Statue of Happiness

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The Statue of Happiness

The Statue of Happiness is a statue on Happiness Island and was presented to the United States of America in 1886 to mark 100 years free of British food and spelling.

The name refers the smile on the statue's face, and if spoken quickly, sounds like "The Statue of a Penis".

Upon arriving at the statue's island, you can find the "Happiness Is...Land" sweater on the ground near the entrance to the Statue of Happiness.

History

During the colonist's revolution against the British, the French sent this statue in the colonist's favour and the revolution was soon won. It was to celebrate 100 years free of British food and spelling.

Appearance

• The Statue of Happiness faces north up the West River. The real life Statue of Liberty faces south, out towards the Atlantic.
• The stone pedestal stands upon a star-shaped base on Happiness Island (like the real life Fort Wood.)
• The Statue holds a tablet in her left hand, and a cup in her right (in place of her real life counterpart's torch.)
• The cup is a steaming (literally) cup of coffee, which is a reference to Bean Machine
• The statue's face has a large grin on it, in reference to her name (Happiness)

Appearance in The Ballad of Gay Tony

In The Ballad of Gay Tony, the “Celebinator” (www.youvebeencelebinated.com) writes in his blog about the statue after his 'helicopter tour' of the city...

Statue of Grumpiness
The other day I had the unfortunate experience of getting up-close and personal with the Statue of Happiness. It's horrible! I could swear that disgusting strange smile on her face reminds me of someone, too. That's the face of a woman who needs some work done, or some action, or both! I mean, she is seriously living a lie, that one, and for what? She just stands there and does nothing! Reminds me of my mother. If I was married to that cold slab of stone I'd be off with any fat bird who'd take me. It's amazing that angry black heart of hers still beats in her chest.

Inscription

The tablet held by the Statue reads:

Send us your brightest, your smartest, your most intelligent,
Yearning to breathe free and submit to our authority,
Watch us trick them into wiping rich people's asses,
While we convince them it's a land of opportunity.

JULY IV
MDCCLXXVI

The statue's heart

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The "Heart of the City".

Inside the statue is a beating heart, one of GTA IV's Easter eggs and is possibly the first easter egg that was found in GTA IV. The entrance is on the upper platform of the pedestal, right at the feet of the statue, which is only accessible by a helicopter.

The southern door has a sign: "No Hidden Content This Way". This is similar to the sign on top of the Gant Bridge in GTA San Andreas and The Hidden Sign in GTA III. Through the door there is a ladder going upwards into the body of the statue itself. At the top of the ladder there is a small platform with a large, beating heart chained to the inside of the statue. The heart is indestructible.

In The Ballad of Gay Tony, it is possible for Luis to pass out from too many shots and wake up in this room with a parachute.

The last sentence in The Celebinator's blog post regarding the Statue (see above) could be a reference to this.

Accessibility

The island is only accessible via air with a helicopter, boat or swimming to there. Algonquin is the closest island, and the nearest Subway stop is Castle Gardens on the Algonquin Outer Line. Helitours is on the south-east side of Algonquin for a helicopter, and there are lots of boats in moorings on the west side of Algonquin. The island itself has a number of boats, and also fork-lift trucks.

Alternate names

During one of the powerboat outings you can go on with Brucie Kibbutz, you'll have the opportunity for a scenic statue tour. However, Brucie calls it the "Statue of Freedom" in the audio while the subtitles still say "Statue of Happiness." This suggests that the statue might have had a different name during development, but the audio file did not get changed to reflect the statue's final name.