Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Baby Groot statue

Introduction

After my second viewing last week of Guardians of the Galaxy, it's official - it's my top movie for 2014. There's a couple others that rank up there, but for sheer movie going fun, nothing else came close.

There's a fair share of companies producing collectibles of course, including Hot Toys, who are doing 1/6th figures of the entire team. They've also announced a 1/4 scale Baby Groot, although why they wouldn't simply do a 1:1 scale replica, I have no idea.

There's various other companies doing replicas of the cute little bugger, and individual artists are also providing their take on the character.  One of those is Sculptorio, an artist that usually sticks with cool portrait plaques, but decided to create this Baby Groot statue to mix things up.

This is the sort of review that's a little unusual - while I'm looking at a specific item from Sculptorio, it's really his overall style and work that I'm reviewing. This isn't a widely available mass market item, but rather a very (very) limited art piece, hand made by a talented sculptor.

This also isn't his normal format. If you check out his page on Etsy, you'll see that he usually creates portraits of pop culture characters on small plaques, designed to hang on the wall. His style is unique, and easily recognizable, making a collection of these plaques very eye catching. I'll be reviewing one of these in the near future as well.

But tonight it's all about the Groot! This guy costs about $55, when he's available. If he's not, you can always commission something like this through the Etsy store.

Packaging - **
Plastic bags and shipping boxes - nothing fancy when it's an artisan, rather than a company, producing something like this. That's fine, since he made it to my doorstep safe and sound, and that's the most critical aspect of any package.

Sculpting - ****
This is NOT an exact replica of the Baby Groot on screen. As with most artistic works, this has Sculptorio's style printed all over it, and actually has quite a bit more texture and detail than what we had on screen, especially in the face.

There's plenty of difference here - the eyes are larger and closer together, the smile is wider and more deeply set in the face, and the body had thicker stranding. There aren't any of the small leaves either, but these are all minor issues to me - this is an artistic interpretation, not an exact copy.

The scale is great though for a replica, coming in at 6 1/2" tall without the wooden base. Of course, since Baby Groot is going to grow (and was seen as just a little stick in the movie as well) the exact size is somewhat relative. But this scale works well with his final appearance, dancing in the after credits sequence.

I like the increased detailing in the trunk and face, with the grainy texture and extremely happy expression. The lidded eyes and wide smile emote the silly happiness of Groot perfectly, and everyone will instantly recognize him, even if it's not screen accurate.

The resin figure is attached to an actual wooden base, and stands great will little fear of tipping over.

Paint - ***1/2
Each of these is hand painted of course, and you'd see a slightly different result if you had another.

That's a good thing though - it adds to the overall artistic quality. The browns of the wood are well done, but the wash is a bit heavy handed in some spots. Still, it looks like a real tree - not resin - and that can be a tricky thing to pull off.

The eyes are really the only detail, and they are very clean and consistent in their coverage.

Articulation - Bupkis
This is an information only category this time around, but I wanted to be clear that this is a statue - no articulation!

Accessories - ***
While it might seem odd that he has accessories, he does!

A large plastic pot is included, along with a couple small bags of dry potting soil and a bag of mossy grass. There's also some potting sticks, to help keep the wooden base centered in the pot. Including these extras, especially at this price point, is the sort of touch you only get from a custom artist.

Value - ***1/2
Most of Sculptorio's work costs $40 - $70, and this Groot was around $55. You'll pay that much for a mass produced bust or statue in a similar scale from a large company, and lose the handmade quality that this possesses.

On top of that, there are actual replicas that cost far more, considering they aren't even 1:1. There's the Dragon version - 7" overall including the pot - for $85! And let's not forget that Hot Toys just announced a 1/4th scale version, but that will cost $45. Not sure how they are calculating these scales, since the Hot Toys version is 5" tall overall, including it's small pot, and Baby Groot on screen in his pot certainly didn't look 20" tall...

Things to Watch Out For -
Don't drop him - otherwise, you'll be good to go!

Overall - ****
I assume part of the reason Sculptorio isn't going for an exact look is copyright - custom artists like this have to be careful about exact duplicates for obvious copyright infringement. However, there's also a matter of style, and this is clearly the artist's rendition of Baby Groot, rather than an attempt at a true prop replica.

The best thing about this guy - he makes me smile every time I look at him. Not a whole lot of my collection does that!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - **
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - Bupkis
Accessories - ***
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ****

Where to Buy
Sculptorio sells his custom work on Etsy, where you can pick up various pieces in the $40 - $70 range, depending on the piece.

Related Links -
The only other Guardians of the Galaxy items I've covered (so far) is the Rocket mini-bust from Gentle Giant, and the Marvel Legends Guardians of the Galaxy wave, broken into this review, this one, and finally, this one that includes the BAF, Groot.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!