The Internet is abuzz about the young Chinese boy, who singlehandedly destroyed a giant fox figurine of Nick from Zootopia at the LEGO Expo in Ningbo, China, in the Zhejiang Province.
The incident occurred less than an hour after the exhibit’s first-day opening.
According to Chinese state media and various social media reports, Mr. Zhao, the artist who created the sculpture, spent three days and nights configuring and putting together the thousands of LEGO pieces it took to amass the five-foot figurine.
What’s more, the Zootopia LEGO statue cost an excess of $15,000.
The boy’s parents were reportedly very apologetic about the mess their son had made. Mr. Zhao accepted the parents’ apology and declined compensation.
“The child did not intend to break it,” Zhao insisted.
But according to reports from China Central Television, some local residents say the parents should pay for their son’s mistakes and that the child should be properly punished.
“Compensation should be made even if it was unintentional! Apology accepted, but how could the parents just leave it behind after that? Who will make up for the time and effort that has been made?” one person reportedly said.
“Apology just showed they were sorry. Shouldn’t the one who misbehaved take the responsibility?” another reportedly asked.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson.