Rocket Raccoon
One thing from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie trailer that really struck me as completely bizarre was seeing the CGI Rocket Raccoon being such a bad-ass. Right there I knew that Hasbro had to make toys of that character and that I would buy them, no questions asked.
Despite the unexplainable lack of a 3.75-inch line for this movie, Hasbro did come through in the Marvel Legends Infinite Series by offering Rocket along with a number of very cool extras.
First things first, this Rocket Raccoon figure is a depiction of the movie design, and it is a tiny figure. The overall body proportions seem to be correct, although I suspect the figure is still not quite the right size to interact with the rest of the Guardians figures.
While the level of sculpted detail is satisfying on both the furry sections and the outfit, the articulation design took a fairly large downgrade in the form of:
• Pin & disk shoulders.
• Pin & disk elbows.
• Swivel wrists.
• Swivel waist.
• Swivel tail.
Now, keep in mind that this Rocket’s mass is roughly the same as a 3.75 scale figure but with thinner lower limbs, so it would not have been sensible to cram more articulation there.
Hasbro’s solution was to use the tailpiece as an adjustable support that allows the figure’s center of gravity to be balanced depending on the pose and use of the accessories.
The paintjob on Rocket is good, but very sparse. The markings on the face look fine on my figure, although I did notice some variation from sample to sample. On the other hand, the outfit looks rather plain, with just a few solid blocks of color applied to simulate plates and gear, but most of the sculpted detail on the uniform gets lost amidst the bright orange plastic.
Even though Rocket Raccoon is not a bad figure on its own, the real draw for many people to get this set is the included Build-A-Figure piece, which is none other than the upper torso and head of Groot. This piece is nicely sculpted and molded in brown plastic, with just a hint of green spray paint simulating moss and subtle shading around the eye area.
The other pieces included with Rocket are weapons, one being a hi-tech rifle and the other a contraption called a Hadron Enforcer in the movie. The rifle looks big in Rocket’s grasp, but it is actually quite well scaled for regular 6-inch action figures, while the Hadron weapon is a beast of an accessory, meant to be used exclusively by larger characters.
Both weapons come fully decorated, although from the pictures, you can tell that most of the work went into the Hadron Enforcer with the different colored applications, while the rifle got a simple shading wash and a few green light painted on the side.
In the end, I cannot help but feel that by buying this Rocket Raccoon, I was actually getting a really good set of accessories rather a full-fledged action figure, but the overall balance remains a positive one for me.
Errex Score: 90/100
Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews