Over my last several reviews I have been talking about how I found so many figures at once that I hadn’t seen before. General Grievous (exploding body) is the last of those. Based on the number of General Grievous figures they are producing and the number that seem to be flying off the shelves, I think it is safe to say he is a popular figure. I think he is popular for good reasons.

General Grievous is figure number 36 and part of collection number 1 in the Revenge of the Sith series. I do not open my figures so this review will be from the outside in. There were several General Grievous (exploding body) figures at the Wal-Mart where I bought mine, but I don’t expect them to last long. This figure is not recommended for children under the age of four because the small pieces can be a choking hazard.

The text in this paragraph will be common throughout all of my reviews of Star Wars Episode III basic characters. As far as the durability of these figures, well I don't open them. But I did open some from Episode I and I can tell you from past experience that the small weapons and accessories will get lost. As a boy I tried so hard to keep track of them and just failed. Slowly but surely the guns and lightsabers disappeared. By and large the figures are durable. The heads can be popped off by abuse or a determined push, and the hands can be chewed until they no longer function. That is my best guess as to how well this series will hold up.

General Grievous is a 3.75 inch figure. I think General Grievous is this movie’s extra cool villain in a way that Count Dooku was not for Attack of the Clones. No. General Grievous is inspiring the kind of fame that Boba Fett and Darth Maul had. General Grievous has quite a few tricks up his sleeve but naturally I will describe only those that pertain to this figure. General Grievous is a cyborg. If he kind of looks like a robot and a person at the same time, that is because he is. General Grievous’s body is covered in armor. The armor actually looks skeletal and on this figure is white. For instance, his helmet resembles a skull, and he has armor plates on his arms ad legs right where bones would be. However, the armor plates do not cover General Grievous from head to toe. The parts that aren’t covered in armor are dark gray and robotic. This General Grievous is mostly covered by a molded plastic, white cape. Generally I like the cloth capes better, but this one really works. The molded plastic enables them to permanently control how the cape lays and keep folds in all the right places. It looks cool. The cape is removable, which is necessary if you are going to activate his bonus action. General Grievous has an exploding body, which I guess tips off the story a bit. It sounds like he gets his if you didn’t guess. So remove the cape and press a button on the back of the figure. The body “explodes” into several pieces. General Grievous is armed with both a blaster and a lightsaber, which is blue. There are three General Grievous figures that I am aware of. I think they are all very well done and neat looking. This one is my favorite, by an inch. I think the cape and the white armor and the exploding just barely give him the edge.

The fact that there are three General Grievous figures says that he plays a major role in Revenge of the Sith. According to his package…

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.

I think that is a juicy little tidbit. He and Obi-Wan fight and he ends up exploding I am guessing.

There are lots of General Grievous figures flying off the shelves and I haven’t seen many of this particular one. If you are lucky enough to see him, I would pick him up. He gets my highest recommendation.

Please also see my other reviews of Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith basic figures
Figure 3 Yoda
Figure 4 Super Battle Droid
Figure 5 Chewbacca
Figure 6 Clone Trooper
Figure 7 R2-D2
Figure 8 Grievous's Bodyguard
Figure 10 Mace Windu
Figure 11 Darth Vader
Figure 13 Count Dooku
Figure 14 Chancellor Palpatine
Figure 16 Plo Koon
Figure 20 Agen Kolar
Figure 21 Shaak Ti
Figure 22 Kit Fisto
Figure 23 Royal Guard
Figure 24 Mon Mothma
Figure 26 Yoda
Figure 29 Ki-Adi-Mundi
Figure 30 Saesee Tiin
Figure 31 Luminara Unduli
Figure 32 Aayla Secura
Figure 33 Clone Commander
Figure 34 Clone Pilot
Figure 35 Palpatine
Figure 37 Vader's Medical Droid
Figure 39 Polis Massan
Figure 40 Mas Amedda


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 5.24
Type of Toy: Action Figure