Review of General Grievous - Star Wars ArtFX statue

Introduction

General Grievous is one of the more interesting characters to come out of the Star Wars prequels. He managed to stick around for awhile, and if you watched the Clone Wars cartoon, you got to see plenty of the creepy asthmatic cyborg.

Kotobukiya has added him to their stable of Star Wars statues, this time in 1/10th scale. He's currently shipping, and will run you around $90, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
The box is collector friendly - no need to damage anything in getting the pieces of the statue free - but it's not particularly exciting in appearance. It lacks the window that most Kotobukiya Star Wars boxes sport, probably because the way the pieces are arranged inside isn't particularly attractive.

And yes, they are pieces. This guy comes with a torso, two legs, a head, a cape, and either whole or split arms. You assemble these pieces as you desire, and then set the figure on the base. More on that in the Accessories section...

Sculpting - ***1/2
As I mentioned, this guy is smaller than the usual Kotobukiya Star Wars statue, marketed as a 1/10th scale. He stands about 7 1/2 inches tall with the base, which seems closer to 1/12th scale to me, but you be the judge. I've included photos of him with some other figures, and you can also use the Lifesizer feature with the photo directly above to get a good idea of the size.

The sculpting on the armor and robotic attributes is quite detailed, and looks fairly screen accurate. Purists will find a few nits to pick, but to the average fan's eye, this guy should look extremely close.

I love the use of the translucent plastic to show the internal organs as well. It's not their idea of course - that's pretty much the only way to do it - but it's still well executed here.

I would have gone another half star, but I had quite a bit more trouble working with the assembly on this statue than the usual Kotobukiya release. The arms only go on one way, so it's not difficult to figure out, but the shoulders are pretty fragile, and require quite a bit of pressure to seat.

The legs are actually jointed - you can turn them forward and back at the hips to get the feet in the perfect spot. He should be hunched over quite a bit, and the feet need to be flat on the base for the magnetic feature to work properly.

Trying to work with the legs was also dangerous, and I feared breaking one at every turn. Had this been the usually 1/7th or so size, this wouldn't have been an issue, but with the smaller joints and pegs, it was an effort in fear.

The final straw was the cape. It should fit around the collar, and pop underneath to hide the edge. I was able to finally get it to work - see the final photo for an example - but it wasn't without a lot of fiddling. If you didn't have the arms on, the cape went on over the collar pretty well, but with the split arms in place, it was difficult for it to fit properly. I found that I had to put the cape on first, get it into position, and then attach the arms. Sounds easy, but once the cape is on there's very little room to work with the arms, and that fear of breaking a shoulder goes way up.

Paint - **1/2
There's not a ton of paint work, but there is some small detail work that's critical, particularly on the face. The silver highlights were sloppier than I expected, and there was some gloppiness to the paint - a common problem with silver - that hurt the overall look.

I wish the eyes were a bit cleaner as well, something that Kotobukiya is usually right on top of. This isn't awful work, but for a $90 statue, it was slightly below what I would expect.

Paint is the one area that can vary quite a bit from figure to figure, or statue to statue, so your mileage will clearly vary.

Articulation - **
As you'd expect from a Kotobukiya figure, this isn't an articulated toy but more of a PVC style statue. However, I included this category this time because you can move the legs at the hips and the head at the neck. It's not a lot, and it's really just so you can get the perfect sweet spot, but it is articulation. Actually, any score in this category for a 'statue' is a big plus for my overall.

Accessories - ****
Like articulation, I don't expect accessories with a statue, but you get a nice assortment here.

The basic figure is two legs, a torso and a head. These have to be assembled, but I don't count any as 'accessories' since he pretty much has to have them.

However, you get two choices in arms. You can either go with the single, solid arms, or you can swap in the split versions. Either way, he looks terrific.

There's also a cape, which can be put over his neck and draped down the shoulders. It's a soft plastic, not cloth. As I mentioned in the sculpting section, it was an effort to get it to fit properly over the collar, but if you use some hot water you may have better luck.

There are four light sabers as well. Each of these comes as three parts - the lit blade (two green, two blue) and the hilt broken into two pieces. This design makes it easier to get the hilts properly positioned in the hands.

Finally, he comes with a black, square base. This base and the feet use magnets to keep the figure standing, not pegs. That means he can also stand fine without the base, so you have another display option.

Fun Factor - **
This guy is more statue than toy, and as such, isn't really a ton of fun. It won't effect my overall, since I don't consider it something you'd 'play' with, even in terms of posing and displaying, but it's worth mentioning in case you're looking for a toy for the younger set.

Value - **
Most Kotobukiya Star Wars statues fall in that $80 - $100 range, so at first glance it's no surprise this one falls in a similar place.

The issue comes from the smaller scale. The usual Kotobukiya Star Wars statue is in the 1/7th or even 1/6th scale, depending on the character and release. When you drop $80 or so on one of these, you really feel like you're getting a solid bargain.

This statue seems small though, and his design - with spindly arms and legs all askew - only adds to that feeling of insubstantialness. The ArtFX statues have been making a shift to this 1/10th scale recently, but in doing so they also dropped the price on most to around $40 - $50. This guy appears to be the exception, probably due to the more complex design.

Things to Watch Out For -
This is a more fragile figure than you're probably used to coming from Kotobukiya. The smaller size and more intricate sculpt requires that some of the pieces are fairly thin. Take care assembling the sabers and inserting them into the grips, as well as inserting the shoulders. Too much pressure on these areas could result in breakage.

Overall - ***
If you've made the switch to the new smaller statues, this one will be a solid addition. The paint work needs to tighten up a bit (particularly at this higher price point), but the design and quality are good.

You'll want to pay particular attention when putting this guy together - he's not quite as sturdy as the usual Kotobukiya statue/model. But once you have him complete, you'll be more than happy with the end result.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - **
Accessories - ****
Fun Factor - **
Value - **
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has him for $90.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other Kotobukiya Star Wars statues I've covered include the cool Bishoujo Jaina Solo, Yoda vs Palpaltine, Commander Bly, R2-D2/C-3PO set, TIE Fighter Pilot, Snowtrooper, and the Boba Fett.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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