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Old 03-05-2023, 11:41 PM   #1
TN Reptile
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Bowen Designs

So I've been gone from the scene for about 17 years. Was a regular here during the end of phase one and left the hobby around 2007. The website is gone and the Wikipedia page is too vague on timelines. So what happened to Bowen Designs? I understand the licensing wasn't renewed after pahse 6 but has Randy just retired? Went on eBay and saw the phase one hulk was 60 instead of 600, didn't realize the market had collapsed so drastically.
After all this time I just recently pulled my collection from storage and started filling my new cabinet. Still love the details and found a couple of ap's I got from vault sales.
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Old 03-06-2023, 12:01 AM   #2
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Basically, Randy and his wife are getting a divorce and from what I remember reading online it was ruled that if he continued Bowen design since his wife was married to him when he started it, she would still get a cut of the profits for five years after the divorce, so he discontinued the line. Now, more than five years have passed, but he never started the line back up again and his wife is now deceased.

That’s pretty much the cliff note version. I’m sure there was a lot more and probably more details but that’s basically in a nutshell what happened?

And yes, many of the Bowen statues are going for ridiculous, stupid money, but you can still get some deals out on eBay if you do scour the site. Plus, when a marvel character ends up in a movie or part of the Marvel cinematic universe that’s going to create an increase demand. However, you are going to have the sellers. I think they’re sitting on a pot of gold, whenever their pot of gold is been sitting on eBay for well over a year and they haven’t had anyone interested because they are asking too much money.
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Old 03-06-2023, 05:59 PM   #3
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Collecting for me hasn’t been the same since BD closed up shop for the reasons summarized above. Hope that more releases might happen again at some point disappeared years ago. The BD pieces are still fantastic!
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Old 03-07-2023, 01:14 AM   #4
TN Reptile
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Wow, and here I was afraid Randy had died. I vaguely remember the beginning of the divorce, I wonder if that's when all the ap pieces started flowing out...
I hate he hasn't restarted but completely understand life changes affecting business.
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Old 03-07-2023, 12:40 PM   #5
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Randy promotes his past and current work on Facebook, and highlights other collectors of his work there, too. He’s pretty active on Facebook, actually. Many months ago, I thought he was highlighting his Marvel work on Facebook as he was getting ready for a come back, but that come back hasn’t happened yet. It could just be he’s enjoying life and sculpting some new, non-mainstream stuff when he can or feels like it. His Bowen Designs Marvel work still is the very best, most comic-book accurate body of statues out there. I have a large collection of his work which I started collecting around 1997 or so and, honestly, it remains as fresh and exciting as when I first bought it. The description above of what happened to the BD business is pretty spot-on accurate.
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Old 03-07-2023, 01:40 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TN Reptile View Post
So I've been gone from the scene for about 17 years. Was a regular here during the end of phase one and left the hobby around 2007. The website is gone and the Wikipedia page is too vague on timelines. So what happened to Bowen Designs? I understand the licensing wasn't renewed after pahse 6 but has Randy just retired? Went on eBay and saw the phase one hulk was 60 instead of 600, didn't realize the market had collapsed so drastically.
After all this time I just recently pulled my collection from storage and started filling my new cabinet. Still love the details and found a couple of ap's I got from vault sales.
The Rocky's Vault days were some of the most exciting as a collector.
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Old 03-07-2023, 01:55 PM   #7
mmk123
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I still miss the Vault

You could pick up a statue for around $100-$175 tops
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Old 03-09-2023, 01:16 AM   #8
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The landscape of this hobby has changed so much that Randy probably doesn't want the hassle of running a statue company again. He could sculpt for other statue companies if he wanted to. We know his name alone has the star power. But if he's just enjoying his life these days then honestly I'm happy for him.

His pieces are timeless and I'll cherish my collection forever.
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Old 03-12-2023, 06:55 PM   #9
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I thought Randy was sculpting for another company now, DST or some such. Thought I’d seen his name associated with some pieces the last couple of years. When I started was at the tail end of their operation, though I’d seen plenty in LCS, I wasn’t buying statues then as I figured they would get in the way of my comics hobby. There is definitely a gap without a company like Bowen, and I’ve added a few pieces here and there. His Captain Britain bust being one of my favorites.
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Old 03-12-2023, 08:16 PM   #10
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Quote:
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I thought Randy was sculpting for another company now, DST or some such. Thought I?d seen his name associated with some pieces the last couple of years. When I started was at the tail end of their operation, though I?d seen plenty in LCS, I wasn?t buying statues then as I figured they would get in the way of my comics hobby. There is definitely a gap without a company like Bowen, and I?ve added a few pieces here and there. His Captain Britain bust being one of my favorites.
I remember there being some confusion about his name showing up in association with Diamond Select or some other company as an artist/art director/consultant...something along those lines but I don't think it materialized into anything. I know he put out a lovecraft bust a few years ago...had that zombie cage fighter before that from what I remember.
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