Author Topic: Gentle Giant Mini-Busts  (Read 354618 times)

Offline Nicklab

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1515 on: March 23, 2007, 11:00 PM »
Nice to see someone who's got the whole gang.  I'm still short the red Clone, but I'm hoping to get one before the end of the year.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1516 on: March 24, 2007, 01:39 AM »
Excellent set! 

Offline JayDouble

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1517 on: March 24, 2007, 02:58 PM »
Nice job Ricardo.  I think I'll have to come by and see them in person.   ;)

Offline drewlam

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1518 on: March 25, 2007, 09:53 PM »
The classics look nice, but I really don't need another line to spend my $$$ on.  The royal guard however...

That and the Tie pilot are/were at the top of my "wish list", so I'll be getting that one for sure.  If there was a boring/old man style emperor, I would be tempted to get two.  Thankfully the only emperor is the ROTS one (which looks really nice, but I'm sticking with OT).

Offline JoshEEE

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1519 on: March 28, 2007, 01:00 AM »
Apparently the Blue is sold out everywhere, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it direct from GG.
I guess that's the first good thing those 50 dollars have bought me so far.



SORRY - accidentally edited your post with mine... new post coming up in a second.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2007, 10:16 AM by Rob »
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Offline Rob

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1520 on: March 28, 2007, 10:16 AM »
Apparently the Blue is sold out everywhere, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it direct from GG.
I guess that's the first good thing those 50 dollars have bought me so far.


Where are you hearing that?

I want to give my local guys a call to see what they have on order before I make a panic-order that will cost a little more.

Offline DarkKnight2k4

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1521 on: March 28, 2007, 12:21 PM »
It has not hit previews for orders at local shops, so I am not sure about this.

Offline JoshEEE

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1522 on: March 28, 2007, 02:16 PM »
Apparently the Blue is sold out everywhere, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it direct from GG.
I guess that's the first good thing those 50 dollars have bought me so far.


Where are you hearing that?

I want to give my local guys a call to see what they have on order before I make a panic-order that will cost a little more.

Check the usual suspects as far as online retailers go. Northside, Razors Edge, etc, etc.  This single bust is pre-sold out on several of the best sites to pre-order on.....which is probably because it's short packed.  Sorta like the Orange ROTS clone was.  I didn't want to buy a whole case, so I ordered from GG direct for 50 bucks.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: Gentle Giant Busts
« Reply #1523 on: March 28, 2007, 07:23 PM »
Until Gentle Giant sets an edition size there is NO REASON for everyone to get their knickers in a twist.  It certainly seems as though GG wants people to buy two of the red Royal Guards.  At least it seems that they're pushing things that way.  They almost certainly see more demand among casual collectors for the red guard anyway, they're much more iconic.  So they're trying to artificially create demand for the blue guard by telling people that it's going to be rare.  Please.  How many times are we going to play games like this?
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Offline JesseVader08

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Re: Gentle Giant Mini-Busts
« Reply #1524 on: March 29, 2007, 12:20 AM »
(Excuse the interruption - I split off discussion about the new Classics Busts into their own thread.)

Offline Rob

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Re: Gentle Giant Mini-Busts
« Reply #1525 on: March 29, 2007, 10:38 AM »
On GG's store the Blue Guard just says Coming Soon - I don't even see the pre-order button anymore.

Offline JoshEEE

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Re: Gentle Giant Mini-Busts
« Reply #1526 on: March 30, 2007, 02:17 PM »
On GG's store the Blue Guard just says Coming Soon - I don't even see the pre-order button anymore.

Are you a collectors club member? That's how I pre-ordered mine.
While I agree with the sentiment in Nicklab's post, frankly...the name of the company is Gentle Giant Limited.  Their specific purpose seems to be to keep these things as hard to get and exclusive as they can, which means short packing the Blue Guard is something I wouldn't put past them. I verified that it was pre-sold out everywhere I usually buy busts as soon as the case assortment was announced (Something a fellow collector alerted me to).  After that, I pre-ordered it the first place I could, because I don't want two royal guards and I don't want to buy a whole case.

If it's easier to find later, I only paid 55 shipped for it, and I can deal with that.  The Orange Clone situation has taught me that if you can pay retail for something they're short packing on purpose, you'll be ok.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: Gentle Giant Mini-Busts
« Reply #1527 on: March 31, 2007, 12:37 AM »
While the name might be Gentle Giant Limited, don't let that name fool you, Josh.  The edition sizes that GG produces are completely based on the number of pre-orders they get.  Witness the ROTS Vader and TESB Yoda.  A lot of people were hot to get those since the original editions were scarce and/or pricey.  As a result  GG wound up producing some 20,000 Vaders and about 15,000 Yodas.  Not very limited in the least.  And bear in mind that GG will collect these pre-orders from their major accounts, Diamond distribution and their own website.  There are bound to be quite a few.  And I highly doubt that the entire run is pre-sold out.  The April edition of Diamond Previews came out either this past Wednesday or it will next week.  And those orders are open for the next month.  Nobody has missed the boat on this one yet.

As for limited edition sizes?  The only time the edition sizes are determined by means other than preorders is when Gentle Giant is doing a convention or some other exclusive.  That's when they want to generate buzz.  Witness the Blackhole Stormtrooper.  THAT is a piece that they had a vested interest in keeping limited because of the buzz it generated.  It got people talking about Gentle Giant again when Sideshow was starting to get a lot of collector attention.

Now with the scare tactic that seems to be getting employed here, I'm fairly certain that the pre-order numbers for the Royal Guard and Senate Guard are going to be pretty healthy.  The only thing that seems certain in this instance is that GG is going to produce twice as many red guards as they will make of the blue guards.  Then factor in the case pack.  It's nothing like that of the AOTC Clone Troopers or the ROTS Clone Troopers.  They're not doing a case ratio of 3, 2 and 1.  It's going to be 4 and 2.  That is a much more favorable ratio to collectors who want both pieces.  I have no doubt that I'll be able to order the two pieces through my local comic shop at a discounted price of 20 - 25% off and no shipping costs.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2007, 12:47 AM by Nicklab »
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Offline Rob

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Re: Gentle Giant Mini-Busts
« Reply #1528 on: March 31, 2007, 12:54 AM »
Are you a collectors club member? That's how I pre-ordered mine.

I am, but now that you mention it - I might not have been logged in.  I'll try it again when I get back on Monday.

Offline JoshEEE

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Re: Gentle Giant Mini-Busts
« Reply #1529 on: March 31, 2007, 11:49 AM »
While the name might be Gentle Giant Limited, don't let that name fool you, Josh.  The edition sizes that GG produces are completely based on the number of pre-orders they get.

Fair enough, but collectors are also figuring out case distributions and edition sizes and ordering accordingly. Peole know about those big runs of Vader and Yoda, so they procrastinate, but some other more limited bust sells out right away.  In the case of these guards, collectors have already seen the case distributions and are snatching up the blue guard.  GG may be setting the edition size based on pre-orders, but I think a good majority of collectors only snatch them up BECAUSE of the edition size.  Kind of like the whole chicken and egg thing.


  As for limited edition sizes?  The only time the edition sizes are determined by means other than preorders is when Gentle Giant is doing a convention or some other exclusive.  That's when they want to generate buzz. 

Yeah, don't remind me. The fact that they're making my favorite things (Clones) limited this summer is probably the worst thing they've done to collectors yet.  On the other hand, if they weren't doing this, perhaps interest would fade...who knows?

Now with the scare tactic that seems to be getting employed here, I'm fairly certain that the pre-order numbers for the Royal Guard and Senate Guard are going to be pretty healthy. 

Perhaps....but as someone who has been collecting these since the first year, I've seen too many busts sell out to risk waiting around and paying some inflated markup because I didn't pre-order early.  That's why I placed the order.  ;D
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