Palisades Marketing has just announced the release of the first two resin mini-busts in its series of high-end Dragonball Z collectibles.  Each resin mini-bust is four to six inches tall and comes pre-painted in the brilliant colors that are the hallmark of the DBZ series.  Each bust is limited to no more than 3,500 pieces (except for Future Trunks, which is set at 5,000), and all pieces will be numbered individually. Each resin bust comes packaged in a colorful, die-cut window display box that is also numbered and matched to the number of the bust to ensure authenticity.  Georgia Music has an exclusive on the first two busts in the series, Future Trunks and Imperfect Cell. The six other busts in the first series, Goku, Krillin, Perfect Cell, Android 18, Piccolo, and Vegeta will follow at four to six week intervals. All the busts have an SRP of $45.00.

 

Dragonball Z remains atop the Lycos Top 50 report on Internet searches for the 12th week in a row.  DBZ has been on the Lycos list since the search engine's first report.  The DBZ series remains atop the Cartoon Network ratings and often tops MTV ratings with teenagers during its time slot (see 'Toonami Ratings Soar').  While there is a plethora of low and moderately priced DBZ merchandise available (see 'Irwin Shows Off Horde Of DBZ Toys'), there have been relatively few high-end items targeted at collectors.  If the Palisades' mini-busts are successful, look for a continuing flow of product as long as Dragon Ball stays hot -- and since there are over 500 Dragon Ball and Dragonball Z animated episodes, DBZ's staying power could prove to be considerable.