Unlike the mainstream media, the Marvel fans and, well, nearly everyone else who thinks every Marvel Comics Universe (MCU) is fantastic and the DC Comics Universe films sucked, my opinions are more mixed. Hey I like Suicide Squad, which is a distinct minority view. (That said the animated version of the Suicide Squad story’s far more better told, and Harley Quinn is great.) For MCU films, I like the first Iron Man, Captain America and Avengers productions. Later ones not so much. And shall I mention the Hulk or Daredevil films which are in the MCU realm and which suck?
Then there’s Guardians Of The Galaxy which Robert reviewed here. Now that was one splendid film that got an even better sequel in Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume II. All of the characters be they good, bad or ugly we’re both conceptualized well, be they animated or actual performers,
Of these characters, I actually like Groot the best. In the DCU narrative, Swamp Thing who’s a sort of Groot-kin is always been one of my favourite characters with his ability (much like Groot) to essentially be reduced to…errr, not much, and regrow into usually a pretty human looking figure. In the first Guardians film – and stop here if you’ve not seen it! – we see the adult Groot until all but a sliver is destroyed late in the film.
So not surprisingly Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume II features a much smaller Groot, say about a foot in height. Whereas the adult Groot came across, at least to me, as a bit somber, this one’s a hyperkinetic creature about as disciplined as a kitten in what it should do and not do. and that’s why I decided I wanted an action figure of him that I’d be placing naturally among my houseplants.
There are lots of baby Groots on the market, no surprise there, with a very nice life sized one from Hot Toys that’ll set you back just under two hundred dollars. Errr… no thanks. Mine was a mere seventeen dollars and does just fine even if I’ll never use the shake and shimmy feature. Yeah the one I like and purchased at Newbury Comics is called “NECA Guardians Of The Galaxy Body Knocker Groot”.
He’s not big, I’d say just about four inches on a boom box as you can see image here. He’s cute, very much a plant creature sitting among my house plants. Theoretically he’s solar powered but I’m betting he’s not waterproof so that’ll short out if you put him where I have.
He’s got the right face as even the eyes are superb for such a small figure, and the smile is just right. Even the Boom Box that he’s sitting on is nicely detailed and looks like it could actually play music. On the other hand adult Groot looks too much like an Ent in Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings movies, but this looks utterly original. Did I say he’s cute? Well he is.
(NECA, 2017)
