I think most people are aware of the MCU’s gradual decline by now. The nosedive in quality of their content (with a few exceptions) in a way has affected my buying habits from this theme. If I don’t care about the new projects, why would I care about the sets? However, Guardians Volume 3 was among the exceptions and man, did it deliver. Weirdly enough though, I don’t feel the same way about the 3 sets made for this movie. The Bowie is a bit underwhelming at the scale its in and the overpriced Baby Rocket’s ship doesn’t interest me at all, that leaves the smallest and cheapest set of the wave.

The Build

The HQ: This build is just a tiny corner of a room in Knowhere HQ. There’s a doorway that directly leads to a large stickered tile to represent the Guardians of the Galaxy sign on the right and a wall featuring a sticker of admittedly great looking schematics detail and clips that holds onto a wrench and a shovel. The side build to the already small main build is a simple table comprised of very little pieces, a silver mug as well as an axe and hammer rest on the table, of which only the mug is attached securely. Overall, there’s really not much going on here, but it’s pretty solid for what it is and somewhat charming with its simplicity.

The Minifigs

Star-Lord: The guardians don their comic book suits in Volume 3, and as a result, the torso and legs are repeated with all the guardians. It’s a bit of an Endgame quantum suits situation here, but I don’t really mind it as unlike the quantum suits, these suits are worn for most of the movie and displays the team’s unity. The prints are very well-done and accurate to the film and the Chris Pratt face and hair remains unchanged which is perfectly fine. As is usual with the character, he comes equipped with his iconic blasters. Overall, I understand the need to include Star-Lord in the cheapest set of the wave, but it is a missed opportunity to have a less common character take the slot. Oh well, it’s still a great figure nonetheless.

Swole Groot: The next stage of Groot’s growth shows an adolescent/young adult version of the character. The figure remains mostly unchanged from his teenage variant, featuring the same torso and leg prints, but differing with the addition of a spiky shoulder pad piece and a new face print. On paper, this doesn’t sound like a satisfying or substantial change, but I’m pleased with how well it works. The shoulder pad element is surprisingly effective for giving him a taller stature and broader shoulders, and the new face print perfectly conveys the change in age since we last saw him. Overall, this is a very well-executed figure. Sure, he could’ve benefited from arm/side leg printing, but the detail is still fantastic and it’s a must-have if you seek to collect all varying ages/sizes of Groot.

Overall Opinion

The build was expectedly simple and somewhat bare bones, but it’s a nice throwback to small builds of its price point. The included figures are great and definitely the draw for this set, but I can’t help but feel this kind of set was a good opportunity to get some side characters we’ve never gotten before, like Kraglin or Cosmo the dog. Nevertheless, this remains a fairly enjoyable set at an enticing price. If you’re a Guardians fan, this is a nice one and well worth picking up.

Introduction: It has been rare in recent years that Marvel produces a cheap location set with solid minifigures. I had to do a double take when I first saw the Vol. 3 set images. All signs pointed towards the $100 set being too small to house every minifigure, and the Rocket set lacked appeal regarding its minifigs. Then came this set. An easy way to get the new Guardians suit and army build Groots, while also allowing you the pieces to creatively expand a larger Guardians Headquarters. Having never bought multiple of one set before, (besides for CMF of course), I was reluctant at first, but after building it once, I was not disappointed, and I don't think you would be either.

Minifigures: This $10 set includes Star-Lord in the new Guardians suit and an updated Teenage Groot. Looking at Star-Lord first, he comes with the classic Chris Pratt head and hair as well as the aforementioned brand-new suit. It is stunning to say the least. The torso printing bleeds into the leg printing so spectacularly, and it mainly accurate to the film from what we can see in the trailers. The one practical improvement I recommend is swapping out the grey hands for either flesh-colored or black. The torso and legs reappear in the other two sets, meaning that they can be reused with previous Guardian parts to suit up characters such as Nebula, Drax, Rocket, Mantis, or Gamora (who is only rumoured to appear wearing this suit, but looks good in it nonetheless). Nebula, Drax, Rocket, and Mantis parts can all be found in the recent Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Event Calendar. Gamora can be found most recently from the Marvel CMF Series. The Event Calendar can currently usually be found on store shelves, commonly on clearance, while CMF Gamora is rare, but can still be found for relatively cheap from some sources out there. Star-Lord also includes his classic blasters, fittingly in this set with Groot, as we see them sharing use of these weapons in the trailers for this movie. Groot comes in the set with an interesting assortment of parts. He has the reverse situation to Star-Lord here. The head and shoulder piece are exclusive, while the torso and legs are not. The torso and legs look good nonetheless, and are still very welcome despite their appearance in the Event Calendar and in the recent Benatar. The shoulder piece is nice, but, the head feels too flat for some reason. The old head was much better in my opinion, as it gave a life to the face that is otherwise too small and dull here. Despite my criticisms about the head, it is still a good figure, it simply lacks a likeness to Groot with the face.

Build: The Build is very lively, full of tools and little kinks that give it a unique flavor. There are stickers for the Guardians sign and the vitals chart. Printed parts would have been preferred, but I understand why they are stickers here instead, and if you intend to buy multiple, it works out that those parts aren't printed. There is a fascinating variety of parts in use here on the room and the table, and it has the perfect Guardians vibes to it. When it comes to accuracy, we see this room in the Holiday Special as well as the Vol. 3 trailer, with Quill sitting at this table strategising or drowning his sorrows. We have reason to believe that this headquarters set is on Knowhere, the base of locations for our favorite cosmic caretakers.

Conclusion: This set has my full recommendations and beyond. As mentioned before, it's a great set to buy multiple of and sort of cheat the system with in regards to collecting the new Guardians suit. It's a spectacular addition if you only buy one too. The Guardians of the Galaxy theme has always been a favorite for me, and I personally geek out over building these sets and collecting these characters. I was introduced to the characters through building the original sets back in 2014, and as we've now reached Volume 3, on a meta level, it's indescribably cool to imagine the current younger audience doing the same with these. I hope you enjoyed this review on Set 76253!