Toy OTD: Bowen Studios' Inhumans Mini-Busts: Karnak, Quicksilver, Crystal, Triton and Gorgon

I don't know if these characters were all that popular with Marvel collectors - most of the ones I have were marked down significantly. I'm enough of a Fantastic Four geek that I scooped up as many as I could get!

As with most of the Bowen products, the posing, paint work, and sculpts are really great (Bowen is one of my favorite Marvel merchandising companies). They get a little goofy with the thematic base designs, but at least they don't plaster names or logos on any of them. The likenesses are right from the comics, adapted in a very appealing way.

You can get several of these online right now - Triton is on eBay for $29.95 + $8 shipping, ditto Karnak for $19.99 + $9.50 shipping, Gorgon is $32.00 at ccgarmory.com, Crystal is $39.95 + $9.00 shipping on eBay, and Quicksilver is $37.00 + $6.50 shipping there, too (It'll be $114.99 + $9.99 shipping at wizarduniverse.stores.yahoo.net if you want the green-costumed variant). I seem to remember buying these for even lower prices, so keep your eyes peeled at toy shows and comic conventions!

Toy OTD: DC Direct Wonder Woman Mini-Bust

Generally, I prefer the original permed, skirted Wonder Woman, but I think this is a really great sculpt (by DC regular Tim Bruckner) of the modern version. More realistic approaches are fraught with pitfalls, but there's a strong execution here. Nice, subtle paint work, especially on the face! Many busts don't include the arms - but not only do we get them, we're treated to a cool pose, as if she's preparing to block some gunfire. Excellent!

This item's been out for a while, but it's not hard to find - you can still get one at zeuscomics.com for $35.99 + shipping.