That flame-throwing electric guitar wielded by Mad Max: Fury Road's unforgettable Coma the Doof Warrior is real, and it works.

"George [Miller] — unfortunately — doesn’t like things that don’t work", production designer Colin Gibson told MTV . "I have in the past built him props that I thought were just supposed to be props, and then he goes, “Okay, plug it in now.”"The first version of the guitar which — I think I put too much into the flame thrower, not enough into the reverb. And yes, the flame throwing guitar did have to operate, did have to play, the PA system did have to work"

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The guitar was played by iOTA, the Australian performer who brought the Doof Warrior to life, while blindfolded and strapped to an 8-wheel drive."He [iOTA] had a month or six weeks of getting used to it, of actually being able to play at full speed, while bungee jumping and blind".As for the Doof Warrior's purpose on the killer convoy, the justification was fairly simple: he can play a mean guitar."Pretty much everybody had to have a reason for existing", said Gibson. "His reason for existing was that he could play the guitar — and there was sort of a theory of what the social hierarchy and everything was: you were either available to do battle, as a war boy; or you had a higher status than anyone else; or you had a particular skill."...he had this talent to play the guitar — so he certainly had earned his place in the pantheon."

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN’s AU office. Follow her ramblings on Twitter.