Editorial: Flarkin' Awesome 002

Cosmic greetings, one and all!  This is Leo Wyld, the Raccoonatic Commander, bringing you another thrilling installment of Flarkin' Awesome, today's issue...

Flarkin' Awesome 002 - Superheroic Sartorial Aesthetics... It's Costumes, Dummy!

As many of you may (or may not) be aware, I am an avid player of the online game Marvel Heroes (wrote a review on this site, by the way).  Unlike many multiplayer online games, Marvel Heroes does not allow you to create your own character. Instead, you play as one of Marvel's own awesome characters.  One of the ways to potentially set you apart from other people playing as the same hero as you (and Rocket doesn't have a lot of players), are costumes.  Costumes can be bought or earned as drops.  I will be focusing today on Rocket's costumes in said game (as this segment is about all things Rocket, and, for this site, he is the only Guardian currently playable on the game, unless you consider Tony a quasi-honorary-ish member). Click the jump for the list!


Modern Costume 

This is Rocket Raccoon's default costume, that you get included when you buy the character (either through the premium G's currency, or through the in-game store with the in-game obtainable splinters).  Don't really need to add a comic book reference for this one as I am sure we have all seen it in comics, and various other places, plenty of times.  This costume originated in Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2 Issue 1 in 2008 and he continued to wear it in appearances for years afterward.  Through the Guardians run into Thanos Imperative.  (Not to mention Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Earth's Mightiest Heroes, figurines, etc.)

Overall, Gazillion did a great job with this one.  Rocket went through a number of artists, in panel and on cover, while wearing this costume, but feature-by-feature it is an accurate interpretation of that costume.

Marvel NOW Costume

If you participated in Beta and took the opportunity to buy a Rocket Raccoon Starter (or the Marvel Now Premium Pack), you would have also got this costume.  Currently, you can buy it individually with G's or wait for it to drop as a rare item.  Those things on the back are actually cannons, not a jetpack (which is pretty flarking cool).  Obviously, the overall color scheme is different, as is his eye mask, and eye color.  His fur color is also paler than his modern costume counterpart.

It is easy to think of this costume as a recolor cop-out, but it was actually based on the above cover advertising the (then) upcoming NOW launch.  To my knowledge (and I have fairly extensive Rocket knowledge), he has not yet worn that costume in panel, so Gazillion did not have *much* to go by.  But looking at that image, again, impressively accurate job.

Original Green Costume

For those who would like to go back in time to the quaint year of 1985, this is Rocket Raccoon's costume from his self-title four-part limited series.  Purchasable with G's or as a rare drop.  Plenty is different about this costume compared to the other two.  Costume model (except the gloves), fur color, fur patterns, eye color, etc.

For starters, I'll point out the differences.  Since they used the same body model for all of Rocket's costumes, it is a bit off in that regard.  80's Rocket didn't look as short and stout as his Guardians v2 counterpart.  Also, another inaccuracy is not necessarily a bad thing, Gazillion decided to add multiple pouches to his belt, while his 1985 comics counterpart only has a plain belt.  Those things aside, however, they did a very good job feature-per-feature.  Now, if only they'd been able to make him use rocket skates in place of Rocket's Rocket Pack power while wearing this costume...

Guardians of the Galaxy NOW Costume

Once again, this costume is purchasable with G's or available as a rare loot drop. Speaking of, I'll digress for a bit of a story.  When I bought my Rocket Raccoon Starter Pack, I got Rocket's Modern and NOW costumes at live launch, as mentioned.  I used the bonus G's that came with the pack to buy his 1985 costume, but I only had enough for one costume.  That left one store costume I didn't have (the one we are discussing now).  And guess what was my very first costume drop... Yep!  Ok, back to the discussion, this Rocket costume has a totally different costume model, he even has lights on those weird gauntlets he wears now and it is the only costume with footwear (his current metallic boots)

This costume is Rocket's current canon costume, in volume 3 of Guardians of the Galaxy.  The series is just over six months old and Rocket has already gone through a couple cover and in-panel artists interpreting this costume.  The features have remained mostly the same.  Rocket has a space jetpack variant of the costume where he wears a helmet and, somehow, presumably tucks his tale into some kind of compartment or something.  But to compare with his standard Guardians NOW costume pictured above.  We do again run into the issue of them reusing the same body model, Guardians NOW Rocket is notably thinner than his earlier interpretations and, because of this, his Guardians NOW costume looks a bit off overall.  Also, they reused the same regular iris-and-pupil brown eyes from his modern costume instead of the solid-colored eyes he usually has now.  The pic I used there shows red stripes on the pants, but the tiger-like red markings have also been used, so that's not necessarily inaccurate.  One curious thing, and it is hard to tell from my pic, the in-game costume has a stitched fabric like appearance to the torso area, rather than the metallic breastplate-like armor he usually has with that costume.  And another, his in-game version of this costume lacks a proper eyemask, it makes him look more like a badger or something than a raccoon, in the face.  This may be a bug, because there is a similar visual when you look at his character sheet while wearing his Modern costume, but I have not been able to get a Gazillion reply one way or the other.

Cosmic Gear Costume

Gazillion had a concept, that they do not plan to use for future heroes, called chase costumes.  Basically, a chase costume (and each hero had one) was only obtainable as a rare drop, or should I say, very very very very very rare drop.  So, rare, an employee of Gazillion admitted that an average player would probably never get the chase costume he wanted, if he wanted a specific one.  Being Rocket Raccoon's #1 fan, and him being the only hero I want to currently play, the thought of actually never having all his costumes, well, it made me quite unhappy.  And I was not alone, and even Gazillion agreed it was not a favorable situation.  So, for a week in mid-August (which my birthday happened to fall into), they allowed people to buy chase costumes through G's (which I did, on my birthday) or through the in-game attainable splinters.  They are now back to very very, etc. rare drops, but it is not impossible they will be sold in the future.  Starting with Human Torch, though, as I mentioned, future heroes will have no chase costumes (at least not in the same way as the original set of heroes).

Rocket Raccoon's chase costume is basically his v2-era space costume that he wore on a number of occasions.  Yes, it is similar to his Modern costume, but that is true of the comic version, too, so that's not exactly Gazillion's fault.

Another fairly accurate job by Gaz & Co.  The helmet, the mechanical stuff on the torso, even the helmet tubes are all there.

And those are the only costumes Rocket Raccoon currently has.  I know, right?!  I should note that Groot, wears a Guardians v2-style costume that changes colors based on the two main colors of the costume Rocket is currently wearing.

Future Costumes

Presumably, I hope, Rocket Raccoon will eventually get new costumes. (I believe he is the only hero who has not gotten a new one since launch).  I'll throw some ideas out there for prospective costumes.

Annihilation: Conquest

From 2007's Annihilation: Conquest Starlord and later its conclusion arc.  This was essentially the pre-Guardians team and this costume, along with the costumes of the rest of Peter Quill's squad, were created by the Kree.  Stylistically very similar to his Guardians v2 costume (I guess Rocket decided he liked the style), this would not require much more than a color swap (maybe slightly different facial markings), so I'd say it is a safe bet for eventual inclusion.

Hulk #271

From 1982, Rocket Raccoon's appearance in Hulk #271 was really the debut of the character as he currently exist in canon.  Yes, he was in 1976's Marvel Preview #7 first, but that was almost a different character altogether.  Not much to this costume, metallic underarmor, a red holster, and a blue cape (sometimes a pipe in his mouth).  It would require a completely different costume model, though.  So, while iconic, I'm not sure how soon we will see it.  (It is probably more likely than his space costume from that issue, which was him wearing absolutely nothing but a holster/chest harness and a helmet)

Guardians of the Galaxy Movie

We all know this one's gonna happen.  According to legend, the movie may have been the main reason Marvel insisted Rocket Raccoon be included in Marvel Heroes (and, hey, I'm not complaining).  The public does not have much to go on here, so I will post this concept art.  From that footage we saw on this very site, Rocket Raccoon looks like he is gonna look awesome in the film, so I wouldn't complain if he ends up with several movie-inspired costumes.

Annihilators Side Feature

Probably Rocket's main outfit in his Annihilators side feature was a jumpsuit and jacket combo.  Not everyone could pull off that look but I think it looked badass on Rocket.  Again, would probably require a new costume model.  It also is not probably as iconic as a couple of the others I listed, so I am not sure how likely this one would be. (But it was an awesome story, and I'd love to see it.)

Honorable Mentions

His 1976 Greco-Roman-ish armor and holster from Marvel Preview 7 would be cool, but that comic was in black and white, so it would take some creative input, possibly partly from Marvel.  The numerous crazy themed outfits that were designed for his brief venture into the Mojoverse (underwater/camo/post-apocalyptic/etc) would be funny, although probably not extremely likely (though the camo one was represented on UMvC3).  Rocket wore a slightly different costume in his Avengers Assemble appearance, as well.  Towards the end of his Annihilators side feature, he amusingly wore a dog costume on one part, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that show up as a joke costume at some point, Gazillion does have a sense of humor.  What I've saved for last is a costume that showed up at the very beginning of said feature, however.  I saved it for last specifically because it is, by farrrr, my most wanted prospective costume for Rocket...

Timely Inc. Mailroom

Totally being serious here, taking down hordes of baddies dressed for casual Friday would be beyond awesome (maybe replace the pistols in his pistol powers with staple guns, seriously)!  I really, really, really want this, most of his fans playing Marvel Heroes want this.  Gazillion created an official costume request topic last night, this was requested three times on the first page.  Here's the rub, there is some sort of hold-up preventing it from happening... yet.  But fans can probably help speed things up.  If you care about the happiness and/or sanity of the Raccoonatic Commander, let Gazillion (and Marvel) know how much this costume needs to be added to Marvel Heroes!  If it ever happens, it will, indeed, be... flarkin' awesome!

Well, that's all for today.  Until next time, see you 'round the Raccooniverse!