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Physics envy

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So this is what that phrase means: S. Daniel Morgan tells me that you can get an Albert Einstein action figure, but I haven’t been able to find a comparable Charles Darwin action figure. This just isn’t right.

I did discover that SciAm pointed out this deficiency long ago. I checked Archie McPhee, of course…and they’ve got pirates and Jesus and Lunch Ladies and Carl Jung and an albino bowler, but no Darwin. This is a serious lacuna in the necessary office toys category.

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Comments

  4. says

    They should one-up the action figures, and have him change from an austrilopithowhosit into his familiar form.

    Transformation time my vary. Commercials shot using time-lapse technology. Production will be finished 3,329,458 C.E.

  6. Alex says

    Scary thought,

    What about a James Dobson action figure!! Pure EVIL. I’m sure it would sell. I can already see it in sunday schools everywhere!

  7. George Cauldron says

    What about a James Dobson action figure!! Pure EVIL. I’m sure it would sell. I can already see it in sunday schools everywhere!

    The problem is it would no doubt come to life in the middle of the night and start strangling liberals, homosexuals and atheists.

    “Here’s the problem! You’ve got this thing set to EVIL!”

  11. Mike Huben says

    But I want the Young Darwin action figure!

    After all, who’d want the Fat Elvis?

  12. Matt T. says

    Ya know, I’m almost positive I’ve seen a Darwin action figure somewhere. There’s a place here in Athens called The Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother (the original place is in Atlanta), and they sell a bunch of stuff like that, oddball, action figures, t-shirts, posters, knick-knacks, books, bongs, dildos and other assorted neccessities of life. I’ll try to remember to swing by there next time I’m Downtown and check. I might be misremembering, though, as it’s been since Christmas since I went to the store (to buy an Oscar Wilde figure for a friend, which she dug).

  14. Siamang says

    Is it me, or did the word lacuna just suddenly spring into existence? I’ve never seen the word before, and then in the last 3 days I’ve seen 3 seperate science bloggers use it.

    Fire sale at Wordmart?

  15. BruceH says

    I agree that this is an egregious oversight on somebody’s part, and whoever that is should pay the price!

    Seriously though, I searched the internet using all the tricks I’ve accumulated in the last ten years of pro web work, and nothing. Plush dolls, die cast models, yes, but no action figures. I used several different search engines including aggragators… and nothing.

    What a bummer.

    Also, several other blogs have expressed similar thoughts. Those I found, but no actual products.

  16. j says

    Siamang:

    Weird, isn’t it. I saw “lacuna” for the first time just a couple days ago, in my Latin textbook. What a coincidence.

  18. stand says

    I could *swear* that we had a Darwin action figure in the office from Archee McPhee’s a while back. Our office is right across the street from their store, so I’ll go check some time.

  19. redstripe says

    Oh, and speaking of the young Chuck D, I posted this last week, but it deserves a repost. If anyone would like to buy it for me, please contact me immediately.

  20. says

    You can get a Darwin finger puppet as part of the “Great Scientists” collection at the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. The set includes Curie, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein. So you can stage little trash-talking sessions about the savants:

    Darwin: “I say there, you wife-beating Jerry! You are *highly* overrated!”

    Einstein: “Ja, ja, I did hit meine Frau now and then. But at least I didn’t marry a relative, like you did!”

  22. says

    I learned the term physics envy from a psych TA in college referring to her colleagues use of statistics. (As the only phsysics student in the class, I was rather amused.)

  23. David Harmon says

    Einstein: “Ja, ja, I did hit meine Frau now and then. But at least I didn’t marry a relative, like you did!”

    Actually, yes he did, his second wife was his cousin. I haven’t heard even rumors of wifebeating, though.

  24. says

    Actually, yes he did, his second wife was his cousin.

    That’s pretty amusing (and of course Darwin’s only wife was his cousin Emma). The accusations of Einstein’s wife beating are in reference to his first wife, Mileva. There’s no absolute proof that Einstein beat her, but many biographies of Einstein mention that visitors to their home would notice that Mileva often had bruises and other injuries that she seemed embarrased by, which is pretty typical of abused wives.

  25. Paul (A.) says

    j: “I saw “lacuna” for the first time just a couple days ago, in my Latin textbook.”

    Funny — I just checked, and it was missing from mine.

  26. SMC says

    Out here in the otherwise-barren wastelands of Southeastern Idaho, I just last week saw Charles Darwin (and Einstein, and Freud, and one or two other) action figures in the college bookstore, so I know they are available. I suspect there are even still some left.

  28. jpf says

    They should one-up the action figures, and have him change from an austrilopithowhosit into his familiar form.

    A Darwin Transformer! I envision a Japanese toy that starts as a metallic robomonkey and transforms into a crude, angular likeness of a buff humanoid robot with a Darwin head that’s too small for scale, kind of like those cheesy Star Wars transformers. He should also come with a banana that transforms into a ridiculously large gun. It would seem a natural thing for the Japanese to make… they are the ones that brought us God-Jesus, after all.

    I searched, but the best I could find was the Japanese book Darwin For Beginners whose cover has a rather wacky take on the ape to Darwin transformation.

  29. Natasha Coureaux says

    I was at the Darwin exhibit at the AMNH in NYC last weekend and they had lots of Darwin toys and figures in the gift shop.

  32. False Prophet says

    Wow, I got my friend (a physics major) the Einstein figure for his birthday. He promptly adopted it as his exam mascot.

    P.S. Lacuna Coil rocks!

  34. Tony Jackson says

    “Note that they even have Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Dickens action figures, (what’s more boring than a plastic literary icon?) Ben Franklin, as well as Bach, but no Darwin.”

    Or how about the Marie Antoinette Figure, with special ‘ejector head action feature’.

    http://www.mcphee.com/items/11563.html

    Zut alors!

  35. An Enquiring Mind says

    Chuck D deserves an action figger more than AE. AE wouldn’t have lasted a day on the HMS Beagle. That’s yer action figger for ya.

  36. Marc Buhler says

    The thing with the Darwin Action Figure is that they are going to wait about 21 years before they release it.

    D’oh.

    (signed) marc

  37. irritated insect says

    Forget about the Darwin action figure, I’m still waiting for the Nicola Tesla action figure. (each one comes with their own Tesla coil, and may or may not build a doomsday device)

  39. says

    For the Darwin 200 celebrations (in the UK) one thing I’m working on is a Darwin bust for every biology lab/classroom in the country: I’m sure we can extend the moulding run. After all, we all need a white bearded old man who tell us the secrets of life. Only we know ours really existed and his books make sense.

  40. Alecto says

    I’m more put out by the lack of a Marie Curie action figure. She has twice as many Nobel prizes as Einstein!

  42. ATM says

    Does he come with a removable rocket launcher? All action figures have those these days. In his case I guess they’d be used to demonstrate the physics of projectiles.