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REVIEW: Hot Toys Guardians Of The Galaxy Little Groot ¼ Scale Collectible
A Little Dancing Fun For Your Guardians Collection...
There have been lots of toys based on last summer’s epic blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy, but among the best (of course) are those from Hot Toys. Your main source for 1/6th scale figures, the Hong Kong company has created incredibly screen accurate figures of the main characters like Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, and more. But that’s not all. Hot Toys went above and beyond their usual offerings to create a unique ¼ scale collectible capturing one of the most memorable and endearing character moments from the film, and of course we’re talking about “Little Groot.” After full-size Groot’s destruction during the crash of Ronan’s ship the Dark Aster, Rocket carefully cultivated a twig from the wreckage and before the final credits viewers got to see the fruits of that labor. A new sprout took hold and Little Groot began growing like a potted plant... a plant that loves to dance!
Little Groot comes in a really nice package, a small window box showing off the adorable figure and its accessories. The overall theme of the box is blue and yellow with technological details reminiscent of a spaceship. On the front panel above the window is the Guardians of the Galaxy movie title logo, and below is the name of the figure (“Little Groot”), the Hot Toys logo, and a ¼/quarter scale emblem. Both sides of the box feature the wraparound window and cool graphics, and the top has the gold Guardians of the Galaxy symbol. The back panel is packed with tech info, warnings, more logos, and the like. Getting your Groot out couldn’t be easier as the figure sits in a plastic tray along with the two accessories.
Little or Baby Groot is a pretty simple character, little more than a stub of a tree with a head and rudimentary arms, all growing in a small, plain pot. But as always it’s all in the details that make it a standout character and a fun little collectible. And as usually, that starts with an incredible sculpt by the team at Hot Toys (and specifically Joseph Tsang). Little Groot stands approximately 5 inches tall in his pot, which would translate to a bit more than a foot and half tall in real life. The pot itself is appropriately plain with a flat exterior, rounded lip at the top, and four notches in the bottom. At the top you can see that Groot grows in a bed of rocky dirt. The figure itself really looks like it’s comprised of dendritic fibers and tendrils. The roots come together to a definitive “waist” that flows upward into a long torso, at the top of which branches out two arms that end in what look like three-fingered hands. Groot’s head is huge in comparison and features the iconic flat face with no nose, sunken round eyes, and upper portion that looks like dreadlocks. The sculpt is really intricate with all of the tree root and branch details, random sprigs and leaves, and even a slightly textured surface like new bark.
The paint applications on Groot are great, and honestly even better in person than I could capture in photos. Just as in the sculpt the pot and soil are appropriately plain so the eye goes right to the figure. The base is an off-white/grayish color (just like in the film) with light hints of brown, while the dirt is a starker cement gray. Groot himself is mostly a rich brown with dark shadowing and highlights of bright green on tendrils, tips of shoots, and fingers. Also just like onscreen, his eyes are pitch black orbs that really catch the light. After re-watching the iconic scene I suppose there could have been more green in the final product, but that’s a personal preference and he still looks great.
Besides looking cute, what is “baby” Groot best known for? Dancing, of course! Everyone knows the iconic scene in which he dances to the Jackson Five while Drax glances over, and that range of movement is attempted in the Hot Toys ¼ scale version. Rather than articulating the figure, which would have broken up the narrow limbs and textured surfaces with ugly joints, Hot Toys went with a bendable endoskeleton so that you can manipulate him into various poses. While you may want to go nuts and yank and pull Groot in all directions, there is a small card that comes in the package with very specific notations. He bends forward and backward at the “waist” approximately 30 degrees; likewise each arm can be elevated at the shoulder up to 45 degrees (so straight out). The warning is that moving the body or limbs past those benchmarks could result in damage to the figure. You might be able to get a bit more movement past that, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Lastly, Groot’s head is mounted on a traditional ball joint that’s well hidden, and so he can look all around and up and down.
Little Groot didn’t have any accessories in the film, and there’s no way for the figure to hold anything or swap out hands, so Hot Toys went in their other usual direction and provided collectors with additional interchangeable heads with different facial expressions. The standard Groot head on this figure has a wide but closed-mouth smile and the most adorable eyes. What we’ll call head #2 is “blah” Groot with mouth closed and completely horizontal, and an overall blank expression (what one might wear while pretending you weren’t just dancing). Finally, head #3 is the most joyous with a huge open-mouthed smile that reveals some tiny baby Groot teeth! The heads are very snug on the ball joint so make sure to pose and swap them carefully.
Hot Toys’ 1/4th scale Little Groot, with articulation and interchangeable heads, retails for about $45 and is available now. It’s a great addition to anyone’s Guardians of the Galaxy collection, and a must have for Groot fans. At that price it’s way more affordable than all of the other larger-scale Guardians figures and statues, and there aren’t a whole lot of quarter scale options from the film anyway. Now this isn’t the only collectible representing baby/little Groot (and it ain’t the cheapest), but it’s by far the best looking and most detailed. And while it doesn’t dance on its own you’re welcome to add some tunes and set him up in fun poses, or “freeze” him with the blank face ‘cause he stops whenever people are watching!
Review and photos by Scott Rubin
Review sample courtesy of Hot Toys
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