Want to
know the difference between a Battos Bug Blaster and a slightly used
Discombobulator? Then look no further because Professor RubberToe
can cater to all your deranged and wonderfully psychotic needs!
Nestled
in the shadows and streets of Cardiff, Professor RubberToe is busy inventing,
sometimes stealing, new and outright deadly rayguns to unleash upon an
unsuspecting world. With wild hair, dangerous goggles, and a home
arsenal of weaponry that would have the whole tribe of Tsunga-Tsunga quaking in
their boots, the Professor sure knows how to live… and how to defend himself should the need
arise.
From
McNookie’s Steam Ion Displacement Beer Goggles to Rockets in your Pocket – the
Professor has a wide and deadly arsenal. And what’s more, he’s willing to
share. Never mind that some of the minor features like targeting have yet to be
figured out. Mere details, he assures us. Anyway, that’s what his gorgeous –
yet ultimately ill-fated – clone servants are for, or to put it another way,
they’re target practise.
On a more serious note, Professor
RubberToe is the brainchild of designer Nick Robatto who describes the professor as his alter-ego, a Mr. Hyde to his Doctor Jekyll.
Nick
runs RubberToe Props: a company that provide a wide range of seriously funky
stuff for such UK hits as Sherlock, Merlin, Torchwood and a little-known
backwater show you might not have heard of called Doctor Who.
RubberToe
Rayguns was born from the fevered imaginings of Nick’s
encounters with the weird and outright strange while working on Doctor Who, at the end of which he
had a number of beautiful – although no less deadly – rayguns cluttering up his
office. An epiphany followed, and after his subsequent release from hospital
Nick set about sketching out the world in which Professor RubberToe lives and formed
a back story for the rayguns.
To help with this, Nick decided to dress up and
assemble a small set using props from the Dr Who prop store and medical techno-wizardry
left over from Torchwood.
‘The shoot went very well,’ Nick
says, ‘and the professor sprang into existence. You can get the gist of
him really from the shots; he is crazy, unstable, but darkly humorous.’
Nick’s RubberToe website also
features a regular comic strip based around the idea that each gun is being
tested. Professor RubberToe’s keen helper, Kismin, is the glamorous assistant
and just so happens to be a clone. The prof has built a rather nifty cloning
machine which allows him to create as many Kismin’s as he likes – just as well
because she always seems to end up meeting a rather sticky end.
We also have McNookie; an old friend of the
Professor who used to enjoy joining him on many an intergalactic boozing
session. Nick describes McNookie as a bit
of an idiot who’s soon to meet his death. Watch closely because quite soon he
is being blown away by a new character called Radihun; she will take over the
role of the more classic raygun user. She’s a hell of a lot better looking too.
Also soon to come is an old acquaintance of the prof’s, who always arms herself
with one of his rayguns, usually going for the more retro-looking
device.
On
an average day Nick will ride
to the workshop which is two minutes away and cast up all the necessary parts
needed for the guns. At the moment RubberToe props are
prepping for the Christmas episode of Dr Who, so he may have to pop into the
studios and talk to the production designer and art director. He’ll be given a
concept of a prop which he will either take back to his own genius level
laboratory or make in the BBC workshops.
It’s been a busy summer for Nick with much of his
time spent making the latest range of sonic screwdrivers for the official
license holder, Quantum Mechanics. They plan to
reproduce the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver using Nick’s sonics as the master
prototypes. Nick is very proud that he has worked on both David Tennant and
Matt Smith’s sonic screwdrivers – and who can blame him.
‘They’re such an
iconic prop,’ Nick says, ‘and to have had the opportunity to make these, I feel
very lucky. Perhaps the biggest achievement in this was making the Matt Smith
sonic in under a week. I was given a concept and told to make it the same size
as the Master’s sonic laser, then sent on my way. What a week that was!’
Nick’s also been doing plenty of work this year on
Merlin. The props on this show are
usually a polar opposite to Dr Who props. With Dr Who he’s generally making
futuristic gadgets, then jumping to Merlin where it’s all old weapons and
gargoyle heads. So it’s good to mix it up. Keeps him keen.
On any given day Nick will have rayguns, Dr Who
props, and Merlin Props on the go. It’s a bit of a
juggle, especially as Nick is also the father of three. Nick went on to say, ‘I
always find it funny sealing up the box and sending rayguns on their way – I get
attached to the things I make.’
His favourite gun is the Clockwork Vaporiser,
and it’s easy to see why.
‘This
fellow is the Rolls-Royce of the raygun world. The mother of all duelling
pistols, the Clockwork Vaporiser can blast an opponent from 260 miles without
leaving a mark on one’s attire.’
‘This
leaves one free to take tea under the jacaranda bushes with the colonel’s lady
immediately afterwards without one’s sartorial elegance being compromised.’
His other achievement he’s particularly proud of is
getting Rubbertoe Rayguns up and running.
‘I’ve
had a very busy six years working on Dr Who, with only a couple of weeks spare
here and there. It’s taken me around three and a half years from my initial
idea to the launching of the website. I wanted something that I could put my
own design on and seeing as a license from the BBC costs the earth, starting my
own brand was the only option.’
The short-term plan for Rubbetoe Rayguns is to
expand the range of rockets. Nick wants to make
smaller models that are lighter on the pocket, and he’s hoping to make them
with interchangeable fins and bodies. So you can choose your body shape, fin
shape and colour, you can also choose your type of flame left behind the
rocket, there will probably be five or so in this range standing about 6 inches
tall. He’s also planning to make more standard sized rockets.
If the world of
Rubbertoe goes well, the range available will obviously expand and new guns
added, maybe making extremely intricate designs with moving parts and lights,
and he has great ideas for robots that
he’s gagging to make.
RubberToe props are
also hoping to jump on the convention wagon and start doing shows.
‘I’m thinking about Memorabilia this year as a
starting point,’ Nick adds.
Professor Rubbertoe Rayguns
are available from his site which also includes a mini-comic of the professor trying
out his newest invention on an unsuspecting space cow with truly spectacular –
if unpredictable – results.
Check
them out here. Just remember the saving grace between an
unfortunate encounter with an intoxicated Grand Master General of Zogron 8 might
very well be a RubberToe raygun.
Just saying…
Be prepared.
