Chateau Lloyd

I'm generally accepting of most hobbies, especially collecting.  Whether postage stamps or model trains, I tend not to judge.

However, the other day I came across Adam Savage describing his prop sci-fi blaster collection and this gave me a moment of pause.  On the one hand, I am the guy who authored a lengthy series on Geek Guns, which was centered on movie prop weapons.

However, the notion behind that article was to discuss firearms rather than the qualities of fictional weapons.

Moreover, film props are - by definition - cheap, the bare minimum one can use to get by.  Molded rubber is a common material, because all it has to do is look good on the camera.  Some years ago I went to the Star Wars: The Magic of Myth prop exhibition and was amazed at how poorly made everything was.  Darth Vader's suit was kind of ratty, whip-stitched together in parts, but it didn't matter because it was so dark, the camera would never pick it up.

That's props in a nutshell - all about creating an illusion.  I can get buying an actual prop because that's a part of the movie set and its history.  Making a costume makes sense, and one would have to have a prop weapon as part of that.

But the notion of paying top dollar for an imitation of a prop seems strange to me.

Also puzzling was Savage's lack of knowledge about what he was collecting.  He mentioned one of the props from Pulp Fiction was a Star Model B pistol, and that he had to work out where to find one.  Well, they are not uncommon and go for cheap.  I know a friend who bought one not long ago for that reason.

Working firearms are of course in a completely different category in terms of function and legal status, and that also adds a bit of weirdness to the discussion as creating a prop from a functioning firearm would require its deactivation, which is odious to me, especially if it is vintage and in short supply.  Go with a foam-injected version with some gubbins!

At any rate, it is interesting to see how collector circles intersect but also diversge.