Bowen Vs. Sideshow Statues

[customizerwannabe]

I own no Bowen at this point but am becoming more impressed daily with what I see online. Anyone have some of both SS and Bowen that can lend perspective on the differences? Quality, aesthetics, investment potential?

 

[The ill Jedi]

I have a few Bowen pieces, they have some beautiful stuff. I am still trying to get a Full Size The Thing statue. Their new Sentinel is very impressive too. The quality is great, some of their earlier stuff is pretty valuable and aesthetics wise very pleasing.

Here's a database of all of their pieces and prices: Toytracker: Bowen

 

[moebius9]

It all comes down to personal taste. I own Sideshow, Bowen and Hard Hero as well as some DC Direct statues. I couldn't decide between the companies so I pick what I like amongst them all. As for investment Bowen is pretty reliable in maintaining their value. Sideshow does on some stuff and others not so much. When you get a winner with SS, it really takes off like PF Doom. Hard Hero, for some reason, stinks for investment purposes but their Marvel stuff is fantastic. Perhaps after time, when the line proves itself things will change.

Bottom line is, it's all up to the individual collector as to what they like.

 

[Spliff]

IMO, Bowen is a bit over-rated. 98% of the time their statues aren't really a big deal...I mean sure, there's some beautiful pieces every now and then, but for the most part his stuff is meh. ESPECIALLY the busts. I don't know why everyone nuts over them, they're small, over-priced and way meh almost 99% of the time.IMO, there's no one in Sideshow's league.

 

[gbeef]

I just switched to SS a couple weeks ago. I use to be an exclusive bowen only collector. Then i bought a SS Hulk vs spidey, and my jaw dropped i knew by collecting both companies it could get expensive so im toning down my FS bowen statues (acutally selling some off) to make room for side SS.

theres a thread on statueforms.com a comparsion thread with all the statue brands. SS wins in vote everytime and most of the people on that fourm are bowen lovers.

For bowen ill be picking up the upcoming stuff like apocalypse, (new wolverine, Iceman) but ill pass on beast captian marvel!?? etc. etc. and spend that money on HULK PF! wolverine comquie, and captian america PF.

One thing to also consider is do you have the space. I find 1/6 scale some is too small unless its a dynamic "VS". SS is #1 becauase the scale of the PF is showstopper material, not the clutter bug bowen stuff.

 

[customizerwannabe]

Great points Beef. If I do get into the Bowen I will be VERY selective.

 

[SolidLiquidFox]

Sideshow Marvel pieces are overall more creative than your average Bowen. The one thing Bowen has is that they are good at the retro look and the obscure characters that you may never see with Sideshow.

I can count all the Bowen stuff I have with one hand. I am VERY selective.

 

[Shai]

I'M BUYING THE BOWEN 2 HULK FULL SIZE STATUE IN THE COMING WEEKS...

 

[customizerwannabe]

Those are impressive!

 

[BrianK]

Shai,
You need to also get the mini statues from Bowen.

I have both and they are great.

 

[Bullseye]

It really depends on how you want your collection to look. I really enjoy both lines and in a way they compliment each other. With the versus pieces which are approximately the same as the Bowen scale you could display the standing Bowen pieces either side of the verus piece. Also the Sentinel could look very well posed against the three X-men pieces when they are eventually released.

The important thing is to buy what you like and enjoy.

 

[hairlesswookiee]

sideshow all the way. i just recently bought the bowen classic captain america. even though i think he looks great he isn't anything compared to sideshow quality and size. im considering selling him due to the fact that he will look way out of place with the sideshow PF.

 

[Bonehead15]

I'd recommend Bowen to anyone.

They release tons of statues/bust/whatever...so it's almost impossible to collect everything they put out. You just have to pick and choose what you want.

The sculpts are excellent and their quality is top notch. No messy paint ops and the production pieces always match the prototypes.

Whatever you do don't compare them to SS's PFs. I've seen a recent trend, not much here but on other boards, where people are saying how much better SS is just cause the scale is much larger.

 

[BrianK]

I agree with everything Bonehead says. I love the bowen stuff but I just buy the ones I like.

 

[Anthos]

I’ve been a Bowen Collector for about 5 years, but also own Sideshow since they’ve come out. I like Bowen’s style, I think Sideshow makes a great product but overall I’m a bigger fan of Bowen pieces. I don’t own any Hard Hero, but I do have the Stealth Iron Man on pre order so that will be my first. I generally don’t like Mavel’s Diamond Select pieces. I like a few of the DC Direct statues, but I wish they would come out with an equivilent of Bowen for DC products. Claybourne Moore statues are terrific, but few.

 

[Viking28]

Bowen is ok, they have paint, sculpt problems just like everyone else.
BUT after their whole Nova gold chrome bait and switch thing, lost a lot of respect for them.

 

[Natrix]

Where is that jack@$$ D J/K) Khev telling us what crappy junk the Bowen Captain Americas are compared to the Sideshow one?

 

[customizerwannabe]

LOL!!! Guess he bowed out of this one.

 

[gambit]

Some bowen pieces are really great and capturing the essence of the character such as: silver surfer, nightcrawler, moonknight, logan, gambit, namor...

however, bowen is not a professional company like Sideshow due to this reasons imo:

- their web site was so terrible, only last 2-3 months ago they went in to re-shaping but still nothing compared to SS website.
- I am not sure about CS but sure it is not as good as SS
- They are not selling to international customers (this is the main reason I am not collecting bowen)
- the material quality is nothing like Sideshow
-so many times I have read complaints regarding the bad paint apps, including the bad shading on my namor statue.
- scale is ok for people having space issued but for me they are not as impressive as Sideshow 1/4 pieces. 1/4 is great scale for me.

 

[Anespian]

Hope Bowen can extend their online orders to outside US/ Canada like SS. Then International collectors can have a go at their exclusive. Notice that some of the Bowen's newly released statue's value have is dropping/ below retail, whereas SS stuff is on the rise. Is that a trend now? Hmmm....