FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why have you created Theory.org.uk action figures?
After the success of the Theory.org.uk Trading Cards, it was clear that the public had an appetite for social theory in accessible forms.

But we don't really learn anything from the figures, do we?
The toys are intended to promote discussion. Playing with the action figures leads to questions such as "Why is Giddens holding a book called Modernity and Self-Identity?" and "Who's this bald one?".

The action figure of Giddens / Foucault looks nothing like them!
Since when did action figures look exactly like their human counterparts? Aha!
(Anyway, the Giddens one isn't bad, and the Foucault one is, well, bald, isn't it?)

Please can you send me an action figure?
I'm sorry, the action figures exist only as binary bits and bobs in cyberspace.

But I read in the newspaper that you can buy these action figures! Send me one! Yeeeess.... The figures seem to have acquired a certain 'urban myth' status. For example the UK Sunday newspaper The Observer (11 Nov 2001) has told its readers about "the Michel Foucault action figure doll currently available (in America) with 'removable French cloak' for the price of $15". So the figures are slowly becoming more 'real' in the world, in some freaky postmodern sense, but nevertheless they DO NOT EXIST and I cannot send one to anybody! Sorry.

Who made this?
David Gauntlett of Theory.org.uk made this.

Return to the main action figures page.