Honestly, why even buy a house if you're not going to do stuff like this? Designer Darrell Toland erected a giant sculpture of the robot from Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Castle in the Sky in his front yard in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. This has to be one of my favorite breeds of roadside attraction: compulsive creation for the hell of it, no financial compensation required. And while the sculpture is free for one and all to admire, neighbors have taken to leaving tokens of appreciation in the Laputa robot's outstretched hand, many of which are catalogued on the Castle in the Sky Robot Tumblr.
If you have any other questions, Toland's Tumblr has answers.
Why?
Because it's cool.
What's it made out of?
It's a fiberglass and styrene shell on a steel and foam frame. The pedestal is 3500 lbs of steel reinforced concrete and was a bugger to pour by hand.
Does it move?
Only at night. It walks around the neighborhood, peering into windows and checking to see if children are asleep. If not, it reaches in and grabs them and takes them away. Hahahahahahahah! Just Kidding! (maybe) It has lights and sounds like in the film tho.
