Gentle Giant Mini-Busts

[Nicklab]

You've definitely blazed an impressive intial trail into the mini-bust line, Rob.  I got into this line in a big way back in 2004 with the Biker Scout.  I had lucked out the year before when I got the blue Clone Trooper mini-bust at Wizard World Chicago.  Talk about LUCK!  If I knew then what I know about the mini-bust line now, I would have been doing backflips the whole way home from Chicago.

Backtracking is definitely a little tough.  I guess I've had it a bit easier since I got every mini-bust release since the summer of 2004 at retail price or lower with the exception of the Blackhole Stormtrooper.  But backtracking on pieces like the AOTC Yoda, Jango Fett, AOTC Clone Commander and Boba Fett definitely cost me.  I still have two backtrack pieces left on my own list:  the 1st edition Darth Vader (which I've got a great lead on) and the red AOTC Clone Trooper.  That one is going to take some considerable time/effort/cash.  As for your own list of HTF mini-busts?  Save the searches for those on eBay and get email notifications on them.  Track them and decide for yourself which ones are worth bidding on and which aren't.

The good thing you've got going for you is that with this years's line somewhat well laid out, you can plan for some of the exclusives if you're really hot to get them.  The Clone Commanders might prove a bit of a challenge, but they shouldn't be priced to crazily.

[Morgbug]

Do we know edition sizes for the clone commanders yet?  I could see a couple of them being 1000 or so (Blister exclusive) but expect 2500 or more for most of them. 

As for backtracking, I've resolved myself to not needing the AOTC Clones I missed.  Blue/red/yellow/white = $1000+ and I like the styling of the ROTS clones more.  Though even at that I'm getting cloned out between everything that's been released and what's yet to show up.  I even still have a spare regular white ROTS clone to offload. 

Yoda's first release is a very nice piece and I'm often tempted.  Vader's first would be very nice to own as well, but I won't buy the cheap knockoff and do own the chrome version.  So I have a hard time resolving buying that one. 

This line isn't nearly as irritating to me as the damn missing smoked Anakin variant from the bustups line

[Rob]

I'm not terribly interested in the EII clones myself either - unless I find a great deal on some of them.

The other ones that don't interest me right now are the first run busts that lack arms.  The Dooku I want, because with the cape it doesn't look like the arms are cut off - but the others I'm in absolutely no rush on.  I could see the completist in me taking over at some point - but that's most certainly not now.


Nick, I got a reply from your friend last night, he asked me to send him a list - it was a pretty short list but I sent it nonetheless.

Thanks again for forwarding me that.

[Rob]

Today was a fun mail day - Vader, Greedo, and the Stormtrooper came today. 

This week I don't think I'm ordering any unless some real crazy deal pops up.  I'm going to be looking for things to auction to raise enough for a Fett.  The goal is to have ordered that Fett by this time next week.

[Nicklab]

Do we know edition sizes for the clone commanders yet?  I could see a couple of them being 1000 or so (Blister exclusive) but expect 2500 or more for most of them. 

No official word yet.  Word is that there will be 500 of the box sets.  And I would figure that at least 500 would be sold at Blister and Forbidden Planet.  And GG is likely to sell the same number of those pieces online as they sell at the site.

They also made a point of saying that there would be plenty of busts available.  I'm guessing that they'll probably have the same edition sizes for each of the 5 pieces, and they'll probably make at least as many of these as they made of the C3 Sandtrooper.  So 2,500 each or more seems about right.

As for backtracking, I've resolved myself to not needing the AOTC Clones I missed.  Blue/red/yellow/white = $1000+ and I like the styling of the ROTS clones more.  Though even at that I'm getting cloned out between everything that's been released and what's yet to show up.  I even still have a spare regular white ROTS clone to offload. 

I'm still gonna try getting the AOTC red Clone Trooper.  It's one of the last pieces I need to complete my mini-bust collection.  I'm trying to be as frugal as possible and I'm searching out the best deal possible.  But it's definitely not going to be cheap.

Rob -- glad to hear that you got in contact with him.  I hope it works out for you.

[Morgbug]

Nick,
If I were in your shoes and had the rest of the AOTC clones, I'd probably finish off as well.  As for me, the only AOTC clones I have are the green sargeant from SWS.com that I got for cost and the Clone Pilot, which I bought on ebay for $100 shipped.  I still think that one is really neat.

[Nicklab]

It's definitely a goal that's within my sight with only 2 older mini-busts left to go.  And I think it's realistic with a decent ammount of planning.  I'm probably going to take my own advice and wait until Christmas time to buy a red Clone.  That's probably when the best deals will be out there.

As for the Christmas gift mini-busts, I haven't even bothered to look at what they go for on eBay.  And frankly when I did see what the silver & gold Sandtrooper was selling for, I gave up.  It was just too expensive to pursue buying one.  Not sure about the Christmas Salacious Crumb either, but again these are pieces that are not within a reasonable person's grasp so that is where the limit lies.

[Rob]

IIRC the last time I saw an xmas Salacious Crumb it was about $1000.

But I could be wrong on that, I wasn't paying too much attention.

[ruiner]

Being that you guys collect these (and I don't) how would you feel if GG re-released some of the now 'hard to find' busts (including ones you already have)?

I wish companies would re-think their strategies and try to make popular characters (or props, in my case) available to 'casual' collectors.

I'm trying to collect MR 1:1 lightsabers from ANH and have run into a roadblock with the Obi Wan saber.  Even the Vader is a little tough to find.

With the 30th Anniversary now here, I think some of these marketing gurus should have tied in some of their cooler, ANH related collectibles into the occassion.

[Rob]

IMO, as much as it sucks shelling tons of money for an older one, re-releases would kill the collectible nature of these. 

Now, what they did with Yoda and Vader (and soon Jango) where they just re-sculpt and put out a new (larger) edition of a popular figure is fine by me... the older ones retain their value.

[Nicklab]

The limited editions add to the collectibility of the mini-bust line.  I actually broached the same subject with an exec at Gentle Giant a couple of years ago.  His response was that they want to maintain the collectibility, and that includes maintaining the integrity of the limited editions.  He said that if they went back and did that they would wind up alienating most of their customer base. 

BUT, that wouldn't keep them from going back and doing new versions of characters that were very popular.  Witness the multiple versions of Darth Vader and Yoda.  And also take notice of just how big the edition sizes were on those second editions.  Vader was around 20,000 pieces and Yoda was in the neighborhood of 15,000.  They sold very well, but they also wound up selling at greatly discounted prices in a number of cases.

[Darth Kenobi]

I happy with the limited editions of the bust and hope GG don't re-release any of the older bust.  I like the fact that these bust are something that alot of people don't have in they collections since alot of the Hasbro stuff most of us have.  These Limited Bust are something that make my collection unique compared to anyone elses.  Now this hurts me too since I didn't start collecting these until after AOTC clones came out so I have a bunch of the older Ep2 ones, Vader, Fett, and Red Clone to get caught up with the first released bust.

[Hemish]

Or ya can do what I chose to do and just go OT only, only proplem is still tracking down that dam Fett !!

[Rob]

Just ordered an Anakin Revealed Bust... I paid $46 plus shipping on a Buy it Now - but there haven't been many on eBay lately and I started getting worried that they aren't going to get any easier to find...  I saw one that ended for $31 a few days ago, but all the rest (by the time you factor shipping) have been more than this one.

Maybe I could have done a few dollars better - but I figured what the hell...

[JesseVader08]

I'd be interested in seeing some pictures of it when you have the time Rob.  It's not often I pass on a Vader item of any kind, but the face sculpt looked pretty bland to me.  However, any pics I've seen so far make it very difficult to make a fair assessment.