It's been a couple of years since I gave an update on my superhero action figures collection. And you know what? This Christmas it just expanded again!
Ordinarily, my Winter Soldier action figure just hangs out with his best bud Captain America --
Now, however, the Soldier has his very own sidekick too --
But wait! There's more!
My sister also gave me a larger, super-duper deluxe Rocket Raccoon with special action capabilities! Look what happens when I squeeze his legs together -- he raises his blaster, his ears flatten, his eyebrows frown downwards and his mouth opens in a snarl --
Yowza! The box says this action figure is for ages 4 and up, so good thing I'm in that demographic! And as I always say, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood!"
Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy and Jim at The Midnite Drive-In are currently hosting a blogathon celebrating favourite movie/TV onscreen critters who are pets, friends or companions to us humans.
Today's post concerns ROCKET RACCOON of the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy superheroes franchise. Starship captain, enhanced warrior and blackmarket purveyor of stolen goods, Rocket Raccoon travels the galaxy with his compatriots, fighting on the side of Truth and Justice. Well, mostly.
In a scenario that is not as unlikely as one might think, Rocket Raccoon is also an ally of Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier, fighting by his side (literally) during the Battle of Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
The similarities between Rocket Raccoon and the Winter Soldier are not hard to see -- they are both implacable fighters with lots of fur/hair and black raccoon mask/warpaint around their eyes. Each of them adores big weaponry and they tend to be equally armed to the teeth. Plus, the Winter Soldier has a prosthetic cyberarm and Rocket would dearly love to have it for his blackmarket side hustle.
And of course eventually he does, in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022).
But the connection between Rocket Raccoon and the Winter Soldier goes much, much deeper than that. Each has a tragic and incredibly dark backstory with many parallels. Scarred in body and soul, they were both made into what they are against their will and without their consent. Experimented on, surgically altered, genetically engineered, tortured, created simply to be controlled and used. (Their respective horror stories are told in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2023) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
I tend to see the Guardians of the Galaxy characters as kind of a satirical, almost goofy, spin on the more serious, straight-laced Avengers. Yet there's nothing satirical or goofy about the abused antiheroes at their centre. Rocket Raccoon and the Winter Soldier essentially embody the same tragic trope about the evils of science without morality and the denial of free will. Despite being different species, Rocket Raccoon and the Winter Soldier are true brothers.
Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy and Jim at The Midnite Drive-In are currently hosting a blogathon celebrating favourite movie/TV onscreen critters who are pets, friends or companions to us humans.
So here's a post on my most recent critter crush -- ALLIGATOR LOKI from the 2021 Disney+ series Loki.
Okay, okay, he's not cuddly, he's not furry, but he's a good ally in a fight when you need someone's hand bitten off. And he enjoys a nice drink of wine and a lounge about in the pool just like the rest of us.
Loki, the Asgardian trickster God of Mischief, is a shapeshifter at the best of times, but stick him in the Multiverse and things get even crazier, with endless variants of Loki suddenly popping into existence. (And notice which variant is on the pedestal, of course!)
Alligator Loki lives in The Void, where he is the companion of Kid Loki, Boastful Loki, Classic Loki and President Loki. Alligator Loki was banished there, not because he ate the neighbour's cat, but because he ate the wrong neighbour's cat. An important distinction!
While Alligator Loki's dialogue consists solely of incomprehensible growling, here's a helpful video compilation (best viewed in full screen) with subtitles!
Like all the Lokis, Alligator Loki is simultaneously charming and vicious.
But hey, aren't we all?
My next Blogathon post on Friday concerns ROCKET RACCOON of the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy superheroes franchise. And look, here's Alligator Loki ferrying him in for his gig right now!
