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Gentle Giant San Diego Comic Con 2007 Update
— July 7, 2007 Leave a Comment
Gentle Giant just updated their blog with info on pre-ordering their exclusives for the 2007 San Diego Comic Con. Here is the info on those exclusives with price and how many are available for pre-order.
- Star Wars - Commander Cody mini bust - pre-order quantity - 1500 pieces - $50
- Harry Potter - Luna Lovegood mini bust - pre-order quantity - 300 pieces - $50
- Lord of the Rings - Glorfindel mini bust - pre-order quantity – 75 pieces - $50
- Star Wars Animated Yoda and R2-D2 Maquette - pre-order quantity - 250 pieces - $75
- Star Wars Luke and Han in Stormtrooper Disguise Bust-Up 2-pack - pre-order quantity - 100 pieces - $10
- Star Wars – Darth Vader Jumbo Chubby – Debut 1st 1000 Edition – pre-order quantity – 300 pieces - $60
Allow me to break down the rest of the post, and give you exactly what you need to know.
- Gentle Giant has six exclusives at this event. Seriously, that has to be some kind of record.
- The Lord of the Rings Glorfindel exclusive bust is limited to 500, only 75 of which will be available for pre-order. Anybody think this one will be hard to get?
- Gentle Giant will start taking pre-orders for these exclusives next Wednesday, July 11th.
- GG says they are upgrading their website servers the end of this week and early next week in anticipation of the additional website traffic. Really? Now? This is a good idea, but if this is true, why did they wait until now?
- GG says an email with the links and information will be sent out on that Wednesday. If you plan on pre-ordering, I wouldn’t wait for an e-mail. Their e-mails are known to show up hours after the fact if at all. If I was pre-ordering, I would be camped out in front the computer on Wednesday.
- Gentle Giant will be selling a limited amount on each day so that the same number of busts will be available to purchase each day of the convention.
- Pre-ordering is available to members of the Collectors Club as well as the Premiere Guild.
- Pre-orders will be available for pick up after 2:00 PM each day. They do not say when the ones for sale through their booth will be available, just when you can pick up your pre-order.
- Lastly, Gentle Giant says a portion of the exclusives will be available for sale through their web site after the convention. I think they mean that a raffle will be held once the convention is over for Premiere Guild members, and if your raffle entry is chosen, you will be able to buy the exclusive for which you entered the raffle.
If Star Wars Celebration earlier this year is any indication, getting these exclusives at San Diego could be a problem, even if you pre-ordered. In Los Angeles, fans who pre-ordered reported getting to the booth to find out they could not pick up their pre-orders because Gentle Giant had given out their allocation for the day.
It was also reported at Celebration IV that the line to buy the exclusives at their booth was capped every morning as soon as the convention opened. This means that people who were able to get in early got in line first thing. The ones who get in early are usually vendors who are buying the busts to resell. But doesn’t Gentle Giant have a policy of not selling to vendors until the last day? And don’t they check your badge? Yes and yes. However, vendors bypass this policy by purchasing normal badges to buy exclusives with. The profits made from selling these exclusives offset the cost of the extra badges. This practice should be obvious to Gentle Giant, so either they don’t care or they are too stupid to figure out what is going on.
My advice is not to go to the San Diego Comic Con just for the exclusives, unless you are able to pre-order the exclusives you want successfully. If you do and you don’t get those exclusives, you will be highly upset and you will be out a lot of money. Go to the convention and enjoy it for what it is. You can always enter the raffle after the convention, or try to get the exclusives some other way. Well, whatever happens, good luck fans, and if you go, let us know how your experiences.
