Mad Science

So, yes. These two gents are characters from the world of Apeman and Monkeyboy, and they’re mad scientists, but not of the evil variety – at least, never intentionally so. They’re but two of the numerous learned lunatics who comprise the faculty of the San Diablo Institute for Recklessly Random Research, a large and extraordinarily peculiar facility based on an island many, many miles off the coast of the city, and they regularly invent things with the potential to wipe out the planet. They don’t do this on purpose; they simply apply themselves with cheerily enthusiastic vigour to inventing whatever demented weirdness happens to pop into their heads at any given moment, and very occasionally the results turn out to be catastrophically dangerous. At least as frequently, however, they inadvertently make scientific breakthroughs of astoundingly remarkable usefulness, which is why they and their fellow barmy boffins are given the freedom to do as they please within the confines of the institute. 

Triple-R, as the place is not-very-affectionately known by the populace of San Diablo, is effectively a prison, but none of its inhabitants have noticed this, and they are in fact extremely happy to be left to their own devices there. This is the key to the whole enterprise; attempts to suppress mad science invariably lead to its practitioners becoming embittered and vengeful, but give them lots of chemicals, plenty of robotic components, a steady supply of good strong tea and a working environment located a long way away from the rest of civilisation, and there’s always a chance – when their latest experiment goes utterly wrong – that they’ll create the most fantastically brilliant things. From time to time they’ll also create lethal viruses, killer cyborgs and mutant monsters the size of Wisconsin, but hey, you have to take the rough with the smooth.