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.
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 Randy Bowen, Wendigo was released during Bowen Designs Phase IV in 2010. This is 184 of 450. He stands over 17 inches (barely shorter than the Giant Man Statue).
Wendigo is most often associated with the Incredible Hulk and Wolverine. There is a link above if you don't know much about the character. For a side character, who in my opinion isn't a heavy hitter as far as villains go, I'm really happy with the love this character received from Randy. The overall sculpt is stunning. The paints of white and blue are perfectly done. The detail throughout the sculpt in regard to the fur is what you can expect from Bowen Designs . . . brilliant. The overall weight of the piece is also staggering. I have yet to bring a scale into these reviews, but based on feel, the state with the base has to be about twenty pounds if not more. The weight is expected as he is HUGE!. The overall action of the sculpt is truly mean and dangerous. Because of the lunging arm however, close up pics of just the face were hard to shoot.
He needs to be displayed slightly above eye level to truly appreciate the face. The brow is big so trying to see the eyes straight on from eye level is difficult. Randy Bowen is truly a master of his craft. This is evident in the detail of the face. The showing off of the teeth here is in the form of a snarl, as such the nostrils are pulled slightly up, resulting in the definition you see in the cheek and chin.
The teeth are not as yellow as the pic portrays. There is slight yellow tinting to them, which is done very well and lines part of the teeth and the gums (do we really expect Wendigo to brush his teeth?). Yellow being a stronger color than white, the camera pulled out the yellow in the pic. It might be hard to see from the pic, but the teeth near the gum shine a bit. A gloss was put over the gums (more on the left side of the mouth than the right), to simulate wetness of the palate.
In addition to the abundance of fur, Wendigo is sporting some awesome 1980's rocker hair. I call it the blow back.
The hair on the head is considerably longer than the rest of the fur on the body. It's not a mullet, just really long. The wind is given a blowing effect as if Wendigo is rushing toward his prey.
The head of hair, like the rest of the body is well painted. The pic shows mostly white, however it is touched with a sky blue throughout, as is the rest of the sculpt.
The hands are huge and have been sculpted with the fingers bent inward. Wendigo is lunging forward with one claw to scratch/tear open something, and the right hand is held back, ready to sweep around after the left hand has finished.
The hands are huge, the palms being bigger than a quarter (a twenty-five cent piece for you old timers). The palms and fingers are also riddled with detailed palm and finger creases where the hand would naturally close.
These creases are painted with the darker blue paint for shadowing. The shadowing technique here and throughout the statue is done very very well. Often the shadowing doesn't make sense on these statues. My Wolverine Original Review, points out some bad shading technique with black lines between costume parts. This is not the case here. The shadowing really makes the piece come to life.
The fingers sport long claws, the points of which really are sharp. Small paint detailing of dirt and grime can also be seen around the claws.
The feet also have claws with the same detailing of dirt and grime. The hands and the feet are the only part of the body that is not covered in hair. I don't really understand this as I don't know of an animal that is covered in fur except for the hands and feet other than monkeys. That being said, the Wendigo is technically human which is close to primates so there you go. I do have more hair on my feet then Wendigo does however. There is some detail on the feet to simulate hair, but it isn't fur like the rest of the body.
The only true issue I have with the feet is the left foot doesn't have enough space betweent he toes. The toes of the left foot are more spread out and in some places, especially between the big toe and the second toe, no space was carved away.
There is muscle definition throughout the sculpt but not overly done. This is a positive thing. Yes Wendigo needs to be beefed up since he does attempt to take on the hulk, and that is shone especially in the bicep. But you'll notice that the crazy muscle definition that we are used to on other sculpts isn't here, the chest and legs just aren't as defined. This is because other body sculpts are skin or skin tight costumes. Wendigo is covered in fur, so the amount of definition of the muscles is right on. Props need to be given because the definition is there and does appear to be hidden behind fur.
The fur, which is light on the belly of the beast, is thick everywhere else. The fur in my opinion is one of the biggest parts about this sculpt. Hair seems to be hard to sculpt realisticlly sometimes on some of these pieces and even harder to paint. Here, it is beautifully executed througout.
The tail is bushy and thick. Honestly, there isn't much to say about it other than it helps balance the statue out.
A quick note on something I didn't really take photos of, when you look really close at certain parts of the sculpt, you can see creases and lines where Randy was moving the clay. Some people might not like this but I know others do. This is one thing that we lose in digital sculpts and truly shows that you are getting a hand sculpted piece. I for one love it. In addition to where Randy moved the clay, he does tend to put his initials on his sculpts.
The base is well designed with various rocks. A few tree limbs come out of either side of the base. From afar, they don't seem too special, just something to balance the piece, but up close you can see that they too were given the proper attention of the artist.
In addition to tree limbs, the base is sprinkled with human skulls, six to be exact. The skulls are well sculpted as well, however I prefer the skulls on the Sabretooth sculpt. Also, apparently Wendigo kills babies because the two skulls in the center of the base are considerablly smaller than the others.
I didn't take pictures of the pegs, but feel it's important to mention them. There are two giant pegs on the feet that are simlar to the pegs on the iceman statue. This normally would be worrisome, however in addition, there is a metal peg on the heal of the right foot for extra security.
As for a negative, I really had to look hard for one. The sculpt is beautiful. When looking under the chin however, you can see space along the jaw line where the head would separate from the body. You can barely see it in the photo. As I said, I had to really look hard.
Overall, this piece is amazing. I passed on him at $200 last black Friday from Midtown comics (picked up FB Namor and FB Mephisto for $100 a piece instead) and kicked my self until I finally found this one. He is hard to find, due to the low number, and when you do, he won't be cheap. The shipping alone for this monster is up there. If you have the means, space, and time for the hunt, I highly recommend picking him up. His presence will really stand out in your Bowen display due to his size and unique coloring. Truly a masterpiece that I think has been overlooked due to not being a popular character.
The piece is so big I had a really hard time doing the rotating pics; kindly forgive. Also, too many pics for one thread post.
My favorite Bowen statue of 2011 by far. I know MODOK got the most votes in the polls, but I think if the edition size of Wendigo were bigger and as many people had ordered it as MODOK, the results mght have been different.
This is truly a statue that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. It was obviously a labor of love for Mr. B and it shows in every painstakingly sculpted detail.
I've never been as awed and impressed with a Bowen statue as I was the day this one arrived. Unboxing it induced involuntary gasps and a slack jaw and I still can't pass by it on display without it stopping me dead in my tracks for a moment. It's a true masterpiece.
REVIEW: Bowen Designs Wendigo Statue by sash501
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