Gentle Giant Mini-Busts

[Nicklab]

Playing catchup is definitely going to be expensive.  These pieces alone will run you a pretty penny:

1st edition Yoda
1st edition Darth Vader
1st edition Jango Fett
Boba Fett
Blackhole Stormtrooper
AOTC Clone Troopers (the red and blue being the most elusive)

I own only two of those, the BHS and the Fett, which I managed to score for about $160 something, a remarkable price at the time. 

I don't care to own the Yoda as it is a PT bust of Yoda and I'm fine with the later OT version.  Jango I don't want either. 

What gives me fits from that list is the first Vader.  I do have the chrome Vader (plus the ROTS and the EE unmasked version) which is the same sculpt, so I'm tending to be happy with that.  I do watch every regular version that goes by though. 

As for the clones, they bug me.  Period.  I have the pilot and the green sargeant, but that's it.  I've bid on yellow and white before, but now with so many clones available, I don't even really care to chase these down. 

I had to play catchup with most of the things I listed.  In some cases I got good deals.  Patience really was key in that situation.  I paid retail for the white Clone and blue Clone and I got relatively decent deals on the yellow Clone, Jango and the Clone Pilot.  Yoda and Boba Fett ran me a bit more, and I splurged on the BHS.  But to this day I still don't have the red AOTC Clone and the first Darth Vader.  The ROTS Vader seems to have impacted the demand for the 1st edition Vader, but the price is still up there.  And I agree Brent, it's very odd that the chrome Vader sells for considerably less considering that it's the same sculpt as the general release.

[Rob]

Well I managed to land Han and Yoda for $20.50 each - plus shipping.  Same seller, so hopefully he'll combine the shipping and I'll have landed those two for $25 or $26 each.  Not too bad (I think...).

Also, it looks like Amanda from GG made some blog post or something - people at RS are going ape **** over it... not many happy campers it seems.

[Morgbug]

I think that might be the lottery aspect.  I can't make it through too much Scum at once, even in the higher end stuff. 

Oops, nope.  Appears it's Amanda's response that has 'em in a tizzy.  I'll agree the response was lame, but I don't think it was unexpected.  I'm not sure what people really thought would happen, but I'm fully expecting to get screwed by them.  If I can get a couple of the exclusives through help with friends, that'll work.  I'm guessing edition sizes around 2500 or so for these, so not that bad.  If they do a 1000 for one of them, look out. 

I'm glad you made it home safely Rob, I had no idea that New York weather was so awful it could affect different parties in different years.  Laptops too

[Rob]

In her defense, people leaving NYC right after Toy Fair (and this happened to Paul) did get in weather trouble... flights were canceled and the other flights were all booked solid.  It took Paul 3 extra days to get home.

As for the laptop - I'm guessing she was being tongue-in-cheek about the weather having anything to do with it.

But either way...

If you're a lucky lottery winner and you get to buy an exclusive from the site, is it just one per customer?  I'm assuming it is - but if you can buy 2 or 3 maybe we could all pool our chances and scratch each other's backs should one of us be so fortunate.

[Nicklab]

It's best not to wade into the fray that are the RS forums.  I said my piece there and that's that.  Is it going to be tough to get all of these exclusives this year?  Probably.  But I think that GG is providing at least two other avenues to get the Clone Commanders besides going to the shows.  It looks like you should be able to get them individually online after each con and then there's the box set that will be available in the fall.  People seem to keep on glossing over those details.

[Morgbug]

But I think that GG is providing at least two other avenues to get the Clone Commanders besides going to the shows.  It looks like you should be able to get them individually online after each con and then there's the box set that will be available in the fall. 

That's how I'm viewing it too.  If I can't make it to CIV or SDCC, I'm hopeful someone will be able to help me there.  I'll be asking my friend in Japan if he can help with the Blister exclusive.  I've no hope when it comes to the show in England, so that's a write-off because shipping is terrible for heavy items from there. 

I'll take my chances with the GG website.  Being a guild member should keep some people out, though obviously there's still plenty of members.  I've had decent luck in past, scoring the BHS bust but missing out on the Mara Jade and Shocktrooper fiasco.  I'll enter whatever lotteries I can and I'll make out with what I can get.  I guess it helps that I'm just about cloned to capacity anyway.  No doubt these will look awesome and if I get them all, I'll keep them.  But if I can get one or two, I'll survive. 

Now when they start making nifty OT stuff as uber-hard to get exclusives, then I'll really be bitching.   

[Rob]

Well I finished up my spending spree for now I think (since most of the tax return went into savings, I treated myself to a handful of these).

Since I'm relatively new to this... let me know how I did.  Up to this point I'd bought X-Wing Luke for $12 and IG-88 for $17, but those were special deals at a Suncoast clearance.  Watching auctions on eBay for about a week and a half, I'm guessing I did close to as well as I could have hoped for on these - but I don't really know.

Darth Vader (Clenched Hand Version) - $37.00 shipped
Darth Maul - $42 shipped
Boushh Leia - $37.50 shipped
Skiff Guard Lando - $42.50 shipped
Han Solo and Yoda (ESB) - $55 and change for the pair, shipped

About $215 for 6 busts - about $30 of which was for shipping on 4 of them (2 had free shipping).

[Morgbug]

I think you did pretty well.  I'd have bought the X-wing Luke and IG-88 for those prices   Those are amazing deals.

The others are pretty decent.  Vader/Maul are good deals.  I've seen better for Vader (I got it for under $30 shipped but that was when the big glut was on) , but Maul is holding well so that's decent.  I'm still trying to get it for under $40 shipped. 

Leia and Lando I haven't been following, but geez, you're getting them shipped for about what the cheapest places have them for as pre-sales before shipping is added, so I don't think you can complain about that.  Nick might do better with his comic shop but I can't (my guy charges $55 per bust plus taxes - Cdn dollars though and it's reasonable, but I can beat it). 

Good price too on Han/Yoda too but I think those guys show why they go more often with army builders - they sell better than OT characters.  Kind of a weird trend from my perspective, OT outperformed by PT, but then you have to factor in issue size.  Han too suffers from having a Stormtrooper version out there to compete with as well. 

Overall, nice work.

[DarkKnight2k4]

Darth Vader (Clenched Hand Version) - $37.00 shipped

 

[Rob]

Thanks Brent, good to know.

Leia and Lando I haven't been following, but geez, you're getting them shipped for about what the cheapest places have them for as pre-sales before shipping is added, so I don't think you can complain about that.  Nick might do better with his comic shop but I can't

If you're interested - I bought those two from this site:  http://www.scifigenre.com/ 

They're running free shipping on orders over $70.00 - but as I type this I remembered that it might not apply to international orders.  They've got some decent prices nonetheless.

[Rob]

Darth Vader (Clenched Hand Version) - $37.00 shipped

 

What's the problem?

[Nicklab]

Darth Vader (Clenched Hand Version) - $37.00 shipped

 

What's the problem?

Are you referring to the ROTS version with the lightsaber?  Because the original one routinely sells for roughly $250 - $300.  The older one can be seen HERE.

[Rob]

Looks like you're right - must be saber version.  I only saw the picture of the boxed item and the hand is up like that but with nothing in it.  Looking at it again it seems like it's not even the same hand.

My bad.

[Nicklab]

If it's a window box then it's definitely the ROTS version.

[Rob]

Yep - I didn't bother looking too closely because I had neither, wanted a vader, and was happy enough winning it for 29 plus shipping, regardless of which one it was.