The Good: Decent detailing, Good accessories, Generally good balance.
The Bad: Articulation is less-than ideal. Only two arms.
The Basics: Still better than any of the Clone Wars General Grievous figures, the Saga Legends General Grievous is still problematically under-articulated.
Not very long ago, I got my very first General Grievous action figure (reviewed here!). I keep it in my collection because it is the only worthwhile four-armed version of General Grievous I have yet found. Even so, it is not at all perfect and when I had the chance to get the 2010 Saga Legends General Grievous at a ridiculous discount, I decided to enhance my collection and see how this one measured up. My second Grievous is fine, but still a far cry from the perfect figure I have been looking for to declare as the absolute Grievous that must be a part of every collector's Star Wars toy collection. As this is only the second Saga Legends Collection figure I have reviewed - after IG-88 (reviewed here!) - it is somewhat disappointing that the line which is almost entirely recasts is not hitting perfection each time.
For those unfamiliar with General Grievous, he is seen in Revenge Of The Sith (reviewed here!). Leading the Separatist Armies after the death of Count Dooku, General Grievous makes a good attempt at fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi but meets his demise pretty quickly. He is a droid with limited organic components.
The 4" General Grievous figure from the Saga Legends Collection is General Grievous in his standard operating mode with two arms with hands that have six fingers each.
Basics
The General Grievous figure stands 4 1/4" tall and is molded with feet that require the villain to be in an action pose. He is a robot with clawed feet which make it hard for him to stand unaided, outside of a few select action poses, with the general structure of a Battle Droid. General Grievous features two arms in this incarnation which is a more solid incarnation of the robot villain.
This toy is a great sculpt, which makes sense for a virtual character. General Grievous is cast with the solid skeletal framing of a Battle Droid in the legs and arms. The torso is more bulky, making it look like it has some sort of alien body beneath the droid armor there. Grievous’s head is like a mechanical skull and Hasbro captured the intended menace of the character well with this sculpt.
This General Grievous is also gifted with decent coloring. Despite having a clean droid body in this iteration, the panels and accent pieces of Grievous' armor are accurate in every way. Even the removable cloak that General Grievous comes with is appropriately colored. The gray and red cloak has a Separatist symbol on the back of it and it is pretty clean. It is colored so accurately that the fasteners that attach it to the body of General Grievous are colored in silver! Hasbro also got the coloring details in the eyes right as well, infusing the mechanical head with two eyes that resemble the golden eyes of the Sith lords, as well as red circles around them that imply the alien tissue of the creature!
Accessories
General Grievous is the leader of the Separatist Droid forces and comes armed ready to take on the Clone Army. He is thus outfitted with three accessories, in addition to his stand. He has a lightsaber, blaster and a electrostaff. The lightsaber is a 2 3/4" lightsaber with a translucent blue blade. This fits nicely in either of Grievous' hands and suggests that he could be a mechanized Jedi instead of just a dumb, programmed droid!
The blaster, presumably the one Obi-Wan would eventually use to kill him, is a simple 1 3/8" gun molded entirely in black plastic. The blaster features a scope on the top and a heavier barrel than many of the Star Wars toy blasters. It fits in either of Grievous's hands well and looks pretty natural there. This is pretty much the Battle Droid blaster.
The unique-to-this-Grievous accessory is the electrostaff which is seen in Revenge Of The Sith in the hands of both General Grievous and his bodyguards. In this figure, the staff is pathetically bland, as it is just a 3 1/2" gray plastic staff with smooth ends and a contoured center. There is no implication even of energy coming from the weapon.
General Grievous does come with a stand which was emblematic of the 2010 Saga Legends series. The stand is a 2 3/8" wide by 1 7/16" deep by 1/4" tall stand that is light gray colored. The holes in either of Grievous's feet fit the pegs on the stand and allow him to stand completely stable. As well, there is a slot for the game card that comes with the Saga Legends figure. The figure also comes with a bag featuring a random assortment of weapons from Star Wars figures (in my case seven) that allow one to customize the play experience. Some don't even fit in General Grievous's hands; others look ridiculous there.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and General Grievous is only fair in that regard. General Grievous has decent balance on or off his stand, which makes him good for play or display, so long as one keeps him flatfooted. Out of a flatfooted position, General Grievous tips over exceptionally easily.
This General Grievous is articulated at the knees, groin socket, bust, shoulders, elbows and neck. The head is on a ball and socket joint, as is the upper half of his torso. The shoulders and knees have great articulation with the hinged ball and socket joints. Unfortunately, the elbows are only swivel joints, as are the joints in the groin socket, giving Grievous some problematic posing issues. This gives him limited poseability and his arm articulation is comparatively poor, especially compared to other figures in the Saga Legends line.
Collectibility
General Grievous is part of the Saga Legends line that was released in 2010. General Grievous is 2010 Saga Collection figure SL09. General Grievous was fairly common and demand for it was easily met. Because General Grievous figures have been produced in so many toy lines since Revenge Of The Sith, this is one many fans feel they can pass by and I am only keeping until a more articulated two-armed version is released. This is not a great investment toy, despite the popularity of General Grievous.
Overview
The Saga Legends General Grievous is a good casting of a character who is a legend of the Star Wars Saga. Even so, this iteration is far from perfect in balance, accessories or articulation, despite having great attention to coloring detail and sculpted detail. Because the investment value in it is so low, this is one just for those who missed getting a prior two-armed Grievous figure.
For other figures of characters from Revenge Of The Sith, please check out my reviews of:
Vintage Collection VC46 AT-RT Driver
Legacy Collection BD47 Commander Bacara
Saga Collection 022 Firespeeder Pilot
Revenge Of the Sith Collection 62 Neimoidian Warrior
7/10
For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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