Gone up in flames and burned down to the ground – these 10 well-known statues, monuments and large-scale advertisements all fell to fire, if not fury.

“I like big fat men like you,” stated Eli Wallach’s character “Tuco” character in the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, “when they fall they make more noise. And sometimes they never get up.”  The bandit’s brash insult was prophetic in a way: big statues and monuments (fat or not) often meet their demise rather spectacularly.

Unlike the film’s doomed Union Army sergeant, however, these fallen statues fell in the most dramatic way possible – covered in flames. Take “Big Tex”, a 52-ft tall statue and marketing icon who, for 60 mainly uneventful years, proudly stood at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas.

Big Tex underwent a series of renovations and improvements over the years, including the installation of an interior electric fan to puff out his western shirt. On the 2012 State Fair of Texas’ final weekend, a short-circuit in the fan’s electrical panel mounted inside Big Tex’s boot sparked a blaze that consumed the iconic statue in minutes flat.

Flickr member greychr was at the State Fair on October 19th, 2012 when the original Big Tex enjoyed a last “smoke”. By the way, Big Tex would rise again – a slightly larger (and presumably more fireproof) version was erected in time for the 2013 State Fair of Texas. Puffy shirt provided by Jerry Seinfeld.

Frazee’s “Big Tom” Turkey

Frazee, Minnesota is proud of its turkey farms and associated businesses, and the feeling is mutual. As such, a committee representing these stakeholders collected $20,000 in seed money and in 1986 the World’s Largest Turkey, dubbed “Big Tom“, took its place in the town square.

The 22-foot-tall statue rapidly wore out its welcome in Frazee, however, as it was easily damaged and repairs were costly. In 1998 a replacement turkey statue was commissioned. The original Big Tom wasn’t about to leave without a fight, though. As workers wielded a cutting torch to remove the statue’s wings, the body caught fire and the hungry flames quickly gobbled up the monument. Pity it wasn’t a statue of a giant green bean casserole, but we digress. Big Tom’s 20-foot-tall fiberglass replacement has thus far resisted the urge for immolation.

From Touchdown to Terminator

The Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, is a so-called megachurch with over 4,000 members, thus raising roughly $250,000 to commission the 62-ft-tall “King Of Kings” statue in 2004 was no big deal.

The resulting statue (dubbed “Touchdown Jesus” by detractors) featured a steel armature covered in styrofoam and finished off with a thin fiberglass “skin”. All was well until a severe thunderstorm struck the Monroe area on June 14th of 2010. During the storm, a bolt of lightning struck the statue, set the flammable styrofoam alight, and left only the spindly steel “skeleton” intact.

Naturally, those same detractors dubbed the remains “Terminator Jesus“. Mourn not, ye faithful… the Solid Rock Church’s Jesus statue was resurrected as “Lux Mundi”, sans the “touchdown” arms, and was dedicated in September of 2012.

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North Korea may be making the headlines like never before but the world’s graffiti artists have been featuring the Hermit Kingdom’s leaders for years.

When it comes to North Korea, there’s a lot to look down on. Take the country’s unique leadership – a communist dynasty? Who knows what the late Karl Marx might think of that (though it’s not hard to guess). In any case, NK-themed graffiti and street art should never be looked down upon, at least not by those living outside North Korea. Flickr user _eddie999_ brings us our lead image featuring Team America: World Police’s take on Kim Jong-il, snapped in Brighton, UK early in 2012. Just below, Mauricio Balvanera’s (maubrowncow) 2007 photo of a stenciled North Korean soldier with a flower in the muzzle of his rifle gazes out from a wall near the Toy Factory Lofts in Los Angeles, California.

The Sun Is (Still) There

Kim Il-sung (“Kim become the sun”) was North Korea’s first supreme leader – the “Great Leader” in official parlance – who held power from 1948 to his death from natural causes in 1994. Among his most lasting accomplishment was the establishment of the Kim ruling dynasty, now into its third generation in the form of Kim Jong-un. Speaking of lasting accomplishments, Flickr user Loïc Brohard snapped the above artwork captioned “Vote Kim il Sung” in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in April of 2010.

The Son Is Here

Kim Jong-il inherited power from his father in 1994 and was known in North Korea as the “Dear Leader”. Flickr user Larry Jones (westbymidwest) captured this full-color portrait of Kim Jong-il in full panhandler mode on September 20th of 2009 at the Albany Bulb, an artificial landfill peninsula extending westward from the the east shore of San Francisco Bay. It’s uncertain whether the splash of orange paint across the portrait’s “HELP” sign is part of the original composition or a later amendment.

A Spectacles Of Himself

Kim Jong-il was over 50 years old when he assumed North Korea’s leadership but he had been groomed for the position since the early 1980s. Kim the Second raised the cult of personality established and encouraged by his father to ever-greater heights. The stencil above, found in NYC’s Koreatown district, dates from 2009 and was captured in April of that year by Flickr user e.yamasaki.

The Future’s So Bright…

Kim Jong-il’s designer shades take center stage in the above NYC photo pastiche snapped in late 2011 by Flickr user allan molho (amolho4). Sources state Kim Jong-il was a fervent fan of Western cinema, boasting a collection of over 20,000 titles including every Elvis Presley flick. His fascination with “The King” in his late-1960’s rhinestone jumpsuit phase may have influenced Kim’s sartorial preferences, at least when it came to prescription and fashion eyewear.

Thanks, Obama

First rule of tinfoil-hat prognostication and doomsday cult propaganda: never predict near-future events! The unknown creator of the above paste-up mini-manifesto evidently didn’t get that memo. To their credit, they did manage to evoke the spirits (and images) of Lincoln, Churchill and an alarmingly youthful FDR to add weight to their shrill Cassandra callout. Bonus: stating “Prime minister of North Korea said so its the God truth.” Kudos to Flickr users shoehorn99 and allan molho (amolho4) for capturing these ravings in August of 2008 and April of 2009, respectively.

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A multistory fire raged up the side of this 1,105-foot skyscraper last night, one of the tallest in Dubai, exacerbated by high winds and casting molten glass and charred masonry from the so-called Torch tower down to the ground below. A few people were treated on the scene for minor injuries and smoke inhalation but no serious casualties have been reported.

The blaze appears to have begun around the 50th floor at 2 AM local time before progressing up the side of the building and ultimately igniting other parts of the facade thanks to windswept debris – arson is not suspected at this time. Remarkably, firefighters managed to catch the fire relatively quickly and put out the inferno in a matter of hours despite unfavorable conditions.

Fire engulfs one of Dubai’s highest residential towers #TorchTower pic.twitter.com/OyFVC78w85

— Asma (@LibyanBentBladi) February 21, 2015

#????_??????_??? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? .. ???? ???? ????? .. #????_???????? pic.twitter.com/er7YmaiKkK

— ????? ??? (@Humanfirst_) February 21, 2015

Home to over 600 residential units, occupants of the Marina Torch are being temporarily relocated  by its building managers (Kingfield Owner Association Management Services) while damage is assessed. At this time it is not certain when, how or even whether the structure will be restored.

Marina’s #TorchTower after the fire http://t.co/zfY0CsRYvC pic.twitter.com/Bpk1INSNAa

— Gulf News (@gulf_news) February 21, 2015

Salute to heroes @DCDDubai @DubaiPoliceHQ @DCAS_Ambulance for getting everyone out safe #TorchTower #DubaiMarina pic.twitter.com/6SblKogXs9

— megha merani (@dxbmaven) February 21, 2015

While not unheard of historically, skyscraper fires (especially serious ones) are quite rare today, particularly in developed nations where strict building codes and appropriate material usage helps mitigate their risk. Generally they are caused either during construction or due to significant external factors, such as plane crashes (intentional but also accidental) or earthquakes. Images via the AP, EPA, Reuters and WikiMedia.

After years of both importing famous designers and copying strange structures from abroad, Xi Jinping, the leader of China’s Communist Party has declared an end to offbeat construction projects going forward. Translated from a two-hour speech on the subject, he was recently quoted as saying: “No more weird architecture.” As yet, it remains unclear whether this is a statement of official policy direction or a tacit warning to developers to play it safe stylistically and work within more conventional cultural styles and typologies.

Iconic buildings in the country have been coming under attack for quite some time, but the phallic look of the 500-foot headquarters of the Chinese state newspaper, the People’s Daily, sparked particular outrage, likely leading to his more vocal objection. Crasser comparisons aside, various spheres, donuts and other shaped deemed odd by the party leader have also been critiqued both domestically and on the international social web.

Other designs prompting problems for the government in the press include the CCTV headquarters in Beijing by Rem Koolhaas. Still, the theme of genitalia shape comparisons in paritcular, as in the case of the bridges (above) in Chongqing, have caused state media to start censoring search results related to some projects. They are also not fans of advertising their surreal replicas or ghost cities, also unusual byproducts of the recent construction boom. There may be a larger political message at work as well – China’s relatively recent new leadership has been cracking down on decadence and corruption in various other forms.

Speaking recently, Xi maintained that “Fine art works should be like sunshine from the blue sky and the breeze in spring that will inspire minds, warm hearts, cultivate taste and clean up undesirable work styles.” Sadly for some, his response comes at a time when architecture in China is also drawing a great deal of positive attention, some copycat scandals aside.

A forced relocation is underway as thousands of squatters are moved by authorities out of their homes and the city of Caracas, some of whom have called the infamous half-finished Tower of David home for as long as seven years.

Rumors began a few weeks back as Chinese bankers expressed interest in purchasing the unfinished structure in Venezuela, with the intention of turning it back toward the (official and licensed) commercial and office uses for which it was originally intended. Currently, however, over 1,000 families live and work in the first few dozen floors of this 44-story skyscraper.

With surprising speed over the past week, the government has already shifted over 100 of these to a settlement outside of town (three floors a time) and is set to displace everyone living in the building, primarily to Valles del Tuy in the state of Miranda.

The tower was originally abandoned mid-construction in 1990 and eventually taken over by informal inhabitants who created not just homes but stores, offices, gyms, groceries, tailors, factories, churches tattoo parlors and even internet cafes within its walls.

Without an elevator (and with missing windows on the top levels), its most prized spaces for occupants have been on the lower floors, with scooter taxis that ferry people up ramps to some levels adjacent to the parking structure. Like Kowloon Walled City, the place has its own rules and informal systems of bringing in and sharing resources, including limited water and power.

The Urban Think Tank, which spent years studying the building (and writing Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities), has weighed in on the significance of the building and its occupants as well as its sudden shift in direction: “What we found was neither a den of criminality nor a romantic utopia. Torre David is a building that has the complexity of a city. It merges formal structure and informal adaptation to provide urgently needed solutions, and shows us how bottom-up resourcefulness has the ability to address prevailing urban scarcities.”

More from UTT: “When dealing with informal settlements, infusions of money for major public works and other approaches that involve large-scale rapid change – such as the razing of slums and relocation of poor populations – have generally failed in the complex setting of the city. The commercial housing market simply does not supply enough homes. There are too few units of social housing, and the majority of these are far beyond the reach of low-income families.”

“The dire asymmetries of capital in the global south do little to help; yet various forms of structural neglect have not always diminished great entrepreneurial vigor. Shunned by governments and the formal private sector, city dwellers, like those in Torre David, have devised and employed tactics to improvise shelter and housing.” Images via The Atlantic and Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities.