Rocky Balboa Statue: Philadelphia

Recently my 13 year old son asked if we could watch Rocky. I was surprised but said, Sure! So long story short, the whole family including my 11 year old boy and my wife, all fell in love with The Italian Stallion. In a matter of 3 weeks, we watched all 5 original movies, went on a pilgrimage to Philadelphia (ran up the Art Musuem, or “Rocky”, steps got our requisite pics taken with the statue, visited Mighty Mick’s Gym, etc)- Then we came back home, watched ‘Rocky Balboa’ and all 3 Creed films. We bought the soundtracks, my younger son is gonna be Rocky for Halloween, both boys have drawings of Rocky on the refrigerator and now, well, this :)

A few things to note about these movies, which apparently are still very much a part of American Pop Culture (if you can judge by the number of years since the film was made as compared to the substantial number of people I saw running up those iconic steps and queuing up for their photo op with the Rocky statue just a few short weeks ago).

One, is how wholesome the movies are. I mean despite the violence inherent in boxing, remarkably these movies are not about violence. There’s a tenderness to them. If anything these films are about heart and life and survival and love.

Two, is how timeless they are. Since they deal with the human condition and humans are essentially the same, these movies still resonated with me after decades since first seeing them and they resonated with my children, so much so that Rocky Balboa as mentioned previously is currently on my fridge.

And Three, is how great they are! The writing, the acting, the MUSIC! Oh man, these films are works of art! Truly theses are Classics.

About the build; as a relatively new Lego creator, but a lifetime artist, I feel like I’m still getting acquainted with the medium . Like painting, which has long been my primary medium, my style is very much informed by my process. I need to touch the Lego bricks in order to create. It’s a process of tinkering and trying different pieces- the only issue inherent with that process and this medium is you need to have a LOT of bricks on hand! Which presents all sorts of other issues, such as cost and space and organization. For instance the dark blue forearm is because I couldn’t find that piece in black! It looks cool tho so I left it… That said, this build came out EXACTLY like I wanted it to. This will have a forever home on my shelf for my family to commemorate our brief but total obsession with this underdog, southpaw, Legend; Rocky Balboa. I can only hope that others feel the same and support this idea.

*A note on the sticker: I think that having a replica of the actual plaque in custom sticker form really completes the build and I thank my wife for her PowerPoint skills in getting the job done!

Thank you all for sharing and for your support!