Beyond the wonderful world of LEGO® building, I’m partial to a cheeky bit of gaming. Since Saturday I’ve been enjoying the adventures of the Guardians of the Galaxy, in their first video game from Square Enix. After their efforts with The Avengers game, I wasn’t too sure if this would be any good but from what I saw in previews it looked fun at the very least. Thankfully, the game is great. So as I’m all immersed in the world of the Guardians at the moment and with the game officially released today, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take a look at their LEGO adventures.
Despite the Guardians of the Galaxy being a little known cosmic team in the Marvel comics, they have been propelled to the forefront thanks to their MCU debut in the 2014 movie ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. On paper, the teaming of a human, walking tree, talking racoon, a warrior alien and the adoptive daughter of Mad Titan doesn’t sound as though it would work, but it did – big time. Now the Guardians are just as well known and loved as many popular super heroes.
They’ve appeared in a sequel, the epic two-part conclusion to the Infinity Saga and their own ride at Disney parks. They will soon appear in Thor: Love & Thunder, their third solo outing and even a Disney+ Christmas special. They’ve also acted as inspiration for a surprising amount of LEGO sets. But their first Minifigure appearance was actually in game form. Spoiler alert for those who haven’t played LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, which was recently released on Nintendo Switch. Back in 2013, when the game was originally released, as it came to an end as a team of unknown space folk arrive on Earth in a post-credit scene. This marked the Guardians first-ever LEGO appearance. Their look was inspired by the comic books.
To coincide with the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, three LEGO playsets were released. They were based on the movies and it’s MCU characters. Sets include one of the Nova Corps Starblaster ships, with another based on the Knowhere, the severed head of a fallen Celestial. But the most impressive was a brick-built recreation of the Milano ship. Across the three sets, you were able to gather the Guardians together, including a brick-built Groot and unique Rocket Minifigure.
The same year, the Guardians were the inspiration for a couple of Comic-Con exclusive goodies. These included a Collector Minifigure and a Rocket’s Warbird ship set. Both were available in limited quantities during San Diego Comic-Con 2014 and are the most elusive of all the Guardians of the Galaxy products.
With the Guardians returning for Volume 2 in 2017, the movie’s release was once again supported by three more LEGO playsets. These helped to expand the team to include Mantis, Nebula and Yondu, as well as another unique version of Groot, now in his infant form. Once again the standout set featured a new version of the Milano.
The following year, the Guardians returned in two new forms. Star-lord, Gamora, Rocket and Groot were all transformed into BrickHeadz characters. Poor old Drax didn’t make the cut. But there are rumours of more Marvel BrickHeadz in 2022. The Guardians also featured in the awesome Mighty Micros theme. This featured unique Minifigure takes on Peter and Nebula in mini ship-like vehicles.
2018 also saw the Guardians appear in a couple of Infinity War sets. These saw Rocket and Groot team up with Thor. This introduced another unique version of Groot. It was joined by the Guardians new ship, the Benatar. This was used by the Avengers to head into space before being commandeered by the Guardians.
A new version of the same ship was released earlier this year. This version of the Benatar is much more detailed than the original version as well as introducing a new style of Star-lord and a lighter variant of Minifigure Groot. With the Guardians set to return in 2023, I’m certain we’ll be getting plenty more sets inspired by the characters, ships and locations from Vol.3. I also have a feeling the LEGO Guardians could get a festive makeover in 2022. If we should get a second LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Advent Calendar next year, it will be available around the same time as the Disney+ Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. So in a similar fashion to the 2020 Star Wars calendar, it could take inspiration from the special.
Unrelated to LEGO, but Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. I highly recommend it, it’s great fun, has great music and is genuinely funny.
29th October 2021
There was also a poster in the centerfold of the Lego Magazine July-August 2014 issue which can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54524897@N03/17084010662/in/photostream/
The picture to the left of it is a version lacking almost all of the text, which also happens to be bigger because I made it out of the background image files from the pdf of that magazine, and they were bigger than I expected.