VBBN Posted September 2, 2015 Set name: General Grievous Set number: 75112 Pieces: 186 Price: $34.99 | £xx.xx | €xx.xx Release date: 2015 General Grievous is without a shadow of a doubt my favorite Star Wars character. His design, his backstory, his fighting style, even his metallic voice, so when I found out he would be the massive flagship set of this wave I was ecstatic. Since this is the flagship set and what I feel most people will be reading, i'd like to make one observation about the wave- each character was seemingly placed into a pair. Grievous with Obi Wan, Luke with Vader, and Jango with Cody, but I find Jango and Cody to make no sense. The other two pairs had combat scenes, but these two not only didn't fight, they are modeled after completely different time points. Since Cody is in his Phase II armor, he resembles his look on Utapau when hunting down Grievous, and of course Obi Wan hunted down Jango in Episode II. This to me makes more sense as pairings, but I guess Lego was going for the two characters without lightsabers and throwing them up against eachother. Packaging and Contents Box Front Being the largest set in the wave, he appropriately comes in the largest box. Keep in mind that this is the European packaging, so some information displayed on the box may vary depending on where the set was purchased from. Grievous is actually in a familiar pose- If you have watched Episode III, you might recognize one of his more lethal stances, where his lower hands spun in circles, while the upper two jabbed forward. This was seen after Grievous reveals his four arms, and the motion on the box seems to imply that he is performing this move. Also we see Grievous and Kenobi fighting in the background, and that same image was repeated on Obi Wan's box. Box Back The back of the box shows Grievous in his four armed glory, the sets features/details (his arms can connect together, that's about it), and pairs off the sets as I mentioned in the intro. Contents We get an instruction manual, three bags of parts, and a loose torso. Why exactly is the torso separate from the bags? New and Interesting parts Bones We have the new Skeleton torso armor that was introduced in the 2HY wave of Bionicle 2015 sets, as well as the shortest ball to socket connector in dark gray. Tan Pieces Grievous comes with a slew of parts in tan. We have the hand piece, 6m armor and the alrger modified armor, torso plates, breastplates as well as a unique printed breastplate and the new shin armor. Also of interest is a tan Technic panel. Lightsaber We also have the new lightsaber blades which are a flexible plastic, as well as the new handle piece ( a modified double axle connector) Being Grievous you get quite a few of these. Two blue lightsabers, two green, and 8 of the new handle components. Head Grievous' head is excellently molded, and I can undoubtedly see it being used in more than just Star Wars MOCs. Building Process Torso Framing Grievous' torso is a maze of bone pieces, which I actually quite like. It's a nice contrast to the very Technic-oriented build that Vader uses. Legs My biggest fear before having him in hand was that his legs would be less than stellar. They don't look too awful, and considering how large the figure is and the build behind them I don't see how a whole lot more armor could have been thrown on without making his legs look too large. However there is a very intricate bend to these legs, and as you might expect it's quite a chore to actually get him standing in a fair variety of poses because his is top-heavy and quite frankly he needs bigger feet. Legs and torso I'd say this is the best view of the legs and the most stable position you can have them in. A large part of the stability is the angle you have the legs in relation to the torso. Arms and armor From this point it's just a very basic arm build, and a couple armor shells thrown on, with his head to top it off. Finished Build Front View Once he is armed with his lightsabers, he really looks stunning. Initially I was worried that he might be a bit underarmored, and I still feel that his torso could do with some more, but overall it doesn't look too bad. I should mention that all four of his sabers are built the same, but if you want, you could easily flip around the handles and give him four different configurations so he has all different lightsabers, similar to his collection in the films and animations. Profile View You can see that his legs have a lot of supports to them, but again it's all a balancing act. Usually you wouldn't pose him with his legs this crunched down, but due to the size of the figure I had to make some compromises when photographing him. Back View His back is fairly weak, but he is mostly droid and consequently I don't find this to be too disappointing. Two Arms Here I have Grievous standing in the tallest pose he can manage. As you would expect, you can connect his arms together. However I feel that this was a missed opportunity to give us his very awesome cape, because really the only time I would ever display his with two arms is if he was wearing his cape. I can do this with two, no, three arms tied behind my back. As I mentioned in my review of Skull Slicer, I adore four-armed figures, and Grievous is no exception. His simple weapons make a variety of poses possible, all of which look menacing coupled with his large stance. Jedi Scum Did I mention how satisfying it is to have a figure of this size? Size Comparison Compared to both our control group (Tahu) and one of the larger Star Wars figures, Grievous towers over everything. His size is similar to Witch Doctor from 2011, and while not as filled out his certainly fits the large size very well. Overall If you are a fan of Grievous, this set is a must have. He is a great representation of the character, and I feel that for his price tag (when you take the price hike due to it being Star Wars into mind) he is well worth the price. I would have felt the figure would be more complete had we gotten his cape since it's a fairly major accessory, but even without it he is a great set. There are some slight issues with posing him due to the odd shaping of his legs, but if you don't mind spending some time to get him in the perfect position he is a wonderful display piece, and I hope this is a sign that we will continue to get these larger scaled CCBS figures in the future since it has been quite a while since getting something of this scale. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VBBN Posted September 4, 2015 This review is now complete. The rest of the wave will be added throughout the day as I add finishing things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jacob_9821 Posted September 4, 2015 When this guy was revealed, I knew he would've been quite the impressive figure out of the bunch. When you compared him to Tahu, which used to be the tallest CCBS this year, it puts in perspective how massive Grievous is. Thanks for the detailed review VBBN! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kalhiki Posted September 4, 2015 I've said it once, and I'll say it again: My god. Grievous is massive. That shot with Tahu is insane. This will definitely be the first of the new sets I get. But it won't be complete until I sew him a cape. Thanks for the review! I look forward to reading the others. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bidiminished Posted September 4, 2015 As someone who doesn't follow Star Wars, this set really confuses me. Is he supposed to have such a gappy, uncovered appearance? Are the leg shells supposed to stick out that much? Is grey used to make the set easier to build, or should it actually be part of the colour scheme? If LEGO made a character of their own like this then I'd rate it 1/10, but I'm not sure what to think of Grievous. What are some good reference pictures to compare him with? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davidr Posted September 4, 2015 As someone who doesn't follow Star Wars, this set really confuses me. Is he supposed to have such a gappy, uncovered appearance? Are the leg shells supposed to stick out that much? Is grey used to make the set easier to build, or should it actually be part of the colour scheme? If LEGO made a character of their own like this then I'd rate it 1/10, but I'm not sure what to think of Grievous. What are some good reference pictures to compare him with? http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/7/7e/Grievous_CN.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081018034149 - from the animated Clone Wars series Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheOneVeyronian Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) This is probably one of my favourite of the new Star Wars sets, but indeed it is not without it's shortcomings. Having built this set myself, the set is woefully hard to pose because it just keeps falling over. I will probably also grab a second Grievous on sale, it's a fantastic CCBS parts pack even if most of it is likely to contribute towards filling Grievous out a little more and attempting to correct his balance problem to allow a wider range of poses. But on the plus side, the arms really don't look that bad connected together once you get past the two hands on each arm thing. And to really finish off my planned modifications to the set, I'm probably also going to make him a custom cape. Just hoping I can get hold of a fabric similar in texture and thickness to Vader's cape, in the correct colour(s). EDIT: Now I wish I could unsee the picture I just saw in the post below Edited September 4, 2015 by TheOneVeyronian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VBBN Posted September 4, 2015 His cape is a complicated one to make- red on the inside, light gray on the outer and plus the design on the back of it, and it's a fairly strange set of attachment points. HAS SCIENCE GONE TOO FAR? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TwistLaw Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) VVBN, your craftsmanship in the art of memes makes me want to have babies with you. Edited September 4, 2015 by TwistLaw Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fred67 Posted September 4, 2015 I generally don't like "constractions," they might as well just be regular action figures than LEGO, but especially the "mechanical" looking ones (Darth Vader, Storm Troopers - and especially Grievous) look pretty cool. Thanks for the review - this figure is really pretty darn cool. The only thing.... $35... uugggg... These sets should be $20, maybe a $5 premium for Grievous. I can't bring myself to pay what they're asking for any of the new sets. If I don't get them on sale at some point, I'm just going to go without. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MakutaOfWar Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) I generally don't like "constractions," they might as well just be regular action figures than LEGO, but especially the "mechanical" looking ones (Darth Vader, Storm Troopers - and especially Grievous) look pretty cool. Thanks for the review - this figure is really pretty darn cool. The only thing.... $35... uugggg... These sets should be $20, maybe a $5 premium for Grievous. I can't bring myself to pay what they're asking for any of the new sets. If I don't get them on sale at some point, I'm just going to go without. I'm pretty sure CCBS costs quite a bit more to produce then your regular pieces. So no, he's not going to be $/€20-25 and a set like this will never be that cheap. Also keep in mind how heavy the use of CCBS is as opposed to other Constraction figures like Evo XL and Witch Doctor, which had slightly less and way more pieces respectively for a lower price each, those were very technic heavy. Look back at Scorpio(2011) for example, around 90 pieces for $/€25, practically all it used was CCBS. So I think this figure's price is rather justifiable. Edited September 4, 2015 by MakutaOfWar Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TwistLaw Posted September 4, 2015 Did I mention how satisfying it is to have a figure of this size? VVBN, are you trying to tell us something? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YellowCorvette Posted September 4, 2015 Not too happy with Grievous at all. I think he stands too tall, because in The Clone Wars cartoon and the film, Grievous is as tall as Obi-Wan and most of the Jedi Knights. I didn't mean this set is bad, but Grievous is terribly out of scale when compared to the movie or The Clone Wars cartoon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KopakaFan116 Posted September 5, 2015 This set is amazing! I think he is too tall, though, but it's good to finally get another constraction figure of this size again. Am I the only on who notices an error in this set: Grievous should have 2 foot talons, and not 3, on each foot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bungeshea Posted September 5, 2015 Great review and great set! It's a shame that he doesn't come with a cape though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rayskull Posted September 5, 2015 no pictures with the arms together? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VBBN Posted September 5, 2015 no pictures with the arms together? There is one photo with his arms together. If you have any specific requests let me know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrickBuilder3213 Posted September 5, 2015 I'm glad that I bought this set. That comparison with Tahu blew my mind. Is it possible to combine him with Vader to make a "perfect" Grievous with armour on the exposed bones and a cape? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheOneVeyronian Posted September 5, 2015 (edited) Am I the only on who notices an error in this set: Grievous should have 2 foot talons, and not 3, on each foot. No, I noticed that when I first saw the set, but Grievous should actually have at least 4 foot talons on each foot. 2 on the front, 2 on the back. But it's easy to correct if you have 2 spare Skull Spider legs, there are bars on the back of the foot on the model that you can attach them to. Here's a picture of Grievous which shows the foot talons quite clearly. I was actually messing about with my Grievous this morning and I found that Grievous' balance and posability issues were mostly down to the fact that the feet can't pivot up and down. They just swing and the foot always stays at much the same angle relative to the middle part of the leg. Replacing one of the bones in the lower leg with a friction ram assembly (like what G1 titans used to have on the back of their legs to improve stability) solves this and makes Grievous much more fun to pose. I'll try and post a picture later if anybody's interested Edited September 5, 2015 by TheOneVeyronian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mutant Orc Posted September 5, 2015 I'd be interested in seeing that please TheOneVeyronian. Grievous seems good I'm glad the price didn't end out at £35, but he certainly is a bit too gappy up top. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheOneVeyronian Posted September 5, 2015 I'd be interested in seeing that please TheOneVeyronian. Here you go. And a closeup too. (p.s. this will get it's own topic, but my mods are nowhere near done yet! I still want to add armour, cover up gaps, add features and make him a cape ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mutant Orc Posted September 5, 2015 Thanks! Nice design, looking forward to the rest. Now I wish I had some of those parts for when I get him eventually, hah! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Technic Jim Posted September 5, 2015 You want a remote controlled Grievous: Cause why not Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
