Captain Picard is one of the most beloved characters of the Star Trek franchise. His diplomatic swagger, his passion for obscure alien artifacts, his awkward shiny pajamas. What’s not to love? But, arguably the most important contribution to our society by one Captain Jean-Luc Picard is the most epic facepalm of our time. Today, on this Captain Picard Day, we honor our favorite EnglishFrench captain by giving away one of a very limited run of Captain Picard Facepalm busts by ThinkGeek and Icon Heroes.
Memed around the world, the Picard Facepalm is an eloquent way to say, “omg y tho I literally can’t right now.” And now, for some reason, ThinkGeek found it in their infinite geeky wisdom to immortalize the Picard Facepalm in a (one-armed?) bust. Surely, the desk accessory for the person who has everything.
The Facepalm Bust: Unboxing
First, the facts and figures. The Picard Facepalm bust stands 6″ tall on a hefty black base with the TNG insignia logo. Only 1,602 of these were ever made, and ThinkGeek is currently OUT OF STOCK of the busts. Normally, they retail for $64.99.
The bust itself is pretty decent quality. It feels heavier than expected and is made of a high quality resin. The base is nice and features felt pads on the bottom to keep it from scratching your desk surface. It’s a bit smaller than I imagined it being, but in retrospect, it’s the perfect size for sitting on my desk. I don’t need to set this atop a greek pillar in my (non-existent) foyer.
I do admit that the missing arm is a bit awkward. It seems like a tongue-in-cheek joke pointed at classic roman or greek busts that are often found missing their limbs. Here it feels like maybe a bit too much — a bust of Picard doing the facepalm is weird-funny enough on its own, and it’s too easy to cross the line into just plain weird. I will say, though, that after opening the box and looking at the actual product, it’s much cooler in person than in photos. Maybe my unboxing video below will help you get a sense of that.
Giveaway: How To Win
Right now, you can’t buy one of these from ThinkGeek as they are out of stock with no indication of any plans to make more beyond the original 1,602 product run. But, that’s okay because TrekMovie has teamed up with ThinkGeek to give one of these away to our readers! To win, comment below telling us how the Picard Facepalm makes the world a better place and why you need it on your desk. OR, since it is Captain Picard Day, after all, tell us how you’re celebrating Starfleet’s future captain! TrekMovie staff will pick a winner by Friday, June 22nd. Good luck!
This article made me chuckle. I’ll leave the creative writing for someone more deserving of the little armless Picard but as always HUGE thanks to Trekmovie for giving us a wonderful site to talk freely and voice our passion, positive and negative about our most beloved franchise. The work you all do is second to none, thank you.
The facepalm is known all over the world, but when Picard does it, it truly conveys the baffling amazement and utter shock as what has just transpired. All by simply placing his hand upon his own face and sighing. To this day, it is how I convey to others my shock and disbelief as to what had happened in any particular instance. Truly, it is the stuff of legend.
He said make it so and go where no one has gone before…. Awww it’s OK being Locutus wasn’t that bad.
I planned on celebrating Captain Picard Day by getting wine-drunk with my brother and rolling around in a vineyard, but I’m an only child. Instead, I’m getting wine-drunk alone and plan on falling asleep in my backyard. Please send me this bust. I am so lonely.
I shall celebrate the Picard Day by having a cup of Earl Grey tea with Maman.
As a high school teacher, the facepalm is a major part of my job. Having this expressive bust on my desk would allow me to simply gesture towards it, instead of continuously placing my palm to my own forehead. It would truly streamline my day!
Very good idea :)) As a fellow teacher I might consider doing something similar.
I am a high school physics teacher. Usually the facepalms come from my administrators, not my students.
I’m drinking Earl Grey tea while doing a facepalm which is Not easy!
Picard is one of the most respected leaders in our future. He is a great diplomat who carries himself proudly. When faced with a challenge, he contemplates different angles to find the best solution. He is willing to hear input from anyone regardless of rank or position.
With that said, even Picard once in a while is so overwhelmed with disbelief or frustration that a facepalm is necessary. When I am in this situation, I say to myself it is okay. Everyone feels that way, even Picard.
The facepalm makes the world a better place as it allows me to pretend to be exasperated when really I am just hiding from the scary part in the movie.
The Picard facepalm, probably the best physical representation for what anyone that works in customer services feels when dealing with customers, or when you see a truly mind-melting display of stupidity that can’t be described with words also the expression most people have when reading the average comment thread from “true-fans” that are “discussing” Star Trek Discovery.
I find it to be a badly written show. If someone can’t comprehend an opinion and then face palms, woe them.
I watch the old DVD, The Jean-Luc Picard Collection. I think the faceplam is the best way to respond to the stupidity of these “challenges” kids come up with…
Even my tween daughter, who has never seen Star Trek, is well familiar with Picard’s iconic facepalm. Having the Picard Facepalm Bust on my desk at work would offer me a polite yet firm way to rebuke nonsense by merely pointing at it.
The reason the picard facepalm is perhaps one of the most important things to come out of Next Gen is becuase it has absolutely reached pop culture like nothing else post TOS has. I have seen the Picard facepalm meme EVERYWHERE. It’s the universally recognized visual representation of the word “UGH”. And in this day and age during these troubling times … don’t we all need universal sign for “UGH”?
I need this on my desk to show to people who don’t bill Ontario Drug Benefits for medication that is covered. So they will understand how I feel when I check the monthly billing and have to rebill manually…
I use Twitter. That’s reason enough to facepalm.
I am a project manager at a small firm. We deal with face palm type topics on an hourly basis. I could utilize the bust to inform my supervisor/co-workers that something insanely idiotic has just past through my desk. In addition, no one face palms better. If he is dealing whit an over zealous admiral who he to lecture or an omnipotent super being that he has to lecture, there is none better. And I must admit, I do it all the time. This would just be the personification of my day to day.
I am a psychiatrist working in a jail. I often find myself at a loss for words when confronted with my patients’ poor judgment. I would keep the Picard face palm bust on my desk and use it as a visual aid to depict how some of my patients’ plans and interpretations of events sound from an objective standpoint, to try to engender some insight and self awareness
Why the facepalm matters: In these dark days, so polarized and brittle and grim, there is no better expression of exasperation than the Picard face palm. It says: “Have we really gone here? Can we ever get back again, to where we’d rather be?”
On my desk, in the heart of a media outlet that closely observes where we all are and how we all feel, this bust would have a place of honor. It would be profoundly meaningful, a symbol of the fact that some of us are self-aware and eager to start anew.
Pick me. You’ll find no better, more fitting home for the Picard Face Palm.
It makes everyone know exactly what you think of them.
I am gathered with the rest of my ship crew having a Captain Picard Day marathon, drinking Earl Gray Hot!
It sums up my current worldview nicely. Or, to paraphrase a certain Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, MD. (UFP, Ret.) “It’s a miracle these people ever got out of the 21st century.”
Picard caught in a moment of classic human response to hearing the ridiculous.. This piece is inspirational, humorous, and completely relatable to every Star Trek fan and Internet user. I would be proud to display it prominently, inviting all who gaze upon it to meditate and reflect… on how screwed up things get sometimes. :)
Like many others, this gesture represents a feeling I have numerous times throughout the work week. If I could have this wonderful bust on my desk so that I may look at it and laugh while having yet another one of those moments myself, it would considerably brighten my day!
As for celebrating Captain Picard day, I will honor him by acting as he did when that day first started…by trying to avoid both (1) the unwanted attention of others and (2) interactions with children of any sort. Oops, have to read a bedtime story to my daughter. Dang, I failed you Captain Picard. Insert face palm here. I will endeavor to better emulate you when this day rolls around again next year! ;) 🤦♂️
I drank Earl Grey tea, hot, while wearing my Picard sweatshirt.
The Picard facepalm is important to the world because we might not have ever had memes without it. Oh wait a second….
I work in remote customer support. we have a work chatroom where my team of peers comment ALOT about customer calls. I have the gif of this statue on macro and use it all the time! I wish i could have a real one to video chat with too. If you have ever worked in customer facing tech support, ya’ll know why i hit that macro so many times a day
I work in payroll. This is a physical representation of how I feel dealing with some of the best work that I have to do (and the messes I have to correct). I need this on my office desk to adjust casually when taking too certain people.
I have a very simple way of celebrating Captain Picard Day. I will drink Tea, Earl Grey, Hot, in his honor.
I think we should look at how communication has changed forever. Meme is an official language now. Along with emoji and vines. The Picard face palm can be communicated by action alone and we would know the cultural reference of that action.. Often a Picard meme is greeted with applause and on Facebook especially. Many emoji.
Shaka, when the walls fell.
Temba, at rest
Mirab, his sails unfurled.
He’s a ha ha he’s a role model.
I will be celebrating capt. Picard day by having a cup of tea, earl grey, hot.
I’ll be celebrating by visitting my bald grandfather and facepalming through all our talks. The man never admits him being wrong, the facepalms are strong whitin me when I visit. But I love him very much, just like Picard. And insted ofsearching for reaction gifs to send to my star wars obssesed friends, I can just snap a picture of the bust every time they say something facepalm worthy and laugh when they complain about my star trek obsession.
I’d actually like to win this for me wife. Just this week her work held a fancy dress day themed around childhood heroes and she turned up dressed in a red captain’s shirt and bald cap- many of her work colleagues are too young and too uncultured to recognise the character (a reason to face palm in itself!) but my wife was determined to pay tribute to the great man regardless. The Picard face palm would be perfect for my wife, he genuinely is a hero to her, and the face palm is perhaps the expression she’d find most useful (at work, or at home dealing me and our kid 😬).
Thank you for your consideration.
LLAP 🖖
In the best tradition, I would wake up each morning, kneel and prey, reciting, “Picard, I prey” over and over for 5 minutes, and then proceed to make the world ever so slightly better than it was yesterday.
My love is like a fever longing for that which longer nurseth the disease
Make it so !
I’m sending one of these to Chris Hardwick now.
The Picard Face would look good accompanying the other Trek items I have on my desk. I’d love it!
The ‘Picard face-palm’ is iconic and, working for the NHS, it is something that i tend to use on a day-to-day basis, especially towards my colleagues in the office.
I’m celebrating Captain Picard Day by drinking Earl Grey while watching a custom TNG marathon: BOBW, Yesterday’s Enterprise, Sarek, Darmok, The Defector, AGT.
I teach several college course and regularly face palm at the horrific writing skills of so many students. Maybe I could just send them a picture of the bust along with their grades…
I teach several college courses and regularly facepalm because of their incredibly poor writing (let alone bad content). Perhaps I could just send a photo of the bust along with their grades…
This doesn’t belong on our desk… but that of our long-suffering father, Steve, who like Picard started out in science but ended up in management and all the Ferengi-like politics Q-tinuum antics that inevitably ensue!
Long ago our dad introduced my brother and I to Trek through the weekly ritual of watching TNG together (80’s babies that we were) and he never missed a moment to used Picard (his favorite) for teachable moments in how we should treat others and foster the best in people.
The Face palm allows one to express their disbelief that someone could say something so stupid without actually saying it.
The world today is ine big face-palm. Sometimes you need a piece of art that solidifies a thought like that.
The Picard facepalm is pretty awesome as actually gives me hope… that in that future, near-utopian Federation society, that there are still times when being human still shines through. We may not be perfect in the future, but we’re better and that makes it all the more something to strive for.
As for why the Picard Facepalm bust needs to be on my desk… well, I’m in management and have a pretty talented team working with me. But – sometimes – they do something so foolish that I actually find myself having to restrain myself from reacting honestly. Instead, I pause, choose my words carefully and try to navigate us back to some place of normalcy. With Captain Picard on my desk, when these moments happen, I can glance over to the bust and either hope that a glimmer of my true thoughts get communicated or, at a minimum, I’ll remember that even the Captain faced his challenges and is commissrating with me.
Thanks for a great site and a great contest.
Owning a Captain Picard facepalm bust saves me from having to do it myself every single day. Knowing that the man, the myth, the legend feels the same as I do is a moment of empathy through whatever is unbelievable at that moment. Thank you, sir, for the strength to carry on.
This needs to be used in schools such as mine where it can be pointed out / shown to who pupils ask questions such as:
“what was Hitler’s surname?
“Who were the nastys?”
“Is florida in south america?”
“Donald Trump…didnt he invent top trumps and that why he’s so rich?”
“Is there one F or 2fs in Maths? (Maffs)?”
“I had a Niel Armstrong when I was little…me and my brother put pull his arms and legs”
My precise reaction after watching the ST:D pilot…facepalm.
At a time when Star Trek Fans, and people in general, tend to be divisive, derisive, and at each others’ throats, the character of Captain Jean-Luc Picard serves as a firm reminder of the importance of patience, empathy, and diplomacy.
Even in this now viral, humorous pose, we can, and indeed we should, look to this character as an example of how we should be kind to one another, and though at the same time holding firm to our own moral convictions, be open and hear others out, willing to find common ground and compromise.
Whether I’m fortunate enough to win the bust or not, speaking as a Trek fan of over thirty years, I think we should all keep the wisdom of this character in mind; how else might we hope to work toward a better, brighter future?
This bust makes the world a better place by sitting on our desk reminding us that we are not crazy :)