Baller-Annie and Christmas Wizard Duncan

So I like that show Community, but I'm also savvy enough to know that while I might like the show, the chances of them making action figures based on the show is very rare. Mugs? Sure. T-shirts? Maybe. But action figures for the small audience that watches the show is unlikely since that audience isn't large enough to justify the finances that would inevitably be involved.

Fortunately there apparently is a collector's market for figurines, and so I was able to go to the NBC store and pick up a couple. They're collector items, so they're $15 a pop for what are essentially mini statues, but Mighty Muggs and other vinyl figures have prepared me for that. And when I say there's a market, it's apparently a very small market. The figures are based on the claymation versions of the characters that appeared in last year's Christmas special. They made 7 figures, but curiously left out two of the most important characters, including the central character for that episode who also happens to be one of the most popular characters of the show. So that's weird and seems to indicate that the initial batches didn't sell very well.

But whatevers, I got a figure based on Annie as Baller-annie, although she's missing the windup dial on her back that she had on the show. (Part of the claymation concept was that one of the characters was delusional and saw all his friends as misfit toys.) I got this one because Annie is one of my favorite characters on the show since the way Allison Brie plays her is this weird combination of adorable, psychotic, and sexy.

The other figure is of Duncan, a recurring character from the show played by John Oliver, as the Christmas Wizard. Yes, a Christmas Wizard. I sort of wish he came with his remote control that summons the Christmas Pterodactyl. (It was an awesome episode.) I got this figure because I love John Oliver. His podcast, the Bugle, has pretty much become my favorite thing to listen to. So damn straight I'm going to get a statue of him dressed like a Wizard. Because what the hell is happening to the universe.

These figures are in the 3 to 4.5 inch range, and that includes the bases, so they're pretty small, so to get an idea of how small they are, I've posed them next to my Scarlet Spider from the Marvel Universe 4 inch line. I'm lucky I didn't get the shorter characters, supposedly those come in at 2.5 inches.

The paint looks a little sloppy on these close-up pictures, but looking at them in person, they look great. I'm happy to have them, but at $15 a pop and with shipping extra, I'm probably not going to get the other ones. (Although Britta-bot and Teddy Pierce do look great in their online solicitations.)