That would make sense! When I first read about it, my mind went to something the size of a collectible model that you’d put on a table or shelf. But the model for the movie probably was much larger than that to allow a great level of detail to be seen in the movies.
Ugh, I love these movies so much, haha.
He’s clearly not a source of knowledge or good opinions on fucking anything.
So here’s my take on this, because I’ve seen similar personalities make similar pivots.
This guy is a disgusting, bumbling idiot, but he speaks with certainty and condescension. The curious onlooker will see him, get trapped by the mindset you describe (“oh man, this guy’s a trainwreck, let’s see how much worse off he is than me”), find it funny and continue watching.
After establishing some sort of “trust” with the audience (“I’m a big dumb idiot who makes you laugh”) he pulls out the manipulative speech. “You’d have to be stupid to-”; “this guy’s a retard!”; “It doesn’t make any sense”, etc. Once you get to this part of the steam, you’ve already established that the dude’s an idiot, but you also think he’s funny. You’re faced with the decision to either laugh along with his “jokes”, or “accept” that this buffoon is “more educated” on a topic than you are. The fragile, uninformed audience these people are after are much more likely to go the latter route.