I sure did. It looked a lot better with my Tiamat dragon (from the DnD cartoon) looming over the manger. Annoyed my mom, though. Fortunately Optimus Prime was (at the time) a good God-fearing robot, so he came in with the Wise Men.
“Our Savior needs a little energon, and a lot of luck.”
Was I alone in this type of thing?
No. My brothers did it. I confined myself to flying the angel around a lot, and rearranging the sheep to suit me.
I have been doing the Nativity replacing the traditional figures that came with the set with figures from Deep Space 9 and Babylon 5, supplemented by Dana Scully and the hobbits, for years now. Dax as BVM and either Bashir or Marcus as Joseph: Londo, Gkar and Garak as the 3 Wise men (with camel & gifts); Miles O’Brien and Sam Gamgee as shepherds (with sheep); Delenn with paper wings as the angel balanced atop the creche. Frodo usually gets to be baby Jesus, but sometimes I give the role to Pippin instead. Capt. Sisko as Santa and others as elves. Figures dressed up with bits of felt as appropriate.
I didn’t do that, but I used to rearrange the figurines, putting them in sexual positions, attempting to make the scene a giant orgy. Used to piss Mom off somethin’ fierce.
The only time I saw stand up comedy live, the comedian had a bit about this. His was He Man, Skeletor, and Baby Smurf.
Remember those little green rubbery soldiers that came in a little bag for like a dime? When I finished setting them up, Hitler himself couldn’t have gotten to the Baby Jesus.
A little statute of Waldo, as in “Where’s Waldo”, makes an appearance in my Mom’s manger scene every year. I’m not sure who puts it there. 
Yep. The last time I snuck this one in next to the sheep. Mom didn’t notice it, but everybody else did.
Oh yeah! Still do…well, maybe not so much action figures, but more like enhancements. It wouldn’t be a nativity scene without the Fisher Price little people dog and monkey. The creche in my son’s room that stays up year round, currently has two dinosaurs, a medieval knight, a giraffe and dragon all worshipping the baby Jesus.
For years I have done an elaborate set-up using my Star Wars action figures in my nativity scene.
Joseph:
** Qui-Gon**
Mary:
** Leia**
Jesus:
** Baby sand person**
Innkeeper:
** Droid**
Farm animals:
** Wind-up toys**
Sheppards:
** Sand People**
Kings:
** Those oriental guys from the prequels**
Roman soldiers:
** Storm troopers**
Jewish soldiers:
** Battle droids**
Angel singing:
** R2-D2 w/sound effects**
Townsmen:
** Various denizens of the cantina**
Satan:
Darth Maul
Archangel Michael:
Obi-Wan
Santa’s Sleigh:
** Dr. Loveless’ tank from the abyssmal Wild Wild West movie (but the toy is cool)**
Santa:
** Rancor Keeper**
I have an area set up under the tree with an inn, tavern, buildings and manger. The bar has little drinks and a band and the innkeeper has a little reservation desk. It’s a lot of fun because every time a friend shows up with little kids they always play merry havoc with the figures, then after they leave aI spend hours finding them and putting them back in place.
I find more use for more toys every year.
Good times.
I never thought of doing this, but I think I will do it with my Indiana Jones stuff. I’ll put baby Jesus in the Ark of the Covenant.
Good idea!
Nope. But I will now…
A store in my neighborhood once had an amazing Nativity scene in their double front window–churches and houses, sheep and cattle, railroad cars, a space ship with aliens coming out, houses, dinosaurs (Hey! Jack Chick was right!), the entire cast of Star Wars and the Justice League of America.
Oh yeah, way back in one corner there was a 4" tall barn with 1" tall Mary, Joeph and Jesus in the manager, so you’dknow it was a Nativity scene.
Man! I thought I was being some kind of radical when I put my Archangel figure in with the angels!
One year, I put a bunch of my painted gamer miniatures in with them. They were about the right scale, too.
Come to think of it, I used [del]Tiamat[/del] Spectral Dragon II, as well . . .
–
My mom liked it.
Every year, I think about my friend’s most brilliant idea … one year, when they unpacked the Nativity scene, they discovered that somehow Baby Jesus had gotten lost. She replaced him with … Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
There’s something especially exquisite to me about the rest of the Nativity remaining traditional, and there in the middle, Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
Can someone explain to me if this is supposed to be a protest against the nativity in the first place, or is it religious people being silly?
Mr Bean even gets into the Christmas spirit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoUlUOmKuq8
To answer your question: It’s a silly way of pointing out the silliness of religion (if you are non-religious) or a silly way to lighten up about religion (if you still hold those beliefs).