It’s been a little while since we’ve had a new high-end Marvel sculpture revealed to discuss, and far longer since there’s been a high-end statue or mini bust of a character who has never been given the high-end collectibles treatment before! With the Guardians of the Galaxy movie on the horizon, it’s not a big shocker to see some never-before-done characters getting the spotlight, and the leader of the team will be getting it first–the Gentle Giant Star-Lord Mini Bust is coming in Q4 2014!

When the most well-known member of a superhero team is an anthropomorphic raccoon, you know that collectibles companies are going to have to dig pretty deep into the realm of obscure characters to cash in on sculptures for that franchise.

Such is the case with Guardians of the Galaxy, where the only ‘A’-List character on the team is Rocket Raccoon (and truthfully, even Rocket is more of a ‘B’-Lister on his best days).

Even so, Guardians of the Galaxy is a hot property right now, and as a result, Gentle Giant Ltd. is bringing us the very first high-end Star-Lord item ever: the blaster-toting Guardians of the Galaxy Star Lord mini bust!

You might expect that Gentle Giant Ltd. would opt for a bust depicting the movie version of Peter Quill (Starlord), but that would be a mistake. In fact, Gentle Giant isn’t even making the Marvel NOW! Star Lord. Instead, they’ve decided to make what is likely the most recognizable and popular Star-Lord costume ever–that of Annihilation Starlord. This is the outfit that Hasbro produced for the Marvel Universe Starlord, and thus the one most fans associate with the character.

I am very skeptical of the Chris Pratt Starlord look for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film, and I’m not especially enamored with the redesigned Marvel Now Star-Lord look either. The costume that Star Lord wore during the now-classic Annihilation event, though–that is definitely the costume that I’m happy to lay down my money for to see produced as a mini bust.

Surprisingly, this is not the first modern Guardians of the Galaxy bust released–Bowen Designs released an amazing, gigantic Groot mini bust in 2013 that was one of the high-end highlights of the entire year for Marvel collectors. The scale on Gentle Giant busts is a bit larger, but the Groot mini bust is so huge that I think he might look pretty spiffy next to the Bowen Groot bust.

The Gentle Giant Guardians of the Galaxy Star Lord mini-bust is scheduled to be released in Q4 2014, and carries an MSRP of $85. I’ll post pre-order links for online retailers once they list the Starlord mini-bust for order.

Despite not being a movie Guardians of the Galaxy item at all, I think this Starlord mini-bust might be my favorite new GOTG item we’ve seen thus far for 2014. What do you think, Marvel collectors? Do you have a space in your collection for a bust of the cosmic adventurer Peter Quill?