Well, now that I have been able to acquire the 2 main Clone Commanders I wanted (Cody because he was the best of them all, and Gree for his color scheme and "Yoda punk-job"), the pain of this exclusives fiasco has subsided ... but the disgust has not. Cody ended up costing me 120 shipped and Gree cost me my AFX Coruscant clone. In all honesty, neither expenditure should have been required. Up until this year, Gentle Giant had my respect as a company and as artists. Sure, they FUBARed a likeness every now and then. But, when the item was good, it was golden. When they did exclusives, they were minor characters, or costume changes (Luke and Han in Stormie, Salacious, Blackhole Stormie, etc.).
I have though about this a lot ... and I think GG started their downward spiral with Mara. Sure, she was an EU character ... but she was 1.) a popular character, 2.) a female character in a male dominated SW bust lineup, and 3.) a Jedi. They could have released 5000 of her and sold every one. But, I accepted that instance as a minor blip ... traded away my Salacious Crumb and Chrome Jango ... and moved on. Then they hit us with the true Order 66 ... destroy all complete collections ... or at least their wallets in the cross-fire. Making ALL the clone commanders exclusives was inexcusable. I could have handled 1 or 2 - Neyo and Bacara, while unique, were not that important - IMO. Gree was a great character ... but I could have even lived without him being a regular bust. But to make Cody an exclusive ... and to add the Holographic Emperor pose ... that was a insult to collectors everywhere. Everyone loves clones ... but that Cody scene DEFINES the end of the Jedi. It personifies Palpatine's decades old plans ... the perfect depiction of Order 66. This key moment in Star Wars lore was denied the majority of us ... at retail price.
Now, now, I know what most of you are thinking, "shut up, stop whining, and spend what it takes to get it if you want it." Well, I did. True, I followed auctions for 2 weeks until I could get one that ended at 120 or less (double cost was my absolute breaking point going in). But, as I followed the auctions, something hit me - most of these busts were not bought by Star Wars fans. They were bought by greedy a$$holes just looking to make a profit. Sure, we all joke about flipping on this forum. But, lets be honesty ... the majority of the collectors who flip here are not actual "flippers" in the extreme sense. Buying a piece that you really want, then selling it to make room for another piece later is not flipping. If someone is stupid enough to spend a crazy amount, then more power to ya. But, as I followed these auctions, it was apparent that the 100s that popped up ... even DURING the Comic Con, were not Star Wars fans. It's easy to tell by reading the descriptions ... example, if a seller tells ups how sweet Order 86 was ... well, something tells me that's not a type-o. Someone bought that bust for the express purpose of charging out the arse on the secondary market. Some of you don't see a problem with this practice, so I won't bore you with the rest of the lecture. My contempt comes not from the scalping, but from the fact that Gentle Giant empowered them to scale. Can anyone claim that GG was oblivious to the scalping that was going to happen? All of this was a con to get more people to give them 50 free dollars for the "Premium Guild". A service the majority of the companies out there give us for free. And, this money ... free profit for them ... only guarantees you a chance at a lottery. Hell, at least Master Replicas gives you .33 minis and discounts. What does Gentle Giant premium service give you beside headaches.
So, in the end, I did what it took to get my Cody ... it was too great a piece/ moment to let go. But GG definitely killed the completest in me. I have already passed on 3 mini busts and 2 statues ... and can see many more in the future that just "aren't" worth the money. Will one customer's decreased business hurt them? Probably not. Will they stop these practices in the future ... doubt it (and everyone get ready for the 100 dollar Super Premium Collectors Club ... you get 2 ballots now!
). But, that doesn't excuse them. That does make it right.
