Iron Man Extremis Version by Bowen Designs

I’ve been busy for the past 2 weeks with several things, and then I got sick so slowly getting back on track…

If you are a comic book fan (specifically Iron Man) then you have probably heard (or followed) the Extremis series. Here Iron Man gets a different look and basically after so many things that happened to Tony Stark he is back in the ball game.

This new 12” statue by Bowen Designs is inspired by the art of Adi Granov (remember the famous Iron Man punching the ground pose?) and features Iron Man firing his repulsor ray. It also comes with a base with the logo of Stark Enterprises printed in the middle.

BD makes good with the size of the statue (1/6^th scale) to collectors who have limited display shelves. I checked online and urban collector is selling this piece for $148.99, but is currently not available. I also checked Bowen’s site and this retails for about $175.00 and is also sold out.

http://www.urban-collector.com/iron-man-extremis-statue-bowen-designs.html

http://www.bowendesigns.com/sculptures.asp?id=567&type=

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

I did several rim light shots to see if this would come out as good as the Mark VI one by Sideshow Collectibles but I got a different treatment (you will see when I do a blog on the Mark VI).

I love photographing BD statues because despite of their smaller size than the others, they maintain the details of each piece. Here is where Bowen statues shine. The careful attention to details makes each statue a good photoygraphy subject. Kudos to the sculptor Avinash Hedge for executing this pose well (http://aysculpture.deviantart.com/).

I would probably try and shoot this together with War Machine, maybe do an outdoor shot or table top with dry ice on each side to emulate smoke. That would probably be nice. 

Some Issues:

1.) When I think of Iron Man I think of Tony Stark inside a suit of bulky armor (think of the movie) but the Extremis version is totally different. It looks more of a suit than armor for me. I still prefer Tony looking like a robot rather than one of the guys from Tron. However, BD captured the Granov Extremis very well with this statue. 

2.) The paint job could do some improvements. Once you use a macro lens for photoygraphy you get to see things that you normally would not using a regular wide angle or short-range lens.

The Warriors 3 by Bowen Designs

When Asgard is in great danger Odin summons its mightiest warriors – Fandral the Dashing, Hogun the Grim and Volstag the Voluminous. Together these 3 individuals form the Warriors 3 and aids the Mighty Thor in battles. I first noticed them when I read X-Men: Asgardian Wars (great job by Arthur Adams) more than 10 years ago and there were some scenes where the New Mutants came face to face with them and Volstag just kept on eating.

Following the releases of Bowen Designs (BD), I’ve been wondering for some time as to when these guys would have their own statues/bust and BD came through. My friend Kenneth who is a die hard Thor fan grabbed this opportunity to buy the Warriors 3 mini busts set when it was released. Ken’s the only person I know who collects nothing except Thor related collectibles and patiently waits for each Thor statue to be available. However my heart goes out to his Beta Ray Bill bust (boxed and stored) because wifey objects to how scary it looks on his display.

I was surprised to see how small the box of the Warriors 3 mini busts but BD made good with the details and paint job of each character.

This sells online for about $165.99 (http://www.urban-collector.com/warriors-three-mini-bust-bowen-designs.html) and another one at $178.95 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003B9EIBY/ref=asc_df_B003B9EIBY1263174?smid=A2I2G3C668O1EH&tag=nextag-toys-mp01-delta-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B003B9EIBY)

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

When I saw these guys the thought of having a thunderous background suddenly came into my mind or maybe a fortress (Asgard maybe?) so I did some tabletop setup and came out with these pictures. These mini busts would be awesome standing next to the god of thunder had they been made full, but otherwise they are still masterpieces.

Lighting Setup:

I basically used one piece of 400w light fitted with an octabox and a white board across to lessen the shadows on Fandral. The black background is by Savage and already pre cut to fit with my Falcon Eyes table.

War Machine by Bowen Designs

When Jon informed me that Bowen came out with a War Machine statue I immediately checked online to see what it was. Ever since I saw WM from Iron Man Movie: 2 I began to appreciate him it even more than Iron Man. The cool gray/silver combination and extra ammos on his shoulders makes him a mean fighting machine.

It took him a few days to lend me his statue because of a minor defect – the slot of the Gatling gun is filled up with plastic. He informed the seller of the problem and they were able to fix it.

My high expectations of the War Machine statue were not met because of some issues, but mostly personal ones. The craftsmanship is excellent and the paint job was well taken care of. BD limited this production to about 1,500 pieces and the best thing is that this is an action pose. The package consisted of 4 pieces, War Machine, the base, shoulder cannon and a gatling gun.

The statue is available online for about $184.99 at http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=BWD10212&mode=retail. Jon bought it for P11,000.00 at one of the local malls here in the Philippines.

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

Because of the color of War Machine I was able to apply my rim lighting style and it worked for me (see picture below). I am so used to seeing museum poses by BD (Bowen Designs), it was a refreshing change to do this fighting pose War Machine.

Rim lighting works pretty well for this statue because of the color combination of gray and silver. 

Some Issues:

1.) The armor looks more of a body suit than an armor. I guess this is a preference of taste and I do prefer a more armored version of War Machine. The body needs more details for me.

2.) The face is a bit long for my taste. 

Stealth Iron Man by Bowen Designs

One of the most popular statues under the Marvel banner is Iron Man. I have seen countless Iron Man statues from classic to stealth to even a Hulk buster and a Thor buster version. With so many IM statues available I already lost track which is which.

When I decided to do a PhoTOYgraphy blog I asked Jon to loan me his collection. Jon being an Iron Man fan had several statues with him and I am going to start off with the Stealth Iron Man.

The stealth is packed in Bowen’s conventional styro and box with colorful illustrations. The base is separated from the figure, which shows Iron Man blasting off. Bowen Designs released this statue last April 2009, so chances are this is already sold out. Amazon is selling this piece for $ 119.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Man-Stealth-Statue-Designs/dp/B001VDYK24

Personally if you are an Iron Man fan then you will have to add this to your collection. The sculpting by the Kucharek Brothers made this statue come to life. The paint quality however is a different story. There are mixed reviews as to whether the blasting off pose is good or not, however I find it a bit stiff.

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

Iron Man is an interesting piece to phoTOYgraphed because you have to do well with the lighting to show off his armor. The stealth is dull compared with the classic red/gold combination but given a proper lighting treatment it will come to life.

I usually do 2 types of lighting here, one a rim lighting style and the other a high key effect just to show my flickr colleagues what the statue looks like. The fact that statues do not move gives me more time to prepare for the shoot and not worry if my model is uncomfortable.

It would probably be nice to bring this outdoors for some realistic scenery shot but it is not mine.

Issue:

1.) The blasting off pose is a bit stiff for me.

Lighting Setup:

Here is a diagram of how I did the lighting. The Octabox acts as a reflector only (notice there is not strobe/flash gun attached to it) so basically what I did was a one light setup. I did the same shot with the classic and the stealth so the pictures are similar except the classic has more punch.

Invincible Iron Man by Bowen Designs

Iron Man shot to fame when his official movie was released 2 years ago with Robert Downey Jr. pitching in as billionaire Tony Stark. Statue manufacturers cashed in on his popularity by releasing several versions of Iron Man with different armors (I lost count already).

When I recently started to try blogging I turned to Jon to loan me his statues for this purpose. I’ve already taken pictures of his collection but decided to give it another shot using a different style. He delivered to me both the Invincible and Stealth by Bowen Designs (special mention to the Kucharek Brothers for the great job).

Like with the stealth version the Invincible is already sold out and your chance to get it is the secondary market. Amazon is selling this for $148.99 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EVX5HO/ref=s9_simh_gw_p21_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=015HW68Y3B71N2990607&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846).

Same with what I mentioned in the other review, if you are an Iron Man fan then this is definitely a must have. If you go to Bowen’s site they release a lot of Iron Man statues (and busts) already so just imagine if you can own every Iron Man release they made and put in your display cabinet, wouldn’t that be cool?

The fact that the scaling of their statues is smaller compared to what Sideshow Collectibles is doing is favorable to collectors with limited display cabinets.

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

I decided to give this Iron Man a different treatment by incorporating a little bit of enhancement via Adobe Photoshop. If you check out my flickr stream around 99% of my toy shots are with plain backgrounds and I just play with the light. However my jaw dropped when I saw what my colleagues are doing so I decided to give it a shot. It’s far from their masterpieces but I am slowly getting there.

Issue:

1.) The blasting off pose is a bit stiff for me.

Lighting Setup:

Because of the limited time and space I decided to shoot this on my trusty Falcon Eyes product table with a savage background. The setup consisted of one 400 watts light fitted with a softbox on one side and an Octabox which acts as a reflector was on the other side.

The Vision by Bowen Designs

When you think of DC there’s the Justice League and with Marvel there’s the Avengers. You get Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. with DC and Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, etc. with Marvel. Each side has its own supporting casts as well. One of the coolest characters of the Mighty Avengers is the Android known as Vision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_(Marvel_Comics).

Bowen Designs is a company that creates fantastic statues and busts. Together with the Shiftlett brothers (http://www.shiflettbrothers.com/), Randy Bowen re-created one of the Avengers' formidable member, the Vision.

I borrowed this statue from Jon a long time ago and decided to take some picture of it again for this blog.  If you are a statue collector and space is your concern then Bowen statues should be your preference. This statue is approximately 15 inches tall and has the classic Vision pose. This statue was released September of 2005 and has a production run of 2000 pieces. The variant version, Vision Phasing statue, is limited to 300 pieces.

Since this item is already sold out your best would be from the after market vendors such as eBay.

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

Whenever I take picture of statues I take into consideration what are the good qualities of each piece. It may be the paint job, the facial details, the pose or even the base. It all depends on what I see.

The fact that I use a macro lens for my statue shots means that any imperfections will definitely be shown in the picture.

The Vision’s classic pose is nice and the head sculpt (though simple) is right on the comic book rendition. Hats off to the combo of Randy and the Shiftlett brothers for this great looking piece. 

For more pictures of Vision kindly check my flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpee/sets/72157622840947651/