Vault Review: Star Wars Vintage
Collection: General Grievous

Another thing that impressed my about Grievous is his monstrous size. Standing straight up on his legs, he’s a good two heads taller than the average male Star Wars figure. This gives him a great powerful and menacing look for those who don’t want him hunched over all the time.

Grievous comes with a fair amount of accessories. You get the blaster that he tried to kill Obi-Wan with. You also get two lightsabers that are on, one green and one red. And then you get two lightsaber hilts. He can hold all of his weapons, but some are very loose when his hands are separated. This is slightly annoying because he will drop them easily if you don’t find the right angle or hand to put them in.

Then, there’s the huge cloth cape he comes with. Dark gray on the outside with his symbol painted in black on the back, and a shiny red on the inside, the cape is very eye catching and great for posing. Plus, there are eight small pouches on the inside to hold his lightsaber collection. That’s a great little touch. The cape does have a couple of problems though. It’s a little thick at the collar, and can bunch around his mouth easily. Also, those pouches are individually sewn, so some are a little wider than others. That can make fitting the lightsabers in it difficult sometimes. Last, this might just be me, but I think they should have put a small wire in the bottom of the cape for easier dramatic posing.

All around I’m very happy with this General Grievous figure. There are a few minor issues like the hips and the soft plastic, but they are easy to overlook with all the other positive things about this figure. From what I’ve noticed online, wave 2 of the Vintage Collection has been hitting Toys R Us primarily. I’m assuming Target and Wal-Mart will carry this wave eventually though. You can expect to pay between $8 to $10 dollars for this figure depending on where you do buy him, but even at the higher price I think he’s still worth it. After all, just ten dollars for the commander of the droid army is a steal.

19 thoughts on “Vault Review: Star Wars Vintage
Collection: General Grievous

    1. I was wondering if he was a reissue. It’s amazing how far the cape goes to making this figure even more awesome.

      Thanks for the pic. Why is the Grievous next to him so tiny though? What was Hasbro thinking?

  1. I’ve got the previous release of this mold, and I agree with everything here. It’s way better and larger than the Epidose III sculpts they’ve been reusing, and imperfect or not, the fact that the arms can separate and connect while retaining at least some articulation is very impressive!

    I think the size of the original Greivous has less to do with Hasbros error and more to do with the Lucasfilm’s strict spoiler policies. They seem to give good photo reference to Hasbro and others, but its got to be tough to get a feel of scale or character until seeing the film.

    I had used a cape from the crummy old Grievous mold from one of the overpriced Wal-Mart Darktrooper sets, but seeing the pockets makes me like this, and I had no idea his feet could hold sabers. It is a little bit lame that a few of the vintage collection are rehashes, since they don’t include the card, dice, stand, or bag of clone guns. Not that I want any of that, but the assortment is priced higher because they are supposed to be new stuff. Grievous doesn’t offend as badly as 4-LOM, who is completely identical to his release from like 3 years ago.

    I think its hilarious that I and so many have independently come to the same conclusion about Grievous being a mustache twirling villain. “Time to abandon ship! hahahah…” Who was he talking to? Muttley? Anyway, the photo evidence you’ve provided is fantastic.

    1. Thanks FakeEyes! I agree that with the higher price we should probably be getting a little more. It would have been cool if Grievous had two more lightsabers and hilts at least. But that cape is great, so I can’t complain much.

      I’m almost positive that Lucas, or whomever made Grievous, intended him to be like that. There are so many similarities between Grievous and those old-timey villains that it can’t be a coincidence. I love those villains though, so I’m ok with it.

  2. So he’s a “vintage” Grievous as in in the old-style packaging? Do you have a shot of that?

    1. Sure. It’s kind of cool to see the vintage packaging again. But I’m always annoyed that they don’t have J-hooks. It seems like the figure I want is always at the back of the pegs and I have to take them all off just to get to him lol.

  3. oh wow- I want that for the packaging ALONE. I’m still of the argument that this line should revert completely to that style of packaging.

    Classic is always better- look at the 25th GI Joe line.

    1. I do like the packaging, but I really miss those J-hooks. I never realized how much easier they made toy collecting. 😛

  4. Great Review. Looking forward to this guy. Who’s lightsabers did you borrow from? It’s kind of disappointing he doesn’t come with four active sabers.

    1. Thanks! Yeah, I think he should have come with four also. I used two sabers that came in an Anakin vs. a Geonosian two-pack.

  5. I don’t collect Star Wars stuff, but I really like this character for some reason. I haven’t bought any figures either, for many of the same gripes you mentioned. It looks like this is the one, though! I’ll have to keep an eye out for him.

    1. Good luck! I was at Wal-Mart tonight and found him also. So now there’s at least one more place besides Toys R Us.

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