Dr. Herbert Higginbotham

Dr. Herbert Higginbotham
Full name:	Dr. Herbert Higginbotham
Other names:	Halitosis Herbert
First appearance:	LittleBigPlanet 2 (2011)
Latest appearance:	The Journey Home (2015)
Portrayed by:	Ewan Bailey

“	The machine elves were skipping through the dream flux man, branching and growing and splitting and singing, but I fixed them.	„
— Dr. Herbert Higginbotham, "Negativitron Incoming"

Dr. Herbert Higginbotham is a major character in LittleBigPlanet 2, and the creator curator of the Cosmos. He is considered to be one of Craftworld's greatest inventors and plays a crucial part in helping the Alliance's plot to defeat the Negativitron.

History

LittleBigPlanet 2

Dr. Herbert Higginbotham makes his first appearance in LittleBigPlanet 2, where he serves as the sixth and final creator curator of its story mode. After the Negativitron launches an assault on Avalonia, Huge Spaceship's escape is intercepted, resulting in its crash landing back on the surface. Now stranded with no other means of reaching the Cosmos, the Alliance seeks out Dr. Higginbotham as their last hope of restoring Huge Spaceship to working condition. Their plan is delayed, however, as Clive Handforth laments that while Dr. Higginbotham was staying at the Factory Of A Better Tomorrow, his body was left vulnerable and his mind subsequently infected by a Meanie. Insane and mentally incapable of helping the Alliance, Dr. Higginbotham was taken away to Eve's Asylum For The Mentally Alternative.

Sackboy and Clive set out to the asylum in an attempt to find and cure Dr. Higginbotham but are outpaced by the Negativitron and its Meanies who launch an all-out attack on the asylum's tree and its residents. Eve Silva Paragorica — the asylum's caretaker — takes the two up into the burning tree where the Alliance fights their way through the invading Meanie troops to reach Dr. Higginbotham's domain. Dr. Higginbotham's thoughts overflow the area around his boudoir. Once inside his house, Eve sends Sackboy up into Dr. Higginbotham's body, where the two destroy the Meanie growths overwhelming his cavities. Dr. Higginbotham recalls his infected thoughts to his saviors, where it becomes apparent to the two that his outlandish personality was not exclusive to his insanity.

Sackboy, Clive, and Eve return to Avalonia in the company of Dr. Higginbotham, where he makes short work of repairing Huge Spaceship. When Avalon Centrifuge is captured by the Negativitron, Higginbotham cryptically reassures that he is still alive, albeit in grave danger. He and the rest of the Alliance leave Craftworld to pursue the Negativitron, but crash land on its surface after the ship once again succumbs to an attack. Once the Alliance reunites with Sackboy, Dr. Higginbotham assists in Avalon's rescue mission and the final assault on the Negativitron.

The Journey Home

Dr. Herbert Higginbotham reappears as one of the invitees to the heroes' reunion party. Collecting all of Dr. Higginbotham's Cosmos-related stamps in Swoop de Loop sends his invitation for the party, where he arrives with a gift-wrapped arcade machine that activates if the Grandmaster Sensei is also present.

Development

See also: Higginbotham's Mind

Dr. Higginbotham's earliest known model.

During development, Dr. Herbert Higginbotham took on a more expansive role in LittleBigPlanet 2's narrative, as he was intended to be a creator curator for a theme based around himself, internally referred to as Higginbotham's Mind. While Dr. Higginbotham's relation to arcades and technology is subtly present in the final story — through motifs found around the Cosmos — art and music direction behind Higginbotham's Mind was founded on these ideas, of which the finalized Cosmos inherited most. Chronologically, Higginbotham's Mind would have taken place between Eve's Asylum and the Cosmos, possibly in place of or following Invasion Of The Body Invaders. During these points in development, Dr. Higginbotham's personality was comparatively formal and direct as opposed to the rambling nature of his later counterpart.

While the two interact sparingly during LittleBigPlanet 2's story mode, early narratives featured Dr. Higginbotham as a target of Avalon Centrifuge's plans, who at that point was the primary antagonist bent on ruling Craftworld. Avalon would have injected Dr. Higginbotham with a needle containing his Popov minions, inducing his madness directly to silence Dr. Higginbotham and prevent him from spilling the truth. Avalon would have rejected the Alliance's intentions to cure Dr. Higginbotham, fabricating rumors about his death to buy himself time. While insane, Dr. Higginbotham's demeanor reflected his different personality, taking on a paranoid and stubborn temperament toward Eve and Sackboy — afraid they may be Avalon in disguise. After curing Higginbotham of his infection, he would have returned to his senses and revealed Avalon as the true cause of the Sucker; Avalon's robot assistant, Mona, spies from above, relaying the message back to him. Later in development, Higginbotham's Mind would be merged into the Cosmos, with the exploration of Dr. Higginbotham's insides being contained solely within Invasion Of The Body Invaders; this level was the culmination of the Popov's Domain, another theme cut around the same time as Higginbotham's Mind.

Dr. Higginbotham, like the other creator curators, underwent multiple stylistic alterations to his appearance during his creation. Early on, Dr. Higginbotham's appearance was distinctly human-like, depicted with aged, pallor skin and stringy white hair. His formal clothing took on a two-tone black and white palette, and he wore a bowler hat; no modelled version of this design has been recovered, though it is depicted in early cutscene sketches. Dr. Higginbotham maintained a similar character silhouette, although his humanoid anatomy was swapped out for the crafted look synonymous with his final model. Although his color palette and attire faced major design revisions to better match his personality, Dr. Higginbotham did not experience significant alterations to his model like other creator curators. In pre-release builds, Dr. Higginbotham's model featured a pair of swirly rainbow eyes that would later be separated and used as their own decoration; this design is still present in all promotional renders of Dr. Higginbotham, as no retroactive changes were made to account for this last-minute alteration. Close to LittleBigPlanet 2's release, these decorations were applied to Dr. Higginbotham's eyes to distinguish his infected and healthy states.

Dr. Higginbotham was meant to reappear in LittleBigPlanet 3's main story mode during early revisions for the game's narrative. In one, placed directly after the events of LittleBigPlanet 2, Dr. Higginbotham would have been one of multiple creator curators stranded across alternate dimensions, eventually rescued by Sackboy as they find their way back to Craftworld.

General information

Dr. Higginbotham's appearance in-game.

Physical appearance

Dr. Higginbotham is an elderly, 19th-century-fashioned humanoid curator roughly twice the height of Sackboy. His head is constructed from a tall purple matchbox with two protruding ears and a taped-on nose; though obscured by his facial features, the box reads "Higinbothem Science Match Co. Ltd." His left ear sports the Greek letter β, and his right ear Σ. His jaw is made from the matchbox drawer, which, when opened, reveals four matches resembling crooked teeth. His head is covered in white tufts of hair with large protruding muttonchops and bushy eyebrows, ear hair, and a moustache. His relaxed eyes consist of purplish plastic semicircular pieces tilted upward, with black pupils surrounded by subtle rings and with a barely noticeable shine.

Adorned atop Dr. Higginbotham's head is a black top-hat with a red band. He wears yellow pants, a black tailcoat decorated with colorful stripes in classic '80s tones, a red bow tie on top and small black-and-white dress shoes below. While his brain is overtaken by Meanies, two pink horns protrude from his hat, and his eyes appear as large rainbow swirls. Invasion Of The Body Invaders depicts the interior of Dr. Higginbotham's head as being filled with cartoonish viscera, alongside assorted trash like socks, clocks, paper airplanes, and cogs.

Personality

Dr. Higginbotham is brilliant but eccentric, usually speaking in long, incohesive, and metaphor-filled sentences. In serious moments, Dr. Higginbotham reveals a more direct and commandeering side, usually when aiding the Alliance in their plans. His intelligence and creativity far exceed that of his Alliance members, leading to him being the only one competent enough to repair Huge Spaceship. When Dr. Higginbotham suffers from his Meanie infection, his intellect suffers, causing his mind to devolve to a broken state; here, Dr. Higginbotham's ideas spill out into Eve's Asylum, manifesting into an area of their own. Dr. Higginbotham is shown to be fond of gaming, decking out Huge Spaceship with an arcade, as well as hosting multiple table-top sports mini games.

Gallery

Main article: Dr. Herbert Higginbotham/Gallery.

Trivia

• Dr. Herbert Higginbotham was referred to as Hilary in early scripts for LittleBigPlanet 2's story.
• Dr. Higginbotham is named after the English polymath Herbert Spencer, widely regarded as one of the greatest intellectuals of the late 19th century, though his fame remained largely confined to that era.
• Dr. Higginbotham's last name is a direct reference to William Higinbotham, an American physicist and member of the Manhattan Project, creator of "Tennis for Two" — generally considered one of the first video games ever made.
  • This reference was more evident in early development, as Dr. Higginbotham's last name was spelled identical to Higinbotham's.
• Despite having normal eyes outside of his infected state, Dr. Higginbotham's beta design had his swirly eyes baked into his model. Although this design did not make it to release, it still appears in certain graphics and promotional renders.
• Dr. Higginbotham's head texture is based off Three Torches brand matchboxes. While the final model alters the branding to Higginbotham, his earliest known model features the unaltered box design.