It’s not entirely wise to say you want to emulate Rick Sanchez, the self-identifying evil-ish mad scientist/anti-hero half of Adult Swim‘s brilliant sci-fi comedy Rick and Morty, but there are certain things about him that are well worth adopting. The dress sense, first of all, his hair and personal hygiene regiment for two others, but it’s what Rick has created that we really admire. All sorts of gadgets and gizmos have come out of Rick’s garage laboratory but his greatest achievement of all has to be the iconic portal gun, great for dimension hopping. Now you can make one of your very own, courtesy of DIY Prop Shop.
Now, the first thing to realize about this is that host Odin Abbott isn’t actually making a gun that can spout portals through which you can go from Gazorpazorp all the way to Cronenbergworld–as great as that would be–but he can show you how to make the most accurate representation for use in cosplay or Halloween costuming. Naturally, it’ll take a bit of elbow grease from you, the do-it-yourselfer, but the finished product is undeniably similar to the one in the show, even though that’s a cartoon and this one would be real.
Using little more than $40 for glue, PVC pipe, styrine board, a wisk handle, tiny flashlights, and a green tube that once held bubbles, Abbott tells us how to construct a portal gun that really lights up. I especially appreciate the polyfill stuffing in the tube to replicate the plasma orb.
So, no, you won’t actually get to jump to other worlds, other times, or other versions of our own reality, but you can look like you will and that’s just as awesome. Now if they could make an approximation of Rick’s flying saucer, or even his ability to “Get Schwifty” at the drop of hat, then we’d really be in business.
Let us know what you think of this portal gun build in the comments below!
Learn the science behind the portal gun from our own Kyle Hill!
Image: Adult Swim
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and a massive sci-fi nut. For reals, he’s been committed for it. Follow him on Twitter!
