Man...that sucks! I always go overboard when I pack stuff. You could kick it down a flight of stairs, which I'm betting has actually been done by these barbaric delivery companies lol.
The seller and GSP both refunded me the cost of the product plus shipping. So it is all ok from this point of view. Money is back on my account. And you are right about the packing, when I sold a few 1/6 Sideshow figures and life-size helmets from my collection I even used double boxes and tons of extra packing material to be sure everything was fine. Heck, crumpled newspapers do an excellent job when shipping something fragile.
Anyway my advice for the anyone interested in buying these garden ornaments for their courtyard is to say pass (they first appeared in UK at Homebase shop, and more recently in Australia, I'm quite sure they will come in US and Canada some day too). They are nice and come in a lot of varieties from OT and ST: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Han, Leia, Stormtrooper, R2-D2, C-3PO, Royal Guard, then BB8, Rey, Kylo, Phasma etc.
But these things are fragile, with very thin walls and most likely will not last outside a year in the sun, rain, wind and snow. Unfortunately these are not made for outside, as their name would imply. For inside (collection room, man cave etc.) you can get better and more detailed figures and statues. A friend from UK told me his cat flipped over his Boba Fett ornament and his head broke off. My recently acquired Attakus 1/5 Vader 1 is about 45 cm, and is almost the same size of this R2 ornament, but it is way heavier and more solid. I remember the old garden gnomes you could hit with a football ball and not get damaged. These are not that alas.
Now I'll be looking for some real Star Wars garden ornaments made of stone, rock, marble, or concrete,
if there are any.
Your dedication to collecting Stars Wars is impressive. I've changed what I collect quite a few times and you're still going strong lol.
, wish I had the space to collect all the lines I'd like: Predator, Aliens, Star Trek, Ghost in the Shell, Babylon 5, to name just a few. Know the feeling about space limitations, was in a condo myself a few years ago before moving here. And I also intend to make another cabinet next year.
