Dragon 1/9 Rocket Raccoon

Guardians of the Galaxy is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the tenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill forms an uneasy alliance with a group of extraterrestrial misfits who are on the run after stealing a coveted orb.

Rocket is a genetically engineered raccoon who is a bounty hunter and mercenary, as well as a master of weapons and battle tactics. Director James Gunn worked with live raccoons to get the correct feel for the character, and to make sure it was "not a cartoon character", saying, "It's not Bugs Bunny in the middle of the Avengers, it's a real, little, somewhat mangled beast that's alone. There's no one else in the universe quite like him, he's been created by these guys to be a mean-ass fighting machine." Describing Rocket in relation to the rest of the Guardians, Greg Cooper, the voice of Rocket said, "I think Rocket is dynamic. He's the sort of Joe Pesci inGoodfellas guy." Cooper voiced Rocket, while Sean Gunn (James' younger brother) stood-in for the character during filming. James Gunn said that for the role of Rocket, some physical movement from Cooper, including facial expressions and hand movements, was recorded as potential reference for the animators, though much of Sean Gunn's acting is used throughout the film. Before Cooper was cast, James Gunn said that it was a challenge finding a voice for Rocket, that he was looking for someone that could balance "the fast-talking speech patterns that Rocket has, but also can be funny, because he is really funny. But also has the heart that Rocket has. Because there are actually some pretty dramatic scenes with Rocket."

Dragon has released three figures based on this movie. One is the main hero, Peter Quill, with his helmet, the other is Rocket, and the third is Groot with Rocket, all to 1/9 scale. Sorry, no Gamora (Zoe Saldana) figure, which would have been my first choice. Dragon has designed the kit to be easy to assemble, obviously looking more to those who collect action figures than their usual base of hard-core modelers.

The kit has minimal parts and I found that it was a combination of injected styrene and vinyl. Or at least something that feels and acts like vinyl. It may well be that Dragon molded these parts, which make up most of the figure itself, out of their DS plastic. I sincerely hope so as I've found vinyl to be quite difficult in regards of it holding paint. Some simple test fitting showed that the parts will fit quite well and some of them are even rather tight.

The most parts intensive portion of the kit is the head. This is because it has a separate lower jaw, upper palate and the fanged teeth. It also has an adapter that allows the head to be fitted to the upper body. This will be an extremely tight fit. The other part of the kit is in styrene and is what is required to build up his rather impressive gun. There are two halves to this that comprise the majority of the weapon with various bits and pieces added on complete the construct.

Instructions are a single sheet that has one construction step with some smaller detail sections. Colors are provided in Gunze references. Like most large scale figure kits, most of the time spent on this will be painting it. It will be especially challenging due to the large 'fur' areas that will need careful work and I'd think that an airbrush would be pretty much a requirement to get the proper blending of colors. There is no view of the back of the figure so you are on your own in this regard. I'd suggest using the movie as your best reference. Since the arms and legs and head are separate, it would probably be wise to paint these items prior to assembling the body. The kit comes with a display stand.

Dragon seems to have a deal worked out with Marvel to produce figures from their movies as they have done several prior to this one. For those interested in the subject or those looking for something a bit different that will be outside their comfort zone, this would be an excellent introduction to the genre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_%28film%29

December 2014

Thanks to www.dragonmodelsusa.com for the preview kit. You can find this kit at your favorite hobby shop or on-line retailer.

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