Pandemic Of The Cybermen

Last year during March Of The Robots I designed a Cyberman in Droey's Draws style. Well this year inspired me to create a new design which I would take more seriously. I hope you like it!

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I created designs for 4 ranks of Cybermen. Firstly is the Cyberscout (commonly labelled Stealth Cyberman) and unlike the variant seen on screen, this one is painted in a very dark brown. . Black is a colour that is more capable of standing out in nature so with the dark brown colour, it allows the Cyberscout to blend in better with the brick tunnels. I imagine Cyberscouts would have different colour schemes based on their working environment but with only the dark sewers to go on; I designed this one to suit that environment. Other variants may be deemed necessary. You'll also notice that the Cyberscout has a dimmed light and less vibrant gloves.

The standard Cyberman and the Cyberleader are identical, save for the application of colours. The Cyberleader has a mostly black helmet, much like the original Cyberleader but not to the extent of having the face covered in black, which does not make for an appealing Cyberman design. Inspired by the Cybermen seen in The Flood, but probably not something that would be done on a physical prop, I also painted the shoulders black which I think gives it a little more originality.

The Controller has two variants on here. One is the original Controller from the classic era of Doctor Who. This Cyberman was distinct for their lack of handlebars. The gun was removed from the arm and the gloves painted orange to match the cranium. I appreciate this design as I'm sure a lot of Doctor Who fans would as callbacks are generally appreciated. But the design that I think best works with this collection is the one seen on the far right.

This Controller hosts a new head design which I will explain later. The handlebars go down instead of up and the tube shaped cranium hosts a visible brain much like the modern Controller design. As a callback to the original Controller the liquid holding the brain is orange but unlike my other design, this Controller has black gloves. They also adopt the black shoulders of the Cyberleader.

So what makes these designs so special? At the start of this post I claimed that this year had inspired me to design these Cybermen. This is because I have dubbed them the 'Pandemic Cybermen'. This year we have suffered from a plague that has greatly impacted our lives but the reality (for Doctor Who) is that this can be a source of inspiration for an encounter with the Cybermen. Their prime objective overcomes the might of any virus we might catch so a story where the 2020 pandemic is intervened by Cybermen or even another pandemic entirely is something that could bring back their fear factor.

While in some parts the Cybermen have their traditional features, I have drawn elements from Bio-hazard Suits where possible. This is most noticeable in the Controller's head but is subtlety applied to all of the heads, as well as a shape of what appears to be a face-mask. I was almost tempted to remove the mouth entirely for a genuine face-mask appearance; perhaps a mask attachment could have been exclusive to the Cyberscouts? The guns on the arms are based on the top of Hand Sanitizer containers, but I can't imagine these ones being pressed down every time a shot it taken!

Lastly my favourite feature is the gloves; I am sick of Cybermen that look entirely robotic and will always pick the traditional style of gloves if I can. I've gone right back to my potential favorite designs from the 60's, the Moonbase Cybermen. My reason is that for this design's aesthetic, two fingers would be easier to achieve than four. The idea is that a layer of semitransparent latex (or substitute material) would be the glove itself, cloured as seen on the designs. Beneath that wold be another layer with the texture of sanitizer fluid, looking like a liquid is being pumped through the Cyberman's body. If possible this could be played with in post production to look like the liquid is actually flowing, but that might be a bit of stretch.

I can't see this being the sort of direction that the BBC would take with the Cyberman, which is a shame because it would be a sorely missed opportunity. Maybe one day a 'Pandemic of the Cybermen' direction will be taken and maybe they'll look something like this; only time will tell.