So behind-the-scenes I'm still trying to figure out if I can hunt down a match for Lancelot, but I'm unsure about a few things about Lancelot's appearance so I figured it might be helpful to get some outside input on him.
And it goes without saying that this is all assuming that Lancelot was a commercially available bear. Given that he doesn't have much screen time and the irrelevance of his design to the film (As in, how he looks really doesn’t matter to the plot of the movie), I fully believe he was a store bought bear purchased for use in the film. So with that assumption in mind, let’s dive in here:
1. How do you think the wear was achieved on Lancelot? Lancelot looks like a well-loved Teddy in the film. Is it more likely they bought a used bear, or do you think they would've bought a new bear and employed some tricks to make him appear more worn for the movie?
My thoughts are if it was a used bear then Lancelot might originate from the 70s, and if it's a new bear then his model of bear would've had to be on store shelves around 1985.
I'm also curious about the material used for Lancelot, if anyone has any opinions on that. Most bears from this era use mohair which to the best of my understanding is a natural fibre, but at least at the Centre for Puppetry Arts exhibit Lancelot is described as having "Synthetic fur".
2. What colour do you think Lancelot's eyes are? From what I can see a lot of bears from the 70s and 80s have amber eyes, which in the eBay listings I've seen appear more red than yellow. I've also seen the occasional bear with light brown eyes. It's hard to get an idea of Lancelot's eye colour from the film, but exhibition photos make me lean towards yellow or light brown eyes (Though obviously the lighting in this exhibits might be skewing the perception of his eye colour).
3. Would they have used multiple bears for Lancelot? This is one that I'm wondering mostly based off the recent exhibition photos of Lancelot. I can't tell if it's differences in lighting, but I feel like the paw pads of Lancelot at the Centre for Puppetry Arts exhibition are significantly darker than Lancelot at the MoPOP exhibition. I also feel like they potentially have slightly different head shapes, but I'm really not certain on this. With how little screen time Lancelot had in the movie I didn't think they would have a need for two bears, but is it possible that there were two Lancelot's prepared for the film, and each exhibit is showing a different Lancelot?
For reference, here's some screengrabs of Lancelot from the film:
And some additional references, Lancelot at two different Labyrinth exhibitions from a few years ago. The first three images show Lancelot with lighter paws at the MoPOP, and the rest show darker paws at the Centre for Puppetry Arts (Which again, I'm undecided about if this is just an issue with lighting or if these are potentially two different bears).