Queen Studios Wonder Festival 2020 Highlights

Wonder Festival is the largest hand-made sculpture model exhibition in the world. The event has over 36 years of history, with the first exhibition being held in 1984. Despite the global pandemic, Wonder Fest 2020 was able to go ahead with a limited crowd almost 6 months after its initial start date. Held from October 3rd to 4th, WF2020 is the third exhibition held by the WF brand overseas and the second WF exhibition that Queen Studios team has attended.

In this post, you can discover some of Queen Studios latest and greatest statues and busts from this one of a kind event!

SETTING UP WONDER FESTIVAL

Earlier this year, the Queen Studios team were lucky enough to attend the China Joy exhibition in Shanghai. China Joy is a much smaller event, and gave the team chance to warm-up for the must see show of the year, Wonder Festival.

On the run up to the event, the team shared some count-down images revealing some new collectibles, as well as some old favourites. With so much hype and anticipation, we knew we had to deliver something special. This year we went all out with our booth design and packed it with our new life-size busts like the Thanos, Joker and Mark 85. As well as Wonder Woman and Alita.

Although we made our name with busts, we also had some new statues that we could show for the first time. The Iron Man Mark 50 full size statue, the 1:4 Thanos and 1:3 Joker all being showstoppers.

IRON MAN MARK 50 1:1 LIFE-SIZE STATUE

At China Joy we revealed an unpainted prototype of the Iron Man Mark50 1:1 full-size statue. Since then, fans from far and wide have been looking forward to seeing the final statue. After months of hard work we were able to showcase a the 1:1 life-size statue in all it’s glory.

Improving on the Mark 50 busts, we were able to use new painting techniques to give the armour and even more realistic look, with the signature lighting scattered throughout to tie the piece together.

In the few short weeks since the event was held, Iron Man fans gave us glowing reviews, and the limited edition collectible statue is now sold out!

JOAQUIN PHOENIX 1:1 BUST REVEAL

This 1:1 life-size Joaquin Phoenix bust by Queen Studios was the biggest surprise at the event in more ways than one. Before we revealed the final bust, we released a teaser image, and asked fans to guess what scale the collectible statue would be. Based on the teaser, most fans guessed 1:4 or 1:6 scale.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the final collectible was a bust. The ingenious design in the base included a small sculpt of Arthur Fleck at his dressing room mirror, adding to the characters story. This unique element and hyper-realistic face sculpt has since been viewed by over one million people in China, and has also caught the attention of Joker director Todd Phillips (for this we are eternally honoured).

JOAQUIN PHOENIX JOKER 1:3 STATUE REVEAL

Before the start of the exhibition, Queen Studios unveiled the 1:3 Joker head sculpt with full Joaquin Phoenix likeness. Over the last two years, we have been praised for our realism and attention to detail, and it was a pleasure to see that this new statue was praised for both of these attributes.

With a few other 1:3 scale Joker statues available already, we new we had to make something unique and different. For this collectible, we chose the pivotal dressing room scene from the 2019 Joker movie. Before Joker plunges Gotham City into chaos, he sits brooding in his dressing room.Our artists have done their best to recreate this scene, including the Hollywood style dressing room mirror and scaled-down props just behind.

QUEEN STUDIOS TRANSFORMERS BUST REVEAL

The Transformers series by Queen Studios has been eagerly awaited and welcomed by fans of the franchise since its release. The ultimate scale Bumblebee bust was the first to gain recognition and praise from collectors for its incredible detailing and scaled down parts that are recognisable in the Chevy that Bumblebee transforms into.

At Wonder Fest, we were able to début Optimus Prime as well as the finished Megatron prototype. Although these busts are not life-size, they are still epic and unique in their own rights.

QUEEN STUDIOS 1:1 THANOS BUST REVEAL

In 2019, we released the 1:1 life-size Thanos bust in Mainland China which was voted bust of the year by many bloggers and YouTubers in the collectibles space. Although the bust was well received, there was still calls from some collectors for a more full scale bust with the full width shoulders and even requests for an infinity gauntlet.

With calls for a different Thanos bust, we knew we had to make this one unique and different to it’s predecessor, and this time, the bust will be available outside of Mainland China so that fans in more countries can order the bust!

QUEEN STUDIOS 1:4 THANOS STATUE REVEAL

In addition to the new 1:1 Thanos bust, Queen Studios also exhibited a new 1:4 Thanos statue. This new quarter scale statue features rich detailing throughout as Thanos sits down with his double edge sword stuck in the ground and helmet resting on top.This new statue was a last minute surprise for fans, but a welcomed one, as we received some awesome feedback.

For collectors that have requested a version with the Mad Titan wearing the helmet, unfortunately this won’t be possible. We have consulted Marvel, and as this doesn’t happen in the movie, we can’t make it as it would go against the integrity of the story.

QUEEN STUDIOS 1:1 MARK 85 & MARK 49 BUST REVEAL

In 2008, Iron Man hit the silver screen and launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the 12 years that have passed, Tony Stark has improved his Iron Man armours with every iteration, resulting in an impressive roster of suits.

Since Queen Studios released the first Iron Man Mark 50 bust from Avengers Infinity war in 2019, many collectors have been requested other versions of the suit, especially fans that weren’t able to get there hands on the MK50. As we are also Iron Man fans, these requests were a dream come true. For the past year, we have been working on two more Iron Man busts that we were able to showcase at Wonder Festival. The Mark 85 and the Mark 49 (also known as the Rescue Armour) worn by Tony’s assistant turned love interest and wife Pepper Potts.

Like the MK50 1:1 statue, we have employed the most advanced painting techniques available, and we put our best artists on the job to create these new limited edition collectible busts.

As we have had delays with production, the pre-order for the MK85 and MK49 won’t start until we have shipped the remaining Mark 50’s. Please keep an eye on our social media, and sign up to our newsletter for updates.

QUEEN STUDIOS 1:4 COMIC WONDER WOMAN REVEAL

The new Wonder Woman 84 statue released earlier this month has been very well received and is a testament to the amazing character. Wonder Woman, is a true icon of pop culture, and we’re immensely grateful to have the opportunity to bring the character to life. Therefore, at Wonder Festival, we were proud to introduce the work in progress 1:4 scale Comic Wonder Woman.

Although there is still more work to be done, the new statue has been painstakingly sculpted to feature every detail as Wonder Woman leaps over a fallen pillar, while whipping the Lasso of Truth. The character is instantly recognisable in her Wonder Woman attire, and is set to be our first comic statue in this scale for DC. Based on the feedback so far, we’re hoping she won’t be the last!

OTHER COLLECTIBLES ON DISPLAY

The last two years have been incredible for Queen Studios. With your support, we have gone from strength to strength, releasing new statues and busts in all scales. As mentioned, we went all out this year, and we were able to display the 1:3 Dark Knight Batman and Joker, the Spider-Man comic busts, as well as Hulk, Captain Marvel and many more.

If you missed the event, make sure you see our booth tour in the video below!

QUEEN STUDIOS WONDER FEST 2020 BOOTH TOUR

WHERE TO NEXT?

As 2020 draws to a close, we have many more surprises in store. But unfortunately, Covid-19 has led to most events being cancelled or postponed until 2021. We’re hoping we can be back stronger than ever next year, and we hope you stay safe and well, so we can introduce more of our collectibles face to face in your country.

Please sign up to our newsletter below, and we’ll update you with our plans for the year ahead.

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