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Pierce's wheelchair

  Pierce's wheelchair  
First appearance: "Cooperative Calligraphy" — Owned by: Pierce HawthorneUsed by: Pierce Hawthorne
Purpose: transportation— Made by: Invacare   PHOTO ICON


“
I outbid three hospitals for this baby, and it was worth every penny.
”
Pierce, "Cooperative Calligraphy".



Pierces wheelchair
Pierce's wheelchair.
In the study group's second year together at Greendale Community College, Pierce has an unfortunate accident involving a trampoline and ends up breaking both his legs. Pierce purchases an expensive motorized wheelchair to aid him during his recovery. The study group is unimpressed especially after it's shown that like his other gadgets he is unable to operate it properly. Its first appearance was in the Season Two episode "Cooperative Calligraphy", and its last appearance was in animated form in "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas".

History[]

In the study group's second year at school, Pierce shows off his latest expensive purchase a motorized wheelchair. He brags about how he outbid several hospitals to obtain it. Unfortunately, he is unable to control the chair well using the sip-and-puff attachment. He refuses anyone's help to assist him as he does not want to be considered an invalid ("Cooperative Calligraphy"). The chair is next seen when the study group goes to a bar called "The Ballroom" in order to celebrate Troy's 21st birthday. When he arrives at the place he is unable to maneuver through the doorway. Eventually the wheelchair's batteries runs out and he finds himself stranded in the entrance.



CW Pierce and his wheelchair
Pierce can't control his wheelchair.
When Shirley leaves the party she runs into Pierce who asks for her assistance to exit the bar ("Mixology Certification"). The wheel chair is next seen in animated form still being used by Pierce ("Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"). After the study group returns from Winter Break, it's shown that Pierce has fully recovered from his injuries and is no longer using the wheelchair ("Asian Population Studies"). A flashback to events in December of that year shows Pierce participating in the school's Glee Club with the rest of study group. At the time he was still confined to a wheelchair but was not using the motorized one ("Paradigms of Human Memory").



Animated Pierce with wheelchair
Animated Pierce with his wheelchair.

Trivia[]

Invacare FDX[]

The wheelchair featured on the show is a slightly modified version of an Invacare® FDX®. On the show, it had a sip-and-puff attachment added to the chair. Normally, these devices are added only if the user is quadriplegic and cannot use the manual joystick control located on the arm rest. The version used on the show had the joystick located on the left arm rest instead of on the right where it's usually positioned. A standard unit is powered by a two pole motor capable of reaching speeds of up to 5 MPH; this can be upgraded to a four pole motor capable of reaching 6.8 MPH. In real life, the wheelchair retails for over $5,900.



Powered wheelchair
Invacare FDX.

Blooper[]

In the original on-air broadcast of "Cooperative Calligraphy", a behind-the-scenes crew member is clearly seen controlling the wheelchair. The mistake was immediately noticed and pointed out by some fans in online forums after the episode had aired. Dan Harmon himself mentioned the mistake on the Community The Complete Second Season DVD commentary for the episode. The crew member was edited out of the DVD version of the episode.



The eigth member of the study group
The eighth study group member.
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