With a production run of only 1000 pieces, which by no means is a small amount when it comes to exclusives of this nature (to give a similar case, the Marvel Chrome Edition Silver Surfer minibust was limited to only 500 pieces), the Clone Trooper sold through quickly at Comic-Con, and with prices on eBay reaching $400 (the bust was being sold for $40 at the show), speculators and opportunists wanting to make a quick buck also came to play. The unfortunate outcome is that many were left holding a losing raffle ticket in Chicago (a total of 25 busts were raffled for each day), which resulted in some rancorous --- and for the most part, unjustified --- backlash towards Gentle Giant. 

Galactic Hunter interviews Gentle Giant's Marketing Director Eric Lyga about their upcoming product line for 2003 and 2004, which was previewed at both shows this summer. While the big news for the summer is the new Clone Trooper bust, featuring 3 color variants and interchangeable arms, it's clear that the rest of 2003 and a large part of '04 will be all about Classic Trilogy, with Grand Moff Tarkin, Greedo, and a new Biker Scout showcased at the conventions.

With plenty of reference arsenal from a trip to the Lucasfilm Archives earlier this year, Gentle Giant is primed to deliver more classic characters collectors have been anxiously waiting for.

GH: Eric, one of the hottest exclusives this summer is the Blue Clone Trooper bust. It looks like things didn't go according to plan as you undersold many conventioneers, particularly here in Chicago. Did you anticipate this great a demand or  expected your busts' popularity, being your first convention exclusive and all?

Eric: I think you're exactly right. We didn't expect this. This is the first exclusive we've ever done and this year is only the second year we've done a consumer trade show. There's a lot of risk involved in doing an exclusive. Some at Gentle Giant didn't even think the bust would sell well at all because there are already three versions out in retail (Clone Trooper (White), Commander (Yellow), and Captain (Red)), so why would people want another one? So we went with what we set out to do at first, which is 1000 split between the two shows (San Diego Comic-Con and Chicago Wizard World). Obviously, we could have done more, and I wish we could've done more, but we'll get better with time.

GH: From a collector's standpoint, people want to be able to complete their collections, and in the case of the busts --- first with the MBNA Chrome Darth Vader offer and now the Con Exclusive Clone Trooper--- it kind of makes it tough to do that. Going forward, are you going to change up your strategy when it comes to exclusives?

Eric: The big thing with an exclusive that we will always do is that we'll make sure there's a version of that piece available to everyone. For example, with the Darth Vader, we did release a retail version out there, and as far as the Clone Trooper, there are three other versions out there. I know being a collector and a completist is not an easy thing to do, and as we move forward with exclusives, quantity is going to be the number one issue that we're going to be looking at from now on. We're also not planning on doing too many exclusives. If you had any idea how many retailers approached us wanting to do exclusives. We ended up turning down the vast majority of them, doing only the Chrome Vader for MBNA, the Blue Clone Trooper, and the upcoming Clone Trooper Pilot for Wizard Entertainment. That's only three we've done, because we want to make sure collectors have a fair shot at obtaining them.

GH: Can you tell us more about the Clone Pilot for Wizard?

Eric: It's really neat because it's a resculpt, and the Pilot is a different character. Whereas the Clone Trooper Lieutenant is a repaint with the blue markings and without the extra arms of the retail version. The Pilot is actually a new sculpt where the head and chestpiece are different  and the arms have both hands  holding the binoculars. It's going to be available in France through Attakus, Japan through TOMY, and North America through Wizard Entertainment ( Publishers of Wizard and ToyFare magazines).

GH: Any idea on retail price and quantities?

Eric: No idea on retail price because Wizard will set it, and I have no information right now as far as quantities.

GH: Can you tell us about what's coming out later this year and in 2004?

Eric: We started out with a lot of the Episode II stuff and we definitely are going back and doing more Classic, as you can see here with Grand Moff Tarkin, Greedo, and Biker Scout. We're also going to be working on Episode III stuff soon, with a crew down in Australia right now hard at work. When they come back, we'll get right to work on product for the new film. The next piece after the Biker Scout will be a Deluxe set similar to the Clone Troopers.

GH: Dev (Gilmore, Gentle Giant Design Director) already told us at San Diego the Deluxe set will be a Stormtrooper.

Eric: Well, I'm a lot more secretive than Dev. I will say this. There are some lists out there on certain sites that are not valid. I have people coming up to me at the show asking about an Emperor's Royal Guard bust that's supposedly next. And I tell them if it's not on our site, GentleGiantLTD.com (http://gentlegiantltd.com), it's not valid.

GH: Dev also mentioned a Darth Maul bust.

Eric: We all want Darth Maul to happen, but when it's gonna happen, we don't know, so it's not yet confirmed.

GH: Does the  Deluxe Stormtrooper have interchangeable arms?

Eric: That's one plan right now.

GH: Obviously, color variants are out of the question, unless we're talking Sandtrooper pauldrons.

Eric: That's one idea that's been tossed around. We tossed around the idea of doing a seperate Sandtrooper or doing it as part of the Stormtrooper line. We don't know exactly what we're going to do with it yet.

GH: Anything special you plan on doing with the Chewbacca bust?

Eric: We definitely plan on doing a Chewbacca. Whether we plan on doing an Original Trilogy version or a version from Episode III is up in the air right now. We have to see how he looks and how different he is in the new movie.

GH: Is it coming out this year?

Eric: No. Not this year. You see finished product we've shown here in the show that won't come out this year. The Biker Scout is for 2004 and Greedo may not make it out this year. So, if there's something that you don't see here, it's definitely not coming out this year.

GH: Dark Horse did announce Greedo will be out by November.

Eric: Greedo's not going to be out by November. Maybe by Christmas.

GH: We like the way you have Greedo concealing a blaster behind his back. It's the little details like this that make these busts so unique. What we did notice though is that the human heads don't sell as well as the alien or trooper heads. Do you plan on doing more human heads in the future? Some based on the Classic Trilogy perhaps?

Eric: Definitely. There are humans that are core to the Star Wars universe, and no matter how something sells, we want to be faithful to that universe. We hope to do Luke, Leia, Han, and all the classic characters.

GH: With Grand Moff Tarkin, you were able to obtain a "life mask" of actor Peter Cushing. If you were to do Luke, Leia, or Han, how would you go about recreating them?

Eric: It's a joint process. It's not just about scanning. It's scanning and also about the artists, and we have some of the best sculptors in the industry. Therefore, we have guys who can replicate what Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher looked like in the films. We hope to start with scan data even though the actors have aged. We can still make them look younger and make them look how they did then.

GH: Any final thoughts and comments on Gentle Giant this year and plans for 2004?

Eric: This year has been a wild, eye-opening, surprising year for Gentle Giant. We're still a new company as far as making our own product. We have a lot of plans for next year and beyond, especially for Star Wars. We want Star Wars to be our core and we're all huge fans back at the studio. We're doing these products because we love them and we love the characters.

GH: Thanks for talking to Galactic Hunter Eric.

Eric: Thanks.

You can view more photos of Gentle Giant at Wizard World in our Image Bank!