Gentle Giant Mini-Busts

[Nicklab]

Picked up the Darth Maul bust at my local comic shop today.  It looks amazing in person. 

[MetalJedi]

Picked up the Darth Maul bust at my local comic shop today.  It looks amazing in person. 

Crap I should of ordered my Maul without Greivous now Im gonna have to wait till he comes out. 

[Nicklab]

Picked up the Darth Maul bust at my local comic shop today.  It looks amazing in person. 

Crap I should of ordered my Maul without Greivous now Im gonna have to wait till he comes out. 

Sorry, but this is one of my biggest message board pet peeves..."should of"?  This is not gramatically correct.  The proper usage is SHOULD HAVE.  The reason this seems to be typed out more and more on message boards is because many American speakers of the English language don't properly enunciate the word have.  End of grammatical rant. 

[evenflow]

I wonder how Gentle Giant feels about the individuals selling their Holiday Gifts.

Max Rebo 1

Max Rebo 2

Max Rebo 3

I would think that they would not be happy about that. I could be totally wrong though, they may not care at all.

[JayDouble]

I wonder how Gentle Giant feels about the individuals selling their Holiday Gifts.

Max Rebo 1

Max Rebo 2

Max Rebo 3

I would think that they would not be happy about that. I could be totally wrong though, they may not care at all.

I don't think they care.  People sold past holiday busts like Crumb and the Stormtrooper.

[MetalJedi]

I don't think they care either. It hypes up the regular version they offer later.

[Nicklab]

Pretty much.  These things have been all about generating buzz and not about addressing the desires of collectors.

The thing that I'm wondering about Max Rebo is this:  I'd like to see one compared side-by-side with a mini-bust.  Is it a mini-bust or a maquette?  Because it seems a little too large to be a minibust, even though it's got the circular base that's indicative of most mini-busts.

[Morgbug]

Miraculously I was able to place an order for the clone after returning from holidays.  No indication of being on a wait list, though I wouldn't be surprised to find out I was on one.  I ordered it on the 25th, so a while after it was posted and only 2500 in the edition size.  Weird.

Has anyone opted into the new GG collector's club and ponied up the $50 or whatever it is?  I haven't fully read the information but I presume that if you give up the $50 for the year (btw, this is similar to what the hot wheels collector's club does; don't ask how I know) you'll be on a priority list that others that don't opt in on won't be on (grammar bad, tree pretty)?  Does that seem reasonable?  My guess is with the $50 you'll get a bust of some sort down the road for free or a negligible cost to recover the cost and you'll be on a priority list. 

My hope is they aren't going to operate in the same fashion as before, mailing out a link with a time and still get overloaded as soon as that link is posted to various message boards.  I'm hoping for a username/password opt in function where you have to log in with a unique ID to order whatever is being put up.  That would/should limit multiple orders to some degree, at least better than the current system. 

Anyone have a clear idea of how the system will work?

[JayDouble]

I joined too Brent.  Not really sure how it's going to work.  Like you I just hope when the exclusives are made available to the public that there's some password or log in to distinguish members and non-members.

[Bobafett77]

I just joined myself. I'm a little disappointed to see you don't get an invoice or e-mail receipt or anything when you submit your info . I'm assuming that the gift will be a bust but we'll see. GG is always full of surprises...

[Nicklab]

I hope we get a decent gift.  But I'm going to be pissed if we get a gift from some license other than Star Wars.

[evenflow]

Well I am not really into the busts but joined anyway becuase i am into the animated lines. I figured that it wouldn't hurt and i want a Max Rebo bust, so i am hoping that a non Xmas version is the free gift or that we will be given the option to purchase one. 

[Morgbug]

I just joined myself. I'm a little disappointed to see you don't get an invoice or e-mail receipt or anything when you submit your info . I'm assuming that the gift will be a bust but we'll see. GG is always full of surprises...

Um, I received an email from them after joining.  It took several hours to arrive, but I have received one nonetheless. 

[Brian]

I received my 2nd mini bust at the end of December, Chewbacca.  I think it is very well done, and I have it displayed alongside Han (and a Titanium Ultra Falcon) right now.  I really like these mini busts, I'd like to get some more - particularly the "classic trilogy" ones.  There seem to be some nice ones coming up this year.

[DoctorPadawan]

I'm in a similar situation as Brian:  I just got my second bust after Christmas (the Clone Trooper from SWS's sale for 35 bucks; the first was that chrome Jango from MBNA a few years back), and I'm really impressed with it.  I'd been on the fence about getting one of the busts here and there, and now, availability willing, if I see one I like, I'm going to try my best to get them.

Which brings me to my question:  I'm wondering who has the best price/service/overall pleasant shopping experience to get the busts from?  I've looked around and while NFC seems to be the place to for preorders, I didn't know who to order in-stock items (particularly Grievous, which is the one I'm shopping for right now) from.  EE has them for about 5 bucks more than Brian's Toys (who I only deal with as an absolute last resort in the first place), but SWS, NFC, and Action Figure Express have the Grievous in stock at all.  Is there another option that I've missed out on?  How would you bust collectors rate the various etailers overall?

As someone just starting out with these (I will not be a completist, I will not be a completist...  ), any advice you guys and gals could give is very appreciated.