AFX carries Series 4 Bust-Ups in case of 9, but EE only sells them in the cases of 18. The advantage is that way I don't have to sell off as many extras. The big disadvantage is that I may not get the chase Sith Eyes Anakin, since he's only packed 1/9. But I'm not sure that this minor difference is enough for me to worry about tracking down.
Anyone know of other retailers carrying Bust-Ups? I was surprised that SWS.com only carries the upcoming Clone 4-Packs.
I'm not surprised at all Jesse. Frankly I'm surprised the line has made it this far. Don't get me wrong, I love these little guys and I'm fairly obsessed by them (still needing that damn coca-cola chewbacca and two black hole stormtroopers). Still, they have nearly zero resale value down the line and if you exercise any amount of patience with these you'll end up paying less. Here's why:
- the chase figures are easy to obtain: 50-50 split ratio in many instances
- they seem to be seriously produced in terms of numbers but hard to come by in local shops - nada in the big retailers
- lots of folks buy boxes to get the set and have leftovers afterwards
- interest seems pretty low outside of a certain set of collectors
I bought a big box of series 2 (24 pieces) and the chase Vader/Maul were an even split. I was able to get two full sets of each including both Mauls and both Vaders. All I had leftover was stormies and Sith Lords in black. I still have Sith lords in black
I can go on ebay just about any time and pick up a sealed box of 24 for at least 25% less than I paid for them.
Series 1 is dirt cheap and the GITD version (whether it's a bootleg or not I don't know) is now down to $14.99 and not selling on ebay at even that price, $10 less than I paid.
Series 3 was pretty easy to obtain and I did so locally, getting relatively gouged on the Fett chase ($15 CAD) but it ended up being cheaper than ebay overall with shipping and exchange factored in.
I can find all three series' (mostly) sitting at the two stores in town that carry them. I expect the same for this series and I'll be surprised if they even jack up the price on the Anakin, considering there's only two per case. Maybe they'll jack up both though
Maybe I'll be wrong since this is the most strongly PT series they've released and they can ride the popularity of the DVD release, though to be honest I think they should have had these out during the theatrical run to have more impact. Still, I don't see them selling overly well.
I think they're really cool and a decent value at $5 USD per unit. They display very well and have remarkably good detail for little unarticulated statues.
I'm sure they'll produce the ESB/Hoth wave but after that I honestly am not expecting to see more of these. There's ample room for future waves but I'd be willing to bet they're not moving like GG expected them to. I'd also bet that retailer orders are down dramatically from Series 1. Put those together and I smell the end of a line.
