At least this one will also be available online to collector club members, but yeah, in general the situation still sucks.
from what i read, the only thing available online will be "left overs" from the conventions... what leftovers?
Actually the GG site states that they are not just selling the "left overs". They are selling 400 a day at the conventions plus 200 on preivew night at Comic Con. That adds up to 3000 busts to be sold at the 2 conventions leaving 500 to be sold on the website.
With the 3500 edition size this piece will almost definately not become a big dollar bust on the secondary market. Look at the Pilot with a size of 2500, it could easily be had for $80-95 right after the convention and now still can be found for around $100. Even if you lived in a town were these would be sold it would cost you that much to buy one at the convention if you take into account the cost of getting into the show, parking, gas and just the time involved.
I think Gentle Giant has listened to the concerns of their customers and really done a much better job at making this easier for people to get. It is an exclusive after all, which usually dictates that they are harder to find and that most likely not everyone will get one.