This isn’t the first time the New Zealand-born and based Broadmore has done something silly. Three years ago he co-designed and oversaw the art direction of the Tripod-Wellington Film Industry Tribute sculpture, which he calls a “a six metre tall robot of doom which lives on Courtenay Place in Wellington city”) He has also served as a designer and sculptor on Peter Jackson’s King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Perhaps most famously, though, he is the genius behind the famed Weta Workshop’s Weta Originals Rayguns, otherwise known as Dr. Grordborts Infallible Aether Oscillators. (We may not have mentioned yet—he seems to like rayguns...)

What does Broadmore bring to all of his endeavors besides a healthy sense of play? A great sense of old-fashioned adventure, amazing attention to detail, and a strangely baroque approach to seamlessness. Everything he creates tends to look like it could really exist somewhere in the world.

Influences for Broadmore include a variety of pop culture fodder: “Movies like Alien, Aliens, Star Wars, 2001, etc. Things like 2000 A.D., the comic that featured Judge Dredd, had a big impact on me. I love the art of Mike McMahon (Judge Dredd, Sláine) and many others. Specifically for Dr. Grordborts, classic pulp art of the first half of the last century has really inspired me.”

Broadmore also has a healthy lack of respect for boundaries, saying of the terms “science fiction” and “fantasy”: “Those two concepts are always funny to me. They are totally vague the more you examine them. They have both simply become backdrops for narratives. I would argue that very few science fiction stories are actually in any way speculative fiction based on real science or the realistic application of potential scientific breakthroughs. Most science fiction is just fantasy with more silver paint. I massively prefer the aesthetic possibilities of science fiction, but I'll enjoy any fantastic setting if it's had energy and inspiration put into it.”
That said, Broadmore is “very into technology and science in general and I'm very excited by what science and technology opens up to us as possibilities. Computer tech is really producing the goods at the moment. The iPhone for instance is the future tech as imagined in years past finally coalescing. I'm an avid layman reader of any and all science I can find time for. Genomics, quantum mechanics, cosmology, evolution, nano-technology are all fascinating to me. I'm terrified on the other hand by the subtle anti-science, anti-medicine attitude that's become more pervasive in western society lately. All kinds of baseless pseudo-sciences are accepted by people that have little or no proof. Things like Homeopathy or the current celebrity hyped autism anti-vaccination trend that are pushed amaze me, the media in general don't seem to examine these things as critically as they should. I don't specifically make any of my fiction an allegory for these things, but I do like to poke fun at some human assumptions and foibles. My own included.”
Broadmore seems to have enjoyed all of his creative experiences thus far, although he clearly has his favorites. “As far as feature films go, King Kong was great for me as I'm a Dinosaur nut, and recently District 9 (still in production) by Neill Blomkamp. But for me creating Dr. Grordbort's universe is the most fun, most satisfying. I have to say, I'm amazed by how fast the guns are selling out. There clearly is a desire for this kind of realizable art/sci-fi in the real world, and I’m really glad to be a part of that.”
You can catch up with Broadmore this weekend at Comicon, where he will reveal a new manifestation of his wonderful imagination: the latest Raygun from the Dr. Grordbort's line, the Goliathon 83 - Miniature Version, labeled in the press release, “a masterpiece of micronised murder machinery.”

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• Deckard's hand-cannon in Blade Runner: Deckard's gun was an amalgam of several other guns, namely the .44 Bulldog and a Styer Model SL. For the movie, they added some winky-blinky lights and a massive grip, making the thing look like it came off of a tank. And who could forget those massive CHOOMPF sounds it made when Harrison Ford fired it? This wasn't a little popgun, it had some real kick to it. It certainly wouldn't be very comfortable to wear in a holster under your coat, but it would give you some serious intimidation skills when you whipped it out.
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• The Good Samaritan Gun from Hellboy: Not to be outdone by Deckard's overly large firearm Hellboy sports a truly massive revolver that would dwarf a normal hand. According to the comic books, "The gun itself has unearthly resistance to almost all forms of attack, and includes grips carved from fragments of the True Cross. The metal of the gun is forged from a combination of Irish church bells, cold iron from crucifixes, blessed silver, and other mystic metals." Plus it comes with a handy lanyard so he doesn't lose it. Of course, even that gets dwarfed in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army when he whips out another gun called, no lie, The Big Baby.
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• The M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens: While Ripley used to be a blue collar salvage worker, she proves that she wants to fight alongside the Marines in Aliens when she asks Kyle Reese... er, Corporal Dwayne Hicks to show her how to use this gun. It's basically a balls-out automatic rifle, complete with an underslung grenade launcher. She gets through the lesson and quickly becomes an expert in popping caps in Aliens. This supposedly also inspired the Assault Rifle in the Halo series, so it's definitely something to have on-hand during alien invasions.
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• The Varon-T Disruptor on Star Trek: One episode of The Next Generation called "The Most Toys," obsessive collector Kivas "Douchebag" Fajo had four of the five of these highly illegal, outlawed collectible guns. They could tear your body apart from the inside, in a slow and painful manner, which is why the Federation outlawed them. Of course, it was still fine for Worf to carry around a bat'leth sword. That couldn't be painful at all, could it?
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• The Lasseter Laser Pistol on Firefly: Not to be outdone by Trek, Firefly later had their own ultra-rare gun (the prototype handheld laser pistol_ and it was named after the jovial and affable John Lasseter of Pixar, who directed Toy Story... which Joss Whedon helped write. Mal and his on-again, off-again "wife" Saffron conspired to steal this sucker and make some dough, but things never really go as planned on that show.
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• Reason version 1.0B7 from Snow Crash: In Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel Reason is a gun that comes complete with its own operating system, carrying case, and a heat exchanger that you need to drop into a nearby body of water to keep the gun from overheating. It fires spent uranium rounds gatling-gun style, and features millimeter-wave radar, giving you daylight vision, even during the night. It might not be the easiest thing to carry around, but it's deadlier than the bubonic plague. As long as the system doesn't crash.
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• The Needler gun from the A Stainless Steel Rat novels: Harry Harrison's Rat books still haven't been adapted for film or tv, which continues to vex us. It's a great property that needs someone smart to bring it to the screen, big or small. Needlers, or needle guns, are popular in the series, and can be outfitted with different types of needles: tranquilizer, paralyzer, nerve toxin, truth serum, etc. Anyhow who is already scared of needles certainly wouldn't like this thing. If you haven't read these, A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born is a great starting point.
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• The Sandman guns from Logan's Run: In the movie, the Sandmen fired guns with an incendiary charge at the Runners. Deadly, yes, but not too imaginative. However, in the books they were six-round guns, and each round did something different, like the "homer" bullet which tracked you and would burn out every nerve in your body, or the "tangler" shot with was a sticky, goo-like web substance. Always be prepared!
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• The Lawgiver from Judge Dredd: Since a Judge was judge, jury, and executioner, this thing came in handy. They were DNA locked to each individual Judge, and featured bonus items like heat-seeking bullets, rubber "ricochet" shots, armor-piercing rounds, and even grenade rounds. Oh, and it also had a top range of three miles (!). That's some serious distance. Of course, if your bullet is going to explode when it hits, maybe aiming isn't that important at that range. Plus it gives you the ability to shout "I AM THE LAW" whenever you want.
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• The thermal smart bullet in Runaway: Granted, Gene Simmons' over-the-top performance in this Tom Selleck action flick from 1984 was pretty lethal. However, all eyes were on the "smart bullet" that Simmons' character had devised. It could be encoded with its targets thermal signature and track them, even around corners. The POV shots of it in flight were flight reminiscent of that flying needle in Dune, but it was cool and scary just the same. And yes, we know it's not a gun, but a bullet. Just remember guns don't kill people... the bullet has a lot to do with it.
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• Soran's gun from Star Trek Generations: While we're loathe to put to Trek entries on this list, Soran's gun gets a special mention for the street cred alone. You know how gangstas like to turn their gats to the side when they hold 'em? Soran's will turn right side up when he "gangsterizes" his hold on the pistol, for no apparent reason. The barrel just sort of flips back upright when he holds it sideways. It might look a bit like a doctor's exam tool, but at least it gives you some props and bling value.
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• The Zorg ZF1 Gun from The Fifth Element: Zorg's gun is nothing short of spectacular. It can break down into four pieces that are undetectable by x-rays, is good for left or right handers, features a 3000 round magazine, has a "Replay" button that sends all shots to the same location, a rocket launcher, an arrow launcher (with posion or explosive-tipped arrows), a net launcher, a flamethrower, and an "ice cube" freezing blast. Oh, and it'll self-destruct if you push the button on the bottom. Not bad. We could go on about it, but it's better if you just watch Zorg himself infomercial-it for you in the video below.
  
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