Dascoyne, surely you're not serious.
Dont get me wrong, I LOVE Bladrunner with all my heart. However, I'm not going to let the love of the movie cloud my judgment. How many people outside of this forum can describe the gun in detail? Sure, you can fool yourself into thinking there are many, probably based on the number of prop PKDs that are sold and at their great prices. But those are mostly gun enthusiasts and die hard fans of the movie. 90 percent of the general public that have seen and liked the movie couldn't pick out that gun in a lineup if their lives were depending on it.
Of course my reply is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but remember this isn't about how we should define "greatest props." Mine is a criticism of the list in the link and its definition.
This list includes:
Frogs from Magnolia - I don't always like to admit I loved that movie but, while the frog scene was a major turning point, there's nothing special or iconic about the frogs themselves. You might as well add the locusts from the Ten Commandments.
Dental pick from Marathon Man - again, the scene was great but there's nothing special about the dental pick other than it was used. I've watched Marathon Man many times and Olivier's performance is what I remember. I couldn't tell you a thing about the dental pick he used.
Gold Chains from I'm Gonna Git You Sucka - A single gag in a pretty funny Wayans movie. I wouldn't even call it the best Wayans movie.
Tennis Racket from The Apartment - I loved this Jack Lemmon film. The racket was a gag.
Cue Cards from Love Actually - that gimmick was from the only story line from the film that irritated me. The man is crushing on his friend's wife. It's not romantic. It's creepy. And did anyone really think that gag was that great?
The revolver in Godard's Breathless, umbrella in Singing in the Rain, bone prop in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the switchblade in Rebel Without a Cause? - As with the frogs and the dental pick, those were props used in iconic scenes - not iconic props. There's a big difference.
And say what you like about the limited fandom of Blade Runner but I don't even think there's a fandom for Magnolia, Marathon Man or I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
The point is that I can make a stronger case for the blaster than I can for those films. Blade Runner is typically considered a "cult" film but I argue that it's evolved into the mainstream simply because so many occult fans inside and outside the industry keep referencing it to this day. With a major sequel coming out you can't really call it a cult film anymore.
I agree that many folks who watched the film probably didn't remember the blaster as obsessively as some folks, but I argue that that factor is offset by the depth of obsession those folks had. (e.g. Cultural Impact = Number of people affected x Degree of impact.) When my buddy got his VHS copy of Blade Runner I had no idea that, while my buddy and I were freezing stills of that prop trying to make out every detail that there were folks from all over the world doing the exact same thing at the exact same time. I can't put my finger on why we were obsessed by that gun but there has to be something special if it grabbed so many people at the same time.
There are many stories of prop passion that begin with this item. I don't even know if there's a single prop story or prop fan story to tell about the tennis racket in The Apartment.