Is “A-Jay” from Norway, who was the first to correctly guess that the monument I was thinking of was “The Motherland Calls,” in Volgograd, Russia. Seriously, that’s a badass statue, y’all.
A-Jay, send me your mailing address from the same e-mail address you used to comment from, and I’ll put your Redshirts ARC in the mail. Congrats!
And thanks, everyone not in the US who played.
[Deleted because Scorpius's need to make everything about politics is boring the shit out of me at the moment. Scorpius, fuck off for a bit, would you? Thanks -- JS]
Congratulations A-Jay. That is a bad ass statue. I don’t think I’ve seen a picture of it before.
Congrats, A-Jay!
Indeed, congrats!
And boy, is that some statue!
Congrats A-Jay… and damn… now I wanna see that statue in person.
Holey Moley. At first I thought, that’s kinda cool . . . then I saw the people at the bottom and realized it’s freaking huge. That really IS badass!
That’s an impressive statue! I admit that I hadn’t heard of it before. You learn something new every day!
I remember it from the Guinness Book of World Records, back when I was in the age range to be utterly fascinated by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Wow, that thing is friggin’ HUGE! Also, it looks like it could spring to life at any moment to deliver vengeance to the Motherland’s enemies. Makes me wanna visit Volgograd and give obeisance to our mighty statue overlord.
Gee, John, didn’t you know you’re only supposed to pick good, wholesome American monuments?
If anyone needs me, I’m going to be over here in awe of that statue.
Congrats to A-Jay though!
Congratulations A-Jay. However, if you want a truly kick-ass statue the dog on the tuckerbox wins every time
http://www.dogonthetuckerbox.com/
Really. No comparison.
I never would have guessed that. Would love to see it, though.
Man, never mind the awesome artwork, that is one serious feat of engineering. How did I make it to age 44 without hearing of this statue? Thanks for the enculturation, John. And congrats to A-Jay!
Well, if you had given me 40 tries, I probably wouldn’t have thought of that one.
Sweeeeeet!!!
She looks ready to kick some Nazi ass!
I can’t believe I’ve read whole WWII history book chapters about Stalingrad and never heard of this badass babe. Hope they get it righted before it topples.
Well damn! That’s a statue and a half. Totally awesome. The Russians know how to build a monument that gets your attention.
This. Is. Beautiful.
WOW. This is the embodiment of such grace and strength of spirit…
I really do want to see this in person now. .
big…. yellow…
Holy crap! Is that made out of concrete?
Well done A-Jay, and that is an incredible statue! I’m mildly embarrassed I didn’t know of it, and this is almost cancelled out by the fact that that means I couldn’t have won the comp anyway:).
So what was in your mind with hint 3 – “The monument itself is not something meant for humans to live in.”? Even now knowing the answer, I am struggling with how that was supposed to help, particularly with the italics – or was it pure misdirection?
Marek, it meant that it was possible that the monument could be attached to some place people live — for example, one of those large Buddha statues near or at a monastery.
Huh, I’da guessed Mother of the Fatherland statue in Kiev. Pretty striking similarity to my recollection (though granted I saw it 17 years ago). Apparently today it’s pretty strongly despised by the people who actually live there.
So what made you think of that?
Wow, great!
Although I can’t find your e-mail anywhere John Scalzi. Where am I supposed to contact you? :)
Duh, now I found it… Sending an e-mail now.
JD: I just happened to come across this while researching the Jesus statue in Rio and though it looked so awesome I just had to post that one. :p
I had never seen that statue before. It is, if fact, a badass statue.