REVIEW: Bowen Designs Thanos Museum Statue by sash501
As promised, I'm continuing to do a review of all my Bowens as a way to recharge my excitement in the hobby and as a way to give back to Bowen for designing these amazing pieces and give back to statue marvels for giving this hobby a true home. I know it has been nearly a month since my last review, but the GOTG set and Wendigo wiped me out. No worries, my whole collection will get done eventually.
Reviews created so far, in chronological order, and their links are as follows:
If you can't wait for a certain statue to be reviewed and want to bump it to the top of the list, click my statue display link below, find a statue you want reviewed (new ones are posted further along in the thread) and send me a PM.
Box art will be included on newly shipped statues from this date forward, but older statue boxes are in my attic. They will be updated when I have time.
I will always try to point out something I would like improved or something that wasn't well done about a piece, in efforts to stay truly objective. This can be from a tiny flaw that you would never notice to an all over bad sculpt (haven't had any of the later thus far).
Lastly, a soda can will be used in each review for scale. I'm not going to post next to other statues, as they aren't part of the review, and other collectors might not have the statue I would scale the subject statue next too, thus giving them no real idea of the scale anyhow. That being said, I will occasionally post with another statue simply for fun if the characters are associated together.
Produced by Bowen Designs and sculpted by Khurram Alavi, Thanos Museum was released during Bowen Designs Phase V in 2011. This is 910 out of 1100. He stands just over 14".
Thanos isn't that well known of a character to those who are not invested in the Marvel Universe; e.g. people who don't have a fascination of comics. However, this will likely change once Marvel keeps producing the movies as he was the big sneak at the end of this summers Avengers. He should be better known as he is one of the baddest guys out there in the MU. Just look at the mug on this guy!
This review will be shorter than the previous ones as there really isn't a whole to say about this piece. It's a simple pose with simple colors. That isn't to say that it's lacking in any way. Alavi did a perfect job on this piece. He's so good in fact that I had to add a third rule to my Bowen collecting; 1. If Randy sculpts it, I buy it. 2. Only buy it if I love it, and 3. If Alavi sculpts it, I buy it. The piece is stunning because of its simplicity.
As a final note before I begin, the lighting was hard on this statue as the blue is very dark and the gold has a thick gloss. Full photo's were easier to take than up close, so I had to change the camera setting. The full shots are the true color represenation, while the close ups will seem brighter than they truly are.
Overall, the piece is stunning. The paints are clean with no, absolutely no, bleeding. The weight is substantial. I don't believe it is completely solid, but it is heavier than the FB Thanos. The colors are a simple dark navy blue, metallic gold, pruple and white. A nice surprise is that the eyes do glow in the dark; that being said, they are very tiny, so it will be hard to see the glow. The eyes are almost needle like as they aren't painted on, they are sculpted out on pins.
The jaw line is straight and the ridges on the chin perfectly crafted. Each tooth has it's own lines as opposed to some other sculpts with simply a white bar to represent the teeth; such as the most recent Classic Warlock. The nose is small, as it should be, but still well defined; there are small nostril holes. The cheeks are sculpted appropriately to compliment the smile. You'll notice that there is also some white tinting on the cheek bones. I'm not sure what's trying to be portrayed, possibly a portrayal of light change due to the smile.
The top has the standard muscle definition that one comes to expect of sculpted comic characters, which is why a Blob FS would be so interesting, but I digress. Most of the front chest/shoulder plate is smooth with no ridges, but the shoulders do show some muscle ridges, as if the chest/shoulder plate was fitted just for him. The belt is thick with perfect lines, but nothing special. The bottom of the top is flat, with no sculpted wrinkles.
The back compliments the front, in that it too shows the sculpted muscle definition with the thick belt and flat bottom below it. What I like about the muscles on this statue, is that they are big, but not so over defined as some other sculpts. They're big, but simple, especially in the back.
The muscles in the arms and legs follow suit with the rest of the sculpt; they too are large and defined, but in a simple way, i.e. not rediculous.
The hands and gloves are what really bring me to love this piece. Both sets are huge, portraying the power that Thanos already eminates. the gloves have the extra definition in the fingers, that almost look like an extra layer of armor. The rim of the glove is simple, but well done.
What the gloves got right that the boots did not IMO is the indentation from the arm to the glove. I believe that the indintation might not necessarily have been intentional however. The legs and the boots are one piece, where the gloves, I believe, are separate pieces from the arms. Nonetheless, the separate pieces give the effects of realism that I desire.
As a side note, the same, I believe possible accidental effect, is also where the neck meets the body. The head is a separate piece so there is space, as there should be, between the head and the chest/shoulder plate.
The boots are proper replicas of the shaggy boots from the comics. The boots and the chest/shoulder plate are what really show off the awesomeness of the metallic gold paint. The chest/shoulder plate shows it off in that it is smooth and helps really reflect the light, whereas the boots do a good job of reflecting light in some places, while capturing it in others.
The down side on the boots, is unlike the arms, the boot goes straight to the leg with no illusion of it being separate and distinct from the leg itself.
The base is nothing special. Simply a small thin plate with some tecnological representations. For those of you with the Giant Man or Goliath Statues, it is similar to that. The top does have a gloss finish. The lack of an elaborate base is not a down side. I personally love complicated bases, but there is something to be said about the more simple bases as well. They help show off the character more. After all, these sculptures are character focused. For a museum piece, the simple base helps you appreciate the graduer of the character itself.
The special item for this piece is the cosmic cube (tesseract for those of you who don't read and only watch movies, and is really just the geometric word for a cubic prism, which is what the cosmic cube is . . . these reviews can be educational). With the exception of the FB Thanos, the three FS Thanos statues sport a prop; here, we have the cosmic cube (the others being the Infinity Gauntlet and the Throne). It really isn't anything special, but truly does add an extra awesome ness to the sculpt. The cube does not attach, but simply rests in the hand. I think it is plastic so no need to worry about it breaking and it does fit snug in his hand. If you shake him lightly, he won't drop it. I personally like the idea that it can be removed.
Now to the cons: Other than the boot issue discussed above, the first may be personal to me. The right arm, under the chest/shoulder plate, is clearly not as attached as it should be. It isn't loose at all, just not positioned right so you can see how it is a separate piece from the rest of the sculpt. (This was a quick pic, so the colors are much more dull due to lighting than what it actually looks like.)
I also think this statue should have two pegs. The statue has only one, and although it is secure, the base is flat so there is nothing else anchoring him down, as such, he can swivel on the one peg a bit.
The last issue I have with this statue is the matt finish on the blue, it can be slightly ruff at certain parts, which can make it hard to keep clean. Dust tends to attract to the muscle creases and is hard to remove. That, complimented with the slightly darker paint application for shadow effect, makes it appear dirty in certain light. Hardly noticeable, but I'm trying to be impartial.
In conclusion, this statue is one of the greats of Phase V IMO. The simplicity of it is what is so stunning, and he is huge, towering over some other pieces in the collection. For anyone who isn't team specific and will collect outside of Avengers, X-Men, and the like (even those teams technically could include him as a villain) I highly recommend you pick this guy up. Last I checked, he is currently about $300 on the bay, which is about $100 more than what he was a year ago when I got him. If you're having trouble pulling the trigger, try to see him in person. This was one of the few that I didn't preorder during that time, and then saw him at the LCS and was amazed at how stunning this piece truly is.
Last edited by sash501; September 19th, 2012 at 11:18:56 AM..
When you mention imperfections in the statue that you are reviewing, it makes me go take a look at mine to see if the imperfections could have been potentially widespread, or just isolated incidents. Keep up the good work.
REVIEW: Bowen Designs Thanos Museum Statue by sash501
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