Bowen Designs: Guardians of the Galaxy

Distributed By Bowen Designs
Sculpted By the Kucharek Brothers
Sizes
Charlie 27 - 8”H
Martinex - 7”H
Starhawk - 7.5"H
Vance Astro - 8.75"H
Yondu - 8.5"H
Release April 2010
Price $400.00 - Website Exclusive

Zimm's Two Cents
Kucharek Brothers tend to do some great stuff, and this is no exception. The fun part of this one is that you can pick up all five characters at once. Yes, I realize that means dedicating some much valued shelf space for the group of them, but what the heck, they are the Guardians.

Points in Favor

• Good Price for 5 Detailed Busts
• Each bust is uniquely different and represents the Guardian it is supposed to
• Love the Colors and detail on Yondu, while Starhawk wings rock.
• While somewhat bland, I do like the fact that all of the bases match.

Points Against

• Smudged painting. Robert points it out a lot, and I am starting to notice it. I know why it is there, but sometimes it seems to be overkill.
• Kind-of wish that either Charlie 27 or Martinex had slightly different pose. Nitpicking there, but I'm just saying what I think. It's not enough to deter me though.
  

Recommendation. Hot Buy. It is a lot of money, but you would probably spend the same amount (if not more) for five statues of similar quality.

Robert's Two Cents
As a huge Guardians of the Galaxy fan, I love this set. I like the standalone Collector's Club exclusive Vance Astro/Major Victory even more. I wish Jim Valentino was still working on a GoTG series. That was one of the most fun comics of the 90s.

Points in Favor

• Lots of detail and good poses for most of them.
  
• They're the Guardians of the Galaxy.
  
• They are a very tight set and the colors are amazing. Even with the skin tone issues I have with Bowen Designs, I give the paints a thumb's up.
  
• They're expensive, but good quality and you can get the whole set at once.
• The Yondu bust's pose is much better than the Hawkeye bust that Bowen released several years ago. I like the arrow drawing action.
  

Points Against

• Where's Nikki? Or Aleta? I know they came along a bit later, but not much later.
• Yondu is one of my favorite characters and he's well done, but I'm not very happy with the paint on his skin portions. Like Zimm says, I get why it's done this way, but I want it better.
• Vance's pose. It looks like he should be holding Cap's shield. And if you see the Collectors' Club exclusive, you can see that he should be holding Cap's shield.
• I see Zimm's point on Martinex and Charlie 27. I'm not sure what you could do with Charlie other than put a massive gun in his hand, but Marty certainly could have a better pose.
  
• On the Collectors' Club Vance, he should be wearing the GOTG badge. He had it when he had the shield.
• Marty wasn't quite that transparent when the team was wearing these costumes, but hey, at least we get a Martinex that looks cool.
  

Recommendation. Hot Buy. Overall, I have a lot of nits to pick, but none of them or even the collective is big enough to sway me. If I can sell this one good kidney I have, I'll own these.