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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Bust a Move - The Gentle Giant Mini-Bust Appreciate Thread

Discussion in 'Collecting' started by PadmeLeiaJaina, Dec 14, 2011.

  1. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    Gentle Giant mini-busts are some of my favorite things to collect. I love their detail, size, and weight. They're very nice quality collectibles at great prices with the added bonus that they don't take up a ton of room on shelves.

    I like to multi-layer how I display things and the busts always are nice for "middle shelf eye level" pieces. I've currently got around 22 of them, plus 4 of the Japanese Pepsi One sound caps that look similar to them, they're just slightly smaller and acrylic - and they play music and film soundbites.

    Today my "Thank the Maker" PGM Darth Vader showed up. As usual - he's pretty awesome. I love the C-3PO head and mini-comic replica that it comes with. In a few days my Wicket pre-order will be arriving.

    I wrote up a review and have photos of Vader - you can check them out HERE.

    Oh and GG announced their new Fall 2012 busts - the Star Wars character is Nien Numb. You can check him out HERE.

    How many busts do you have and which are your favorites and holy grails?
     
  2. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    I've got the Fetts (original Boba, two versions of Jango, a chromed Jango), Darth Malak, and Commander Bly. The latter two were bought at a Forbidden Planet Gentle Giant event in London in 2007 - same time as Celebration Europe.
     
  3. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    The Fetts are nicely detailed. I always like looking at your collection - they're in a good home :)

    Got my Wicket yesterday. I have to say he's beautiful. I don't have any high-end ewok stuff (other than my Medicom Wicket) so he's a real treat. I'm now looking forward to Logray getting released to go alongside him for display. You can check out photos HERE!
     
  4. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    My Darth Maul Premium Guild Exclusive mini-bust showed up today.

    Yeah...ok...he's a rather sexy beast :p

    You can check out pics HERE!
     
  5. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    I got my notice that my Watto bust will be shipping this week! I also recently won an Aayla Secura bust and she arrived last week and is awesome!

    I have the biggest fear that December is going to be hell for my wallet - I've got the holiday Jar-Jar/Wald 2 pack, Anakin/Sebulba, PGM Bespin Han Solo, 1/6 scale Vintage Yoda all on pre-order.
     
  6. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    The only bust I have is Zuckuss. He watches over my living room. I scored him for super-cheap off of eBay.
     
  7. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    If anyone pre-ordered Jar-Jar and Wald sent this email out:

    We are writing today to give you an update on your pre-order for Item Jar Jar Binks with W. Wald - 2012 Holiday Deluxe Mini Bust Set. Due to time constraints in production we will unfortunately not be able to include a functional string of Christmas lights on this bust. Rather, the bulbs will be non-functional, similar to holiday busts we’ve released in the past. While functional lights are a nice novelty, removing the unsightly and clunky battery pack from the string of lights is more aesthetically pleasing, and we believe this piece will still be a wonderful addition to your collection.

    As it stands right now, we should receive this piece at our warehouse in mid-December. Although we can’t guarantee anything, we will begin fulfilling orders for this piece as soon as it arrives in stock and do our best to make sure it is home for the holidays. Thank you and happy collecting.

    Best regards,

    Gentle Giant Customer Service
     
  8. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    Easiest way to fix that?

    Add more lights.
     
  9. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    Eh I don't care. The light up features are nice on the busts but it's not like I keep them on all of the time. If the hats are easily removable both of those busts will probably be displayed as their normal selves rather than Xmas versions.
     
  10. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    My Jar-Jar and Wald Giftset arrived! As usual - they're amazing. You can see some pics and my gushing review HERE!
     
  11. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    I don't think I'd want to see that tongue every day...but they look nice!
     
  12. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    You know it's actually things like the tongue that make me love Gentle Giant. Their artists are just amazing with the level of detail that they achieve with their busts.

    Next month I get invaded - I've got my Anakin/Sebulba 2 pack coming, my Bespin Han Solo, and Lord Voldermort.
     
  13. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    My pre-orders all arrived.

    Anakin/ Sebulba - Anakin probably gets an 8/10 - he looks great but the face mold doesn't look much like Jake Lloyd, his racing helmet and outfit details rock. Sebulba gets a 11/10 - they really hit it out of the park w/ him - his racer goggles are awesome and make his eyes look amazing. For the price of $135 this set is a great value because both busts are really well made and detailed.

    [​IMG]

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    [​IMG]

    Han Solo Bespin PGM Exclusive - 3/10 - stinker of a bust. His skin paint color looks sickly, his nose is way too big, his eyes are bright blue instead of green, and they painted a blob of paint on his chin to indicate his scar. Paint job overall was messy. His jacket is the best part of this bust. He kinda looks like he's holding in a sneeze or just smelled a Wookie fart. They're going to do a Mynock hunt version for stores w/ the face mask on, I recommend getting it to cover up most of his horrific face.

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Trust me my photos make him look better than he looks in person. You can compare his odd face color versus the ESB Leia.

    [​IMG]




    Lord Voldermort PGM 2012 Exclusive - 11/10 - god this bust is gorgeous - in a screen accurate, LV is creepy/scary sort of way. I didn't want any of the 3 Star Wars offerings that they had so I opted for this bust w/o knowing how it might end up looking because all they had up forever was a drawing. The detail is just amazing and it's HUGE. I don't have any others of the Harry Potter busts, this one makes me think that maybe if I ever see any as bargains that I might pick them up.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Darth Zannah likes this.
  14. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    Oh goodness, they dropped the ball on Han. And in that last picture, that Chewie bust has the most interesting expression...

    Voldemort looks great, but I have a problem with the snake. Mainly, the scales. A large python like that would have smoother scales, and real snakes don't move like that. I can tell that it was referenced from a CGI model of a snake, as those never move like real snakes. The main problem is that they're spline-animated. And invisible path is drawn and the snake model is pulled along that path. Thus, it moves like something attached to a string.
     
  15. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    The Chewie isn't a full blown mini-bust, he's an ultra-rare Pepsi big sound cap that was made by Gentle Giant but is made of plastic instead of polystone. He's also not as large as the standard mini-busts...it's why his sculpt is a little off. You can see more pics of him w/ Han HERE.

    I'll have to take your word on the snake scales, it's not like Voldy's snake is a real snake :p
     
  16. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    i agree on the Han bust - they blew it on that one. I'd drop their customer service an email on it.
     
  17. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    Oh I'm sure that they're aware of it. This bust was supposed to come out in 2011 and it was obviously sitting in a warehouse for over a year because it smelled musty when I got it. They knew these weren't great but finally shipped them anyway. I don't much feel like dealing w/ returning it, if I did I could get a full refund. On the plus side there aren't very many of them. To quote my girl Cher from Clueless he's "a Monet - from far away it looks great but up close is a big old mess."

    Over the years I've grown used to being disappointed in how companies try to sculpt Harrison Ford's face and then fail miserably - Hasbro, Sideshow, and now apparently Gentle Giant as well.

    It's still not as bad as the General Veers bust that they released where they changed the pose and released it altered w/o telling anyone first. There are fans WAY up in arms over that.
     
  18. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    Solo is a wily and difficult smuggler to capture... be it in polystone or on paper, or frozen in carbonite.
     
  19. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    Yeah but GG did a good job on the A New Hope Han Solo (photo doesn't really help my case, it's a much better sculpt than the Bespin Han.) I once owned the Stormtrooper Han Solo bust and it looked great too.
    [​IMG]

    I've also got an Indy bust that looks great.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    ANH Han... He has a Nicholas Cage expression in that photo. And is it just me, or does Mini-Han in the Falcon look more like Anakin?

    I may pick up an Indy bust, as it would be helpful to have a three-dimensional reference of Harrison Ford. But, if his likeness can't be properly captured, then I'm not sure if I want to spend the money. Also, it would help if it's a relatively inexpensive bust or figure, as for lighting references, I would be taking pics at various angles, and it would need to be something that I can hold and lay on its side without worry of breaking it.
     
  21. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    New Premium Guild Exclusives announced today - looks like membership has hiked up to $80 also:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  22. Jordan1Kenobi

    Jordan1Kenobi SWC Jedi Draft Champion star 6 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    The only mini-bust I have is Zuckuss too :D Though I do have a Kit Fisto bust as well, but it's not the same as the mini-busts.
     
  23. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
    I pre-ordered Mace with my PGM renewal. I don't have the original armless bust of him, always seem to get outbid, so I'm happy to finally get that.

    Rebelscum talked to the folks at GG - they're looking into updating all of the AOTC busts w/ arms this go around - plus they've got exclusive pics of a new EU bust coming this year....Admiral Thrawn! Clickeroo!
     
  24. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002
  25. PadmeLeiaJaina

    PadmeLeiaJaina Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 23, 2002