The Intimidator

GarE Maxton's 125-piece Intimidator appears, at first look, to be named for its own complexity as a puzzle: blocks of precious metals interlinked in a hellish, impossible-looking block.

This design is by far my most complex metal sculpture and it's both mentally and physically intimidating, thus the name. ... In June 2009, starting with a few extra parts from my Labyrinth sculpture, I began working night and day creating this sculpture. It grew to eight inches tall, four inches deep and five inches wide; there's a lot of volume to fill with interlocking parts and assembly of this puzzle is extremely difficult; you'll need a lot of time on your hands. Physically, it tips the scale at over 40 pounds.

But it's not just a toy: when certain pieces are reassembled just so, it also has an intimidating function. Inspired by Scaramanga in 1974's The Man with the Golden Gun, the .45 caliber firearm puzzle will remain "part of my personal collection," writes the creator. Maxton, however, does offer many delightful and mysterious metal puzzles for sale. Submitted by InsertFingerHere and Defunctdoormat.

• [David Carroll]

  I like this. As the original is not available I would go for a cast non-puzzle replica.

  I would also like to see an Intimidator VS Submitterator cage match.

• [sabik]

  I want a 15-pound version to submit to Bruce Schneier’s “movie-plot threat” page. Preferably one where the functional pieces actually look like the puzzle pieces, rather than being pretty obvious in the pile-of-parts photo, so that it’s also a statement about the (theoretical rather than practical) difficulty of distinguishing whether or not a given object is a firearm.

  (You can’t take this one on the plane because it’s over your 15 pound hand luggage limit anyway.)

• [frogmarch]

  If it’s the Intimidator, shouldn’t it be black and have the number 3 on it somewhere?

  /southerner

• [nixiebunny]

  I’d like to see the puzzle halfway disassembled to show how the gun pieces fit into the middle.

  I went to his website to see if there were any other photos, but my eyes started bleeding from the dBaseIII+ design. Gahhhh!

  • [arkizzle / Moderator]

    nixie’

    http://www.maxton.com/intimidator1/intimidator1_pieces-550h.jpg

    http://www.maxton.com/intimidator1/intimidator1_ramrod_exposed.jpg

    http://www.maxton.com/intimidator1/intimidator1_page5.shtml

• [Anonymous]

  An Ancestor of the ancient Peruvian Machu Picchu stone masons, perhaps?
  Absolutely gorgeous.

• [knoxblox]

  I think it’s insanely cool that he built this, though I don’t think “The Intimidator” seems to be a name that fits.

  How about “Hang On, Give Me Thirty Minutes or So While I Assemble My Puzzle Pistol That Only Fires One Round at a Time”?

  Ingenious but not intimidating unless assembled beforehand.

  • [IWood]

    Meanwhile, the other guy doesn’t bother assembling his puzzle-pistol–he just bashes you on the head with it.

    • [knoxblox]

      LMAO!

      Either that, or your opponent smashes your fingers with his while you’re busy assembling your own.

      • [Anonymous]

        Or your opponent brings something more practical. Like, say, a musket.

• [Anonymous]

  What 15lb limit on hand luggage?