy part of Washington. Homes here are worth millions of dollars each. Apparently they find the statues trashy. Think they’re messing up the neighborhood and driving down the price of real estate. They think it’s an ego tour by Howard to put the statues on the sidewalk, which belongs to the whole community.
In addition, people regularly gather in front of the robots to take photos, for example for selfies on Instagram.
A spokesman for a neighborhood group says:
We have motorcycle gangs that show up and block the road to take photos. We have tourist buses. Take your pick, we’ve got it. We can’t walk on our sidewalks. People yell and spit at us if we don’t stop when they want to take a selfie. “Disturbing” is another nice word for what we have had to endure here for the past 27 months.
Does anyone else like the statues? Yes indeed. Apparently the students at the university are into Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. A spokesman for the committee says it has to be admitted that not all neighbors find the statues so disturbing.
All the students at the university who live across the street consider the Transformers “of public importance”.
Statues are modern art, they were allowed to stay – but now it’s going to court
How is the situation? Howard says the statues are now being accepted by more and more people and he is working on putting up 16 more Transformers sculptures in the city.
Apparently he had meanwhile prevailed with the help of a consulting firm in 2022. The consultants argued: The statues were modern art symbolizing the concept of “transformation.”
The neighborhood board had allowed the statues on the condition that the billionaire would reapply every 6 months.
More recently, in April 2023, the board did not give approval. Howard then announced that he would go to court. He didn’t even know that a vote had even taken place. The statues are part of his right to freedom of expression. They would also help the environment because they are made from recycled material.
Who likes the Transformers:
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