There’s one more recent Marvel Select release from Diamond Select Toys that I’ve been dying to talk about, and with the usual weekend news drought, now seems like the perfect time to do so. The Marvel Select Drax movie figure had a multitude of features that held it back, but this other GOTG Vol. 2 two-pack is a totally different story. Is the Marvel Select Star-Lord & Rocket Raccoon two-Pack worth your 23 bucks, or are you better off sticking with the Legends versions?

The Right:

I was pretty devastated when I had to give the Marvel Select Drax movie figure a terrible review, but I was moderately confident that the Marvel Select Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord two-pack would meet with a wholly different fate.

And for the most part, I feel like I was very right about that. Both figures in this Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 figure pack are way better than poor Drax…

The first big “Right”? How about the tremendous value of this two-pack? Whereas Hasbro sold Legends Rocket Raccoon as a solo $20 figure with Baby Groot (and SH Figuarts wanted $50+ for the little trash panda), DST is giving him to us a sort of free pack-in with Star-Lord! Yowza! Now that is a crazy value!

Even from Hasbro, the MSRP was $40 to get Rocket and Star-Lord–nearly twice the cost of the Diamond Select versions.

And don’t think that Diamond Select cut corners on Select Rocket just because he’s basically a freebie—he’s actually a knockout of a figure in and of himself.

While there’s no mouth joint, all the other major joints are present on DST Rocket Raccoon: ball-jointed feet, hinge knees, swivel calves, swivel-hinge hips, ball-jointed upper torso, swivel wrists, and ball-hinge elbows/shoulders/head.

…And oh yeah–there’s even a poseable tail (which is hugely useful for stability purposes)! To be frank, I was shocked how much flexibility was built into this little pack-in figure! Downright amazing.

Meanwhile, the Star-Lord Select figure is pretty sweet in its own right. While there’s a couple things missing from the figure (more on that shortly), the detailing on Star-Lord’s jacket, pants, and even his blaster is absolutely killer.

Star-Lord’s full shirt design is present under his soft plastic jacket, and I love the amount of paint deco on his blaster. The helmet is on-point, and his hair is styled perfectly.

Articulation-wise, he’s no Marvel Legends figure, but the joints are well-hidden and the essential ones are present: swivel-hinge hips, hinged ankles with rockers, swivel thighs, ball-jointed upper torso, double-hinged knees, and ball-hinge shoulders, elbows, and head. All joints are tight and work well.

Along with two well-articulated, hyper-detailed figures, we also get three accessories with this pack: three unique guns (two for Rocket, one for Star-Lord), all of which very cool and with exceptional paint deco. I’ll complain about other accessories not being included in a moment, but the three we do get? They’re pretty sweet.

The Wrong:

Diamond Select Toys did just about everything right with what we’ve got in this two-pack—but what I feel the duo is missing is literally what they’re missing.

In Star-Lord’s case, that’s a second blaster gun and an interchangeable Peter Quill Chris Pratt head. I know that actor likenesses hold things up, but this is a case where the iconic look for Star-Lord is with the helmet off. As Peter Quill is helmetless during 95%+ of the movies, if resources had to be devoted to one head or the other, DST should have gone with an unmasked Chris Pratt head.

The second blaster not being included is also a big loss, since Star-Lord so frequently dual-wields his guns. It’s a real drag having to buy a whole other two-pack if you want to achieve that now.

In the Marvel Select Rocket Raccoon figure’s case, I’ve got just one qualm: no hinged mouth! The picture on the back of the box seems to indicate that the mouth can be closed, but I see no sign of a joint, and even after boiling the head and using an excessive amount of force–that mouth ain’t movin’.

The sculpt here is sensational, but not being able to close Rocket’s mouth, well… sucks. It’s the one drawback to what I think is otherwise an incredible pack-in figure.

Overall: Everything that Diamond Select Toys included in this Marvel Select Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 two-pack is really terrific. The problem is what’s not present: a second blaster for Star-Lord, and far more importantly, a Chris Pratt portrait. The sculpting detail and paint deco on these figures and their weapons are fantastic—the only genuine shortcoming is the disappointing limitations of missing accessories and no poseable mouth on Rocket. Otherwise, this set is golden—for $23 shipped, this Marvel Select Star-Lord & Rocket two-pack is a steal.

GRADE: B+

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