For over 14 long years, the resin Bowen Designs Doctor Strange statue by the Kucharek Bros. has reigned supreme and unchallenged as the best domestic comic-based statue of the Sorcerer Supreme in all the land. But following the good doctor’s explosive rise in popularity thanks to his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new challenger is about to enter the fray: the 1/4 Sideshow Collectibles Doctor Strange statue went up for order today! And who better to try to take down the champion than the sculptors of the Bowen piece—the Kucharek Brothers themselves…

When Bowen Designs put the first ever full-figure Dr. Strange statue up for sale back in 2005, I was just starting graduate school and lamenting how little disposable income I had to direct at buying comic book statues. I did buy my first statue that year—but I opted for the first-ever Deadpool statue and not the Master of Mysticism.

That Bowen Strange has somehow remained out of my clutches for close to a decade and a half now, but it’s possible it was worth the wait—because the world renowned Kucharek Bros who sculpted that original statue are revisiting Doctor Strange this year for Sideshow Collectibles!

The statue collecting landscape has exploded and evolved tremendously since the early days of Bowen Designs, and this maquette is a good illustration of that. While still largely comic book-inspired, it’s at a much larger size (1:4 compared to the Bowen 1:6), features a mixed media wired soft goods cape, and has a level of detail that blows the Bowen Designs statue out of the water. (And unlike the XM Studio version of the character, this one is actually available to US collectors.)

First off, kudos to Sideshow for having the Kuchareks return to Doctor Strange. That was a masterstroke, and puts a smile on my face as a major Bowen Designs fanboy. Bravo.

While the Bowen full-size statue was ardently comic book authentic, it was a bit on the small side by modern standards and pretty simplistic compared to today’s pieces. The increased amount of sculpting details between that figure and this one is mind-blowing.

Stephen’s portrait is incredible, from the highly-detailed gritted teeth to the subtle texture of the skin and facial hair. I might have liked to see his hair be a bit more black than dark brown, but the head here is amazing nonetheless.

And speaking of textures—there’s are thousands—if not tens of thousands—of tiny little texture details sculpted onto Dr. Strange’s tunic. Seams, filled, wrinkles—this outfit is anything but simple. It looks like real fabric without actually being real fabric—unlike one part of the costume…

Now, ordinarily I absolutely loathe mixed media on my statues. I prefer my statues be all resin and not look like I’m dressing them up like a Barbie. However, in this particular case—and that of the Magneto from 2018–I can definitely find it in my heart to accept and look past the soft goods.

Even at the much smaller Bowen Designs scale, resin capes arriving broken was one of the few common complaints about quality, so I can only imagine how many breakages would occur on a humongous quarter-scale flowing resin cape for Doctor Strange. In a perfect world I would still prefer a sculpted cape, but cost and breakage issues have led Sideshow Collectibles down what is probably a smarter path here.

The Magneto maquette released with a similar soft goods cape, which came out phenomenally, so I’m willing to not fixate on the fabric cloak for the Master of Mysticism. Your mixed media tolerance may vary.

The base for this maquette is a mystical energy vortex atop a rocky terrain. I dig that it looks like Doctor Strange is floating out of the vortex, and the psychedelic magical colors are true eye-grabbers.

I’ve seen some folks irritated that there’s no exclusive edition with a non spell effects piece left hand, but I’m okay without—I’m all about effects pieces and I think the green magic energy effect really makes this piece feel action-packed and dynamic. I think this pose would look really awkward without the effect. (Also, does anyone else feel like maybe the much-reused Marvel Legends effects piece was used as a starting point for designing this one…?)

The price on this maquette is $675 USD. While any price north of $600 still gives me a hefty case of sticker shock, the doc is at least priced less than Rogue and Magneto were, for what that’s worth. Giving modern rising costs in the collecting sphere, I don’t think the price is terrible here, but it’s definitely not a blockbuster value either.

The Sideshow Doctor Strange Maquette goes up for order this afternoon on the Sideshow Collectibles website, and is scheduled to ship out in late 2020. Sideshow has seemingly mastered cranking out statues at high quality and with breakneck speed over the last couple years, so I’m confident this doctor will be making house calls to our home later this year without delay.

Have the Kucharek Brothers one-upped themselves with their new Doctor Strange Sideshow statue, Marvel collectors? Is this maquette a masterpiece, or are you put off by the original touches or soft goods cloak for this piece?