{"id":164834,"date":"2025-11-05T20:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T20:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/164834\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T20:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T20:29:08","slug":"the-story-behind-the-funniest-indiana-jones-prop-replica-youve-ever-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/164834\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story Behind the Funniest ‘Indiana Jones’ Prop Replica You’ve Ever Seen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana Jones is always on the hunt for rare antiquities<\/a>. He\u2019s found the Golden Idol, Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail, and so much more. All of which makes prop replicas of those things<\/a> rather obvious. But, for the Indiana Jones fan who wants to be like their favorite adventuring archaeologist and get something more rare and specific<\/a>, how about a clothes hanger?<\/p>\n

Yes, next week, Regal Robot is releasing maybe the most random, deep-cut, funniest Indiana Jones prop replica ever, Toht\u2019s hanger from Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/a>. Here\u2019s a brief reminder of what specifically that is.<\/p>\n

The scene is a perfect reminder of why Raiders of the Lost Ark is so good. It\u2019s a film that can fit such goofy, weird, unique jokes into a scene that\u2019s otherwise tense and unpredictable. That\u2019s part of why Regal Robot founder Tom Spina decided to make it the latest addition to the company\u2019s already awesome list of Indy collectibles.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re trying to find pieces that we haven\u2019t seen done over and over and trying to give fans something that they\u2019re just not going to get anywhere else,\u201d Spina told io9 recently. \u201cIdeas just pop out as we\u2019re discussing, and when you get to something like the hanger, it\u2019s just a classic film moment. How do you not look at that as something to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

After getting Lucasfilm\u2019s permission to move forward, Regal\u2019s team went ahead with researching the hanger itself. The original prop, made by the late, great Lucasfilm prop master Bill Hargreaves (who also made IG-88 and the Probe Droid in The Empire Strikes Back), was actually first supposed to be used in Steven Spielberg\u2019s 1941 but didn\u2019t quite make the cut. Spielberg loved the gag, though, and brought it back for Raiders.<\/p>\n

As for where the prop went after that, Spina confirmed Regal was able to locate the screen-used original (though wouldn\u2019t confirm specifically where) and from it acquired \u201cnever-before-seen imagery of that original prop, which we were able to use to scale from that to match size and detail,\u201d Spina said.<\/p>\n

\"IndianaThe Toht hanger, in all its glory. \u2013 Regal Robot <\/p>\n

Once they had those materials, a few interesting things came to light. First, the piece itself was not what they envisioned. \u201cIn my head I always sort of visualized it as black wood dowels with eyelets and a chain between them, rather than what it really is, which is metal tubing and chain running through and little rings as stoppers and things like that,\u201d Spina said.<\/p>\n

That, however, was the easy part. The hard part was the hook at the top, which wasn\u2019t like anything they\u2019d seen before. \u201cWe\u2019ve done a bunch of research into it because it clearly was a found part of some kind, and we have a few leads,\u201d Spina said. \u201cWe\u2019re still trying to figure out what that original part might have been, but what we wound up doing for this replica is doing custom machine parts that match the measurements and the unique shape of that hook that\u2019s on the original.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hanger, which also consists of a custom chain made to match the size and styling of the original, retails for $129 and is limited to 500 pieces. It goes on sale via Regal Robot<\/a> at noon ET on November 11. At the same time, the company will also release a brand new two-sided Toht bronze bust for $59, showing the owner of the hanger in his final, melted form. You can find more info here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IndianaBoth being released on November 11 \u2013 Regal Robot <\/p>\n

These releases are perfect examples of what Regal Robot wants to do. The company began several years ago when Spina, who was already running a design company<\/a> that worked with Lucasfilm, found himself at a unique crossroads. \u201cRegal grew out of work we were doing in the combination of home theming for people, giving people that sort of Disneyland theme park experience in their own space, and creature work and things that we were doing with Lucasfilm,\u201d Spina said. \u201cWe had the ideas for what we thought were going to be unique, fun, clever type home decor, and we had the access with Lucasfilm from the work we had been doing with them, and we said, \u2018Hey, we could be doing this cool Star Wars kind of officially and create some stuff that isn\u2019t out there right now.’\u201d<\/p>\n

In a weird twist of fate, one of the earliest items that fit those parameters gained notoriety here on Gizmodo. Way back in 2008, Gizmodo featured a piece Spina and his team created: a Han Solo in Carbonite desk<\/a>. The reveal went viral and proved to Spina that there was a market for the things he was thinking about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the stuff we like to do,\u201d Spina said of the desk. \u201cTake something, turn it on its head, make it into something it\u2019s not, give it some function, make something that\u2019s a little unexpected. It was like, \u2018Well, we like this, but is anybody else going to like this?\u2019 And that post by Gizmodo, and the fact that so many other people picked it up, really let us know, like, \u2018Oh, yeah, wait, people love this,\u2019 and that to me is the spark of Regal Robot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TomThe desk that started a company, from a certain point of view. \u2013 Tom Spina Designs <\/p>\n

In the years since then, Regal has specialized largely in Lucasfilm items, with some highlights including the Urn of Nurhachi from Temple of Doom, Mandalorian-inspired Mythosaur skulls, and various creature maquettes, masks, and busts from every single nook and cranny of Star Wars. It\u2019s truly an impressive and varied body of work featuring all manner of pieces you haven\u2019t seen anywhere else. And, now, somehow, it\u2019s also made a clothes hanger cool.<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re a Star Wars or Indiana Jones fan, Regal Robot is just one of those companies you have to keep an eye on because you never know what\u2019s next. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly jotting down different ideas for products, either from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or even other stuff that we\u2019re considering for the future,\u201d Spina said. \u201cWe have a very long list of ideas, but honestly, we hardly ever refer to it because we\u2019re all massive nerds for these movies, having digested them so much over the last 40 or 50 years. It\u2019s just part of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on Regal Robot, including Toht\u2019s hanger, bust, and many, many currently available and upcoming items, check on the official site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana Jones is always on the hunt for rare antiquities. He\u2019s found the Golden Idol, Ark of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[18,117,19,63617,17,327,95045,95046],"class_list":{"0":"post-164834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-indiana-jones","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-raiders-of-the-lost-ark","15":"tag-regal-robot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115498986001292886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}