{"id":24688,"date":"2014-07-30T23:58:40","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T04:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=24688"},"modified":"2014-08-04T02:07:58","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T07:07:58","slug":"marvel-legends-wave-xx-rocket-raccoon-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=24688","title":{"rendered":"2013 Marvel Legends
Rocket Raccoon Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edit:<\/strong> This Review was Originally Published on August 29th, 2013
<\/a> I want to love Marvel more than I do. I enjoy some of their comics and most of their movies. And some of my favorite characters hail from Marvel, but it\u2019s always been difficult for me to get into their shared universe. It\u2019s just not the same as the comic universe that learnt me how to read, I guess. You always love what you find first, I suppose, but Marvel does good stuff too. <\/p>\n

As such, I\u2019ve picked up a lot of Marvel figures over the years. Some because they were truly awesome, some because they were those favorite characters, and others, well\u2026 because they were there. (They drink the sand because they don\u2019t know the difference, Lewis!)<\/em>. I once had all the MLs, at least up until they got boxset crazy and I had trouble keeping up. I also bought a lot of MUs \u2013 there\u2019s that checklist over there, as a matter of face.* But, the truth is in the pudding \u2013 Marvel has yet to be featured in my stumbling ReCollect Blog because, one, it\u2019s stumbling and hard to make time for, and two, I haven\u2019t unpacked a single Marvel figure yet. Seriously, it\u2019s just MS Venom, a couple Thor-related MUs & Iron Man Legends hanging out in my toy roo… ahem, office. It\u2019s sad. <\/p>\n

*I am working on a full 2013 update to the MU Section that will catch the checklist up to the line\u2019s end later this year. I can\u2019t promise if it will go on beyond that. It\u2019s hard to keep on top of when I\u2019m not collecting it.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Anyway, the lack of Marvel representation changed a bit this week. It finally dawned on me a week or two ago that Rocket Raccoon was available as an ML (I bet you all can figure out what spurred my memory). When I hit up BBTS, I also remembered why I forgot. Hasbro has been evil to me of late. My big wants? Arnim Zola. Iron Monger. Rocket Raccoon. Yep, if I\u2019ve wanted a Marvel figure lately, I gotta buy a ton more. That\u2019s evil! Like a toy subscription or something! <\/p>\n

I ended up picking up the whole wave from BBTS, even though two figures don\u2019t even have BAF parts, because the singles were sold out and because I still have yet to see Hit Monkey in stores (curse you, Hyperion & Red She-Hulk!). And since I\u2019m so terribly behind on ML reviews, I made sure to get at least one pic of everybody in this wave into this review because who knows when I\u2019ll have time to get back to them, particularly the ones I didn\u2019t really want. (I ended up selling some of ROML Wave 2 before I reviewed them. Oops!) So, if there are any of the five component figures you really want to see get the IAT Review Treatment, speak up now. (The only one I know for sure will get done is Wrecker, provided Hasbro gets a Bulldozer out to retail). <\/p>\n

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Alrighty then, we\u2019re getting pretty far in here without discussing the Raccoon figure. If you\u2019re not familiar with Rocket Raccoon. He\u2019s a talking Raccoon. In space. Everyone who knows me should know that is sufficient information for me to fall in love with a character. Admittedly, I didn\u2019t come across Rocket Raccoon until a few years ago when his notoriety level shot up after Marvel\u2019s Annihilation mini-series. To be fair, I think he\u2019d only made a dozen or so appearances prior to that. The new space opera that Abnett & Lanning had put together was fantastic and gave me a new inspiration for tons of Marvel\u2019s space characters. My Marvel Legends want list might have doubled in size after all those crossovers. <\/p>\n

So when the box arrived from BBTS, I opened it up and got to assembling. Hawkeye & Scarlet Spider were cast aside, as Rocket only needed three figures to carry his parts. I quickly opened those three, taking a moment to go \u201cWhoa! Jim Lee Jean Grey!?\u201d and then quickly assembled the raccoon. <\/p>\n

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A few minutes later, I had a half-awesome, half-so-close Rocket Raccoon figure. Let me get the half-not-so-much out of the way first, Rocket\u2019s not really articulated below the waist. I\u2019ll give Hasbro the benefit of the doubt \u2013 he is tiny and, knees aside, I\u2019m not sure how I\u2019d articulate those lower limbs either, but it still feels wrong. Luckily, he does have good balance on the two legs. Plus, the tail is ball-jointed if you need it for some poses. So, he can stand up \u2013 which is more than I can see for some other under-articulated figures I\u2019ve bought! I\u2019d like to see more artic down there, but I can understand Hasbro\u2019s case for skipping it. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Above the waist though, this figure lives up to the Legends moniker. Ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and elbows, swivels at the glove and waist, and the articulated jaw. It\u2019s almost enough there to make me forget his legs can\u2019t move. The arms are just about perfectly articulated and the articulated jaw makes the figure super expressive. As I mentioned before, tail is also articulated on a ball-joint. It works great\u2026 it\u2019s also detachable as part of the BAF and, strangely, is about the size of a neck peg…<\/p>\n

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When it comes to the sculpt, Rocket is pretty well spot on. I guess he could be a tad larger, I feel like he should be about waist high to the other characters, but the size doesn\u2019t really detract from the figure. The sculpted details more than make up for it, making Rocket look like he walked off the page. I also appreciate the overall look they went with on the head sculpt. They had some options due to artistic interpretation, but they found a good balance that was neither too realistic nor too cartoony. They did a great job. <\/p>\n

Paintwise, Rocket came out really sharp. On the body, the molded blue & red colors help the figure pop visually and then extra painted details like the buttons, belt, and lapels are all sharp. The head sculpt has some slight fuzz here and there, but that can be completely ascribed to the fur. The gold eyes are downright creepy and look great! <\/p>\n

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While Rocket probably shouldn\u2019t come with any less than three or four big guns, he does at least get one included. It\u2019s a bit rubbery (aren\u2019t they all), but the sculpt is nice and it fits great in ether hand thanks to the sculpted trigger fingers and is a perfect fit for the figure. I’m hopeful that Bulldozer does make his way out soon, as he should include a second gun for Rocket. The ball-jointed shoulders & elbows also help Rocket to take proper aim in a favorite of poses. The paint on mine is sharp, but I could see the little details like the knife and rocket being painted askew on some figures. <\/p>\n

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All around, I give in, this is a great BAF. Yeah, I said it. We\u2019ve come a long way from the Sentinel, but I recognize that it can be just as difficult for toy companies to get smaller figures out as it is huge figures (just look at the complaints about SWB\u2019s R2-D2) and I think this is a good way to go about it. I\u2019m still not totally sold on the idea of a Micro-BAF, but Hasbro wisely just split Rocket up into three figures (instead of ten!) and kept him a relatively cheap figure to pick up (plus, hey you get Wrecker, Jean Grey, & Black Panther!). With Raccoon in hand, I\u2019m stoked to get more of the Guardians. I did sell Drax because he felt too lean, but if I can surround him with the others \u2013 and they\u2019re as good as Rocket \u2013 he may make a comeback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \t

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