NEW PRODUCT: GACTOYS: 1/6 European beauty star head carving [A, B, C, D, 4 models] [GC034]

Everyone must realllly like that version....

It probably has a lot to do with that being the one they chose to promote properly with the in-hand pic.



And the fact that it's clearly the best of the bunch.

yeah that too ;'D

Well I've heard back from GianToy and 'Amelia' was on the face of it fairly candid - they don't have any stock in the UK or a UK warehouse as such apparently, what they do claim to have is a 'special fast shipping' arrangement with Royal Mail and the UK return address I've seen is actually a kind of RM processing centre that bypasses the slow route. I don't know how that could actually practically work to be honest, but I won't push them on it further.

As for the situation with the Corona virus and/or the New Year celebrations, they hope to be cleared to be back in the store and shipping orders by Feb 10th.  They didn't actually respond to my particular question about this sculpt, frustratingly, but I'll put an order in anyway if they're back up and running after the 10th. Past experience would suggest even if option B is out of stock, they usually re-stock pretty quickly.

I’ve gotten packages from them fairly quickly, that have had a New York return address on them — she may be telling you the truth about the shipping partnerships.

Thanks for the info, GeeW! I’m looking forward to being able to order from them again, myself.

Regarding the other subject, the whole ‘quick shipping to the UK’ thing has certainly been happening for a while, so yeah ... it’s not necessarily a sign they suddenly got a warehouse here. I have no idea why they’d hide the fact, if it were indeed the case....

Stryker2011 wrote:I’ve gotten packages from them fairly quickly, that have had a New York return address on them — she may be telling you the truth about the shipping partnerships.

Ah, interesting...

In a number of ways they certainly seem to be one of the most reliable sellers around, that's for sure.

skywalkersaga wrote:... it’s not necessarily a sign they suddenly got a warehouse here. I have no idea why they’d hide the fact, if it were indeed the case....

No, fair enough, 'Amelia' seems pretty up-front when asked.

Yeah, I’ve never had a problem with Giantoy that wasn’t corrected after I contacted Amelia. Packages have gotten lost in transit a couple times, and I’ve been both partially refunded for the trouble, and sent the item ordered.

For those wondering about ordering from GianToy, they have posted that they are now shipping again, but with a notice that stock may be limited until factories start resuming operation again, which they estimate as sometime later this month: 

https://giantoy.com/blogs/news/we-are-back-shipping-now-heres-what-you-need-to-know

It's good that GianToy are back up and running, but I'm still inclined to wait a while longer to order anything from them until the situation improves. Not so much a case of pandemic panic on my part because as they say the virus is very unlikely to survive the overseas journey on an inanimate object, but it'll still take forever to receive stuff at the moment because of it, fast shipping agreement or not.

I don't get paid until the end of the month anyway so it'll be nice to give my bank account a little rest until March.

Yeah, I had the same concern about shipping times being super delayed regardless. I was not so patient though, lol -- I just ordered something from them, but chose a somewhat 'non-essential' item that I needed for a project but not an immediate one, so that if it does end up taking ages, then it's not a huge issue. ETA: I did this on purpose because I'm curious to see how long shipping takes from them at the moment. They are the only seller over there right now that I'm willing to take that risk with.

Yeah, they're the only seller I'd be willing to risk it with right now as well. As soon as March comes around I'll be ordering this Gal Gadot sculpt (and probably a base body too) unless something dramatic happens.


EDIT: Ehhh, broke down and ordered the GG sculpt in the spirit of solidarity with our Chinese chums.


That, and PayPal Credit broke my steely resolve



UPDATE:

Well overnight it's gone from 'pending' to 'shipped', so we'll wait and see.

So I have this now, and in under a week too!    

First impressions: In-hand, it looks most like the first seller's pic from eBay than any of the other photos posted so far (the seemingly-elongated 'yahoo-hoo' pic), but it isn't an exact match for any of them to my eyes - 'pinker' than the 'elongated' pic, less 'square' than GianToy's pic, and better-scaled than Gac's own promos (which I'm now certain are poorly-scaled and badly-photoshopped amalgams of two different photo sources for face and hairstyles).

I like it though - on the plus side, unlike every other Gal Gadot sculpt I know of it actually looks correctly-scaled to a TBL body (I tried it on an S19B I've got earmarked for a Vampirella kitbash), and it's a fairly-accurate likeness that looks less 'doll-like' than some of GAC's other sculpts. It also looks OK on a S23B muscle body, but personally I think Gal's real-life physique is best matched by a taller, slimmer S19, which is not perfect but close.

Slight niggles: the inner neck-socket fits TBL pegs, but is a little loose inside the sculpt itself. While this adds poseability to the head it also of course means it isn't very securely placed and works loose quickly. It can also create an unsightly gap between sculpt and neck. You can fix this easily enough with cotton wool wadding or thin foam inside the sculpt if you wish though. Niggle 2: the hair is cut a little roughly at the back giving a slightly uneven, choppy effect. This may just be peculiar to my purchase (I chose option B).

While I've only colourmatched sculpt with body under artificial light so far (still Winter in the UK and dusk descends early), the skintone is subtly but noticably pinker and 'warmer' on an older S19, but you can handwave this as makeup or blushing (as I will), and obviously the matching will appear different again under different lighting/photographic conditions. In the pics below for example , it looks more 'orangey' than pink.  The plus point (for me at least) is that the matching between this sculpt and a TBL Suntan body is perfectly acceptable. I'll see how it looks on a pale body later but I suspect it will appear too 'flushed'.

A couple of quick snaps:





More pics to follow if requested.

Oh, it's super pretty!!! Thank you for the pics!

She looks great, and I'm glad you're happy with her.

That’s a pretty good head sculpt. It may not be an exact Gal Gadot likeness, but she’s still pretty.

Random request — I’d love to see a profile view of this one?

Awesome - thanks for posting.

I thought I'd try this sculpt on a pale S18 TBL, and I'm happy to report it arguably looks just as good on that (although as ever the capricious nature of lighting and perception also comes into play).

skywalkersaga wrote:Random request — I’d love to see a profile view of this one?

Side Views:



A hard profile doesn't look so great now I've tried it, but I think it's more to do with how loose the sculpt is at the moment (I'll mod it to fit better at some point) and the design of those older TBL necks than the sculpt itself.

A three-quarter view looks much better (although if you look closely you can see the gap at the back of the neck):

GubernatorFan wrote:She looks great, and I'm glad you're happy with her.

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s a pretty good head sculpt. It may not be an exact Gal Gadot likeness, but she’s still pretty.

Yeah, I am really pleased with it. The more I look, the more I like it and the fact it seems to work just as well with a pale TBL is an addded bonus.

It'll be interesting to see what the other three versions look like, in-hand...



EDIT: Oh, and one other thing that you might not be able to appreciate from the photos without looking closely is that the skin of the H/S is very finely textured.

I think they've done a fine job with this sculpt.

I think the photos show some of the fine texturing on the skin. They have definitely done a good job.

GubernatorFan wrote:I think the photos show some of the fine texturing on the skin. They have definitely done a good job.

Yeah, I really am tempted to get one of the others with a different hairstyle to go with this one.

I don't know... It looks a little small. Maybe it's just the angle.

It may look a tad awkward on that particular neck, but the sculpt itself has a *gorgeous* profile, imo!

Thanks for the extra pics, they show it off very well.

zipkicker wrote:I don't know... It looks a little small. Maybe it's just the angle.

That hard profile does look tiny, but as I said I think that's more the fault of that fat TBL neck.


I'm used to seeing garguantuan oversized GG sculpts though, so even if it is small, I'm still pleased.

As long as you're happy, that's all that matters!

Late to the party, I know, but this is beautiful. I do respect the texture a lot.
I'd be tempted to give her an inverted bob hair style...

Thanks for the pics, Gee!
I see Gal there, much more than the failed attempts of Hot Toys (except the HT Training Version which looked good).
Still no sign of the D head.

Kumik have a new line of Gal heads out - they're confusingly titled 'Strabismus A or B' (depending on whether you're wanting her to look left or right). Quite pricey, but the pics look good...
https://www.collectors.com/action-item/16-new-wonder-woman-strabismus-a-head-sculpt-female-body-ho/-6331690489444727392