Moving on to a more uplifting subject for now, I've just received another great looking concept maquette from Regal Robot from their Archive Collection. Having missed it the first time around last year when it was initially offered with a signed plaque by the original sculptor, I'm still glad I was able to get it this second time thanks to RR offering a chance to get a hold of it to the many other collectors that requested it. the maquette is exactly the same as the signature version, minus the signed plaque.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ARCHIVE COLLECTION: REE-YEES CONCEPT MAQUETTE REPLICA
By Regal Robot
- "I remember sculpting it and thinking it just kind of seemed a bit silly to me at the time" - Chris Wales
Originally offered and released in 2023 as a limited edition of 100 signature pieces, the Ree-Yees concept maquette, part of Regal Robot's Archive collection proved to be a quick seller and a highly wanted piece that many collectors who missed out on the opportunity asked to have it made again. In an effort to satisfy its high demand, Regal Robot re-issued the sculpt in 2024, this second time without a signature plaque, but as numbered edition of 100 pieces. This was highly appreciated by collectors like myself wanting to add Ree-Yees to the quickly growing Archive Collection of accurately depicted maquettes, scanned from the Lucasfilm archives.
MEET REE-YEES CREATOR
His name is Chris Wales, a true legend in the effects world, probably most known for designing the Gremlins, but he is also credited for his work on Dragonslayer, Enemy Mine, Arachnophobia, The Fly, and lots of other stuff. Including, of course, Return of the Jedi, where he helped create the Creature Shop and many of the creatures for Jabba's Palace, including Ree-Yees.
"I became a monster maker at probably the best possible time in the history of filmmaking. It was insane! All the stuff was kind of like continually happening, all these new techniques and materials were all getting incorporated into the effect stuff right away, a little too fast sometimes but it was amazing.It was an amazing time, being too busy taking in all this stuff to try and figure out how to make it work for you. It was wonderful for all the effects guys suddenly realizing they could do stuff that we really never imagined we'd be able to do. It worked perfectly for me with all this new material so it really was a very unique time. It was interesting for me because I was a George Lucas fan from THX and Star Wars. I was blown away, I mean just totally blown away by it. Even better was seeing my dad say it just reminded him of when he was a kid and Flash Gordon came out. It was just great to see my dad so excited about it. So obviously when I was asked to work at ILM it was the zenith of what you could possibly be in the effects industry at the time"
WALES COMES TO ILM and CREATING REE-YEES (IN HIS OWN WORDS)
"I love designing aliens I love designing creatures I mean I'm all about creatures, I love doing all kind of practical effects but I'm a creature guy from day one. I mean I just love coming up with variations on creature themes, so this whole Jedi experience I was just like yeah bring it on! I think it was John Berg and Phil Tippett that came to Don Post Studios to see if they could get a production run of rubber piranhas for the film Piranha. They started doing the underwater stuff and realized they were understaffed and so Bob Short said "I know Chris Wales and he is great doing all kinds of cool stuff and whatever you want he'll do that". So they brought me in on that and that was my entryway into actual filmmaking. I had a friendship with Phil and about a year later, Phil asked if I would be available to come work at ILM, basically making molds was going to be my job but it turned out to be more than that. For Jedi I was doing designs and designing the Creature Shop and setting that all up, just physically. I hired a few people uh basically looking for trainees more than anything. I couldn't hire up a top crew out of LA because that budget wasn't really there then."
"When I was asked to work at ILM it was the pinnacle of what you could possibly be in the effects industry at the time. I did a ton of maquettes and some sketches as well for Jedi, Raiders and Dragon Slayer all of these films happening at the same time. It was a very crazy time for me because I was filming on Raiders, and I was filming on Dragonslayer when Phil said "well we have to do a whole bunch of my casts" I was literally filming a shot on one stage, running upstairs to either the rubber room or the Art Department, sculpting as fast as possible my casts, literally putting them in the oven, running back down, doing another shot, running back up, taking a big head out to cool down, running back down and setting up another shot, running upstairs spending lunch break sculpting and painting. See, you have to understand I didn't know any of my maquettes by the final names. We had our own names for them so I never actually learned what the film names were going to be, not even if they were going to be picked up for the film."
"I took inspiration to create Ree-Yees, call it a fun upgrade, of an old Irwin Allen style monster from "Lost in Space". It was a very exaggerated looking character which had these big eyes out on stalks got almost a bovine sort of muzzle but that was a fun one I enjoyed sculpting. Interestingly, I remember sculpting it and thinking it just kind of seemed a bit silly to me at the time. I didn't think it was actually going to get chosen but it did so that was cool. We didn't have a script for him, we didn't have any Ralph McQuarrie designs or anything like that to go by, no reference at that point, basically had no information. I mean, the only guideline we really had was it's probably mostly going to be masks and hands so that's what it was. I remember I'm asking Phil Tippett: "So what is George's process for this? What should I be looking to do?" and Phil just said "Just do as many designs as possible. You know George usually says no to everything" So the first time George comes in to see this first batch of maquettes we'd done, he comes and says: "Cool, I like all of them. They're good"
MAQUETTE SPECIFICS:
- Limited Edition of just 100 maquettes
- Includes display base and hand-numbered metal plaque
- 1:1 scale to the original maquette
- Mastered from a high-resolution 3D scan of the original artifact
- Hand painted, making each a unique work of art.
- Made in the U.S.A.out of solid, heavy resin
- Includes Regal Robot COA
- Approximately 6.25″ tall (including the wood display base)
- Hand packed in a gloss black box with die-cut foam insert
View attachment 493907
View attachment 493908
View attachment 493910
View attachment 493911
View attachment 493912
View attachment 493913
View attachment 493914
View attachment 493915
View attachment 493916
View attachment 493917
View attachment 493919