At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Thor left Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy - or was it the Asgardians of the Galaxy - and it is this journey with Star-Lord and the crew that will carry forward into 2022's Thor: Love & Thunder.
This review is written ahead of the movie release and is done so only with the information to hand via the packaging of each figure and the teaser trailer from late April 2022. I will update these reviews once the film has been released. This review may contain minor spoilers but only in the context of any information provided on the package or visually on the figure.
The Love & Thunder figures use the standard Legends box with no specific accent colour and rather a strong use of the blue through red scheme we see in the movie logo from the box front. The two side panels carry a mirror image of Groot and this is repeated again on the reverse. Beneath this is the checklist for the Korg BAF and to the side the background text that simply reads...
"I AM GROOT"
No spoilers there then...
Teenage Groot stands just under 6-inch tall, putting him shorter than Star-Lord and Thor and this is accurate in terms of their onscreen heights when we last saw them in Endgame. I am not sure by way of the trailer if Groot has grown since as he appears taller in some of the scenes. Groot is cast in brown plastic throughout with the natural wood texturing built into each of the sculpted body parts.
Sadly the paintwork does not bring out the beauty of the sculpt too well and all we get is some random application of green paint in places and only on the front of the figure. The depth of sculpting and the texture of the wood is screaming out for a simple dark brown wash to make Groot pop and take the figure to the next level? This doesn't feel like a big ask considering the cost of Groot and his very simplistic paint job is identical to that of the two Thor figures who include much more painted detail and use of the photo-real deco.
I do love the head sculpt on Groot which captures his sulky, yet determined, teenage look so well including the dark black painted and yet very emotive eyes. The top of the head includes the green tinge we see on parts of the body, and this makes more sense as the top of the head features shoots that are sprouting up from the recessed section. Oddly, I also have a large blob of glue on my figure in this same location - a factory error leftover from when these shoots are glued into place.
Teenage Grott is of course not a new figure and it uses the body from the figure released in 2018 for Avengers: Infinity War as originally packed in a set alongside Thor and Rocket. The head has been changed on this 2022 release and for the better compared to the older figure. The colouring of Groot overall has gone lighter and the green less obvious when applied.
It will be interesting to see come July if indeed Groot has grown taller and if that is the case we do have another case of early release inaccuracy from Marvel - although in this case, Groot will still get away with being an improvement on the prior release for your Infinity War or Endgame display.
This new version of Teenage Groot gets a better deal in terms of accessories, and while it doesn't feature the tablet Groot plays games on from the first release, he does not get a weapon. This is a larger rifle weapon similar to that touted by Rocket usually, but not the same as those previously released. It is very detailed in terms of the casting but left in its base grey plastic with no added details. The plastic itself is also very soft and bends and warps much easier than any other weapons we've seen recently with Legends or indeed other Hasbro properties. Groot features an alternative hand for the weapon allowing a trigger finger combination to grip the weapon correctly. These hands too are very soft and pliable.
The HUGE win for me with this figure is the inclusion of alternative arm pieces. Despite having other Groot figures over the years, we've never seen this sort of representation of his powers and how his limbs can be stretched and extended.
You have two alternatives available to you and these are designed to swap out at the elbows with the forearms and can be interchanged onto either hand. The first is a long vine-like twisted branch, complete with painted green leaves. The second represents a stretching of the hand and fingers into a twisted three sectional branch. Both of these pieces are cast in the same base colour as the figure with the same greenery paint over certain sections.
Some of the promo images for Groot showed these parts also being inserted into the shoulder joint. I suspect this is an error as the shoulder joint is certainly not removable on my figure and when force is applied the joint starts to warp so I left well alone after that.
These parts can be used on the previous Infinity War Groot, but there is a huge difference in paint finish so they will look a little off.
Groot has just 14 points of articulation - this is a good deal less than standard but I can appreciate the choices made considering Groot has such a slim frame. His elbows and knees are single joints with a rotation therefore there is no real need for a bicep or thigh swivel that would have cut through the look of the figure. The head too is really mobile on the tall neck with the joint hidden away in the recess of the head. It is only really at the waist that motion feels sacrificed, The ball joint here only has a rotating motion and any forward or backward motion is blocked by the thin shape of the torso. While he may be lacking in the articulation count, we do get plenty of great poses out of Groot - either with his weapon that can be carried in one or both hands or with the added arm pieces.
Groot, from the Thor: Love & Thunder wave, is a bit of a two-sided coin. While I love the updated head and the added accessories, there is part of me that knows this is a relatively simple tweaked re-release with limited paintwork that still costs me the same as the Thor or Valkyrie figures in the same wave. I appreciate releases like Groot then allow investment in the other figures, but there was an opportunity here to at least give Groot a paint wash to take him to the next level. I am also keen to see if Teenage Groot has grown taller by Love & Thunder in which case this release maybe another inaccurate 'early' release based on concepts and previews - but the saving grace is that Groot will still have great value for an Infinity War or Endgame display - particularly with his new weaponry!
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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