Gentle Giant Bust Ups!

[DSJ™]

God, Star Wars collecting is hard.

 

Yes it is. I'm sure you will may the right choice. 

[JediMAC]

Do what I'm going to attempt to do. Collect everything. 

Shut up Jim!  Who asked you?!   

Dave, Jim...  Talk to me bud(s).  I seek your guidance and wisdom here.

Oh.  That would be me.      

ARGH!!!  I think my head is going to explode...

Please, someone make it stop.  Too... much... stuff...   

[chuckles]

Well, if you do decide to go for them all in this line, you do have one thing going for you, and that these are pretty inexpensive at only $5 a piece. Must cheaper than the regular bust line and even cheaper than the Unleashed line that you've jumped into. So being a completist here shouldn't be too terribly expensive.

Of course, things like variants and exclusives could change all that. 

[jokabofe]

Just buy a case, sort through them all, keep the ones you want, put the ones you don't want (now) somewhere safe so that in like 6 months when you realize that you did want them after all, you'll still have them.

[Morgbug]

So how and what are people specifically ordering here?  And where?

I gather folks are ordering three sets of stormtroopers from SSW.com to get their full set, but what of the Sith set?  If you order a case of 24 from SSW.com you already get 6 stormtroopers, so wouldn't one additional do the trick?  Or are people buying a six or 12 count pack from EE or SSW.com instead? 

A case of the Sith set is $99.99 at SSW.com and you get six Stormie's
The 12 pack is only $52.99 but you aren't guaranteed anything, but with the pack ratio, you should get 3 stormies, meaning you'd best be ordering two sets of stormies at a cost of $30. 
If you take the $30 from the cost of the case, you're looking at on $69.99 for the rest and being able to make up at least one set of bust ups to sell off.  Sure, you end up with too many Maul's and Vader's, but those should be easy to sell for at least a couple of bucks, maybe $4 each.
 
What about the original release?  Is the chase Leia guaranteed in a case of 24?  I understand everyone is getting this set from EE because of the Yoda spirit, but what about that Leia? 

Going back to the Sith set, is there a chase figure in that series? 

For that matter, is there a guarantee with a case of 24 that a chase figure, if it exists, will be included in the sealed case? 

And what of the bounty hunters?  Anyone willing to be that there is a chase figure and it's IG-88?  I'd bet money on that.  Seems only 12 packs are currently available, same price at EE and SSW.com

I need answers here folks.  Gots to get to ordering, but not sure how to do it. 

[Brian]

So has anyone seen/received/pre-ordered/ordered the first rounds of these Bust-Ups yet?  I'm kind of on the fence about these, but really enjoy the Gentle Giant Mini Bust line (but can't really afford to keep up), so thought this might be a good option.  I'd definitely like to get a Han and Chewie if I am able to, but we'll have to see.  I understand that these are pretty wee in person, but are well done.  Has anyone gotten their hands on any yet?  Any thoughts?

[Morgbug]

Well most of us have the comic con bust ups (clear) so yeah, they are kind of wee, about 2.5" tall for Han, the tallest of the clear bust ups to give you an idea of size scale. 

I think most have preordered some form from EE as I am about to do, so they can get the clear Yoda. I only ordered the six pack, so working on luck/trade.  I can certainly send you a Han if I end up with six, though I may need to trade one if I get only two. I expect you should have no problem getting Han/Chewie as long as you have patience, and then probably get them cheap. 

I still cannot find mention of the chase versions other than on the various boards, and then only for Leia.  I'm expecting one for the other series as well, but no mention anywhere. 

I remain undecided on the Sith set, I may go for the big box, but no rush to order.  That would preclude ordering too many stormtrooper sets from SSW.com.  The extras with the big box are Vader/Maul, always popular stuff.  I think being in Canada I can unload those fairly easily locally at a reasonable price, about $6 CAD. 

The bounty hunters I'm concerned about - will there be a chase IG-88?  I don't see how there can't be.  GG is a pretty astute company and there would be no point to throwing IG-88 in a separate shipment, so my mind is set for a chase IG-88, driving bounty hunter fans stupid on ebay

Oh wait, I said all that already

As far as thoughts go, I only have the clear to judge:
The size is nice, fits well, not a huge space consumer.  Detail seems to be great, but a little difficult with the clear versions.  I like the appearance of the painted versions better and hopefull the paint application detail is good, as I would expect from GG. 

They do concern me in one sense because you have to put them together.  Some pieces like Han or Luke are fine, no real small parts and they fit together well.  3PO was a bit of a pain to put together and mine doesn't seem to fit well resulting in a bit of a disappointing appearance.  My hope is the painted versions look less clunky.  Leia is also concerning in so much as she has small parts (gun) and seems to fall apart fairly easily   Dropping her, especially the clear version is a major concern for me.  Lost or broken parts are disheartening, to say the least. 

Would like the GITD version also, for completeist sake, but waiting and watching on ebay.  How much do I want to pay for them is the ever burning question.

[Brian]

Thanks for the thoughts Brent.  I see that EE has the 6 pack "in stock" now "hot off the truck".  I'm half tempted to go that route, and just try my luck.  This may be a very stupid question, but the way they word it there it is hard to tell.  Do you get the exclusive clear Yoda AND 6 random bust-ups (7 total), or does the clear Yoda represent one of the bust ups (6 total).  If it is 7 of them for $32.99, I guess that's not too bad, since these were supposed to be about $5 each.  I'm guessing size wise, these are about the same as cutting off a basic 3 3/4" figure at the waist?  Gentle Giant really looks like they do some great work, and I'm trying to decide if I want to try to see if I can collect this Bust Up line, or save my money and maybe buy the random minibust here or there.

[Morgbug]

Oooh, that is a tough choice.  I really, really like the mini-busts now that I have some in hand.  I would obviously highly recommend the stormtrooper.  Some of the others are a bit out of reach though, like Vader/Boba/Yoda. 

Knowing you're a big fan of Han, I will go out on a limb and suggest that you save your money for the Han Stormtrooper bust for $13 more than the first series of bust ups.  The Luke Stormtrooper is absolutely an amazing sculpt and I expect the same for Han. The bust ups are nice, but as I indicated, the clear busts lack a little, so unless you plan on chasing down the other clear busts or are a huge fan of Yoda and really want that bust, I wouldn't bother ordering the first set.  I'd even go so far as to guess you'll be able to pick up the first few bust ups relatively cheap (i.e. below retail) after some time.  Lots of folks will be sitting on duplicates in a short while, much as what happens with the common kubricks.  Since there are no short packed bust ups, outside of the clear or chase pieces, there is no real good reason for the price to go up. 

I've committed to these by getting the clear set (thanks Matt) and the blue clone (thanks ebay ) so I'll continue with the line.  If you're contemplating, I'd say stay away from preordering them at the very least.  I guess I'm saying they seem kind of overpriced to me.  And I can't really judge the quality/appearance of the regular pieces until I have them in hand. 

[chuckles]

I just got a confirmation email from EE letting me know my order of these shipped. Looking forward to checking these out in person.

Anyone else have some on the way?

[JediMAC]

Anyone else have some on the way?

 

I stopped by EE today to pick up my filthy cheating figure whore case of ROTJ VOTC figures, and inquired about the Bust-ups.  They were there and said I could have 'em on the spot if I wanted.

Now you may recall my little "break down" a week or two where I was trying to decide if I wanted to go OT only, or not, especially after realizing the clear Yoda was actually an AOTC character.  Duh.

Anyway, guess what I did?  Yeah.  I'm a wuss like that.  I caved.  Got the 6-pack + clear Yoda...  Haven't actually opened them up quite yet though, to know what I got.  But they've actually got a tiny little bit of clear window box in one corner, wheren if you shake the box around enough, you'll be able to figure out which figure's inside.  I contemplated checking them all while at was at EE, so I could see if I could swap any if necessary (if they'd let me), but I decided not to cheat.  Besides, trading them is the fun part, right?   

Anyway, guess it kinda looks like I'll be going OT/PT...     I hate myself.

I'll update with my findings in a little while.

[JediMAC]

Luke, Leia, 3PO...

...and 3PO, 3PO, and Leia.   

****.  Off to a brilliant start here.  Let the trading begin!  I've got Leia and 3PO available to trade for Chewie, Han, and Yoda.

Talk to me.

[JediMAC]

Um...  WOW.

So apparently I'll be taking my extra Leia off the trading table.  Went ahead and opened it finally (I could see it was another Leia through the window), and guess what?

Yep, my dumb lucky ass just scored the Series 1 Chase figure!

Cool.   

[jadesfire]

Matt, I don't collect these and I haven't kept up on what is hot or not but if no one grabs your Leia, I'll take her off your hands.  It's only because I like the female figure stuff but since I have nothing to trade (as far as  Bust up's go), I'll just see if you can trade it for something you need and if not...I'll buy her from ya.

[JediMAC]

Beth, I think you missed this part in my last post:

So apparently I'll be taking my extra Leia off the trading table.

No extra Leia's after all, 'cause the two I got were both different (the regular version, and the HTF chase version), so I technically need them both to have a complete set.    Sorry!


BTW folks, the boxes these come in have a small little triangular clear window in the lower left front corner, so technically you CAN SEE what's in each box.  The longer diagonal edge is just over an inch long.  Just have to jiggle it around a little, but they were all pretty easy to figure out when I looked through them...

Don't know if that's been mentioned anywhere yet, but I figured it was newsworthy, in case your local specialty shop will allow you to actually scope out a few individual boxes and take your pick. If you do that, you can pretty much assure yourself of an easy complete set...  Aside from maybe being able to decipher the Chase figure.