Yondu (Guardians of the Galaxy Animated Series)

Yondu is the leader of the faction of Ravagers who abducted Peter Quill from Earth as a child. He is played awesomely in the movies by Michael Rooker. I was skeptical at first because this Yondu was such a departure from the original comics character but Rooker's performance won me over. James Arnold Taylor provides his voice on the show. This figure is good in terms of sculpting and articulation but his complete lack of accessories bothers me. I can totally see why Groot had no accessories, he doesn't really use any. But Yondu has an iconic weapon in his "Yakka arrow" and it's such an easy accessory to make I can't imagine why they skipped it. I'd say it was because they were worried about a choking hazard but then so are Drax's knives. So *shrug* I let him borrow the arrow from his Infinite Series 3.75" comic book counterpart.

Nebula (Guardians of the Galaxy Animated Series)

Nebula is another unfortunate soul raised by Thanos. In the movies Nebula and Gamora have a great twisted sibling rivalry that is mirrored in the cartoon. In the comics Nebula claims to be Thanos' granddaughter and plays a pivotal role in the original Infinity Gauntlet series. Her bald cyborg look doesn't appear until after that major event in a storyline in Silver Surfer. This figure comes with twin swords that remind me a bit of Asajj Ventress' or Count Dooku's lightsabers with their more Italian style hilt. It's kind of neat that the animated Nebula (voiced by Cree Summer) got an actual posable action figure before the movie Nebula (played by Karen Gillan). Though the movie Nebula figure should be out next month from the Marvel Legends line.

Rocket Raccoon (Guardians of the Galaxy Animated Series)

Rocket Raccoon first appeared in a few issues of Incredible Hulk before starring in his own miniseries (all written by Bill Mantlo and the miniseries was early work by Mike Mignola). In his early appearances Rocket got his name from his boot rockets he used to fly, much better than a rocket pack for anyone with a tail.  The hating being called a raccoon is something right out of the movies. This figure is scaled to fit in with the others so he's short but still has nice elbows like his taller teammates. His big honkin' gun is fun and can be held with one hand or two. Rocket's tail can spin around but tends to be too unbalancing for the figure unless resting on the ground. To compensate for being shorter he comes with a potted baby Groot.

Drax the Destroyer (Guardians of the Galaxy Animated Series)

Drax the Destroyer lives only to kill Thanos. In the comics Drax was created from Arthur Douglas, an Earthman driving through the desert with his family as Thanos flew overhead and exploded them to hide his presence. This worked super well because Thanos' father Mentor was watching the whole thing and put Douglas' mind into an indestructible body filled with vengeance. Drax "died" again and came back with brain damage that made him talk more like the Hulk. He was eventually restored to normal and started sporting his current tattooed, knife wielding look.

Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy Animated Series)

Groot first appeared in Tales to Astonish #13 in a classic monster tale by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Groot who joined the Guardians of the Galaxy is a different individual from Planet X (yes Planet X, it was the 60's). Groot spoke rarely but normally until the 2008 Guardians of the Galaxy series where Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning gave him the limited yet poignant vocabulary everyone's favourite giant tree alien is now famous for.  Groot is the only figure in this line to have knee joints and is so much taller than the others that he was packaged with his legs detached from the body.

Star-Lord (Guardians of the Galaxy Animated Series)

We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 opening weekend at a Friday matinee. The film was awesome and reminded me that I still needed to shoot the rest of the team from the animated series line.

Peter Quill is the half-human/half-Spartoi Star-Lord. Possessing twin "element guns" he leads the Guardians in their sometimes good/sometimes bad adventures. The animated Star-Lord looks like Chris Pratt jumped off the silver screen into the toon box but sounds like Batman Beyond because he's voiced by the great Will Friedle. Like Gamora before him articulation is not his strong suit. His arms are decent but he has no knees. The collar of his jacket negates most of his neck rotation. The element guns fit nicely into his hands but look a little gargantuan in their holsters.

Scarlet Spider (Marvel Legends Infinite Series)

The Clone Saga, perhaps the most infamous comic storyline of the 90's and almost definitely the most divisive Spider-Man story. It's too convoluted to go into here so the short version: Ben Reilly is a clone of Peter Parker who adopts the heroic persona of the Scarlet Spider. His costume is a nineties spectacular with exposed web-shooters and belt, ankle pouches, and a sleeveless hoodie. Kewl.