2019 Holiday Mini Bust

[LightSword]

I know, someone probably read the title of this thread and thought GG had mentioned something about it. Sorry to disappoint, but that is not the case ... yet?

I was wondering, as it has been a tradition since the release of the Silver and Gold Sandtrooper mini bust in 2004, and every year ever since, if there is anything on the works for the Holidays this year. We are already entering the Holiday Season, but no word so far on this. Last year's release of the Boba Fett mini bust from the Holiday Special was to me, a great offering.

Anyone interested in seeing another Holiday release this year for Christmas? More importantly, Will GG release anything this year to celebrate the Season, after 15 years of tradition?


HOLIDAY RELEASES:

- Sandtrooper Gold and Silver ( 2004 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Salacious Crumb (2005 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Max Rebo ( 2006 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Speeder Bike & Biker Scout ( 2007 Holiday Kustomz)

- Clone Commander Cody ( 2008 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Yakface ( 2009 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Padmé Amidala Snow Bunny ( 2010 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Darth Vader "Thank the Maker" ( 2011 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Jar Jar Binks with W. Wald ( 2012 Holiday Mini Bust 2-pack )

- Yoda (2013 Holiday Jumbo Figure)

- Stormtrooper Gold (2014 Holiday Mini Bust)

- Salacious Crumb (2015 Holiday Jumbo Figure)

- BB-8 ( 2016 Holiday Mini Bust)

- K-2SO ( 2017 Holiday Mini Bust )

- Boba Fett from the Holiday Special ( 2018 Holiday Mini bust )

- 2019 ???

 

[Django]

To me personally, the Boba Fett was the crown jewel of these holiday special busts! I think if they did more characters from the short like C3P0 or R2 they would also be a hit.

I cannot think of any other ones I would really want though to be honest, and I am sure if there is one this Christmas it will be related to the last Sequel movie.

 

[Dr_Jedi]

I have generally enjoyed the holiday busts. They've been one of the primary items that's gotten me to re-up with the PGM in the past, and this year the holiday bust might be the last potential reason for me to re-up. I do hope that the tradition of the holiday bust continues this year.

Personally, I would like to see GG start taking inspiration from some of the memorable Christmas/holiday cards that Lucasfilm has sent out over the years. Some of those cards have featured wonderful work by Ralph McQuarrie, such as the iconic Santa Yoda, and the card with R2-D2 & C-3PO as Santa and a reindeer. (For that matter, I would really like to see DST tackle the ongoing issue of the lack of astromech mini busts!) There have also been some very nice cards done by other artists, such as a stunning stained glass Queen Amidala, which I think was done by Doug Chiang? As opposed to having an otherwise normal bust holding an ornament (an idea that I actually kinda liked, or at least didn't dislike), I would be really enthusiastic if the holiday busts moved in this direction.

 

[LightSword]

Great ideas from both of you, as far as what I would personally like to see made and buy. I would buy another character from the Holiday Special. Hasbro also did a great job with their short lived Holiday Edition figures based on McQuarrie cards, until that horrible all red Darth Vader was released. But if GG were to offer some Holiday Jawas, C-3PO, R2, etc. like on these Christmas postcards, I would buy them, and add them to the McQuarrie line. Others come to mind as well. It would just be nice to have something to celebrate this time of the year.

 

[Dr_Jedi]

Yes, this exactly! All of these would be an instant buy for me!

 

[ihnken33]

I always enjoyed the holiday mini busts. I hope they continue. I think chewie holding a tree or something would be fun.

 

[Marvelito]

I'll be honest and say that all the Holiday busts I have, I've gotten for their non-Holiday versions. I even canceled my BB-8 bust because the lights were not removable. I'm very surprised they never released the non-Christmas version, I figured it was a sure thing. Anyway, I'll buy whatever can be displayed in a non-Christmas version, otherwise I would probably pass.

 

[Kneel_Before_Zod]

I don't mind the holiday busts when they can be used as non-holiday busts. Yak Face, K-2SO... that kind of thing. BB-8 with Christmas lights does nothing for me, and I'm shocked that they never put him out without those...

 

[LightSword]

I agree. They should be engineered in a way both versions can be displayed depending on what the collector wants. A good example of that is the Yakface mini bust, one of the best sculpts they have come up with, which offers a simple and creative way to have him displayed for the festivities as well as his regular self. On the other hand, the set pose of the Snow bunny Padme holding the mistletoe, is a good example of what not to do. She should have been given an interchangeable hand or arm to display her both ways. I would, however, display fit poses for those created by McQuarrie, just to show another aspect of his creations.

 

[Django]

I forgot how nice all the McQuarrie Christmas artwork always was, thanks for sharing!

 

[GGC]

I think the days of the Holiday Busts are in the past.

 

[LightSword]

I think the days of the Holiday Busts are in the past.

It'd be sad to see it go. I know that opinions can differ, and that's fine. To me personally, these Holiday pieces made the last quarter of the year a bit more exciting, and I think many of us looked forward to what would be released. If, as you mentioned, these are a thing of the past, and I'm sure you know what you're saying, that'd be a nice tradition gone away despite having an opportunity for many creations and potential sales. It also makes me wonder if the McQuarrie line will be ended next. But then we'd keep having more and more versions of a same character ... I guess I would never be able to understand the sales strategy there.

 

[GGC]

It'd be sad to see it go. I know that opinions can differ, and that's fine. To me personally, these Holiday pieces made the last quarter of the year a bit more exciting, and I think many of us looked forward to what would be released. If, as you mentioned, these are a thing of the past, and I'm sure you know what you're saying, that'd be a nice tradition gone away despite having an opportunity for many creations and potential sales. It also makes me wonder if the McQuarrie line will be ended next. But then we'd keep having more and more versions of a same character ... I guess I would never be able to understand the sales strategy there.

I hope it is not true as well, as I have them all so far and I love them. But it's never been this late that I didn't hear about it. I have a pretty good rep the last 15+ years and I always would hear at least some buzz by late July, early August of what it was. Remember it takes 9-12 months to make these happen and when that time would have happened for a 2019 Holiday Item, the GG sale to Diamond was in progress. I hope I am wrong, but unless some miracle is out there (and who knows what Diamond is up to, we got some crazy cool reveals at NYCC) I can't see a Holiday bust this year.

 

[LightSword]

I hope it is not true as well, as I have them all so far and I love them. But it's never been this late that I didn't hear about it. I have a pretty good rep the last 15+ years and I always would hear at least some buzz by late July, early August of what it was. Remember it takes 9-12 months to make these happen and when that time would have happened for a 2019 Holiday Item, the GG sale to Diamond was in progress. I hope I am wrong, but unless some miracle is out there (and who knows what Diamond is up to, we got some crazy cool reveals at NYCC) I can't see a Holiday bust this year.

I hear you. I'm getting the same feeling it is way too late already not to have heard anything about it and indeed, the GG sale to Diamond pretty much slowed things down. I'm glad though, the gifts from last year happened as they promised, and they were/are all great looking pieces.

As far as the Holiday pieces I'm still missing the Holiday Crumb and Max Rebo. Since I don't collect from the new movies, I passed on the K-2SO and BB-8, never got the Jumbos either because I don't collect those, nor the Kustomz bike. Nonetheless, those are all nice pieces for those that collect them. Every other piece I got. Luckily my wife gifted me, precisely for Christmas a couple of years ago, with the Gold and Silver Sandtrooper. One day I guess, I'll go for that Max Rebo and Crumb mini busts, but it would have to be for a price within my budget. Anyway, maybe there will be nothing for the Holidays this year, but hopefully Diamond/GG get back into producing them for 2020.

 

[skywalker1973]

I had assumed there would be a Holiday Bust or Jumbo this year, having access to that was one of the reasons that signing up for Premier Guild was a no brainer for me. DST, I would've appreciated knowing about this when it was time to sign up. You're continuing to find new ways to discourage longtime collectors from carrying on with you.

 

[Killer_Klown]

I think the days of the Holiday Busts are in the past.

I hope not - I always liked them.

 

[The_kessel_run]

I like the holiday busts, I do prefer them to have a bit of a holiday touch to them as well but that's just my preference.

 

[Sith_Apprentice]

I like the holiday busts, I do prefer them to have a bit of a holiday touch to them as well but that's just my preference.

When you say a "holiday touch", I get a little confused because holiday is pretty much a day of festivity and recreation when no work is done. Do you mean, like a rabbit, a heart, a skull, a Ramadan Hareem lantern, an Eid Mubarak half moon and star, a Rosh Hashanah Ram's horn, a Hanukkah's Menorah, a Buddah Purnima, a Vasant Pachami Saraswati or anything related to the Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ since 336 this time of the year known as Christmas?

 

[The_kessel_run]

A Christmas look about them then which is what we have in the UK, not holidays!

 

[Calrissian19]

I’m a huge SW fan & Christmas is my favorite time of the year, so I’ve always been a fan of the Holiday mini busts. I hope they continue to produce them.

 

[Imrahil2001]

I've seen all the McQuarries before, this is the first time I've seen this one. What's the origin? Who's the artist?

 

[LightSword]

It is not a McQuarrie card but a work done by another artist. These "Star Wars" theme Christmas cards have been officially issued by Lucasfilm since 1978. This one I believe was issued in 2013. Along with the McQuarrie creations, these bounty hunter carolers sporting the colors and some accent pieces of the Season, would be great to see them released as Christmas/Holiday mini busts. That's why I pointed out the card as yet another source to create more Holiday pieces. As far as the artist that worked on the card, I don't have any info to share. Sorry.

 

[LightSword]

I've seen all the McQuarries before, this is the first time I've seen this one. What's the origin? Who's the artist?

I don't like leaving things in limbo so here we go ...

The artist was/is Tyler Scarlet, an ILM artist. This is what he had to say about his creation of Bounty Hunters caroling:

"This is a card I created for Lucasfilm back in 2013 when I first started at ILM. It was exciting to be a part of a tradition that started all the way back in 1978 with Ralph McQuarrie doing the first set of cards.

From Bossk making random sounds with his songbook upside down to IG-88 belching out his carols to Zuckuss mumbling quietly in the corner, it was fun giving each of them different personalities. It was also fun to sneak in a few extras Star Wars elements such as the Death Star replacing the star on the tree and an ornament in Leia’s hand instead of a thermal detonator.Hope you like it! "

 

[Sith_Apprentice]

December. Call it the Christmas Season or the Holiday Season for those that get offended where there's no offense committed. Either way it is a month of celebration, shopping and joy. It is so sad to see how even in collecting pleasant traditions are being ended. This time around last year people were excited waiting to get the Holiday Boba Fett. Like so, for fifteen years we knew there was something unique being offered to celebrate this time of year. Now, there's nothing. Thank you Gentle Giant/DST for killing yet another tradition most collectors where pleased with. I see more of the same being done to the Ralph McQuarrie mini busts next. But no worries, we'll continue to have more of what no one asks for, more sculpts pointing fingers. It's a great time to be a Gentle Giant collector.

 

[DSTChuckPadawan]

December. Call it the Christmas Season or the Holiday Season for those that get offended where there's no offense committed. Either way it is a month of celebration, shopping and joy. It is so sad to see how even in collecting pleasant traditions are being ended. This time around last year people were excited waiting to get the Holiday Boba Fett. Like so, for fifteen years we knew there was something unique being offered to celebrate this time of year. Now, there's nothing. Thank you Gentle Giant/DST for killing yet another tradition most collectors where pleased with. I see more of the same being done to the Ralph McQuarrie mini busts next. But no worries, we'll continue to have more of what no one asks for, more sculpts pointing fingers. It's a great time to be a Gentle Giant collector.

If only there was a representative of the company that could reply to question in the handy ASKDST section OR VIA submission on their website...if only...
YES we are VERY sorry there is no holiday bust this year...we really tried..however the decision was made to focus on getting all the items that had been preordered as much as a year ago, and all the gifts done for the PG, as well as clean up the website and various other not exciting things.
FWIW That was 100% my call - others pushed for the gift, but I felt we could not do everything. GG had not started a holiday bust , so when we entered the picture, even if we did something simple, it would have been late. I felt with all the fans had already put up with , I could not do that. We have already planned next years bust, as well as other themed bust we think fans will enjoy. As for the rest of it , I have no idea why fans would think we woudl stop making bust or OT products or PT bust or 1/6 statues or the concept bust line , but I can't help that. I feel we have done the best job we can since we entered the picture, and have made changes already based on fan feedback, have we been perfect? NO, but we're doing our best . Hopefully that works for everyone, we know you have lots of choices where to spend your time and money and I feel everyday we have to earn both from the fans. You know where I am if you need me!

 

[Sith_Apprentice]

Hello Chuck,

I appreciate you took the time to give an explanation as to why there is no Holiday bust. If you read comments posted above by people close to Gentle Giant, all we learned was that the Holiday bust offer had been stopped. We never got an official explanation about what was going on, nothing was said. Same as we the .45 scale line of mini helmets. Nothing official was ever said, and we again learned through a third party somewhat close to Gentle Giant, these were not going to be produced and that DST had no interest to make them. To some degree it has become second nature to learn about these things through third parties and it does not set right and creates uncertainty. For a product that has been traditionally offered for the Holidays, as a collector I felt/feel it was only fair to us to let us know what was going on. Since silence was all we got, one is to start speculating on what could go away next without previous notice.

As for a representative of the company, well, we had several through the years, some better than others. We presented requests for this and that product to be made, many of them were not made. It wasn't until Daniel came here and through the effort of some of our members that some requested product was made, such as Lobot, Amanaman, Ahsoka, and Bib Fortuna. On the other hand, either because Daniel and other representatives were asked not to say anything, many product and policy questions were never answered. As far as contacting via submission on the website, that is something else. For the most part people did not like the new PGM busts pointing fingers. We talked about it here, on Facebook, through e-mails, etc, and it all went to deaf ears, so one is to wonder what's the use of asking for something if nothing is going to be done about it.

The two paragraphs you've written above have offered in a day more information than what we've gotten via these forums and Facebook about the Holiday mini bust. So why not take the time to come here on a regular basis, read collectors' concerns and offer updates. As consumers of a product you sell, one the company benefits from our purchases, I feel it is only fair and proper to do so.

Again thank you for taking the time to write to the collector community here.

Best regards.

 

[MrPickles]

Tip 'o the cap to Diamond Select for the response. Good to see the company getting caught-up first.

 

[Dr_Jedi]

Agreed. And I'm happy to hear that the holiday bust will be coming back next year.

 

[Imrahil2001]

Totally going to be baby yoda.

 

[Dr_Jedi]

I'd be in for Santa Baby Yoda!

 

[SpecialOpsUnit]

Was thinking the same thing lol ^

It'll sell like hotcakes, GG would be wise to get Baby Yoda out as soon as possible.

 

[Imrahil2001]

Baby Yoda nativity scene.

 

[Sith_Apprentice]

...YES we are VERY sorry there is no holiday bust this year...we really tried..however the decision was made to focus on getting all the items that had been preordered as much as a year ago, and all the gifts done for the PG, as well as clean up the website and various other not exciting things.
FWIW That was 100% my call - others pushed for the gift, but I felt we could not do everything. GG had not started a holiday bust , so when we entered the picture, even if we did something simple, it would have been late. I felt with all the fans had already put up with , I could not do that. We have already planned next years bust, as well as other themed bust we think fans will enjoy. As for the rest of it , I have no idea why fans would think we woudl stop making bust or OT products or PT bust or 1/6 statues or the concept bust line ... we know you have lots of choices where to spend your time and money and I feel everyday we have to earn both from the fans. You know where I am if you need me!

- Are we going to have a Holiday mini bust this year since you had already planned one since before Dec. of last year? It's October and we have not heard a peep about it.

- Is it fair to say IF there is a Holiday mini bust, it won't be from the OT or PT, as most people can see the attention to those films is minimal by GG these days compared to anything else produced?

- Does the Holiday mini bust this year fall into the category of "The Virus did not let us make one" while subpar stuff like the Hologram Maul was made?.

As a GG collector, I'd like to know if there is something this coming Chri.... (so sorry) ... Holiday.

 

[The_kessel_run]

I hope we get a holiday mini bust this year, one of my reasons for joining the PGM

 

[Skywalker13]

Dooku is the closest Santa from the Star Wars Universe! It could be a nice option! But please, add his lightsaber!

 

[Sith_Apprentice]

That looks horrible, LOL! If you want to go the PT way, I think Sio Bibble could make a better Santa.