New Star Wars Items

A few things caught me by surprise tonight and both came via email.

First, Gentle Giant announced to its Premier Guild Members that the Snowtrooper Mini Bust was available for pre-order. It is set to ship in September. At this time, you must be signed into your Gentle Giant PGM account to pre-order this bust.

Gentle Giant's next trooper-oriented bust, the Snowtrooper, will be shipped in September.

Next was at the bottom of the weekly Star Wars Homing Beacon. Some unreleased Hasbro toys were available for pre-order on Star Wars Shop - including at least three items originally believed to be released in August or September. According to Star Wars Shop, the Turbo Tank will be available... in April!?!? June releases are set for the Saber Class Fighter Tank and Crab Droid Vehicle and Figure Pack. The Build-Your-Own Blaster is still set for July.

Perhaps these dates are just placeholders; as usual the "small print" says dates subject to change. We'll see when these really start showing up in stores.

2009 Gentle Giant Busts

Besides the TIE Fighter Pilot and AT-AT Pilot coming out early this year, Gentle Giant showed a bounty of busts and other items at Toy Fair yesterday. I'm most excited for the Snowtrooper and Stormtrooper Commander from The Force Unleashed.

Gentle Giant's Snowtrooper bust, available this summer.
(image from GentleGiantCollectors.com)

This Stormtrooper Commander bust will be a Star Wars Shop exclusive this summer.
(image from GentleGiantCollectors.com)

After Thanksgiving Round-Up

Well things have been quite busy recently. Kelly and I made the trek from West Lafayette, IN to Eighty Four, PA on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The following day I made the last leg of my journey to be with my family and friends in Sinking Spring, PA. Thanksgiving was busy as usual and soon enough I was making the return trip. After watching my high school win the PIAA District III AAAA football championship, I left the stadium in Hershey, PA bound for Eighty Four to pick up Kelly. On Sunday we made the 7 hour drive back to Purdue University. It was a nice little reprieve (Kelly hadn't been to her house since January) and a great preview of things to come for the Christmas break.

I've done more than traveling over the last 10 days however. Recently a lot of things I preordered and paid for months ago started shipping. Among them were The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection on DVD from Time Life and the Airborne Trooper and Galactic Marine mini-busts from Gentle Giant.

Image from The Real Ghostbusters.

While I was home I was able to hit up Target and Toys R Us with Brent for some Star Wars goodies. I picked up the Shield Generator Assault battle pack and the Clone Trooper Officer (Yellow, Commander) figure from The Legacy Collection and the Toys R Us exclusive Clone Wars bust-ups, mentioned in the previous post (w00t! Christmas gifts!).

While I was home I was able to organize, sort, and store some of my collection. I can actually walk in my room now! There's still a slight mess but that should be fixed over Christmas. Some extra figures I had lying around I decided to open and create a diorama with one of my opened Republic Gunships. I didn't get to snap any pictures but the Gunship (with nose art from The Clone Wars collection) has 4 TCW Clone Pilots ("Odd Ball") flying the ship and manning the guns plus Captain Rex giving orders to 3 501st Legion Troopers (Wal-Mart exclusive) and 2 regular Clone Troopers. It looks pretty sweet!

In developing life stories, some big news was dropped on our family and friends recently. Kelly and I have decided to move to Sinking Spring, PA (my original hometown) once Kelly finishes her atmospheric science master's degree at Purdue! I will be working for my father with a future goal of succeeding him as owner & president of the sandwich shop. I'll be his apprentice for the next 10 or so years until he wants to partially retire.

My family and friends couldn't be happier; they are REALLY excited for us to return! And we can't wait...

Want List - Gentle Giant

Mini-Busts

Animated Maquettes

Bust-Ups

Clone Wars Maquettes

Gentle Giant Mini Busts Lookin' Great

Gentle Giant has produced many mini busts in the last few years. Some of the best were their exclusive clone commander 5-pack. In August the Airborne Trooper went up for sale at Star Wars Shop. On November 21st, GG Premium Guild Members will be able to add the next great trooper bust: the Galactic Marine.

This Star Wars Shop exclusive bust went on sale in early August and sold out within a day.

The Galactic Marine is a shared exclusive between Forbidden Planet and Gentle Giant. They were released last week in the U.K. (Forbidden Planet) and in a few weeks Gentle Giant will have a limited run. I can't wait to add these 2 to my collection!

The Forbidden Planet/Gentle Giant exclusive Galactic Marine mini bust, available online (in the U.S.) November 21st.

A Covert Operation

If you recall this post and this post you will remember that I have been searching for some higher priced items outside of the figure realm. The second one talks about this great company called Gentle Giant that produces wonderful busts, sculptures, and statues of Star Wars characters. Besides adding a few of their miniature "Bust-Ups" I have been secretly tracking down a few of their larger, more expensive items since November. After a purchase over the weekend I am pleased to announce that my Gentle Giant Return of the Sith (or troopers with Phase 2 armor) trooper collection is all but complete. I have found and bought all five of the exclusive Clone Commander busts (Cody, Gree, Bly, Neyo, Bacara). I also previously purchased the Shocktrooper bust (and it comes with a Shocktrooper bust-up!), the standard white clone, and the 501st Legion Clone Trooper.

Click to enlarge.

My favorite is the Cody bust. He comes with a holographic emperor! That is sweeeeeet. Gree has the coolest armor in my opinion so he ranks right up there with Cody. Of all of the busts I now own I have to admit that my favorite may be the Shocktrooper.

Click to enlarge.

The coloring detail and battle-damaged look are awesome. I have a tough time picking my favorite type of trooper. I usually jump back and forth between the Shocktrooper, Utapau Shadow Trooper, and the 212th Attack Battalion.

Picture of different arms and weapons.

The busts are approximately 8 inches in height. One of the coolest features of the busts and bust-ups are that some come with interchangeable arms and weapons! I haven't seen any of these in person yet (I go home next Friday!) but I know they are going to look AMAZING in my collection. I really hope I have a room to put all of this stuff in when Kelly and I buy our first house...

501st Clone Trooper bust.