In one of the geekiest incidents of fingerpointing in history, Darth Vader visited the mayor’s office in Odessa, Ukraine this week to claim a plot of land.
“I am Darth Vader, the right hand of Emperor Palpatine,” he said. “Knowing that many [local legislature] deputies and the mayor have switched to the dark side… I have come for a land plot… for my space cruiser.”
His invasion came shortly after a decision by city authorities to grant attractive plots of land to an unspecified group of people.
Vader cited this new legislation - that every citizen has the right to claim 1,000 square meters of land – when asking for his dues. The Odessa public has been voicing concerns of possible corruption over this legislation, leading the mayor’s office to admit that the move was a mistake. However it has not yet cancelled it, according to Ukrainian news website Dumskaya.net.
In view of this, Vader was escorted by a couple of cameramen to another building, where he was allowed to fill in a form for the land plot. His sojourn through Odessa, replete with the infamous Imperial March, was uploaded on YouTube. It has since garnered around 58,000 views.
Click in image above to play video
Said a spokeswoman from the mayor’s office: “The application has been registered and will be considered. We are not on the dark side, we are light-side people.”
News of Vader’s invasion of the city broke late this week, over forums all over the internet, sparking uncountable Star Wars references and applause at Vader’s bravery.
However one might argue that Vader’s decision to storm the mayor’s office of Odessa has been a well calculated one. Darth Vader is a pop-culture icon, and his name has become a synonym for a powerful form of evil in both pop-culture and political discourse. That officials should need the darkest of evils (A Sith Lord!) to remind them that they’re possibly doing wrong is a great irony and embarrassment, and might just be what Odessa’s authorities need to get started on cleaning up their act.
In the meantime, you’ve got to wonder how much the Death Star will rack up in parking fees whilst waiting for Vader’s application to be approved.
