# Ever put action figures in the Nativity scene? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833 "2010-12-03T17:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/21 "2010-12-04T03:05:43Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > 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? On my part, it’s religious people being silly. I imagine in general, it is people being silly religious or not. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/22 "2010-12-04T04:02:39Z")
> [@pythonzzz](#): > > Mr Bean even gets into the Christmas spirit: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoUlUOmKuq8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoUlUOmKuq8) Hillarious, Rowan Atkinson is a comic genius 🙂 When he pushes the soldiers by, he’s humming the theme from “Black Adder Goes Forth”, the final season that takes place during WWI, Rowan Atkinson plays the lead character, Edmund Blackadder, in the BA series And, of course, Daleks make _EVERYTHING_ better… Hmm, time to make some “enhancements” to the Nativity scene at home this season, perhaps have one of my Playmates Star Trek collectible starship toys guarding the scene, perhaps a Klingon Bird of Prey (pray? 😉 ) keeping watch over the manger, keeping Locutus of Borg from assimilating Baby Jesus ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/23 "2010-12-04T04:21:18Z")
I added a water buffalo and a T-Rex to the Nativity scene at work once. **rachelellogram** , I am a silly religious person. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/24 "2010-12-04T04:24:04Z")
Oh thanks. I just wondered if this was more of a parody by people who wouldn’t be caught dead with a real nativity in their home, or people who would have put up the nativity anyway and added action figures for a gas. Either way I’d never put up a nativity because I’m lazy 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/25 "2010-12-04T19:13:41Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > 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? Neither for me–I’m not religious, but am just having fun with my action figures. In the off-season, the DS9/B5 figures have also performed tableaux of scenes from Shakespeare. The first year I did this (before I had the hobbits), I took photos, emailed them to a more religiously minded friend and asked if she thought it was offensive to her sensibilities. She didn’t. She loved them and forwarded them on to her pastor, who also enjoyed them. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/26 "2010-12-04T19:30:27Z")
> [@pythonzzz](#): > > Mr Bean even gets into the Christmas spirit: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoUlUOmKuq8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoUlUOmKuq8) Loved that! Bit of useless information: the Nativity set is a Fontanini nativity set, much like my own ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/27 "2010-12-04T19:33:14Z")
I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and someone rang to proudly proclaim that, when she and her husband got married, he didn’t want some wussy bride and groom on the cake, so he used his Luke and Leia figurines. I immediately sent a message pointing out how grotesque that was. I’m amazed that no one had ever pointed it out to them before. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/28 "2010-12-04T19:40:08Z")
I’ve always wanted to see a Nativity scene where the Three Wise Men were Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Wolf Man. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/29 "2010-12-04T19:43:42Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > 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. > [@delphica](#): > > 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. I just want you both to know that I printed out both of these posts and read them to my family last night on the way home from work. Our children loved them: our daughter, who is a MAJOR Star Wars freak, now wants to have a Star Wars nativity scene. And “Han Solo frozen in carbonite” has now become our catchphrase for anything that seems out of place. Thanks for the smiles. Now to go find action figures for a nativity scene… Oh, and I used to have a Crysta figure (Fern Gully) that I used as the angel for the tree. Now it’s a small Barbie fairy type doll with pink hair. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/30 "2010-12-04T20:45:52Z")
R2D2 stood in for Jesus several times in ours, when my brother and I were kids. I think Yoda may have once or twice, too. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/31 "2010-12-05T00:27:07Z")
My Granny has a very old Nativity scene that we all played with as children. Joseph is missing his head, and various other characters are missing bits and pieces of them. The manger broke at some point, and one of my cousins made a manger out of clay. Somehow over the years someone added a plastic cartoony cow, and somehow a blue dinosaur got put in the bag. There are also some extra figures (I think there are three Jesuses and I know there is an extra set of wise men). After we grew up it became kind of a small little joke, and one of my aunts bought all of the great-grandchildren a small plastic dinosaur to put in their own nativity at home. So while I have the beautiful Willow Tree Nativity set, that I love and treasure, there is a green plastic dino amongst the sheep and cows. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/32 "2010-12-05T06:29:46Z")
> [@RachelChristine](#): > > My Granny has a very old Nativity scene that we all played with as children. Joseph is missing his head, and various other characters are missing bits and pieces of them. The manger broke at some point, and one of my cousins made a manger out of clay. Somehow over the years someone added a plastic cartoony cow, and somehow a blue dinosaur got put in the bag. There are also some extra figures \*\*(I think there are three Jesuses and I know there is an extra set of wise men). \*\* > > After we grew up it became kind of a small little joke, and one of my aunts bought all of the great-grandchildren a small plastic dinosaur to put in their own nativity at home. So while I have the beautiful Willow Tree Nativity set, that I love and treasure, there is a green plastic dino amongst the sheep and cows. 🙂 three Jesuses? Does [the fat one balance out the two skinny ones?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4oKXagF3IE) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/33 "2010-12-05T07:31:06Z")
My wife teaches at a Lutheran grade school, affiliated with a Lutheran parish. About a decade ago, we were attending Sunday service at that church during Advent. The church always has a set of Nativity figures set up near the altar, and that year was no exception. As I was sitting in the pew, I noticed that there was an additional, much smaller, figure, standing with the Three Wise Men. I recognized the long pointy ears and the green skin at once…the fourth Wise Man was a Yoda action figure. 😃 After the service, I spoke with the church’s interim pastor at the time (a sweet lady, and a bit of a nut). “Pastor…I noticed there’s a fourth Wise Man.” She grinned. “Sure, I figured, Yoda was a wise man!” ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/34 "2010-12-05T08:46:35Z")
I’m an atheist, but I celebrate Christmas in a secular way, and that includes putting up a Christmas tree and decorating it. It is traditional in my family for there to be a running battle between me setting up the tree and decorating it and the cats upsetting it and knocking all the ornaments around. At any rate, I now have an overwhelming desire to go to Walmart (it’s a quarter to 3, nothing else is open), finding the tackiest nativity scene they offer, and then hit the toy aisle for action figures. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/35 "2010-12-05T15:03:49Z")
You people are awesome! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/36 "2010-12-05T15:23:33Z")
This picture cracks me up…[http://www.gamervision.com/users/nikkita/articles/the\_sundae\_review\_13](http://www.gamervision.com/users/nikkita/articles/the_sundae_review_13) ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/37 "2010-12-06T22:06:13Z")
Never did the action figures. I never got into them. Mostly because the only ones that were around when I was in that demographic was G. I. Joe - the one about 6-7 inches tall. But my sister used to have some decorative candles that spelled “NOEL”. It took her half of Christmas day to realize that I had rearranged them to spell “LEON”. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/38 "2010-12-07T11:32:34Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > 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? For me the latter. > [@delphica](#): > > 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. He should quite well protected, as long as he survived the freezing process. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/39 "2010-12-07T11:38:17Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and someone rang to proudly proclaim that, when she and her husband got married, he didn’t want some wussy bride and groom on the cake, so he used his Luke and Leia figurines. > > I immediately sent a message pointing out how grotesque that was. I’m amazed that no one had ever pointed it out to them before. I obviated that problem by using Leia and Qui-Gon on my wedding cake. It was a compromise with my bride, I wanted to use Leia and Darth Maul. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833/40 "2010-12-07T13:40:43Z")
I just put “Han Solo in carbonite” in my Amazon shopping cart! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-put-action-figures-in-the-nativity-scene/562833.md?page=3)