Surf's Up!

When Bowen Designs released its first Museum Pose Silver Surfer FS (Full-size Statue), there were 2 versions available: Painted & Chromed. For this new Action Pose Surfer, BD managed to strike a balance between the 2. This new paint job is not as shiny as the Chromed (chrome makes it hard to see the details in the sculpt) & not as flat looking as the Painted. Furthermore, the Action Pose sculpt is just spot on!















The Surfer fits in quite nicely with my Sideshow Fantastic Four Diorama:





The first two BD Silver Surfer statues are commanding rocket high prices in the secondary market now, I foresee this one going in the same direction.

Stealth Mode

Iron Man's Stealth Armour made its first appearance on issue #152 of the Iron Man comics. As its name suggests, this armour's role was to avoid being detected by radars & other detection technologies. However, this statue by Sideshow isn't an exact replica of the look in the comics. Instead, it is a Stealth themed variant of their immensely popular Iron Man Comiquette. Not just simply a repaint, this new Comiquette comes with lights as well (which I felt was sorely missed on the red & gold one).





























This statue has had its share of problems from launch, as the early batches were packed with a plastic inner packing which badly scratched the statue during shipping. However, this problem was rectified in later batches (which mine is from. Phew!) with a foam wrapping around the statue. So my advice for people buying this statue, don't trust a sealed piece. With the success of the Iron Man movie & the cool look & lighting on this statue, it's no wonder it is still fetching crazy prices on the secondary market!

Astonishing 3, part dEuX!

As mentioned in my previous post, I have a Sideshow Exclusive version of the X-Men vs. Sentinel 3 Diorama coming & here it is! The Exclusive version comes with 2 display options for Wolverine. 1 is in his Astonishing X-Men costume, & the other is him just wearing the bottom part of his costume with a white tank top. The sculpting for both is top notch! Although I welcome the Logan display option, it's still wierd seeing him in such a clean white tank top in the midst of battle.













In my previous post, I also mentioned that I was still deciding which version to keep. Well, I've decided to keep the Exclusive for the extra display option & the sweet edition number I've gotten (777). :)




Group shots! (added on 22 Apr 2008)

Astonishing 3!

The third & final entry of Sideshow's X-Men vs Sentinel Diorama series finally arrived! Rounding up the cast are Wolverine, Shadowcat & her pet dragon, Lockheed.



















I also have the Exclusive version (with 2 display options for Wolverine/Logan) coming. Still undecided on which I will keep but currently leaning more towards the Exclusive. heh

I'll also have to find some time to do some group shots with the first 2 Dios.

Weapon X

Bowen Designs' tidal wave release of Wolverines statues have started! First to arrive are the Classic Tiger-Stripe costume & the Brown costume Museum Pose Wolvies. That will be followed by 4 more, Unmasked Tiger-Stripe Museum Pose, Unmasked Brown Action Pose, Tiger-Stripe Action Pose & Original/First Appearance costume Action Pose. Last but not least, a BD Collectors Club Exclusive Tiger-Stripe Museum Pose X-Belt variant. Bringing the grand total of new Wolverine statue releases to 7! Talk about an over-dose of Adamantium.

I've decided not to be crazy & collect them all but instead, choose one that I like most & just buy that one. I know I don't want any of the Action Pose Wolverines cause I don't like the bases, & they'll look outta place besides my Iceman & the other BD X-Men FS. So that'll leave me with the Museum Pose ones & after comparing between the 2 that just arrived, here's some differences that I could spot:
1. The paint use on the face of the Brown (B) version looks too reddish giving it a sun burnt look, but the Tiger-Stripe (TS) version looks too pale in comparison. However TS looks fine besides the other Bowen FS.
2. The chest muscles of B are "less developed" than TS's, thus TS looks more muscular.
3. The eyes of B are painted smaller than TS's, which gives TS a fiercer look.
4. the "ears/horns" & hunch of the pose are different on both versions, I prefer the overall look of TS.
After considering all the above, the Tiger-Stripe version is clearly the one for me. Those still on the fence on which to buy, I recommend putting both side by side to do a comparison, then make your decision. Wolverine feels small when placed besides the other Bowen FS but he is usually depicted as smaller & shorter than most male Super-Heroes in the comics, so the size of the statue works fine for me.
















Wolverine too comes with a "booster" base but unlike Cap's, it is not interchangeable with the "X" base. It is only used to boost the height by stacking under the X base.