Random Monkey Island Fan Makes Their Very Own Murray Skull, And It Talks

Out of all the characters across the various Monkey Island games, Murray is perhaps the one that has left the biggest impression on players relative to his amount of screentime.

He first appeared in The Curse of Monkey Island back in 1997 and has been terrorizing Guybrush ever since, turning up for hilarious cameos in Escape and Tales, as well as Ron Gilbert's upcoming Return to Monkey Island.

Recently, a Danish fan named Muldjord has come up with a way to bring Murray into the physical realm, crafting an incredible 3D-printed skull that recites some of the skeleton's most iconic lines (as voiced by voice-acting legend Denny Delk).

He tells us why:

"I've been a fan for as long as the game series has existed. Monkey Island 1, 2, and Curse are my favorites though. And when it comes to favorite characters? Well, obviously Murray sits somewhere at the top of that list. There's just something so outrageously funny about the contrast between what Murray is and what he is saying. I guess he could teach us a thing or two about believing in yourself no matter the challenges you are facing."

To create the skull, Muldjord used the software Blender to model it in 3D and then took advantage of a 3D printer to replicate the three connecting parts. According to Muldjord, the first iteration of the build only had sound (no jaw movement) and was running on an Arduino. He then added a servo motor but ran into some issues with the horsepower. As a result, he ended up switching to the Raspberry Pi Pico and starting over. From there, things started to finally come together:

"After a few more days I had audio, the motion sensor, and servo working. The servo didn't move well with the sound at this point, but I could sort of synchronize it. That is one of the last-minute improvements that I did just before posting the video on Youtube. Up until that point, the jaw movements were a bit behind the audio and moved kind of oddly. It's better now, but I will improve that further too."

The most recent version Muldjord posted online is a joy to behold, spouting classic lines like "Run Mortal!", "I'm not bald, I just have a really high widow's peak", and "You're a sad, strange little man". If you want to create your very own Murray to fling insults your way, Muldjord has shared some more instructions on how to pull this off and the tools required over on his GitHub.

Who's your favourite Monkey Island character? Let us know below!