DIY Portal Gun. Making a note here: huge success.

January 21, 2009 1:44 PM

DIY Portal Gun on flickr,with a few other pictures and build notes. You want of your own, you can either contact this guy or just ask Aperture about working at their test facilities.
posted by Greg Nog (61 comments total)

Does it work?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:46 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

He made a neat gun for the people who are still alive.
posted by Foosnark at 1:49 PM on January 21 [8 favorites]

♫ the science gets done and you make a neat gun ♫
posted by cowbellemoo at 1:51 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]

Maybe Black Mesa can help you with that.
posted by Artw at 1:51 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]

*googles*

I should have guessed...
posted by rocket88 at 1:52 PM on January 21

You just made me favourite a link to cosplay.com. Grmph.
posted by Artw at 1:53 PM on January 21

I was gonna go "eh" until I saw the part about how it can actually shift from orange to blue light.

Now I want five.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 1:54 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

You just made me favourite a link to cosplay.com

NEXT STOP: FURRY SLASHFIC!
posted by Greg Nog at 1:54 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]

Next on Project Runway: Those knee-high springy boots.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:00 PM on January 21

This post is a lie.
posted by sourwookie at 2:10 PM on January 21 [4 favorites]

lolstillalivecakeisaliepfbbbbt.
posted by shmegegge at 2:12 PM on January 21

Please remember to set your Cube down gently, that's all I'm asking.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 2:14 PM on January 21 [8 favorites]

help i shot my ceiling and then my finger sliped and i shot my foot bye acident and now every time I step the floor comes crashing out of the ceeling how do i fix tihs?
posted by not_on_display at 2:14 PM on January 21 [7 favorites]

Shut up, androids.
posted by WolfDaddy at 2:15 PM on January 21

Blazecock: You'll be wanting these
posted by leotrotsky at 2:16 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

[Johnathan Coulton reference]
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:31 PM on January 21

Wow, I wish I was chick. With a boyfriend this cool.
posted by rokusan at 2:32 PM on January 21

I think not_on_display is confused, he clearly forgot to add:

"how is porttal formed?" or "how i do shot portal?"
posted by theclaw at 2:36 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]

Maybe Black Mesa can help you with that.

Was that a joke? Ha ha, fat chance.

Anyway, Hollywood needs to hire this dude. He made this, from what I can tell, out of styrofoam, cardboard and that block-of-green-foam stuff you get at craft stores. Pure awesome. He's like every Fangoria nerd who idolized Tom Savini and tried to make props, except he's really, really good at it.
posted by DecemberBoy at 2:47 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]

Artw: "Maybe Black Mesa can help you with that."

Fat chance.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 2:51 PM on January 21

He's like every Fangoria nerd who idolized Tom Savini and tried to make props, except he's really, really good at it

Hey! We have feelings, too. Big jerk.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:59 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]

not_on_display, I actually snorted reading that. Oh the hilarity and shame (shalarity).
posted by piratebowling at 3:10 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]

Hey! We have feelings, too. Big jerk.

Dude, I am absolutely one of those Fangoria nerds who idolized Tom Savini and tried to make props.
posted by DecemberBoy at 3:11 PM on January 21

We are pleased that you made it through the final challenge where we pretended we were going to murder you. We are very, very happy for your success. We are throwing a party in honor of your tremendous success. Please place the device on the ground, then lie on your stomach with your arms at your sides. A party associate will arrive shortly to collect you for your party.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:16 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]

Damn you, DecemberBoy for stealing my making that completely obvious and predictable joke!

But seriously, I can only give... err... props to the maker. I can understand (logically) that you can indeed take a block of foam, draw a side and top view onto it and then shape it to end up like it was intended to; only I could never do that. And making the claws at the shooty end? i wouldn't even know where to begin looking for the stuff to make them out of...

Argh, and now I have to play Portal again. If someone mentions Deus Ex, I will kill them.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:21 PM on January 21

I never had time to take the Oath of Service to the Coalition. How about this one? I swear not to rest until UNATCO is free of you and the other crooked bureaucrats who have perverted its mission.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:24 PM on January 21

Heh, the script and voice acting for [that game] is like the exact polar opposite of Portals in terms of quality. Of course everybody in it is a Cyborg Who is Very Serious And Talks In Monotone, but that's not a complete excuse for having less personality than a nutso computer.
posted by Artw at 3:28 PM on January 21

(I like it when JC is having some long-ass conversation with some monotone loser and you watch helplessly as a ehole bunch of troops turn up behind you and wait patiently with guns pointed at your head for you to pop back to first-person mode so they can gun you down)
posted by Artw at 3:32 PM on January 21

Durn Bronzefist: "I never had time to take the Oath of Service to the Coalition. How about this one? I swear not to rest until UNATCO is free of you and the other crooked bureaucrats who have perverted its mission."

"Flatlander woman."
"Laputan machine."
No?
*takes portal gun, shoots over Durn Bronzefist's head, shoots on floor beneath a pile of Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cubes*
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:33 PM on January 21

Well, polar opposite in tone. Not in quality I think, necessarily. Portal is obviously a standout. Just think of JC as Stephen Baldwin and you'll enjoy it 100% more, I guarantee.

("How did you know?!")
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:37 PM on January 21

That, or I could go click-click-click-click and read the summary.
posted by Artw at 3:39 PM on January 21

Is this something I have to live in my parent's basement masturbating to pictures of GlaDOS to understand?
posted by eyeballkid at 3:49 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Dude, if you parents have a basement that can masturbate to pictures of GlaDOS while a person lives in it, then man, you gotta call CNN.
posted by Science! at 3:50 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]

eyeballkid: "Is this something I have to live in my parent's basement masturbating to pictures of GlaDOS to understand?"

*cough*
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:52 PM on January 21 [10 favorites]

Pontifex -- that's... fascinating. I haven't completed the game with commentary on yet.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:54 PM on January 21

Heh. Someone has Stockholm Syndrome.
posted by Artw at 3:55 PM on January 21

Great link PontifexPrimus. Thanks.

*grabs tissue and hand lotion and heads down to the basement*
posted by eyeballkid at 3:57 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

I wish I had made this just so I could give it to Erik Wolpaw as a reward for being so awesome.
posted by straight at 4:30 PM on January 21

Is this something I have to live in my parent's basement masturbating to pictures of GlaDOS to understand?

Yeah, can you believe those geeks and their infatuation with Chell and GlaDOS? Er, I mean "with that girl and that computer?"... no, wait, I mean, "Guys, what's a portal gun? Who's Gladys?" Yeah, let's stick with that last one.
posted by roystgnr at 4:43 PM on January 21

Oh GlaDOS, I always thought of her as an the Evil Robotic Jewish Mother From Hell, which only adds to her creepiness and the games refreshingly feminine viewpoint. You have a device that is, oh the biggest vagina metaphor is games ever, and only two female characters, Chell, the player stand in, who is whoever you want her to be, and GlaDOS, the Authority Figure. The *female* Authority Figure. She goes from calm disembodied voice to pre-school teacher, to Mom, to Insane Mom/Crone. Hell, you could read the entire thing as a Strong Daughter wanting to break free of her overbearing Mother. It's The Yellow Wallpaper done by robots. it's Now, Voyager in game form. It's really good.
posted by The Whelk at 5:08 PM on January 21 [4 favorites]

Granny Goodness/Scott Free
posted by Artw at 5:12 PM on January 21

Margot At The Wedding as performed by computered in the future. If you get the idea.
posted by The Whelk at 5:12 PM on January 21

is=in

Computered=computers.

I fail at teh spelling.
posted by The Whelk at 5:16 PM on January 21

I'm not impressed until someone builds a working oscillation overthruster.
posted by paddbear at 5:40 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Oh great, now I have to play it all the way through. Again.
posted by DU at 5:53 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

NEXT STOP: FURRY SLASHFIC!

I have to think that your average Kirk/Spock would be more interesting if, before the fucking commenced, they stopped to put on their fursuits.

Obviously Spock would wear a wolf suit. But Kirk? I'm not sure, but I think Horta. YES FUCK I.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:56 PM on January 21

The first time I played the fight at the end, and GlaDOS' voice changed when I put the first sphere into the incinerator was one of the more massively creepy moments I've experienced in a video game. Somehow when she sounded more human her creepy/threatening factor went up tremendously.

Also, damn cool prop, the boyfriend there rocks.
posted by sotonohito at 6:16 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]

best quote:

That thing you're attacking isn't important to me. It's the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit; it makes shoes for orphans. Nice job breaking it, hero.

posted by Mach5 at 6:55 PM on January 21

That reminds me. I need to paint a basketball to look like the Curiosity Sphere and then squeeze it and love it for ever and ever.

♥ "Hey! You're the lady from the test! What's over heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere?" ♥
posted by cowbellemoo at 7:21 PM on January 21 [5 favorites]

NERDTASTIC! and Pope, that link is gold.
thanks!
posted by liza at 8:27 PM on January 21

Screw Portal.

The final scene where you have a timed objective ruins the game. Plus I can't do it. The whole game proceeds at a leisurely pace, you can take your time and think things through with no time constraints, then BLAM clock is ticking. Screw that. Plus as I mentioned I can't do it. I think too slowly and have the reactions of a tree sloth outrunning a forest fire. If you want to hang out, I'll be the one getting headshot in Team Fortress for the rest of the evening.
posted by Keith Talent at 8:41 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

You get like six minutes to perform six tasks, three of which are the same task. The Portal boss fight is ludicrously easy.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:03 PM on January 21

Not if you are a slow witted middle aged spaz; Then it's like trying trying to catch flies with chopsticks. I'd be grateful if you'd stop by and complete the game for me.
posted by Keith Talent at 9:18 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Goddamnit, now I'll have that song in my head again for weeks! And I never even played the game.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:24 PM on January 21

Keith Talent Being a fairly massively non-FPS person, it was a bit annoying for me as well. I did, by some bizarre chance, make it after several attempts, my mistake was that I kept putting the portal to redirect the missiles on the floor under GlaDOS and it'd usually take three or four missiles before I could knock off a single sphere. Ran through a lot of time that way.

Then I found out that if you put the exit portal for the missiles on the archway above the incinerator they hit her every time. Saves a *lot* of time that way.
posted by sotonohito at 6:00 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

This makes me feel inadequate as a boyfriend.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 6:29 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

TheOnlyCoolTim's Orange Box mythos. Linked for awsomeness.
posted by asok at 7:40 AM on January 22

Wow! If I were female, I would definitely pick up an orange jumpsuit, and make that my halloween costume for this year.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 10:07 AM on January 22

Keith Talent, you really need to get a 12-year-old neighbor to play through the boss battle or find a video of it on YouTube or something, because GlaDOS has about twice as many hilariously creepy lines during the final battle as she does in the whole rest of the game combined.

Where most games climax with a boss launching insane amounts of firepower at you, Portal climaxes with a boss launching insane amounts of funny at you.
posted by straight at 1:55 PM on January 22

Hm. The captions say he used florist's foam to make the curvy body shapes. That would be easy to work with, but it would also dent from a firm thumbprint. Did I miss a step?
posted by rokusan at 9:37 AM on January 23

rokusan:
Whatever he's using to lacquer it up for the gloss finish will give it plastic-like solidity.

(And am I only one who is bugged by what I just wrote, because plastic means the opposite of solid, yet it seems the most communicative phrasing?)
posted by -harlequin- at 1:20 PM on January 23