Without a shadow of a doubt, the most popular character to come out from Guardians of the Galaxy was not just Groot, but dancing Baby Groot. Appearing in the closing credits of the movie, Dancing Baby Groot shakes his little tree booty to Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and became a sensation over night. So much so that the demand for a toy was immense. Well we’re finally getting one, and director James Gunn has spoke out about why it took so long.
“While we were still shooting the movie, I brought up putting Dancing Baby Groot out as a toy,” Gunn told Vulture. “The reason it didn’t happen is because you have some control in the film industry over secrets getting out there, but the people you don’t have much control over are the toy people, unfortunately. Those toy designs get out, always! And people definitely would have gotten ahold of the Baby Groot if we had started manufacturing it in time for it to come out after the movie, so that was the biggest reason we didn’t push on that particular element.”
This rings true for Iron Man 3, whose toy line revealed a Space Iron Man suit, seemingly suggesting that Tony Stark would venture into space at the end of the movie, which was spurred further by plenty of rumours. We at Flickering Myth were even sent a legal document asking us to take down the images which, amazingly enough, didn’t appear in the final movie.
As a treat, why not remind yourself of why we loved Dancing Baby Groot…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GncYQHBJIw
Guardians of the Galaxy sees James Gunn directing a cast that includes Chris Pratt (The LEGO Movie) as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer, Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) as Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious 6) as Groot, Benicio Del Toro (Sin City) as The Collector, Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) as Ronan the Accuser, Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) as Nebula, Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) as Korath, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Rhomman Dey, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, Glenn Close (Damages) as Nova Prime Rael and Josh Brolin (Men in Black 3) as Thanos. Read our reviews here, here and here. You can also listen to our podcast review using the player below…
Originally published November 14, 2014. Updated July 3, 2023.
