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/

The Scarlet Witch by Sideshow Collectibles

When my friend Steve tipped me about his upcoming statue purchase, I was curious and decided to take a peek at Sideshow’s website. Just to give a little background, Steve is a collector of female exclusive statues of Sideshow Collectibles, particularly the comiquette line. He started with the Adam Hughes versions and currently acquired The Scarlet Witch, which is my favorite female statue to date.  I am positively drooling over this exclusive piece, which comes with a concept art by artist Mark Brooks.

Wanda aka The Scarlet Witch is packed in Sideshow’s traditional Styrofoam and a beautifully designed outer box. The head, arms and cape are separated from the body. A small version of Vision is included as well. The round base is stored in a different section of the styro.

Sideshow is selling 2 versions of this, a regular and exclusive. The only difference between the 2 are the number of pieces (1500 regular & 400 exclusive) and the concept art that comes with the exclusive version. The exclusive version is selling for $ 219.99 and the regular retails for $ 204.99.

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=2000231&ref=search0109

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=200023&ref=search0109

PhotTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

Out of all the female statues that Sideshow has produced, the Scarlet Witch is so far the best for me. I love how the face was sculpted and the green painted eyes is perfect. Whenever I look at statues I am very particular with the face because the expressions say a lot about the character and Mark Brooks captured Wanda’s very well.

It’s a shame that I do not own this (darn you Steve for making me drool) otherwise I would always go back to my display cabinet and look at this fine piece. The addition of mini Vision is excellent! The whole concept of the statue, Wanda holding a remote control while Vision is running away gives it a humor that I appreciate. It tells a story.

I did several high key shots with Wanda to show the beauty and form of this masterpiece. I am not a fan of The Scarlet Witch but given the chance (and money) to buy only one then this would be it. 

Issue:

1.) My only issue with this is the paint job on her face. There were two visible lines on the bridge of her nose and some stains inside the teeth. You will not able to notice these unless you look real close, in my case a macro lens.

The Setup:
Here is a picture of what I did with one of the pictures above. If you notice my white background was not long enough to cover the entire statue so a little bit of editing was made. Basically I used 2 lights for the entire session, one fitted with an Octabox and the other with a big softbox.

For more pictures kindly check my flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpee/sets/72157624660876754/with/4919296272/