Giant elephant
Posted Jul 18, 2011, 5:32 AM UTC
971187
51
Strangely enough, my friend was telling me about this just the other day! Apparently, images really don't do it justice - the way it moves and the sheer size of it is, even now, a massive feat of engineering.
19
Its true, I saw it when I was in Nantes and it's amazing
2
Saw it in Amiens, but there was topless bellydancers on top... Really sealed the deal for me...
1
The elephant no longer exists: Helen Marriage of Artichoke, the company that produced the London performance, said "Royal de Luxe were so fed up with being invited all over the world to perform The Sultan's Elephant, they just destroyed it."
wat
15
Seriously, if you don't want to perform with it stick it behind glass somewhere, don't DESTORY the thing!! When I read that, I was all jackieeeee
Though someone did build a new (but less cooler one) and that still exists.
14
That really sucks. Let's destroy the thing everyone wants to see. Make sense? They should have donated it.
3
This is not true. The elephant still exists, this is one of the main attraction of Nantes (France), and you can ride it everyday. Awesome :) http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/elephant.html
3
"The elephant no longer exists: Helen Marriage of Artichoke, the company that produced the London performance, said "Royal de Luxe were so fed up with being invited all over the world to perform The Sultan's Elephant, they just destroyed it."[3]
A replica of the elephant was built in Nantes (France) in 2007, as part of the Machines of the Isle of Nantes permanent exhibition.[4] It is 20 feet tall."
From the wikipedia article linked earlier.. :)
8
They still have both of them, the one that stays in nantes and the one they take on tour.
They may turn down show with the elephant seeing as they've moved on to the giant diver but I doubt it would be destroyed
1
I saw the elephant about a week ago...
2
That just pisses me off. I was watching it move with amazement...an engineering degree with a minor in art?
1
they could have sold it at the very least, I'm sure a theme park or zoo would've paid a shit load for it.
1
Thats terrible, should have sold it to some burners and had it displayed each year at burningman
1
I took this photo in 2007 while I was travelling around France on a motorcycle. It was raining that day but the rain stopped a few minutes before the elephant came out. It squirted me as it went past. If you look near the back wheel, just near that rock, you can see my bike.
3
That's really cool...
2
Yes, it is ! I live in the city where they made it ! It's a french city called Nantes. About a month ago the professional company (Royal Deluxe) who made this, gave a big show in the streets whith giant puppets !!
2
[deleted]
1
Wow! I dreamt of this when I was a kid. I mean, I woke up from a dream of something exactly like this. A HUGE mechanized elephant in which people could sit and ride, controlled by a driver. I remembered that dream very vividly when I woke up. Had not thought it for many years, until I saw this picture.
1
Tim Burton's "Dumbo".
30
If that thing was to fly over my head at a circus, I'd be fucking terrified
10
I would be as well, because it is a wheeled vehicle, so going over you means crushing you to death.
4
especially if it has no trunk and ears.
2
So it's time for burning man already huh?
20
I thought the same thing at first. It definitely looks like an art car.
6
[deleted]
1
This is a beautiful machine. It was created by Royal de Luxe. The Elephant and many pieces of their collection are now permanent residents of the city of Nantes, France. The permanent exposition is called Les Machines de L'île, or "The Island's Machines".
I used to live there, and that's a pretty awesome attraction. If you go there, you should definitely check it out.
16
I lived in Nantes for 3 years too, the exposition is really impressive. Nantes is such a beautiful city, I miss it :(
4
If you people think this is cool in a steampunky sort of way, you need to check out this. It's from Scott Westerfield's steampunk series Leviathan, a steampunk epic set in alternative WW1
11
THIS. It's honestly the first thing i thought of when I saw it. Keith Thompson, the man who drew this, is one of my favourite illustrators. http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/dauntless.html Here is a better picture of it from his gallery. (also goliath illustrations if you want to spoil yourself)
7
Yep, I immediately thought of the Ottoman Empire from Westerfield's trilogy. Just finished Behemoth about a week ago. Great stories, those.
4
Indeed. I bought Behemoth, then read Leviathan, which I had owned, but had no time to read. I closed the first book and swore to myself that I'd wait to finish the second book after midterms. I didn't last an hour. September 19th for Goliath! Huzzah!
2
Are you me?
Protip: If you can, read up a bit about each region's involvement in the war beforehand. I had just taken a class called "The Modern Middle East" and the excitement/amusement I felt when the CUP showed up or the term mechanzimat was thrown around was pretty intense. (Next up is Japan, it sounds like?)
1
Yeah, I can't wait to see what he does with it. I am imagining clockwork kabuki, neon, and a whole old-world-collides-with-new-world kind of thing. But I am probably way off since I honestly know very little about what WWI-era Japan was like.
2
It also reminds me of Steam Pig
1
You must be from Grand Rapids, MI or visited during ArtPrize.
2
You must be an internet detective. Keep up the good work!
2
Why, yes I am! Thank you for your kind words and a good day to you!
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[deleted]
1
Think they could use it to sneak into the Turkish embassy if they said it was a gift?
9
This reminded me of a picture I once saw in a book entitled "How Things Work", in a piece about nuclear power. This, in turn, reminded me how I sometimes remember random bits of information from long ago, which caused me to remember what I try not to remember: the game. This happens more often than I would like.
Damn you and your elephant.
7
I play the anti-game. Every time I think of it, I win!
2
Those were actually mammoths, if memory serves.
2
If you don't play the game, you can't lose.
0
Everybody plays the game.
3
I play a game that exempts me from the game. Problem?
3
The Game's rules specifically state that any game that allows exemption shall always lose the Game, so even if your game allows you to not play the Game, you still lost the Game.
1
Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant!
7
For a second I thought I'D have to post this. Good work!
2
Anything other than elephants is irrelephant
5
OOOH Ill put that one in my pun trunk! and pachyderm it up for later use!
2
"trunk", get it?
1
Of all the facts about mammals, this is the most relevant: it takes a lot of paper to gift wrap an elephant.
1
OOOH Ill put that one in my pun trunk for later use!
1
Riding that high above the ground definitely requires a peck o' derm.
-3
I heffalump in my throat.
-3
tusk tusk Like: tsk tsk
2
I'll get mahout and coat....
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[deleted]
1
Musth you bring Winnie the Pooh into this?
-1
what's with all the negatively-directed opinions of our posts??? the first time in my life i join a pun thread, and i get whacked down? perhaps everybody else's opinions of pun threads are now agreeing with my own. but i HAD to, ya know, wasn't mine a decent one? uhhh, ... unless NO puns are decent ones!?
1
It's in France, Nantes, to be specific. I was there last summer and it jetted water on me because I got too close. It's cool but the legs are out of sync with the ground; the legs move a lot slower than it rolls. There is actually a whole complex near of it of art similar to this. It's a pretty cool place.
5
"Royal de Luxe were so fed up with being invited all over the world to perform The Sultan's Elephant, they just destroyed it."
french ... they just can't stand being loved.
5
I always knew that Lucy the Elephant was evil.
3
From a french compagny called Royal de Luxe. Check out the "giants" they built.
3
I lived in Nantes for three months, love that place. Would love an opportunity to go back and work in France.
3
This seems very irelephant.
2
Its basically a giant steampunk artist space...the elephant ride is pretty cool.
2
So at what time exactly does it shoot fire and start killing people?
2
Legolas killed one, and it only counted as one.
You have done well. I shall not continue reading this thread. Found what I was seeking.
I concur.
Second.
And... my Axe?
Why would Sarah Connor have an ax?
When I was about 12, my parents took me on a cross-country road trip. I had just discovered girls and so the last thing I wanted was to be crammed in a minivan with my family 10 hours a day. The one redeeming quality of the trip was that I got this sweet suction-cup dart gun at a gas station outside Albuquerque. Anyway, one night, I shot the hotel clerk square in the forehead. My dad backhanded me right there in the lobby; I guess I deserved it.
I'm sorry...but it still only counts as one.
You know, when I first read RoTK, I always assumed it was talking about regular ol' elephants, and the description was only exaggerated because it was a hobbit talking about it.
Hah, I did too. I still do. Peter Jackson just try to dramatizer everything. Even Mount Doom exploded when Sauron was justy suppose to fade away.
I was kinda hoping for a link to a photoshopped pic of Legolas sliding down the trunk... but this will do.