Venomized Groot: Hot Toys Marvel Figure Unboxing And Review
Sideshow and Hot Toys continue to take a deeper dive into Marvel lore for products that are deeper [...]
Sideshow and Hot Toys continue to take a deeper dive into Marvel lore for products that are deeper cuts into the fandom's knowledge than their many versions of Iron Man suits. Now, they have a Venomized Groot figure from the Spider-Man: Maximum Venom animated series available. It stands just under 10-inches tall and captures both the adorable and terrifying sides of a combination of the Guardians of the Galaxy character and the symbiote. Sideshow provided ComicBook.com with a sample of the figure to take a closer look at and review, as seen in the photos throughout this article!
First, some facts: The Venomized Groot clocks in at $230. It's a price tag on the lower end for the highly-detailed Hot Toys figures. The figure is available to ship now from Sideshow and clearly puts together two of the most popular characters in Marvel lore: Venom and Groot. It offers an impressive level of customization and a box to match the theme of the figure. Full details can be found in the photos below!
First impression: this figure is surprisingly delightful. A wonderfully package, customizable and creative figure.
The Packaging
The box is one of the most creative designs I've seen from Hot Toys for a Marvel product. As a collector of mostly movie-accurate figures (with a video game figure now in the arsenal, as well), it was really refreshing to see the color-filled box lined with holographic sections and a banner showing the alternate version of the figure with a fully Venomized face. Not too mention, the Spider-Man: Maximum Venom logo is fun in itself.
Once the creative outer packaging is removed, the Groot figure inside is revealed behind a plastic barrier. It's not a level of plastic you'll want to display the figure from but a clear layout that shows you everything you're getting in the box at a glance. The photo above shows the first look at the contents of the box before anything is removed or unpackaged.
prevnextThe Figure
The figure itself feels tremendously creative. The default face is a great combination of a well-detailed Groot face and a small Venom face to fit Groot's. The eye of the Groot is particularly real looking, as are the touches of moss on the top of its head and the bark that lines the face and left arm. The right side of the face and the rest of the figure's body ar overtaken by the Venom symbiote, sometimes offering a nice reflective glow as the fluid-like texture of the alien likely would.
There are parts of th figure that have built in holes or small pieces emerging to allow for the Venus fly traps to attach to the figure. The joints stand out a bit but given the tree-nature of a Groot figure, it is not too jarring to see the splits in pieces of bark where the figure offers bends or rotations on limbs. It stands up very easily on its own.
prevnextThe Accessories
The Venomized Groot collectible comes with a surprising amount of accessories. First off, the stand offers a cartoon-like feeling its design which is centered around the Spider-Man: Maximum Venom logo. It's a quiet look which definitely does not distract from the figure itself when it is propped onto it and it is sturdy enough to hold the figure off of the ground and not lean forward or fall over.
The props and customizable feature are the great touch, though. Three Venus fly traps emerge from the front of the packaging, along with two different Venom tongue options, a full-on Venom face, a piece to lay over Groot's left shoulder to fully Venomize it, and a fully Venomized left arm. There is also one small piece of Groot tree that can be attached, as desired. The Venus fly traps fall off from the figure with a bit of frustrating ease but when they are posed and locked in (the stems are a bendable wire), they really complete the figure.
prevnextThe Posing
The figure is delightfully posable. Not only can the faces (and their expressions with the different tongues) change entirely, but the figure had articulating fingers, wrists, knees, ankles, waist, shoulders, elbows, neck, and more. It is easy to find find variations of the character's stance both on two feet or mounted into the air with the stand holding it up.
The figure really offers such a surprising level of fun through its creative nature of combining these two characters but also in its fun poses. You can constantly change it with ease, especially if you remove the fly traps.
prevnextThe Overall
Overall, this figure is delightful and awesome. Upon receiving it, my expectation was not to rank the figure among the top in my Hot Toys and Sideshow collection comprised mostly of Avengers and Mandalorian figures. However, after opening it up, seeing the super fun packaging, and getting to know the figure inside, I found myself blown away by how much fun I was having posing and displaying the figure. For $230, it's a great price to get a super creative, highly-detailed figure that homages a popular animated series.
Groot looks consistent enough with his appearance in the second Guardians movie for my inner MCU buff to be satisfied, Venom looks comic and movie accurate, and the fun the combination is able to have when paying homage an animated series makes this one of my all time favorite figures - and I'm surprised to admit that! All things considered, a truly wonderful and fun figure to have in a collection. For more info or to consider getting one for yourself, head over to Sideshow's official page.
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