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Dr. Caligosto Loboto

Shush-shush-shush-shush-shushie! Now hold still. This will only hurt until your brains come flying out!

–Dr. Loboto to Dogen Boole during the Brain Tumbler Experiment

Dr. Caligosto Loboto, Doctor of Dental Surgery is an insane unlicensed dentist and freelancing scientist who serves as an antagonist in Psychonauts and as the main antagonist of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. He is currently on the run, after deeming himself "a reformed man".

Appearance[]

Dr. Loboto's outfit is an unusual amalgamation of a lab coat and a straitjacket. His head is covered by a large floral-patterned shower cap with several different colored patches sewn on. His eyes are mechanical, lens-like contraptions, the left one colored red and the right one colored green. He wears a long rubber glove on his left arm and has a wooden prosthetic right arm with three pronged claws. It is outfitted with a peppermill-like device capable of spraying brain sneezing powder. He has brown leather pants that have diamond shaped golden buttons on the legs. His boots are dark green.

Personality[]

I've done… terrible things...

–Dr. Loboto lamenting in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin

Dr. Caligosto Loboto is an insane unlicensed dentist and freelancing scientist. He likes pulling teeth from the unsuspecting "patients" and performing biological experiments on fish. Part of him is enamored with the ocean and wishes he was a sailor, but he says he doesn't like going on boats. He is prone to random fits of laughter. As a child, he was reserved and quiet before he underwent his forced lobotomy procedure. Loboto is capable of remorse, shown lamenting in Psychonauts 2: "I would take it all back if I could."

Background[]

Locked up in Thorney Towers Home for the Demented[sic] so he wouldn't hurt any more of his dental patients, Dr. Loboto set up a new practice after the asylum was abandoned. His lifelong desire to extract larger and larger teeth from his patients culminated with his development of a "super sneezing powder" which he could use to remove the biggest tooth of all: THE BRAIN.

–Character blurb from the original Psychonauts website

Dr. Caligosto Loboto was born to a doctor and his wife, who loved him very much and had high hopes for his future. Their attitudes began to change, however, when they discovered their son was a psychic, after his mother caught him bending spoons in the kitchen using telekinesis. His mother's distress resulted in his father bringing Caligosto to his hospital in for his colleagues run to tests on him.

After determining the root of his abilities, Caligosto's parents decided that he must undergo a procedure to "cure" him of his powers- an icepick lobotomy. By this point his parents had become completely overwhelmed by Caligosto's psychic powers and didn't care whether or not the procedure would harm him. He was then sent off by his parents to undergo the procedure. While seeing him off, his parents referred to him as a "devil child" and "a little monster" and were happy to be "free of [him]".

After being lobotomized, he was presumably "cured" of his psychic abilities, but it seemed damage his brain to the point he went crazy. At some point later in his life, he began practicing dentistry without a license, and presumably eventually sent to Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed due to physically harming one or more of his patients.

After the asylum became abandoned, Loboto took over it and became mad scientist for hire. He was later hired by Gristol Malik, who gave the location an old abandoned Psychonauts base in the Rhombus of Ruin, where he mutated some fish into becoming his fish henchmen.

Right around the same, he was also hired by Coach Oleander to construct Brain Tanks, in order to take over the world. He then took a lungfish, mutated and brainwashed it into becoming a hulking monstrosity that would kidnap the Whispering Rock PSI Cadets' for him in order to remove their brains to find ones capable of powering them.

Li-Po backstory[]

The Li-Po backstory document offers extra backstory information on some characters in Psychonauts. It has not been stated canon by DoubleFine Productions.

Loboto's backstory
Dr. Loboto was a respected dentist when he was younger. Well, maybe not respected, but feared, definitely, and that's a special form of respect. The doctor was very passionate about his work, and one of his pet peeves was when a patient would chicken out before a big, invasive procedure. So, he adopted a policy of restraint.

His patients were forcibly restrained, sometimes for days on end. Usually for some time after the procedure was over. He called this the "observation phase" because he used to make the captive audience observe him perform interpretive dance routines, based around the theme of dentistry.

His license was finally taken away and he avoided going to jail only by virtue of insanity. He was committed to Thorney Towers and had to be moved to solitary confinement because of his tendency to pull out his fellow inmate's teeth while they were asleep.

As Houson Thorney, the hospital's founder, gradually went insane himself, and his staff began deserting the place, Caligosto found it increasingly easy to find doctor's clothes and gear, and masquerade as a doctor. When the last nurse finally took off, she handed a clipboard and a box of files to Caligosto and said, "You want to be a doctor? Fine, you're in charge of this looney bin now!"

And so Caligosto had the run of the place. He assembled all the abandoned prongs, tongs, ice picks, and other primitive medical equipment he could find and made himself a little lab up in the highest tower. He started to wander the hallways looking for patients, and since there were a few stragglers from the old days—patients that had never been claimed—he could always find some unwitting victim. That was what he was doing when Coach Oleander walked into the place. Caligosto introduced himself as chief resident surgeon general.

Oleander needed a scientist to help him with his twisted scheme to create an army of psychically powered tanks. Loboto wasn't brilliant, or even sane, but he knew where to cut and had some experience, and no morals whatsoever. So, Oleander took him on as a partner.

Together they develop the technique of extracting nightmares from one mind and implanting them in another. They used this to mutate a normal lungfish into the Hulking Lungfish of legend. They also developed the super sneezing powder: a sneeze inducer so strong, that it causes the victim to completely blow his brains out. With the lungfish and the powder in their arsenal, they set to work on phase two of their plan: collect brains!

Story[]

Psychonauts[]

You may say he's in the wrong profession, but he'll tell you you have "the insanity of a manatee!". Doctor Loboto is a dentist who was placed in thorny towers so that he could no longer harm his patients. (He's a bit of a sadist) and he has a passion for harvesting brains… psychic brains. He needs them to power his army of Brain Tanks.

Old Psychopedia description

Loboto first appears in the Brain Tumbler Experiment, where Raz witnesses him removing Dogen Boole's brain atop a mental recreation of Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed. Using a peppermill-like contraption on his prosthetic right arm, he sprays sneezing powder up Dogen's nose and forces him to literally sneeze out his brain. Raz then fights a mental version of the Brain Tank- a weapon of mass destruction designed by Loboto for which he plans to steal the PSI Cadets' brains.

Loboto's second appearance is seen when Raz uses Clairvoyance while holding Lili's Bracelet. Loboto is shown threatening to remove Lili's brain while she's strapped to a chair and reveals his master plan to take one of the cadet's brains and use it to power the Brain Tank. Fortunately, Lili's head cold prevents Loboto from using the sneezing powder on her, and her brain remains intact.

Well, I've reviewed your chart, little girl. And the bad news is, we're gonna have to remove your brain, strap it into an armored battle tank, and make it shoot down innocent civilians with its concentrated psychic death beam!

...The good news is that your insurance should cover the whole thing.

–Loboto to Lili

Raz is unable to reach Loboto's lab, however, until he can convince Crispin Whytehead, appointed "orderly" by Loboto, to let him pass, as Loboto ordered him to not let anyone besides himself use the elevator. With the help of the asylum's other residents, Raz constructs a disguise of Loboto that is able to fool Crispin (due to his extremely poor vision) and uses the elevator to reach the upper floors.

Eventually Raz makes it to the top of Thorney Towers and enters Loboto's lab. He witnesses Loboto berating his assistant Sheegor for not bringing him a brain "mean" enough to power the Brain Tank. He then threatens to make "turtle soup" out of Sheegor's pet Mr. Pokeylope, which he is holding hostage, unless she finds a capable brain.

After returning Mr. Pokeylope to Sheegor, they all agree to use Mr. Pokeylope's brain to thwart Loboto's plans. Sheegor extracts Mr. Pokeylope's brain and puts it on Loboto's lab table, allowing Raz to use Telekinesis to put Mr. Pokeylope's brain into the brain tank. Pokeylope then fires the tank on Loboto, which knocks him out of the tower- the last he's seen of until Rhombus of Ruin. He survives the incredibly long fall through unknown means, possibly through repressed psychic abilities.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin[]

Some point after his defeat, Loboto retreated to his base in the Rhombus of Ruin. As his played ping pong with one of his henchmen, Gristol arrived with Truman Zanotto, the leader of the Psychonauts, and ordered Loboto to swap their brains, using code to hide his orders, while also hypnotically implanting the idea that he'll set Maligula on Loboto if he told anyone about him.

As Loboto was completing the procedure, the same group of Psychonauts arrived to try and rescue Truman, Raz included. Loboto then separated them and strapped Raz to a chair. He tells Raz that he has a new contractee, who he refuses to name due to "doctor-patient confidentiality", and was tasked with kidnapping Truman and additionally with extracting and delivering Raz's brain.

Raz uses Coach Oleander's Psycho-Portal to access Loboto's mind. After Raz battles Loboto's inner demons and views his memories, Raz exits Loboto and asks him how he's feeling, to which he responds "like a cavity... that's just been filled". Loboto realizes the horrible things he's done and Raz offers him a chance to "set things right". Loboto then pulls out a walkie-talkie and dismisses all of his fish assistants, seemingly having a change of heart. Unfortunately, he then declares that he's going to detonate the base, not realizing that he's forgotten to give everyone a chance to leave. He runs off as the base's countdown begins, leaving Raz and the other Psychonauts to take care of the mess.

At the end of the game, when the Psychonauts are flying away from the Rhombus of Ruin via their jet, Loboto's prosthetic arm pops out of the overhead compartment for a brief moment, showing that he hitched a ride with the Psychonauts back to the Motherlobe.

Psychonauts 2[]

Loboto was eventually discovered and questioned about who hired him, but Loboto refused to talk. Sasha then placed a psychic construction in Loboto's head, and he, Milla, Oleander, Raz and Lili enter Loboto's mind once again in hopes of learning the identity of the person who hired Loboto to kidnap Truman.

Although Loboto bought the facade at first, the mission begins to fall apart as Loboto becomes aware of their ruse. As the implanted office scenario falls apart, one part of Loboto tries to reach out to Raz while the other tries to "extract" him and his fellow Psychonauts to keep Gristol's identity a secret.

Eventually, after removing most of the agents, Loboto retreats to a construct of Thorney Towers, where he tries to remember his coded orders. As Loboto struggles to remember, a manifestation of Gristol's hypnosis reminds him what said orders were, as well as reminding him of his threat. This sends Loboto into a panic, but luckily Raz witnesses this, which leads the Psychonauts to realize that Loboto's boss plans to resurrect Maligula, and is a mole in the Psychonauts organization.

Loboto then spends most of the game in trapped Sasha's lab at the Motherlobe, continually resisting Sasha's efforts to extract any additional information out of him.

By the end of the game, after Maligula and Gristol are defeated, Loboto makes an escape from the Motherlobe, although Raz manages to catch sight of him before he does. He begs Raz not to rat him out, as he's clearly seen that the Doctor is now reformed after regaining his moral compass. He also says that he urgently needs to pick up his kid from camp as he runs off, shocking Raz.

Dr. Loboto's Mind[]

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin[]

Main article: Loboto's Mind

Loboto's mind appears as a vast ocean (in reality is a large bathtub). His sanity, represented by First Mate Loboto, is fighting for his life against his insanity, Monstroboto. Raz must assist First Mate Loboto in defeating Monstroboto to gain access to his suppressed childhood memories which proceed to take place inside a large dollhouse. Raz and a very young Loboto then retrieve his lost moral compass and partially restore his sanity before leaving his mind.

Psychonauts 2[]

Main article: Loboto's Labyrinth

The Psychonauts attempt to figure out who ordered Loboto to kidnap Truman by imposing an office construct created by Sasha Nein to goad the information out of him.[4] The construct begins failing and Loboto's true psyche leaks out, leading to the mind being crowded with mouth-based horrors based on his experiences as a dentist. Razputin eventually reaches a mental recreation of Thorney Towers in Loboto's mind, which he scales to find Loboto talking to a shadowy figure, the one who hired him. The shadowy figure threatens Loboto with keeping their identity a secret, lest he face the wrath of Maligula.[5]

Psychic Abilities[]

  • Telekinesis: As a child he used this power to bend all the spoons in his family's kitchen. It is unknown if he still retains this ability, however it's implied he does not.
  • Time Bubble (possibly): Crackers, one of Loboto's mental figures, is able to use this ability with help from First Mate Loboto.

Relationships[]

Family[]

His mother and father[]

Loboto appears to have a complicated relationship with his parents. They were abusive toward him in his youth, forcing him to undergo painful lobotomization because of his psychic gifts. He appears to be aware of their resentment toward him. He wears his mother's shower cap in every appearance he makes. His father commented that "god forbid" his future career could be that of a dentist; this offhanded remark from his father may had led Loboto to pursue a dental career out of spite.

His Child[]

Not much is known of Loboto and his child's relationship. All that is known of the child is that Loboto had left them at camp, presumably Whispering Rock.

Subordinates[]

Sheegor[]

Sheegor is Loboto's former assistant and fellow resident of Thorney Towers. He sees her as inferior and bad at her job.

Mr. Pokeylope[]

Mr. Pokeylope is Sheegor's turtle friend. Loboto uses his safety as leverage to force Sheegor to follow his orders, even going so far as to threaten to eat him. Dr. Loboto does not seem to be aware that Mr. Pokeylope is sapient or capable of speech.

Linda[]

Linda is a mutated lungfish modified by Loboto for use in Oleander's scheme for world domination. They do not directly interact in the game besides in a memory vault; therefore the true extent of their relationship is unknown.

Fish Guards[]

The fish guards are the mutated fish created by Loboto to serve as his henchmen in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. Loboto releases them at the end of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, but makes no attempts to secure their safety, leaving a large number of them to die in the facility implosion.

Psychonauts[]

Coach Oleander[]

It is unknown how Loboto and Morceau came to meet. Loboto skills were utilized by Oleander in his plot for world domination. They worked together to kidnap The Campers using a mutated Lungfish. Loboto aided Morceau in designing the Brain Tank powered by The Camper's extracted brains. Their association came to an end when Morry overcame his personal demons with help from Raz and rejoined the Psychonauts. Oleander still acts friendly towards Loboto even after they went their separate ways.

Razputin Aquato[]

Loboto first sees Raz as another brain to pick for the Coach's plan for world domination. They become something like friends after Raz helps Loboto recover his moral compass. In Psychonauts 2, Raz appeals to Loboto's better nature whilst inside Loboto's Labyrinth, and Loboto appears to genuinely want to help the young Psychonaut, but cannot divulge the identity of the mole due to a combination of fear, mental conditioning, and the need to protect himself from reprisal. At the end of the game, Loboto escapes from Sasha Nein's lab (despite Sasha having put him in his Brain Tumbler and set it to 'sedate'). Caught in the act by Raz, Loboto trusts Raz not to tell the other Psychonauts about his escape (at least not immediately), saying that he is a changed man, and that Raz was there to see it. He then shocks the young Psychonaut by stating he has to get back to camp - because he left his kid there.

Sasha Nein[]

Sasha and Loboto only begin interacting in Psychonauts 2, where Sasha spends the majority of the game attempting to break through Loboto's mental conditioning to discover the identity of his employer. Loboto is somewhere between reluctant and amused by the Psychonauts' attempts, genially suggesting to Sasha to stop trying.

Lili Zanotto[]

Loboto views Lili as a disrespectful and misbehaved brat, although he is scared of her pyrokinesis.

The Campers[]

Loboto sees the campers as possible weapons to pilot Coach Oleander's brain tanks.

Thorney Towers[]

Crispin Whytehead[]

Crispin was Loboto's former contractee stationed at the Thorney Towers asylum. Loboto was trapped in Thorney Towers with the rest of the asylum members (including Crispin), however the true extent of their relationship is unknown because they do not directly interact within the game. Loboto has shown to take precaution regarding Crispin's safety to protect him from invading psychics and positioned him to guard the elevator leading to his lab. Crispin is very loyal toward the dentist, calling him his boss with admiration.

Edgar Teglee[]

Edgar and Loboto were both trapped inside Thorney Towers together with the other abandoned asylum members. They do not interact directly within the game; therefore their true relationship is up to speculation. Edgar says that Dr. Loboto requires him to paint a portrait of him in order to leave, referring to him as his "patron," his "psychiatrist," and his "warden."

Boyd Cooper[]

Boyd and Loboto were both trapped inside Thorney Towers with the other abandoned asylum members. They do not interact directly within the game; therefore their true relationship is up to speculation. Both Boyd and Loboto worked for Coach Oleander for a short period of time.

Fred Bonaparte[]

Fred and Loboto were both trapped inside Thorney Towers with the other abandoned asylum members. They do not interact directly within the game; therefore their true relationship is up to speculation. However, it's mentioned that Fred confiscated Loboto's teddy bear during his time as Thorny Towers' chief orderly, so some resentment may exist.

Gristol Malik[]

Gristol hired Dr. Loboto to remove Truman Zanotto's brain. He was paid large sums of money to travel to the Rhombus of Ruin and establish a lab in the abandoned Psychonauts lab by Gristol, and was later threatened by the man to never reveal his identity lest he faced Maligula's wrath. By some means, Gristol managed to hypnotically condition Dr. Loboto to protect his identity as well.

Etymology[]

  • "Loboto" refers to "lobotomy", a medical procedure in which a doctor operates on a patient's brain, severing the pre-frontal cortex from the rest of the brain, referring to his role in removing people's brains in Psychonauts.
    • Additionally, he was subjected to a lobotomy as a child.
  • "Caligosto" is most likely a reference to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a German silent horror film from the 1920's.
    • In addition to this it is likely based on Allesandro Cagliostro, a famous occultist and self-styled magician from the 18th century.

Trivia[]

  • If you blow the Lungfish Call in Loboto's lab, he will say "Sheegor, please! Open a window if you're going to do that". Furthermore, if Pyrokinesis is used on Mr. Pokeylope,, Loboto will sniff the air and say, "Mmmmm. Do I smell... turtle soup?"
  • He has several additional idle dialogues in Rhombus of Ruin prior to entering his mind with the Psycho-Portal, including:
    • "I mean, I get it, tanks turn heads, but are you trying to impress girls, or TAKE OVER THE WORLD? And you do NOT want to know what kind of gas mileage those things got." (idle, a reference to the Brain Tank and Coach Oleander)
    • "Psychoblaster Death Tanks? Hehehehehehe!" (idle, a reference to the Brain Tank and Coach Oleander, he is making fun of it.)
    • "That army man... What was he thinking?" ("idle, a reference to Coach Oleander.)
    • "I do miss my old office, though... Nice view, great access to lots of brains..." (Idle, a reference to Thorney Towers)
    • "Stop that at once, you bad little boy! It's unnatural!" (When using Telekinesis on him, a reference to the words of his mother)
  • The teddy bear in Loboto's crib in Rhombus of Ruin is the same as the teddy bear in Thorney Towers' asylum grounds.
    • Additionally, the plush manatee is a reference to Loboto's line "you have the insanity of a manatee!", said to Dogen Boole during the Brain Tumbler Experiment.
  • Dr. Loboto wears a shower cap instead of a surgical cap, a play on the phrase "madcap surgeon".
    • His shower cap was given to him by his mother and is apparently capable of preventing the use of Clairvoyance on him.[6]
      • This is contradicted in Psychonauts 2, where you can use Clairvoyance on him.
  • He is over 9 feet tall.[7]
  • Some Double Fine employees have said that they're not sure how old Loboto is, vaguely suggesting "old?" in an uncertain way, and jokingly suggested that he may not even know how old he is[8].
  • When he flees the Rhombus of Ruin after starting the detonation countdown, he says "you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!". This phrase is used in the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic but originated as an expression used by bartenders when closing their establishments for the night.
  • Loboto is an amateur dentist and doesn't actually know a lot about teeth[9].
  • Despite being a psychic, Dr. Loboto doesn't seem to be affected by Psilirium poisoning.
  • In Rhombus of Ruin, Dr. Loboto has the song "Drag Me Down" on his laboratory's computer. A bit earlier in the game, Coach Oleander is seen singing to the same track on stage. Considering their history, and with the Coach being the All Paul fan he is, this may suggest that Oleander introduced Dr. Loboto to All Paul at some point, or that they just have similar taste in music. Though it's also possible the fish guards, who have access to the cruise ship, may have put the music on the computer themselves.
  • In Dr. Loboto's mind in Psychonauts 2, there is a poster depicting two male teeth in love.
  • He owns a walkie talkie called "Loboto Talkie".
  • Psychonauts developers originally wanted to add a scene where Loboto fell into Linda's open mouth after getting shot off the tower. If the scene actually did happen away from the camera, it would be an explanation for how Loboto survived the fall.[10]
  • At the post-game of Psychonauts 2, while escaping, Loboto says he left his kid at camp.[11]
    • A popular fan theory is that his child is Bobby Zilch, though no solid evidence backs this up. Other fan theories speculate that his child may be Chloe Barge, d'Artagnan, or even Linda.
    • A fan posted a post related to this fact and Tim Schafer answered he could be the owner of a young goat.[12]

See also[]

References/Notes[]



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