I was on the fence about picking up this set. The trailers of James Gunn's movie have had me in stitches since they came out and I was really looking forward to them until the first photos started hitting the Net. My two favorites (Star Lord and Gamora) were partially my favorites because of the actors playing them in the movie (Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, respectively) and the likeness on those two figures was just awful.
In the end I gave in because I really do like the way that this movie looks to be packaged (I'm hoping that Gunn's history with sci-fi comedy and the tone of the trailers don't let me down once it's released), and I didn't want to give up the chance to get some kind of plastic souvenir. About the only other option I have is Hot Toys, and I'm not quite at that step of the collector evolution.
I still haven't even graduated to the Japanese Import level. Strictly mass market.
Anyway... Seeing as I'm trying to manage my impulse control problems and only open one thing a day now, I'll be doing single reviews of the Marvel Legends Infinite Series, BuildAFigure Collection Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon.
Whew.
Until this point, I've only had one figure from the new-ish Marvel Legends Infinite Series, the Marvel Now! Captain America. I bought it after reading Bim's review of it, and thankfully had fewer quality control issues with my figure. For one, the "A" is on the center of his forehead.
I pretty much gave up on Marvel Legends once the price per figure broke the Php 1,000. It's just too hard to keep up, especially with the Build-a-Figure (BAF) gimmick tickling the completist bone inside of me. Plus, with the number of cases that Playkit is bringing in these days, it's almost impossible to find any of the chase figures unless you get the set at the launch distribution. From the Green Goblin set, I only ever saw Superior Spider-Man at my main haunts, and only once saw Boomerang and Toxin. Black Cat or the Amazing Spider-Man 2 suit were like unicorns that you only ever heard about in stories.
But like I said, that trailer is just made of awesome. I had to have this set.
Currently, price for the set is Php 6,899.75 or Php 1,149.75 each. Not sure how much the singles are priced, but it's usually not that far different.
I really like the boxes that they come in now. The black is so stark, and the plain backing inside brings out the figure inside much better than the colors they used to have in the packaging. The artwork on the side panels is fantastic!
The're much sturdier than the old blister cards as well, and even after hanging on the pegs forever, those Captain America and Spider-Man boxes are still in fair shape. Only problem I'd have is that they don't really stack because of the curve on the front, though that curve does give it a nice tactile touch that feels nice. I'll give it a pass.
This time around, there aren't any variants available, so each character gets their own "also available" window. None of that "Mortal Enemies!" or "Merry Mutants!" bullshit, which is a nice break. You won't need to get two of the same BAF part. Fantastic.
The back is dominated by a huge photo of the figure in a very good superhero-y pose, that's well lit and mirrored from what we actually get. The Rocket on the back is right-handed. The Rocket in the package is left-handed.
Pretty sure the Rocket on the back is the right one. The one inside is his evil twin or doppelganger.
Rocket Raccoon comes with the chest and head of his buddy, Groot (who we'll save for the end of this series of reviews), the four-barreled space gun from the trailer, and that chest mounted space rocket launcher that Star Lord used in the trailer. Why it comes with Rocket I have no idea. He certainly can't use the thing.
Just one of the things that bothers me with this figure.
Sculpting is very nice except for one thing: his face.
You look at him in the trailer and he's scowling and smirking and screaming. Here he looks like, "so today I'm going to do the laundry." I've got a feeling they just took his computer model and printed that shit out without bothering to give it any life.
Thinking back to the BAF Rocket Racoon from 2013 Wave 2, that's just unacceptable. That figure had all kinds of personality, with a furrowed brow and an articulated jaw that from grimace to shout. The sculpting on this one's head shows none of the intelligence this character is supposed to have. He could be any raccoon digging in your neighbors garbage.
Editor's note: We sincerely apologize to any genetically-modified, gun-wielding, space-faring, sentient creatures of the procyonid persuasion who may have been offended by the author's remark. It was highly insensitive of him and does not reflect the feelings of the rest of the group.
Articulation is not so great. His arms have fair range... and that's about it. The head's on a ball joint, but the design of the character limits it to a swivel, and none of the points on that plane of motion give you anything close to usable in terms of posing. He's basically going to have to be displayed looking forward.
The bottom half of the toy is pre-posed except for his tail, which is mounted to a swivel joint. However, that's useless as well, since he can't stand at all on his puny feet, so you need to use the tail as the third leg on the tripod. It will always have to be pointed down, touching the floor, unless you want to super glue him to a stand (which isn't a bad idea).
This think would have made a far better figure if they'd just dropped the pretension of articulation and just given us a pre-posed figurine in a really great action stance. This is crap.
About the only thing I can get behind is his space machine gun, which is bad-ass.
As far as I can tell, it's damned close to what he's got on screen and it's highly detailed. The grip is hidden inside that "strap" in the middle and wonder of wonders, he can hold the thing in his itty bitty hands without additional support!
If only he didn't have that impossibly empty expression on him, this would have given him a passing score.
All in all, Rocket Raccoon is probably the worst in the wave. He's small, comes with only one real accessory (BAF parts don't count and that other accessory is for Star Lord), has an awful head sculpt, and comes pre-posed in the worst way. All that and a price tag that breaks the Php 1k mark.
No sale.
Really the only reason to get this figure is if you want the entire team (which is why I bought the set) and need him to complete the roster. I still have high hopes for the rest of the set (I'm saving Star Lord, Drax, and Nova for last), but this is definitely the worst of them.
If you have any sculpting skill of your own, I'd say keep the BAF piece and the gun, and just build your own Rocket from scratch.
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