Yonks ago, I used to read these comics by Marvel called “What If”. The premise of the stories are how things would be if there were different circumstances, for example… “What if Spiderman Joined the Fantastic Four?”. DC comics also had a similar series titled “Elseworlds” in which they looked at things like what if Superman grew up in the Soviet Union and succeeded Stalin. All the stories had familiar faces and places, but there will be a twist and the story will look at how things could have happen in such circumstances.
It was a fun, light read.. made me wonder on how a lot of things would have happened under different circumstances. In this spirit, I’m going to present to you my own “What If” series…
After I saw Transformers 2, a film about giant alien robots fighting each other and Her Royal Hotness Megan Fox, a thought struck me.
What if KL is a Transformer?
OK, if KL was going to transform itself into a giant robot, We have to just assume that the KL Transformer can just take bits of KL here, some bits of KL there to make it’s giant robot form. It doesn’t have to be places next to each other coz if I needed to look for places and buildings that are next to each other, my head will explode and we wouldn’t want that do we?
Now we have that out of the way, let’s try to think rationally through this very important question.
The head: This is an easy one. The head has to house it’s brains and what more can be more appropriate than the National Library? I dropped by the National Library a few months back to do some research and I was pleased with the amount of local references and books there. And it only cost you RM2 to be a member! And to top it of, the design of the building is based on a ‘tengkolok’, an old school head gear for the Malays.
Body: I needed something strong, to be the spine of the robot. Options run from the spiritual such as mosques and temples and commercial buildings. But I think I’ll settle down for the Bank Negara building. Our national bank issues out money dammit! It’s like.. “ooo, I think I need RM50million tomorrow, let’s call the printers and tell them to print a bunch”. You can’t get any more powerful than that!
Hands: Hands are used to pull and carry things (among other things). I view the robot hands as a metaphor, the pulling and pushing and cajoling of the country’s prosperity via corporate and commercial entities.. These are the big companies that employ hundreds of thousands of people and produce goods that we all need.
Legs: This was much easier. I wanted something that is solid, a figurative base to the robot. I chose the KLCC building as Petronas is the custodian of our nation’s oil reserves, and the the wealth generated by oil goes back into to the people, making it the base of the nation (I’m reaching, am I?)
And thus, KL Transformer v1 is complete!
Pro graphic for people who don't like to read "What If... KL is a Transformer"
Filed under: What If?, Blog4FT, KL, KLCC, Menara KL, Menara Maybank, Menara TM, Transformer
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