$21,000 Lego statue smashed to pieces an hour after going on display
A boy accidentally knocked over and destroyed a $21,000 Lego fox sculpture an hour after it went on public display in China.
The intricate 1.8-metre construction of Nick Wilde, a character from the Disney animated film Zootopia, was on display at the Lego Expo in Ningbo, China, when the boy sent it crashing down.
Photos have surfaced on Chinese social media website Weibo showing the boy inside the safety barrier, posing with his arm around the sculpture; as well as the aftermath of the fox’s bricks scattered across the exhibit floor.
It took the artist, known as Zhao, three days and nights to construct the sculpture, which was worth more than $21,000 (100,000 Yuan) according to China's Global Times.
Zhao explained the sculpture's intricacy, saying he rushed to finish it in time for the exhibit's opening.
"I took off some parts and put some on, over and over again, especially the eyes," he told the newspaper.
"They were too big at first, so [Nick's] sly and wise-cracking traits were somehow missing.
"I had to redo some parts."
The artist reportedly refused compensation from the boy's parents, simply accepting his apology for the accident.
"The child did not intend to break it," he told China’s CCTV News.
