Review: 41626 Groot and Rocket
Posted by Huw,
BrickHeadz continue to divide opinion among AFOLs but here at Brickset we love them so we were delighted when LEGO offered to send us some of the latest releases to review.
First, I'll take a look at 41626 Groot & Rocket, two characters who first appeared on screen in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but which here appear in their Avengers: Infinity War incarnations.
Rocket
Rocket is a raccoon so is smaller than the characters normally depicted as BrickHeadz. Therefore he's built using the new 3x3 core design rather than the usual 4x4.
I love his whiskers, which utilise a piece that has also been used for Wolverine's claws, and his cute nose. However, I'm not convinced at all by his ears which do not protrude above his head, as they should. They look particularly bad in the picture of the pair of them above.
Slopes are used to form the tufts of hair at the side of the face, which gives the mammal its distinctive appearance but, again, they are not entirely convincing.
The animal's bushy tail protrudes from its rear, which is otherwise featureless.
Although not without its faults, it's an acceptable and recognisable representation of Rocket.
Groot
Groot -- a sentient tree-like creature -- has outgrown his flower pot and is an adolescent in Infinity War, so is the same size as most BrickHeadz.
His dark tan bark-like skin is enhanced with the use of printed 1x4 bricks in two patterns, and 1x2 tiles, and I think it looks great.
He holds a hand-held video game -- printed on a 1x2 transparent tile -- in his left hand.
HIs body and head are asymmetrical, as you would expect a tree to be.
Perhaps my favourite feature, though, is the green growth on his head, atop of olive green plates.
Verdict
I think Groot is great, but Rocket, not so much. The ears are, frankly, pathetic. It looks more like he has some sort of hat on.
That's disappointing, but I suspect it won't stop fans of these popular characters wanting to add them to their BrickHeadz collection.
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. All opinions expressed in it are my own.
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22 comments on this article
Groot is holding video game on his left hand* :)
Yeah, Rocket doesn't look all that great to me. He's never struck me as being a brown tone, and he's missing lighter-colored stripes on his face.
They look cool, but Rocket could have been made better.
Im buying this as "build your ent" set. Great pieces!
Just addsome mixel joints!
Groot is fine but Rocket is not,
He, s more secret squirrel than Racoon if im honest overall 7/10 lego:
While Rocket could be better, he doesn't seem too bad to me, and the ears work well in my opinion. Plus I have the rare opinion that raccoons are one of the best animals ever, so a character based on a raccoon is a must have. Groot is also great and has some really useful pieces, so I will definetly consider getting this one.
totally agree. I bought it because i love the Groot fig. May have to try and change Rocket and get rid of his pork pie hat !!
Ugh, you're right, Huw, Rocket's ears are strange and not in a good way. It'll need some tweaking. Plus, I'd rather have Rocket's fur colored pieces be more of a grayish color. Too much red in there if you ask me. Groot looks good though.
My hatred of BrickHeads is greater than my love of Guardians of the Galaxy, so I won't be getting these. ...which really is something because I absolutely LOVE Guardians of the Galaxy! One of my favorite movies.
Why oh why are they in a two pack? I only want Groot since Rocket looks... Well just too weird.
I don't think his ears look like a hat at all, but the colors are definitely off for both of them. Maybe Groot would work better without the regular brown and bright green, with just dark tan and olive
Huh, I think Rocket is the better of the two. Groot's colors are all wrong.
This might be the first Brickheadz set I'm actually interested in! Both look adorable!
The important question is: Will the Brickheadz theme last long enaught, so that we will get a Drax before it is shut down?
I guess Rocket wouldn't be very happy with this cute depiction.
^Shut down?
According to " https://www.quora.com/How-many-funko-pops-were-released " almost 6.000 Funko Pop figurine products have been created.
If TLG wants to catch up with this I think sooner or later there will be a Brickheadz for everyone.
I want it just for that video game tile.
Groot doesn’t like hats
Ugh... Rocket is a complete horror show.
Brickheadz fail again.
Why am I not surprised?
I don't get the complaints about Rocket. He may not be 100% accurate, but he's also cute as heck. I think the ears look fine.
I think these two are brilliantly creative and very authentic, not to mention adorable! It surprises me that the colors are so different from their minifigure counterparts. Overall, though, I don't think they're any less authentic than the minifigures' colors — in fact, in Groot's case the Sand Yellow arguably feels like a much more accuraate fit than Reddish Brown did. Rocket's colors in the movie seem to be somewhere between the BrickHeadz and minifigure versions — not as vibrant as the Reddish Brown, but definitely not the neutral Dark Stone Grey from the minifigure. It would be interesting to see if LEGO would ever be willing to try and redo the minifigures of these characters in more authentic colors, like they did with the Hulk bigfig between the first and second Avengers movies.
Overall I feel like LEGO has done an amazing job pushing the boundaries of the BrickHeadz this year. Now that last year's sets have established the proportional standards, this year's are exploring just how many ways the builds can be modified while still maintaining that same iconic look.