Gentle Giant has done many things, but few of them have had the legs and the overall quality of their first big hit, the Star Wars mini-busts.  These high quality busts have been the bedrock on which GG has built their organization (well, and that little scanning technology thing), and the line continues to be one of their best sellers.

When it comes to exclusives, GG often goes the same route as other companies – simple repaints or basic redecos.  Tonight I’ll look at one of their most recent exclusives, the “Darth Vader Anakin Reveal” mini-bust, or as I prefer to think of him, crispy Anakin.

You’ve never actually seen this particular version on screen exactly like this, but that’s a minor detail.  Here you get the Vader body, with the burnt, scarred head of Anakin Skywalker as seen in Episode 3, clearly visible.

This is an Entertainment Earth Exclusive, and runs $50.  That’s pretty much the going rate these days for any of the GG busts.  It is limited to a 5000 piece production run, but fear not, for that’s not particularly limited when it comes to these busts.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael’s Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

Crispy Anakin mini-bust

 

 

Packaging – ***1/2
Gentle Giant packaging usually allows you to see the bust before you buy.  That’s always a big plus in my book, especially with high end items.  The boxes are also designed with extremely sturdy interior styrofoam packaging that keeps things nice and safe, and I’ve heard of very few problems with breakage on any GG bust.

GG also includes a Certificate of Authenticity with each bust, although these have gotten tinier as time has gone by.  Eventually, I assume they’ll be postage stamp sized.  They do have the edition number on them, as does the exterior of the box, in case what number you get is important to you.

 

 

Sculpting – ***1/2
Another great job by Gentle Giant.  That scanning technology can sometimes be a crutch, and can sometimes be used to produce very realistic looking zombie versions of famous characters.  Other times, it can be used to speed up the start of the sculpting process, and allow the artist to take over to produce an exceptional final product.  The latter is the case here, thankfully.

 

 

You have to feel for Anakin seeing his appearance.  He’s been badly burned, almost beyond recognition.   The scarring is extremely well detailed, both on the front and back of the head.  The head might appear a little small at first, but remember, for the mask to be the right size, the head must be closer to this in size.

 

 

The body of the bust, the Vader section below the neck, isn’t new to the line. This is the same sculpted body as the earlier released Revenge of the Sith Darth Vader.  It’s a nice sculpt to be sure, but collectors that already have him in the display may be hesitant to fork up another fifty bucks.

Paint – ****
I’ve mentioned this many, many times, but it’s always worth repeating – a great sculpt can be ruined by poor paint, and great paint can bring a mediocre sculpt way up the scale.  In this case, the excellent sculpt is even improved on with the application of paint.

 

 

There’s a nice gradiation in the colors of the burnt skin, making it appear very realistic and lifelike.  The head is slightly shiny, with a bit of a gloss finish, but that just seems right for this type of heavily damaged flesh.

The paint ops on the body of the bust are the high quality work you’d expect, considering what we’ve seen with the rest of the line.  There’s no slop, no bleed, and the colors are well cut.  There’s also a nice use of different finishes – from gloss to matte – to imply different materials.

Design/Quality – ***
The use of the previous Vader body does cause some minor issues with the overall appearance and design of the figure.  The lightsaber is held up in front of his face, not a huge deal when he’s masked, but when his face is actually the focus, it is a bit of an issue.  Thankfully, the saber blade is removable, so it can be placed out of the way, but then the position seems a bit odd.  It’s not likely that Vader would hold his hilt in both hands in front of his body quite this way if it wasn’t already lit.

 

 

That nit aside, the quality and design are solid.  They did a nice job working with what they had to create a decent exclusive version.

Value – **
Ah, but here’s the rub.  This bust is a full priced bust, and even then some.  At $50, he at full SRP, and generally you can get the regular release busts $8 or so cheaper than that from most dealers.  Everything from the neck down is a reuse, and at 5000 busts he’s not limited in the least.  It’s going to be tough to justify the price tag, and I suspect lots of folks will be waiting to see if these go on sale or are cheaper on Ebay.

Overall – ***
I’m very happy with the head sculpt and paint work.  However, the fact that 80% of this bust comes from another bust, and the odd pose of the hands/saber, hurt the overall score.  At this price, and at a run of 5000, the value really isn’t there.

Still, I’m happy I picked one up.  I’m a sort of completist with the mini-busts (I’m missing the impossible to get Christmas gift releases), and this one will add to the Episode 1 – 3 display.  If you’ve already bought the regular ROTS Vader, you may be less inclined to pick this up, but if you passed on that one, this one gives you all that and more.

 

 

Where to Buy:
Since this is an exclusive, your first bet is at the Entertainment Earth website, where he’s $50.

Related Links:
In the statue and bust realm of Gentle Giant, I’ve covered several areas:

– there’s the Star Wars line of mini-busts, including the recent Emperor and Lando. Also in Star Wars, I reviewed the Biker Scout statue, and I ran a guest review of the Darth Vader statue

– under the Harry Potter line, I’ve reviewed the Hungarian Horntail statue, the Snape/Dumbledore set and the Dobby/Dementor set.

 

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