This season of Community has sure been interesting. Zombies … claymation Christmas … Chang having sex. I don’t think any one could have guessed where the story has gone in the last few months. With the study group adventures have been a new batch of minor characters, including Kendra with a “Qu,” (Fat) Neil and his could-be, would-be girlfriend Vicki. But none of these characters have caught on like the likes of Magnitude.
Since being introduced in the Valentine’s Day episode, he’s been all the rage on the internet. Practically every Thursday I saw the hashtag #PopPop spring up on Twitter. Comic book artist Dennis Culver even made an awesome drawing of Magnitude for his Tumblr account. What’s amazing is how little he has been on screen. As of the end of season 2, Magnitude has only been in three episodes. But how can you not like Magnitude? He’s a one man party machine! And Magnitude sacrificing himself in the finale for the sake of his fellow Human Beings — his “dying” word being “Pop! …” — felt so appropriate.
But what’s more amazing than the character is the person behind him — Luke Youngblood. First of all, he’s a fashion designer as well as an actor … he actually got third place in the second season of Project Catwalk (the British version of Project Runway). He also originated the role of young Simba in the Lion King musical.
More than anything, I was shocked to discover Youngblood also played Lee Jordan in the first two Harry Potter movies! For those of you unfamiliar with the books, Lee Jordan is the kid with the dreadlocks you see announcing the Quidditch matches. As a HP fan, I can’t tell you how overjoyed I was that Youngblood shared those two roles. It’s like two sides of the nerd universe combined in an explosion of awesome. What’s better is that Youngblood is reviving his role as Lee Jordan in the final Harry Potter film coming out July 15th. That means — in my eyes, at least — we’re going to get to see Magnitude help save the world from Voldemort. Like I needed another reason to be excited for that movie.
Clacked by Katie Schenkel 
on May 24, 2011 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
There is a magic wand/pop pop joke in there somewhere I just can’t think of it.
He was the actor who portrayed Simba in the original production of The Lion King musical. He did not, however, originate the role.
People have such a problem reading English, we need a new medium. Jonathon Taylor Thomas did indeed play the majority of Simba first in the movie, but the role in respect to the stage musical originated with Youngblood.
Pop pop!