POP! Marvel: Rocket and Potted Groot (Summer Convention 2015 Exclusive)

Back in 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy was released and rapidly took the box office – and the rest of the world – by storm. It was something of a surprise hit, as the property is pretty obscure even among comic fans, but it was pretty clear from the opening minutes that Marvel had something pretty special on their hands.

Though I enjoyed all of the main characters, my favourites were the two who could have so easily been the worst parts of the film – Groot and the subject of today’s article, Rocket Raccoon. A plush toy in the making, accompanied by a tree, who only repeats the words “I am Groot” over and over again? That sounds dreadful on paper. But in execution it was funny, charming – and in one of the film’s climatic scenes – surprisingly moving.

So here we are, almost a year and a half later, looking at the most recent addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy Funko POP! line – Rocket with Potted Groot. Characters who aren’t of regular human proportions don’t always look so great when translated into POP form. I was a little unsure on Rocket when I first saw his POP design, and I couldn’t say I’m totally sold on it as yet. But it’s grown on me. Not great on his own, but when taken with Groot they’re a pretty cool pair.      

Of course, this is theoretically a convention exclusive, so it needs to have something to distinguish it from the regular versions – hence the miniature Groot! It largely reuses the original Rocket sculpt, though he has a new right arm to cradle the potted Groot (who is very cute, in spite of the details being a little soft). Rather than his orange jumpsuit, he’s also been repainted in a Nova Corps blue. I don’t think it’s super film-accurate, but he does wear something similar near the end of the movie.   

So, the final verdict – the thing you all came here for. Mine has a black paint streak across his forehead, which is a little annoying, but not a deal-breaker. I actually think he turned out very well – I think that this guy should have been given a more mainstream release, given that he’s distinct from the increasingly innumerable Groot and Dancing Groot releases.

With that said, Popcultcha has him and I even saw him show up in a Co-Op Bookshop near Central Station in Sydney, so you’ll probably have an easier time getting him than most of the other SDCC exclusives. Nonetheless, I’d be surprised if we don’t see a regular release repaint at some point in the future – maybe in Reaver colours or something. Worth tracking down if you can find him at the right price.  

POP! Marvel Black Suit Spider-Man

Series: POP! Marvel

Year: 2015

RRP: $16.95

Though I own a whole bunch of POPs, this is actually the first Peter Parker Spider-Man I’ve bought. I’ve toyed with getting one of the comics-based ones, but to be honest I’m just not that huge a fan of him these days. But the Black Suit (or Symbiote suit, if you want to get technical) is probably my favourite costume of all the different versions he’s had over the years.

To cut a long story short, Spider-Man was on an alien planet as part of the Secret Wars (the 1980s one, not the 2015 one), and ended up bringing an alien life form back to earth with him – the symbiote. After a while, Spider-Man worked out that his new “suit” was causing him a few problems and got rid of it. But eventually it would find a new host – Eddie Brock, who we all know as that most 90s of comic villains, Venom.

Like his series/wave-mate Spider-Man 2099, this figure is built on the basic body, with the details coming from the tampos and paintwork. This might seem a little cheap, but it’s actually pretty true to the first appearance of the suit – you’ll notice there are a few blue highlights, but it’s otherwise flat and solid black. Blue highlights often look rubbish when translated to 3D form, so I’m glad that they have been left off here. 

This guy has been out in the US for a while, so far as I understand, but only seems to have made his way to Australia in the last month or so. The whole wave is Spider-Man themed, featuring the Punisher (who debuted in Spider-Man comic, before you get on your high horse), Venom and Spider-Man 2099. It’s a welcome change from the last couple of years; save for the X-Men wave released earlier in 2015, Marvel POPs! have been very heavily dominated by the movie universe for a couple of years. Most of these are great, of course, but it’s good to have some comic-based stuff too. This guy is highly recommended for Spider-fans. Hopefully we’ll soon see an Iron Spider released too.

POP! Marvel: Ant-Man (glow in the dark variant)

It's Funko POP! week again -- Hooray! So let's kick it off with a look at one of my least favourite characters of all time.


Series: POP! Marvel

Year: 2015

RRP: $16.95

Back when I was about 14 or 15, my local library started getting in a whole bunch of Marvel Essentials paperbacks – the big black-and-white ones. I remember reading the Avengers and X-Men ones, which compiled some of the very early issues of both titles. To the jaded eyes of a teenager raised on the X-TREME 90s school of comics, they were more than a little twee. Unfairly, they put me off Marvel quite a bit for a number of years.

In hindsight, I can appreciate a little more how important the books were at the time – the idea of a shared universe was really only sort of burgeoning at the time, and these titles did a lot to further that, even if some of the stories are a little hokey by today’s more sophisticated standards. Jack Kirby also had a very distinct art style, and though I sometimes have mixed feelings about that style, one would have to be a fool to deny the very real and positive influence he has exercised over the comics that have followed.

But one thing that I can’t really appreciate in hindsight is a key character – Ant-Man. Marvel and DC both have their share of decidedly average characters, but Ant-Man has always been one of my least favourite, across any company. Truly feeble, even by the “anything goes” standards of the early 1960s, Ant-Man was always a C-Lister trying to play in an A-Lister’s title. Tales to Astonish? The only astonishment experienced was at how lame he was, and that he continued to get published.

But more than 50 years since his debut, Ant-Man has just made his big-screen debut, defying all expectations. And I’ve done something even more shocking, something that I never, ever thought I’d do – bought a piece of Ant-Man merchandise.

Perhaps appropriately, I didn’t get off to a great start with this particular POP. He felt out of the box awkwardly as I was trying to get him out, and then his head was wonky. To be fair, this is a problem that affects a lot of Marvel POPs; as they’re contractually obliged to be bobbleheads rather than just figures, the wire can get a little bent out of shape. It’s easier to fix at some times than others, but this one looks just plain lopsided, his head cocked to one side. And then I tried to move him for the turnaround shot and he just fell over, due to the head being so heavy. Were it a lot of other characters, I’d be pretty irritated, but it’s keeping well within my experience of disappointment with Ant-Man.    

But on to the positive. Ant-Man is a very detailed sculpt, with loads of little details captured on both the suit and on the helmet. There are a few areas of paint slop around some of the smaller details, which isn’t really surprising – but the paintwork is relatively clean, much more so than a lot of POPs I’ve owned.

There are two other versions of this POP available – the non-glow version, which looks pretty similar, except the helmet has transparent lenses and Blackout Ant-Man, which was a repaint for SDCC. Yellowjacket, the film’s villain, is also available in both regular and glow versions too. The shop assistant who sold me this guy tells me Yellowjacket’s glow is not terribly amazing. I can confirm that Ant-Man's is definitely not great, though it is novel that his shirt and eyes glow red. I've found this mediocre glow to be spread across most of the GitD POPs I've bought. But I have yet to learn my lesson and stop buying them...

This POP has not turned me into an Ant-Man fan – he still kind of sucks – but I suspect that will be a big part of the humour in the actual movie. So this POP comes recommended for fans, but is unlikely to convert you if you're anti-Ant-Man or simply on the fence.