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General Grievous Reviewed by Dunamis
Set 10186
1,085 Pieces
$89.95 from LEGO Shop @ Home
Build time 3.5 hours
It is the start of summer here in California and along with the weekly deluge of new action films we start to see some of the next wave of Star Wars LEGO sets. The latest offering from our favorite building toy company is none other than the infamous General Grievous! No doubt you all know the story of Grievous; two parts Technic and one part human and his hatred of the Jedi. Follow along as we get a close-up view of the mighty General.
No doubt the observant will wonder why I purchased this set from Shop @ Home instead of my trusty LEGO store in Glendale. Well, it’s really as simple as two things: I’ve been traveling a lot and didn’t have time to drive to the store to get it AND gas is now $4/gallon and I would likely spend more in gas than the $9 shipping cost to get it to me. So there you have it.
The Box:
A gigantic box (much larger than expected) held the mighty General.
We’re back to the perforated tabs on the side and two stickers on the front that let the box lift open:
Inside, we have 17 bags, two manuals and three stickers on a relatively small sticker sheet.
The Manuals:
The manuals are not terribly thick in fact the second manual is noticeably thinner than the first. They come in at 75 and 31pages.
Interesting to note on the back we see the next (and more interesting) wave of sets later this summer.
Nothing new to report on the manuals as they provide the LEGO standard of high quality and features we expect.
- Piece callouts
- Models divided into sections
- Large images
- Page numbers
Since there were links posted to the .pdf files of the instructions online, I’m sure you can all get an idea of the manual and the parts inventory. However, for those of you without access to the Internet here are photos of the parts inventory pages:
Random manual image:
Features page:
The Pieces:
The short answer is you get lots and lots of little pieces in white, gray and black plus some big pieces in white, gray and black. Mixed in the set is a fair amount of oddball pieces like minifig tools, Jedi hood and trans yellow dome.
Fear not, despite the eclectic collection of parts, it all comes together in the end (not unlike a typical day at work for me…)
It is probably worth noting again that there is a heavy amount of Technic parts and pieces here.
The Build:
The build starts off with a rather in-depth build of the stand in which General Grievous stands on. Once you think you are done, you keep adding on to this (rather solid) base. I bet there are 250 pieces just in the base alone! It is quite nice when you get done with it though and really adds to the display. I’m glad LEGO didn’t skimp on the base as it completes the model.
Once you get through all that, the rest of the build is a real thumb-bruiser. Anyone who has built a decent size Technic set knows the feeling of your thumbs being sore when you are done. You get the same effect here.
It is actually a fun build and I really liked seeing how the designers used all the various pieces to recreate a fairly accurate model of Grievous. The model is built from the ground up as seen in a few of the progress shots:
Here is what is left over:
The Design:
The design is quite good and is very accurate. Some might be disappointed that since this is a Technic set we don’t have more articulation in the shoulders and have the ability to separate two arms into four as seen in the movie. However, it would seem the real intent is for display and not functionality.
Here is a shot of the torso and the detail involved:
Here are Grievous’ organs:
Careful observers will note that my model is lacking two “arrow” stickers from the two white chest pieces. I failed to see these on the sticker sheet and only grabbed the large Grievous sticker. So, note that there are actually THREE stickers and not ONE.
Chest protector and respirator:
Head and arms:
I was a little disappointed that we got two yellow blades and no green blades on the lightsabers. Note how all the lightsabers have different hilts which is a nice touch:
Here are some shots of the completed model with a few other sets shown for scale. He is actually pretty tall:
You have the option to remove the top two arms and put in shoulder plates if you so desire:
Detail on the back:
Overall Thoughts:
I’ve been saying for a few years that we should have a Technic Grievous set and we finally got one. Designed more as a model and not a fully functional swooshable figure, Grievous is a tad flimsy. You won’t want him to veer too far off his massive and sturdy base. It would have been nice to have is cape with him (like the Technic Vader set). I do like the size of the model and it is impressive to look at.
LEGO Star Wars System fans will likely want to think twice before purchasing but Technic and UCS fans should be satisfied.
Final Rating: 75%
Build 8/10 (Very Good – Fun, relatively quick build. Technic fans will be more pleased than others.)
Design 8/10 (Very Good – Some nice SNOT and Technic techniques. A bit flimsy but the base is kind of cool.)
Parts 7/10 (A mixed bag of stuff. Probably can’t get too many diverse builds from this except for other robot type models.)
Price 7/10 (Just OK – A bit stiff at $90 USD for a nice display model with limited functionality.)
As always, let’s hear your thoughts and feedback.
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MultiQuote
. Yeah I think TLC miss the cape, it would be cool to own one but when we were talking of the 2008 sets around july of last year I can remember someone said it would come with cape. Finally is a little dissapoint TLC miss it 
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) feature of move- and
