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Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon, was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan and made his debut in the pages of Captain America #117 in 1969. This future Avenger who began as a dedicated social worker working with the kids in Harlem was part of a controversial retcon in 1975 that involved the Red Skull using the Cosmic Cube to reveal Sam’s “real” past, which was that of a pimp and thug for the mob. It was also during events at this time that he met the man he would eventually partner with for many years and become one his best friends: Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. He also met his trusted falcon Redwing with whom he has an empathic connection with (a result of the Cosmic Cube being used on him by the Red Skull), and he is able to see what his bird sees, and later on he would learn to extend this ability to other birds and to some extent control and communicate with them as well. Falcon has recently been seen in the Captain America series in kind of a mentor role for the new Captain America, Bucky Barnes.

Falcon w/ Redwing
Manufacturer: Bowen Designs
Sculpted by: Tony Cipriano w/ Randy Bowen & Ulises Cantu
Height: 13″
Released: Feb 2009
Retail Price: US $160

Out of the box there is some assembly required with Falcon and Redwing. The claws of the bird are molded onto the forearm of Falcon, and from the ankles up (do birds HAVE ankles?) Redwing is a separate piece that has be placed. Now there are two metal prongs that you have to align just right, and let me tell you, it’s a bitch trying to get them in without doing any damage. The first time I tried to place Redwing, the paint and polystone around one prong just cracked off, and then I noticed the other was already damaged. Fortunately I go to one of the best comic shops on the planet and was able to have a replacement sent in. So me thinking that that must have been a defective statue was quickly shot down as this one was still a pain in both butt cheeks to assemble. This time I was a bit more careful and was able to finally get Redwing in place, though I wasn’t too happy with the angle at which he was perched. Pictured to the left he’s looking out screeching, but in reality he’s looking down screeching. Guess Falcon must have some bird seed in his pockets or something.

Now once the grunting and cursing was done, I pretty much ended up with what you see in the pictures. Falcon stands on a tri-layered base, and as a Bowen standard he’s made of a heavyweight polystone. He is definitely one of the statues that you can actually feel the weight of, so be careful when handling as well. Now the Falcon’s overall look is nice, and the detail in Redwing is pretty good until you get to the separation of the bird and the insertion points on Falcon’s arm.

This version of Falcon’s costume is a pretty simple one, and the actual recreation here is nice, it’s just that an extra coat of white paint could have been used on every area from the waist up. It’s faint on the chest, but it’s more noticeable on the gloves and mask where the color underneath shows through. There is a bit of paint bleed between the belt and Falcon’s deep V neck top, which actually shocked me because it’s a straight line with NO detail to it. The metallic red does jump out at you in contrast and it looks good on his wings, but also makes me wish they were larger and a bit more intimidating like in the pages of the comics. There is also some bleed on the mask, but that was expected because of the tight space and the gold piece attached to his forehead. And why does it look like he has cauliflower ear?

When Bowen’s Falcon statue debuted, he retailed for $160 US. However, I’ve seen this thing go as high as $200 US on several sites that sell various statues, and even some auction sites as well. Falcon is limited to only 1200 pieces, so that may be the cause of the varying prices, but that’s too high if you ask me. If you’re a die hard Falcon fan or just trying to collect all of the Avengers statues, then I’d suggest looking around and picking him up at a much lower price. It’s possible to find him a bit lower than retail if you look hard enough. Though I’m not a die hard fan, the character himself holds a spot in my comic collecting past, so I scooped him up.

The overall statue is a nice looking piece, and at a distance it looks even better, but I would give it a 2.5 out of 5 because of the amount of difficulty in getting Redwing fixed onto the arm of Falcon. The awkward angle of the bird once he’s attached, along with the possibility of the piece breaking, help give it a much lower rating than it should have. Still, if you’re going for the Avengers collection of Bowen statues, then I’d definitely pick up Falcon, just kind of display him off to the side next to West Coast Avengers!

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