Bowen's Arrows

“Have toys been around for that long?” asks a surprised Randy Bowen, upon learning that Playthings magazine turned 104 years old this year. Bowen's business, by comparison, began a mere decade ago when his partnership with Marvel really solidified, but it has coincided with a boom in his area of expertise—resin collectibles—that some would say he's in large part responsible for helping create. When Bowen released his first Marvel mini bust, The Hulk, in 1998 (followed shortly thereafter by a Daredevil statue), there were few, if any, collectibles made of high quality resin selling at an affordable price.

Despite Bowen's success, staying competitive in the collectibles business is not an easy task. He recently shared the secrets to his success and why he won't make a statue of “The Juice.”

Playthings: How have collectors and collectibles changed in the past 10, 20 or more years?

Bowen: When I first started doing these types of items, no one else was really doing this within the comics market. In the beginning, the idea was to simply give collectors the characters they wanted. Now it seems that about 20 percent of the market is individuals who've become “speculators.” Many of the collectors now have an expectation that they will be able to double their money on a given statue within a couple of years! Take our Silver Surfer mini-bust, for example. This thing originally sold for $40 retail. It now sells for around $700 on the secondary market. This type of thing garners those types of expectations.

Playthings: Retailers say there is over-saturation in the collectibles market, which makes it difficult for them to sell particular characters. What do you think has kept you in the collectibles business, and successful, for so long?

Bowen: [Our success] has been a process of establishing a brand, style, and scale that has remained constant for almost 20 years. From the get go, I tried to establish a size and price point that would be comfortable for collectors. Those [elements], coupled with attention to detail and depictions of iconic characters, are what have garnered fan loyalty all these years.

Playthings: How do you work with retailers to promote/sell items (i.e. exclusives, special displays, etc.)?

Bowen: To be honest, we don't really do all that much in the way of promotions for retailers. The statues sell themselves. [In a radio announcer voice] We try to keep costs down and pass the savings on to the customer!

Playthings: Are there characters you would never want to work on? Any you've turned down?

Bowen: I was approached by some of O.J. Simpson's people at one time to create a bronze statue of “The Juice” in his football uniform. This was shortly before the infamous Bronco chase. They were offering me around $200,000 in sculpting fees and royalties. I turned them down flat. Things like that I will always turn down.

Playthings: Do you think the collectibles market is still strong?

Bowen: I have no idea. All I know is that the collectibles industry has been very good to me personally. It's given me a lifestyle that is pretty amazing, considering that I came from very humble beginnings. I feel like I'm the guy who discovered plutonium or something [laughs]. I know a few people who've lost their shirt jumping into this business. I'm just one of the lucky ones.