What is Lineage?
A lot of times in collectibles, you’ll hear the term, “lineage.” This can have a wide range of meanings and a big impact on the authenticity of a piece, be it a prop replica, collectible or even a decor item.
Why is lineage important?
Lineage adds authenticity to your collectibles. It connects your item to the production of the films we love. Many collectors feel that connection adds value and importance. For us as makers, it helps us accurately capture the real details of the movie props, costumes or characters we’re recreating. When creating a prop replica, our goal is to create something for fans that is the closest you can get to owning the original prop that was used in the film.
What are some common forms of lineage?
Mastered from an original prop or from original molds – This can be a replica created using a casting from an original mold, or a production second, or even physically molded off an original prop or production artifact. Examples would be our Gamorrean Fighter and Tauntaun Maquette Replicas, which used the original molds to create the masters we used in creating our editions. This ensures we capture all of the same details in the sculptures created for the productions.
A variation on this would be sourcing and molding an original found-item part. In the case of our Cantina-inspired console table, we used castings of a vintage airplane engine component of exact same model used to create the drink dispensers seen in the film.
Scanning and photogrammetry – If the prop/artifact if too delicate to safely mold, high-resolution 3D scanning can be a powerful tool in successfully recreating complex props and characters. Our Rancor and Dewback magnets, Dewback sofa and Rancor prop replica are just a few examples of pieces created with scans of the original props. Others would be the face from our Chewbacca busts and statues, the Space Slug in our desk organizer and even Han Solo in Carbonite, a scan of which was used in our wall decor pieces and custom carbonite-inspired furniture.
Patterned off the original – In the case of costumes, a bit of patterning can help reverse engineer a particular garment or piece. We patterned off the original Jawa robes when creating custom Jawa 1:1 replica statues and used fur patterns and color samples to ensure our Chewbacca life-sized statues and busts would be as close to the real thing as possible.
Production 3D assets – As times change, licensees can sometimes find opportunity in using 3D CG assets from the films or property. Our Millennium Falcon Asteroid Coffee Table features a ship created from the 3D model used in the Disney park ride, Star Tours and our sold-out Holochess signature sets were created with the digital work done by Phil Tippett’s team for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and other recent Star Wars films.
Crafted by the same artist – Our last example is a human connection. Sometimes, we’ll work with an original FX artist who made a particular character or prop for the movie and have them be a part of our process making a replica. Our sold-out Salacious Crumb prop replica, was hand-sculpted by Tony McVey, who sculpted the character for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi back in the early 1980’s.
Thank you for reading and we hope you’ll continue to follow along with our new creations here and on social media, where you can find us as @RegalRobot.