As long as the quality is high and prices fair, all good to me!
Gentle Giant Ltd. has long been known for its connection to the Star Wars brand, delivering high-quality busts, statues and action figures to collectors worldwide. Diamond Select Toys has their own connection to the brand, having created merchandise for Star Wars in the past. Now, DST will be returning to the Star Wars galaxy with the acquisition of select assets of Gentle Giant Ltd., taking over manufacturing and distribution of many of the key Star Wars product lines.Beginning in Spring 2019, Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles, LLC, will release previously developed and newly created busts, statues and scaled-up vintage action figures in Gentle Giant Ltd.s Star Wars lines. All in-progress and future products will be offered to retailers through the Previews catalog, published by DSTs sister company Diamond Comic Distributors.Gentle Giant Ltd.s Star Wars collector club, the Premier Guild, will continue to operate including items available only to members and reserved access to certain products. DST has pledged to fulfill any outstanding exclusives and rewards to current members and to expand on the clubs scope going forward.I have been a longtime fan of Gentle Giant Ltd.s products and I am excited to continue their legacy, said DST president Chuck Terceira. Once were up and running, we plan to deliver seamless service of existing product lines, including Star Wars and Marvel, so expect to see the same level of quality, with the added bonus of DSTs distribution channels.Diamond Select Toys previously made Star Wars products from 2008-2012, including action figures, vinyl bust banks and bottle openers. In addition to busts and statues, DST produces Gallery PVC Dioramas, Select action figures, Minimates mini-figures, Vinimates vinyl figures, D-Formz PVC figures, prop replicas and vinyl banks.Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, LLC, was formed in 1999 by sister company Diamond Comic Distributors as a source of collectibles for all ages, developed primarily for the collectors market. It has enjoyed relationships with a number of content producers.
I've been sending emails and leaving phone messages for months to GG regarding a customer service issue and never got a response. Then the few times I actually got a live representative on the phone (beyond the person on their switchboard) they said they'd take care of the issue but then never did and then when I'd try to hold them to some type of specific they were cryptic about it. Perhaps I now know why the cryptic responses was there (not that that resolves my issue).
Beyond my specific situation there seems to be a lot of question that have still yet to be addressed. For instance:what does all this mean as far as Gentle Giant Premier Guild is concerned? Presumablymembers will still get their gifts for this year, but will there be a new Premier Guild renewal coming up here in a couple of months or is this the end of that? Will there still be the Gentle Giant Guild and Convention exclusives being offered to members? Andwhat about all the other rewards/coupons/etc that current members have yet to cash in? Will there still a Gentle Giant booth next to Hasbro at SDCC this year? Lots of things here that hasn't been addressed and while if this were a normal company that would be understandable, but seeing as GG charges an annual membership fee that's supposed to include rewards and access that we're currently not getting this really seems like something they need to address.
Hmm, its all kind of a Have your cake and eating it, too thing, or so it seems to me... If Gentle Giant still continues moving forward, and Diamond Select has just acquired more IP and licensing. Since I know GG has already been involved with sculpting stuff that DS puts out.