General Grievous - Premium Format Figures

The Galactic Republic is left in shambles as the debilitated systems of the galaxy are fooled into merging their resources with the corporate sectors. A powerful new Confederacy of Independent Systems emerges from the aftermath and forms a droid army of incomprehensible size, lead by a brilliant yet twisted military strategist. The by-product of the developers within the Confederacy, a cyborg amalgamation powered by his killer instincts, his cunning in battle and hate for the Jedi Republic, the evil General Grevious orchestrates a dominant battle for supremacy over the Clone Wars and takes the battle directly to the forefront of the Republic and the remaining Jedi that protect it.

Some scoff at the Premium Format Figures line and claim that they’re just fancy statues with soft-goods. But we would scoff back and say how egregiously incorrect that assessment is. While it’s hard to call anything made from polystone something other than a statue, Sideshow Collectibles has found ways to take this medium and craft it into something so incredible that the word “statue” would almost come across as an insult. Sideshow Collectibles has once again wowed collectors with character selection, approach and overall artfulness with the Premium Format Figures line and General Grievous is certainly no exception to this rule. In fact, it could be said that this General Grievous is a figure where Sideshow Collectibles has outshone all previous efforts. A truly axiomatic example of how mixed media should work together, General Grievous is designed from high quality polystone, metal and plastic. Every last aspect of the General Grievous character from Revenge Of The Sith is intact here and we personally couldn’t be more thrilled with how the final product came out. Despite its thin frame, the General Grievous Premium Format Figure successfully comes across and threatening and foreboding. The artists at Sideshow have chosen to replicate a very scene-specific pose for General Grievous, yet the figure works with and without the lightsaber attachments. There is a lot to take in with this piece, so we’ll go over it step by step.

One of the details that catch your eyes first is the marbling technique added to his organic “bone” parts. It’s quite an accomplishment that this was done so well after being hand-painted. Small edition sizes allow paint jobs to be less rushed and that is evidently proven here. Similar applications have been made to Grievous’ metallic area. They have added scores and scratch marks to give him that realistic live-in appearance. Grievous has been designed in five separate parts, six if you include his environmental display stand. His pieces include his legs, his torso, his head and then his left set of arms and his right set of arms. His body parts connect tightly together and remain firmly in place over time. He has been sculpted in the pose where he removes his cape and branches out his arms ready to duel Obi-Wan Kenobi in a four lightsaber versus one lightsaber battle respectively. Sideshow Collectibles has also graciously included four separately attaching lightsaber blades, two blue and two green, to attach to his outstretched quartet of arms. When fully assembled, Grievous takes up more display space that you probably had expected. Hunched over with one step forward, General Grievous hasn’t looked better in any collectible format to date. What an honor to be able to purchase what is easily the greatest high-end collectible based on this character. But folks, it gets better.

Those collectors who were fortunate enough to pre-order the Sideshow Exclusive version of this piece were treated to an awesome accessory. Sideshow Collectibles manufactured a real soft-goods double-layered cape expertly tailored to fit the General Grievous Premium Format Figure. Complete with the Kaleesh warlord insignia emblazoned on the back, this high quality cape also includes a velvet-like lined interior with pockets for lightsaber hilt storage from the Jedi he slain in battle. This luxurious material is soft to the touch and a diamond shaped design has been silkscreened onto the red plushy interior to give it that perfectly finely tuned adjustment. We also need to note that it has been exactly cut to fit around his collar like a glove and tightly held closed by a tiny clasp. Its design is truly flawless in ever sense of the word. We have chosen to display General Grievous without the lightsaber blades when he is portrayed with the cape and then with the lightsaber blades when he isn’t wearing the cape. It helps keep this piece as screen accurate as possible for us. Quickly becoming one of our most favorite Premium Format Figures to date, we are so glad to have secured this highly sought after piece. It already commands a hefty premium on the aftermarket. And should you want the Sideshow Exclusive version, well, that is going to cost you an arm and a leg at this point. But if you can, see what you can do about getting either version into your own collections. You won’t have regrets.