Spolier Alert!!! If you haven't watched Guardians of the Galaxy yet, avert your eyes. Groot gets blown up. And a new Groot is grown from a splinter. Here's Little Groot from GotG mid-credit scene. Dragon brings us a pre-painted model kit meaning some assembly required. First to market with a Groot figure, with the Hot Toys 1/4 scale Groot hot on their heels.
SPECS
Name / Series: Little Groot (Pre-painted Model Kit) / Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Character: Groot
Scale: None scale
Edition Size: Open?, Unknown
Box Size [H / W / D] (inches): 9 x 6.25 x 4.25
[B]Max. Dimensions [H / W / D] (inches):7.625 x 4 x 3.25
Producer: Dragon
Original MSRP (JPY): 9,800 (approx. 63 USD). Available from U.S. dealers for $85
Material: PVC. Foam used as filler in pot base.
Designed and Sculpted By: Unknown
REVIEW
Design: 7
Dragon chose the "raise the roof" for dancing Groot. The design choice were limited, but Dragon does not offer us and posability or alternate faces for Groot. Standing at 7.5 inches tall, it will be bigger than the Hot Toys version, but HT offers more display options at a lower peice.
Sculpt: 6
The sculpt is film accurate at a smaller scale, but lacks any fine detail under close inspection. But figure looks great at a viewing distance. The smiling face of baby Groot is accurately reproduced. The pot base and "soil" are unremarkable but what else would one expect.
Paint & Appliques: 5
Paint applications are very simple. Colors are more brown and darker than shown in the photos. The figure could have benefited a few different shades to break up the sungle color of most of the brown.
Production & Build Quality: 4
The figure and the base are constructed from PVC. A firm foam is used as a filler between the pot and the "soil" bottom of Groot. The soil base does not snap i. Place and sits on the foam spacer with three long oengs into the foam. Being a model kit, it comes in 7 pre-painted pieces. The joints between the parts are not crisp and tight. The base of Groot to the soil is visible as well as Groot's head to body. These joints could have been crisper.
Final Comments:
Dragon makes the largest offered licensed Groot figure known to date. But Ht Toys seems to offer a much more flexible and detaiiled figure. Dragon's Groot make a nice desk topper conversation piece, but falls short as colletible for the price. Kotobukiya offers nicely detail Marvel and DC figures that are crisply painted for about $45. I recommend get it if you can get it cheap, but otherwise it's a pass. Take a look at what Toys is offering. I will.
Overall Score: 5.5
