Toy OTD: Gentle Giant Star Wars Mini-Busts: Dengar, Princess Leia (2007, 2008)

Since I was part of the first wave of kids blown away by Star Wars, it's tough not to buy every last bit of cool swag that comes my way - and there's more than ever these days! I had finally gotten to the point where I swore off from buying the smaller action figures, and tried to focus exclusively on the Sideshow quarter-scale statues. Well, it didn't quite turn out that way...

Gentle Giant started producing an amazing line of Star Wars mini-busts that deliver a lot of nerd love for a fairly low price... and just like that, I was hooked all over again! I've bought quite a few, but so far I've only photographed Princess Leia and the bounty hunter Dengar. I'll focus on them for now.

GG's products are generally of a high quality, and these mini-busts are no exception. Both of these sculpts have strong likenesses, and the poses feel like they're straight from the films. The costume/prop details feel similarly well-researched. The various depicted materials are given the appropriate textural treatments - as they should, cloth, leather, metal, wood, etc. all clearly differentiate from one another.

I'm also very impressed that the bases of the mini-busts are very minimal - almost no detail or texture, and painted an unassuming black. Even though it feels true to the films' overall look, they recede nicely into the background, allowing the featured character to dominate the viewer's attention. The lack of branding or labeling on them is another big plus - GG gets it!

Since all the busts have bases, balance issues are non-existent - if you live in earthquake country, you can use museum putty to anchor them down, but otherwise they're good to go.

The paint is very effective here, strongly boosting the effects of the sculpt. Check out the subtle detail on Leia's face, the antiquing of the weapons, or the wear on Dengar's armor. The color palettes feel very true to their film counterparts as well. It's really great work that does more than fulfill the promise of these pieces!

I like the line's packaging, even though it's not all that elaborate. Most (if not all) of the pieces are packed in glossy dark grey boxes with the Star Wars logo and character name on the front. There's a simple black shape to frame the text, and a small window to allow shoppers to check out the facial paint (of course, it's helpful for identifying the figure inside, too). The design evokes the feel of the movies in a strong way without adding a lot to the price point (though even fancy boxes usually don't cost a great deal).

Unless the character you're choosing is oversized, most of these busts cost $50 when they first drop. Once a popular figure sells out, they go up in price on the secondary market, but if the character isn't really in demand, they may actually go down in price (especially if they're still in stock a year or more after release).

Surprisingly, you can get Princess Leia for $24.99 + shipping right now at Amazon.com. Dengar also sells for $25 + shipping at the Toys 'R' Us website, which is even less than the $30 I paid for it at an Entertainment Earth sale. Great deals - grab 'em while you can!

Toy OTD: Bowen Studios' Inhumans Mini-Busts: Karnak, Quicksilver, Crystal, Triton and Gorgon

I don't know if these characters were all that popular with Marvel collectors - most of the ones I have were marked down significantly. I'm enough of a Fantastic Four geek that I scooped up as many as I could get!

As with most of the Bowen products, the posing, paint work, and sculpts are really great (Bowen is one of my favorite Marvel merchandising companies). They get a little goofy with the thematic base designs, but at least they don't plaster names or logos on any of them. The likenesses are right from the comics, adapted in a very appealing way.

You can get several of these online right now - Triton is on eBay for $29.95 + $8 shipping, ditto Karnak for $19.99 + $9.50 shipping, Gorgon is $32.00 at ccgarmory.com, Crystal is $39.95 + $9.00 shipping on eBay, and Quicksilver is $37.00 + $6.50 shipping there, too (It'll be $114.99 + $9.99 shipping at wizarduniverse.stores.yahoo.net if you want the green-costumed variant). I seem to remember buying these for even lower prices, so keep your eyes peeled at toy shows and comic conventions!

Toy OTD: DC Direct Wonder Woman Mini-Bust

Generally, I prefer the original permed, skirted Wonder Woman, but I think this is a really great sculpt (by DC regular Tim Bruckner) of the modern version. More realistic approaches are fraught with pitfalls, but there's a strong execution here. Nice, subtle paint work, especially on the face! Many busts don't include the arms - but not only do we get them, we're treated to a cool pose, as if she's preparing to block some gunfire. Excellent!

This item's been out for a while, but it's not hard to find - you can still get one at zeuscomics.com for $35.99 + shipping.