For Paragon FX Group, Close Enough Isn't Good Enough

By John Charles

Inside Paragon FX Group, where the most iconic props from film and theme-park history are painstakingly recreated for collectors who want to own more than a memory. They want something tangible from the stories that have stayed with them.

For Ry Pruett, the difference is in the details. The materials. The proportions. The colors. As director of Paragon FX Group, Pruett and his team dig through studio archives, track down surviving original props and production materials, and work directly with the people who brought these productions to life. Sometimes that means travelling halfway around the world with a scanner. Either way, "close enough" isn't part of the vocabulary.

Ry, tell me a little about what you do.

Paragon FX Group partners with studios like Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., TOHO and others to recreate iconic pieces under license from popular films and, in Disney's case, attractions. These pieces are made in very small, one-time runs and offered to discerning collectors.

Give me an example of some of the pieces you've recreated.

We've replicated everything from the Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz to some of Batman's coolest gear, plus pieces from Blade Runner, The Lost Boys and Jurassic Park. Right now, we're celebrating all things Disney. At D23 this year, we debuted our half-scale replicas of the Haunted Mansion's animatronic Hitchhiking Ghosts. We also showed our 22-pound, solid-brass replica of the Haunted Mansion gate plaque, which commemorates the grand opening.

Where do you get the reference for all of these pieces? Do you work from screen grabs, photographs, screen-used props?

With Disney, we work directly with both Disney Archives and Animation Archives. We also have a wonderful Product Development (PD) team. Disney Archives arranged for us to scan a surviving set of original props for the Hitchhiking Ghosts. We identified the fabrics, matched colors precisely and digitally cloned everything in front of us. Same thing with our 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea pieces: the team put us right in front of the original props. My 13-year-old self would've exploded!

We'll do whatever it takes to get the best possible reference. If that means flying to Tokyo to scan original Godzilla props like the Oxygen Destroyer, twist my arm. Have scanner, will travel! At other times, we'll work directly with the studio and involve members of the production team. Universal had numerous surviving Jurassic Park props archived, all utilized in recreating our pieces, including the NV goggles, the park maps and the Cryo Can.

That's a tremendous amount of work.

Well, it can be, but we love what we do. I like to think of us as cinematic archaeologists. We do a lot of digging. Plus, at the end of the day, we're custodians of people's most cherished memories. Our fan base trusts that we're going to do our homework when we set out to make something.

So, how do you decide how many of a particular piece gets made?

The goal is to keep things special and manageable. A number of our replicas are limited to runs of no more than 300 pieces. Some are set around 1,500. Once they're sold out, we move on. That keeps us from getting stale, and the items we make become true collectibles. We never repeat a run or do the cousin of this or that. Nothing we do is mass-produced. We're not a toy company. It's easy for people who don't collect to look at some of our pieces and go, "That's expensive." I prefer to say, "Price appropriate." There are toys out there and then there are heirlooms. We live in the heirloom category. Keeping the runs smaller allows us to hyper focus on QC and not get too far out over our skis with regard to the museum-quality replicas we do. Sure, we could've done our upcoming Godzilla Oxygen Destroyer in injection-molded plastic, but it would just be a big toy. By making it in machined aluminum and limiting it to 300 pieces, we're producing an insanely high-end, museum-quality replica. That's our lane. That's what makes us special.

Now, there are some more novel things we get to stretch our legs on, including our upcoming Elf Assassin, which is one of our own IPs. But for the most part, low, numbered runs are what we do. And, to answer your question about how we decide on numbers? We guess! It's true...there's no barometer for what we do. If I guess right often enough, we get to keep doing what we're doing. [Laughs.] Having been at this for more than 25 years, you do get a feel for things. Ultimately, I make what I loved as a kid or what's captured my attention as an adult. We've never made a thing at Paragon where the entire team wasn't on board. There's always a healthy exchange of ideas. The genesis of everything starts with someone going, I loved that when I was a kid or that's so cool, we should do that!

Why not make more of something and sell it cheaper?

We're a specialty company. We make things we want in our own collections. We could make 10,000 plastic Goonies adventure sets with a vinyl map, but we'd be a different company, and I wouldn't love my job. I want to limit that set to 1,500 pieces and make everything in metal. Model those pieces from the real deal and never take a best guess. They should look like they fell off the screen and were purchased at auction.

We're catering to a smaller audience, and we're completely cool with that. We understand our niche. You can buy an '89 Batman Grapnel Launcher in plastic for, like, $25 from another company. Our replica is completely modular, made of CNC-machined aluminum and ships in a laser-cut tech case. It looks and feels real, as close as you can get to that piece in your mind's eye. That's our passion. There's nothing wrong with cheaper cosplay items. Those are gateway collectibles that ultimately get people to our higher-end category. [Laughs.]

What's the incentive for attending collectors' shows?

Expos are a great way to connect with our fan base. I mean, we cover a lot of ground with our socials, but expos allow us to hear the stories, debut new merchandise and make new friends. We're collectors too, so slipping away to shop a little and maybe meet one of the guests, is fun for us, too.

Tell me about these stories. From people at the show, the guests?

The collectors who attend share a lot with us. They'll tell us what they want, what they like, what they don't like and what a piece means to them. That's my favorite part. It's not lost on me that our pieces can be an important part of someone's life. Maybe they've finally acquired something that's always been on their wish list, or maybe it runs deeper. I've had fans tell me stories that hit me right in the feels. I've had to do the whole "got something in my eye" thing and step away.

Can you share one?

Sure, I once had a person tell me a story about how our Jurassic Park Cryo Can replica reminds him of the time he had spent in the hospital with his mother. She was going through some lengthy treatments and they watched their favorite film, Jurassic Park, over and over. That's just how they passed the time. The prop had become a bit of a totem to him, representing that period in his life. Having that piece is no different to him than a family photo; it's a bittersweet reminder of a difficult time. Then, of course, we hear the stories about moms and dads sharing their first movie with their kids, and how one of our replicas can bring those memories rushing back.

Most are quick shares: "Thank you, I've wanted this since I was a kid." They'll tell us how much they love a film. "I've finally got one!" It's always nice to know you've made someone smile. But some are incredibly personal.

That's the part people probably don't see when they look at what we do. They see the metal, the machining, the paint, the packaging, the number on the certificate. We see the person standing on the other side of the table telling us why that particular piece matters.

I had one guy visit with us from another country who said he didn't have the best relationship with his dad, but the one thing they always agreed on was anything related to the film Blade Runner; and of course, the book (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) it was loosely adapted from. He said, "That's when the good scotch and cigars came out." This was their neutral ground. He said he'd ultimately purchased one of our Hero Blade Runner prop replicas as a memento of those times. When he passes that piece on his mantle, it makes him smile. Yeah...that'll get ya. People share a lot with us.

So what's new for the holidays? Anything in particular you want to mention before we wrap it up?

Thank you for spending some time with me. Visit us at paragonfxgroup.com and on Instagram at @paragonfxgroup. We also do a weekly vlog on upcoming projects. Keep an eye out for our Godzilla projects and numerous new Disney runs. People are going to be really impressed with our Haunted Mansion attraction pieces, aptly titled The Gracey Collection. And watch for our Elf Assassin, a fun little piece for this season. Lots of surprises coming this holiday season. Check us out!

That's a wrap.