City envy: we want a Darth Vader statue like Odessa

What do you do with a statue of Lenin when your country passes a law saying all traces of its communist past should be removed? Make it carry an American flag? Not enough. Tear it down, then? How about turning it into Darth Vader? That'll do. And that's exactly what a resourceful artist in the Ukrainian city of Odessa has done to a Soviet-era tribute to the Russian revolutionary.

 

A photo posted by @johnnymarci on Oct 26, 2015 at 11:30am PDT

By adding a cape and helmet to the original monument, Alexander Milov transformed Lenin into a fairly decent likeness of the Sith lord (according to the artist, it's the world's first monument to Darth). The artwork, which is expected to become a site of pilgrimage for 'Star Wars' nuts, also emits free wi-fi - there's a router hidden under Lord Vader's helmet. May the bandwidth be with you...

 

A photo posted by Art-Sheep Magazine (@artsheep) on Oct 25, 2015 at 11:08am PDT

We also want a glow-in-the-dark skateboard like Liverpool and a chocolate Brewhouse like Melbourne.