Introduction –
I’ve been in the statue collecting community for quite a few years now. I’ve collected things ranging from Electric Tiki maquettes to full sized busts to full sized armor. My pride and joy was the Sideshow Weta Lord of the Rings collection, as any fan can tell you. But admittedly through all those years my passion layed in realism and accuracy. Hence, I have never before bought a single Bowen Marvel piece. Oh sure, I always visited his site once a month or so, just to see it a certain character would strike my eye, but was never pushed over the edge into actually buying one. My reasoning was two-fold, the main being I enjoy realistic sculpts. Most of the Bowen pieces had beautiful bodies, anatomy and design. But when you hit the face the party was over. I always believed there was a fine line between comics and their 3d representations, but Bowen’s pieces never satisfied it to my preference.
What changed my mind one might ask? I got the hell over it. Bowen although never crossing the line into true realism, impresses me with his (and his sculptor’s) sheer willpower to delve deep into Marvel Mythology, no matter how campy or outright stupid, and get those completely random 14th tier characters made. That’s something to be respected, and shows the ability to stay in the game long term and not leave the line incomplete.
Naturally, I wanted to start small, staying only with mini busts for the time being out of sheer space considerations. I’ll most likely get a few full sized pieces down the road, but some simply don’t appeal to me, whereas the entire bust line looks fantastic to these eyes. So I hopped on ebay, and found the cheapest bust available that was a semi-main character, and bought it. That just happens to have been Mystique. All my reviews by the way, will be based on a 5 star system, with ***** being perfection, and * being total crap.
Packaging – ***
Not really impressed dramatically with the packaging for Mystique. Not sure if the whole line follows the same formula, but I don’t find it particularly pleasing to the eye. Although in all fairness, she arrived safe and sound, and there’s some great character information as well as sculptor and edition size info on the bust itself. Plus, God Bless it, it gave me that good old straight from the factory smell, gotta love it.
Sculpt - ****
Alright, I’ll admit it, I have what some might call a fetish for women with strange skin colors. Don’t know when it started exactly, but it had more than a little to do with my first bust selection. That being said, Mystique’s sculpt is pretty solid. Her proportions look good (well, mostly, one breast is slightly bigger etc), her little skulls on her belt are well defined and her hands are in proportion to her head (a very common problem). This was sculpted by The Kucharek Brothers, with overall great work. However, Mystique seems to show signs of not being as clean as she should be. This is especially apparent in-between her fingers and where her hair meets her shoulders. I enjoy her base as well, a very classic pedestal, not at all like some of the more goofy bases that accompany Bowen’s busts. There is one more little nit, one of Mystique’s eyes is out of place with the other, making her face non-symmetrical, and no, it’s not a product of the raised eyebrow. Otherwise, this is a very well done classic era Mystique stepping off the page. This pleases me greatly, as I love the older Mystique much more than her newer early 20’s look. This is becoming a very big allure to the Bowen line for me in general, the steering clear of modern looks.
Paint - ***
Alrighty, paint is a problem here. Now, again, in all fairness Mystique is a bad choice to judge the whole line by. She has two bold main colors, which are opposites on the spectrum. So keeping them close together and consistent must be incredibly hard. For the most part I’m impressed with how well the white of her dress has been done. It’s very consistent, especially on the spiked areas of her gloves. Ah but her blue skin color is another story. Her skin at least is the right tone, but it varies greatly in thickness. This is especially noticeable on her forehead, which is the worst place to have it happen. Another major problem area is where her white glove is grabbing her gun. There is a LOT of sloppy paintwork there, white all over the handle, just not very clean at all. And finally, her neck is also sloppy, probably because it’s the meeting point of the reds, blues and whites. There are some very good paint ops however; her eyes, eyebrows, skulls, lips and teeth are all perfect, so one can’t complain too much, as those would be the easiest places to ruin the bust.
Design - ***
This category is completely up to personal preference, so I can only speak for myself here. The grin with the pistol (which I don’t recognize from any particular comic) is an okay choice, but not exactly what I would call the best representation of the character. The ideal pose would have been a much more seductive, weaponless look, perhaps her arms folded over her chest, her hands resting on her shoulders type thing. Again, just my opinion, but I know I can get at least some to agree, perhaps when the Full Sized statue comes around it will be in this vain. That said, for the choice they went with it was well executed. The classical base once again was a great touch as well.
Value - ****
I have no idea what the original cost of this bust was, $50 - $60 maybe? I myself paid exactly $39 shipping included. I’m told I could have gotten her for less, but I still think it was a pretty good deal. That being said, in general I think Bowen pieces are a bit overpriced. For $60 one could get a Lord of the Rings bust, which has at LEAST 3 times as much material put into it, made out of heavier polystone, and has a much more realistic sculpt/paintwork. But, the Bowen collection is what it is intended to be: accurate representations of classic Marvel characters. The mini bust line though, especially small female characters, should retail around $35 - $40 on the current market.
Overall – ****
After all my complaints, I really am glad I picked her up. Sure she’s got her paint and sculpt problems, but it’s the big picture that counts. How she looks with her fellow brotherhood members, X-enemies and Marvel denizens. I’ve officially been bitten by the Bowen bug, so you can probably expect a bust review every week or so from here on out…lol More pics Follow Below.
Out of curiosity, are these busts statue scale? I hear Bowen FS pieces are under 1:6th, so it might fit. Just imagining a FS Mystique, considering a private commission.
