General Grievous [Version 1] - TSC - The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection (9 of 12)

The supreme commander of the droid armies is tracked to Utapau by Obi-Wan Kenobi. A powerful combination of droid and alien, Grievous is a formidable fighter, and ultimately confronts the Jedi in single combat.

By default, many of the introductory Star Wars figures from the Revenge of The Sith line are concept art figures. Many like 2008's ROTS Clone Pilot (III 34) figure, 2005's ROTS Clone Commander (III 33) figure and 2005's ROTS  AT-TE Tank Gunner (III 38) figure didn’t get past two-dimensional sketches, yet are forever immortalized in plastic and in our respective collections. But there were also a few basic action figures that were main characters, yet they too were also inspired from early concept art. Take for instance 2005's ROTS General Grievous (III 36) figure, the one advertised with the “Exploding Body” tag line. Of course there is no doubt that parts of him are inspired by some of the events that we witnessed in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. But with this version of General Grievous, between the interesting style of his cape to the all-white color of his organic parts, it’s impossible to deny that his look wasn’t ripped right from those previously mentioned concept art drawings. The figure has charm, but it isn't too functional and it isn't without problems. It's surprising he was re-released for The Saga Collection's The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection.

Although General Grievous can be broken down into nine individual pieces as full disassembly (not including any accessories), he only has five points of meaningful articulation. A ball-socket head is jointed by two swivel shoulders and two swivel hips. That’s it. If you’re able to precariously balance the body cavity, arms and head atop of the waist and legs, that’s about all you’re able to accomplish with it. if you exhale or blink, the figure will go toppling over and fall into pieces on the ground. It’s maddening and irritating. Interestingly, if you put on his removable cape, if seems to be the glue that binds this action figure together. It doesn’t mean he’s impervious to collapse, but it does make him a little bit more “foundational” for lack of a better word. Speaking of the cape, while it seems to be a simple construct, it does have a beautiful Kaleesh warlord symbol emblazoned on the back of it. No other articulation in the legs besides the hips is very problematic for General Grievous, but had Hasbro revisited it before finalizing it, a much better result could have been achieved. More articulation was certainly necessary here.

The best part of General Grievous is his green innards. These could be easily classified as a guilty pleasure accessory, but it isn’t often we receive the insides of Star Wars figures other than an occasional tauntaun here and there. Obviously, this organ (or organ system – whatever it is) is one of the parts that indirectly sources him to Revenge Of The Sith. Remember when Obi-Wan Kenobi attempted to infiltrate his marbled exoskeleton in an attempt to crush this? Well, now kids and collectors can do whatever they want with it now. It definitely adds some unexpected enjoyment to this figure. General Grievous also comes with a fully lit blue lightsaber and droid blaster. As fate would have it, they fit perfectly well into his hands. This again is something that is frustrating because other General Grievous action figures with more articulation aren’t able to hold their weapons this well. Admittedly, General Grievous doesn’t look all that bad when fully assembled. But we just can’t fully classify it as a character from Revenge Of The Sith. This is definitely a concept art figure, but many will probably overlook its classification, especially when this figure gets stored in multiple pieces.