LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot review

LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot brings to life a pair of fan-favourite MCU characters, but one of them might not be quite what you’re expecting.

A fresh wave of LEGO Marvel sets arrived to mark the beginning of 2024, bringing with it multiple new models based on both original comic book source material and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. While many of those builds were primarily vehicle-based, one offering literally stands head and shoulders above the rest.

76282 Rocket & Baby Groot takes its cues from a pair of fan-favourite characters featured in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, presenting a large, scaled model of the team’s feisty cybernetic mammal (don’t call him a ‘raccoon’) and his tiny floronic companion. The set presents Rocket as a poseable figure who’s armed to the teeth, with Baby Groot joining his teammate at a standard minifigure size.

While not 1:1 scale, 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot does come in at twice the height of existing LEGO construction figures, with that additional size allowing the model’s designers to pack in as much detail as possible.

— LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot set details —

Theme: Marvel Set name: 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot Release: January 1, 2024

Price: £54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99 Pieces: 566

LEGO: Order now

— Where to buy LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot —

76282 Rocket & Baby Groot is available to buy from LEGO.com, LEGO Stores and third-party retailers.

— LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot build —

For a fan-favourite MCU character of a diminutive size, it certainly makes sense for the LEGO Group to have finally created a scaled version of Rocket. Standing over 22cm tall, the LEGO Marvel model attempts to emulate the overall look of the rebellious cyborg, complete with furry face and whiskers, blue uniform and bushy tail.

That’s not an easy thing to achieve with hard-edged LEGO pieces, but 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot manages to pull off most of the visual appeal of the character, even if those printed dead eyes are a little freaky to stare at for too long.

Assembling Rocket’s torso is fairly straightforward, with a combination of blue, black and brown elements enhanced by a couple of stickers. Handy ball and socket joints allow for the character’s head, arms and legs to be attached, giving 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot some limited poseability.

Unfortunately, Rocket isn’t anywhere near as flexible as other LEGO Marvel sets such as 76256 Ant-Man Construction Figure and 76258 Captain America Construction Figure, with the character’s elbows and knees lacking any articulation. That ultimately gives 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot the feeling of being more of a static display piece, rather than a playable action figure.

That’s not to say there aren’t options for posing Rocket though, as his mouth can be opened and closed, head repositioned as required, arms and legs moved, and fingers and toes tweaked if necessary. The character’s moveable tail does manage to make good use of some standard LEGO pieces too, being a combination of multiple brown half barrels topped off with a prickly bush element, which works surprisingly well.

76282 Rocket & Baby Groot also gives its weapon-loving hero a brick-built blaster in one hand and a spring-loaded shooter in the other. While it would have been more interesting to have provided Rocket with one larger gun and a smaller firearm, or even an oversized blaster for Groot to wield, the character does at least look as if he’s armed to the proverbial teeth.

Rocket’s head manages to adequately convey a fairly convincing furry face, albeit in quite a spiky manner, with two brown plant plates repurposed as ears, a pair of Wolverine claws standing in as whiskers, and a handful of printed fur elements. As previously mentioned, the eyes do let down the look of the character slightly, but overall MCU fans shouldn’t be too freaked out by Rocket’s brick-built appearance.

— LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot characters —

While it makes total sense for 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot to include its title minifigure, the scale of the character does throw things off a little. This version of Groot boasts an exclusive printed torso and head, but no printing on his legs – something the LEGO Marvel theme seems to shy away from across the board.

Although included as a companion to his larger Guardians teammate, there are actually very few places on Rocket to which Groot can be attached, with only the furry cyborg’s shoulders and head offering any real attachment points. When placed next to or on to Rocket, the comparative size of both characters becomes all too obvious, making for limited display options.

— LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot price —

When compared to 76285 Spider-Man’s Mask at 487 pieces for £59.99 / $69.99 / €69.99, 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot seems much better value for money. The latter LEGO Marvel set is priced at £54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99, with the model including 566 pieces and a small sticker sheet. Considering that the buildable figure essentially offers two characters for the price of one and is based on the same licensed universe, it’ll be hard to talk yourself out of picking it up.

— LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot pictures —

— LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot pros and cons —

While 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot doesn’t always hit the mark in terms of scale, playability, poseability or appearance, the LEGO Marvel model still feels like a win. The price-to-piece ratio works in its favour and fans of either MCU character will likely purchase the set regardless.

Sure, a more diverse and interesting selection of weapons could certainly have been included and the tiny Groot minifigure provides some niggling size issues, but those are minor quibbles. 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot still manages to offer up an enjoyable build, even if it’s one that’s ultimately more of a static display model than a playable action figure.

76282 Rocket & Baby Groot pros	76282 Rocket & Baby Groot cons
Mostly manages to capture Rocket’s look and attitude	Elbows and knees could have been jointed for more display options
Some poseability and playability	Scale of Groot minifigure doesn’t work all that well
Includes an exclusive Groot minifigure	More diverse weapons should have been included in the set

76282 Rocket & Baby Groot was provided by the LEGO Group.

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— Alternatives to LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot —

There are a number of alternative LEGO Marvel buildable characters currently available, although some are half the size of 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot, including 76256 Ant-Man Construction Figure and 76257 Wolverine Construction Figure. For better results – and to retain a flavour of Guardians of the Galaxy – look to 76217 I am Groot and 76249 Venomised Groot.

For a slightly different and much more impressive building experience though, we’d have to recommend 40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure, coming in at less than the price of 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot but with more pieces.

— LEGO Marvel 76282 Rocket & Baby Groot FAQs —