NEW PRODUCT: Sideshow Collectibles: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: General Grievous Sixth Scale Figure

He looks pretty great -- although I have my reservations about aspects of the original design, Sideshow seems to have done a very good job replicating him. The price is surprisingly low, considering. Sky, I think Medicom RAH did some pretty decent battle droids, maybe Sideshow too -- if they also did a Grievous?

Sideshow has done battle droids in the past, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they reissued those at some point.

According to the questions answered during Sideshow's live booth tour, this isn't a straight re-issue.

They said they've re-engineered the joints so he shouldn't be as floppy as the first release.

It's mentioned at about 22:48:

Huh. Well, that’s good to know.

Stryker2011 wrote:Huh. Well, that’s good to know.

Should at least help them to sell this version.

I don't know what is with Sideshow and floppy bodies. I got my old Hellboy down from the attic to use as a base for HT and ARToys parts, and he was like a ragdoll.

SS is not known for good quality body. Feel like cheap Chinese KO body $20 a pop with a premium price

Sadly agree with that, agentghost.

To be fair, or at least precise, it's not necessarily reasonable to dump on Sideshow for the possible issues of this body by way of a general harshness about Sideshow Bodies overall. Whatever may be true about the Sideshow bodies overall, this one is a specific challenge that has virtually nothing in common with a typical figure body. The engineering challenges are quite specific and possibly insurmountable. Compared to a human figure, the skeletal droid joints offer greatly reduced contact area for friction to hold anything; and if they simply make them tight, it will last about a week absent a strong wind. I'm not normally a fan of ratchet joints, but here it might be the only way to go. Complicating matters, the figure has to be very top-heavy with four articulated arms that need to be capable of holding an extended light-saber each that puts the weight way forward.

I'm sticking with my Hasbro Revenge of the Sith Grievous. It doesn't solve any of these problems, but being a lighter figure, they are probably less pronounced, and in any case for 1/20th of the price I can't complain.

I wonder how hard would it be to paint all the white parts a dark red, though I see he has weathering and I’ve never been all that great at that. I can see using this guy as something completely different — for my Darth Stryker universe. I looked into finding a Hasbro version, but for $100+, I’d rather have one that actually looks cool.

Stryker2011 wrote:I looked into finding a Hasbro version, but for $100+, I’d rather have one that actually looks cool.

Sure, if we go by inflated Collector's prices, the Hasbros are irrelevant to anything except Mint-in-Box Collectors for historical value. But I bought several when they came out, usually at Clearance prices below retail, and others in a Toy Show environment -- for example I got my Grievous for @$15 just a couple of years ago (missing a couple of his light sabers). He's pretty good actually (for that price): the plastic-y droid nature of the character makes the Hasbro one still kinda feasible seen with way pricier figures.

Good points, MBAM. I looked it up, and the Hasbro 12-inch Grievous doesn't look bad. As long as its parts are reasonably correctly scaled (gloved hands and heads have tended to be oversized with some other characters), it should be a viable alternative.

this SS version was poorly engineered and poorly designed to begin with.

Just wait guys! the Hot Toys version will be better. There is a reason why a licensed first party 1/6 Star Wars figure this LARGE is only $289

Here's a couple shots after I messed around with this thing. (Man, what a delicate piece! And it doesn't have even half the posability as shown in the promo images). I was shocked to find I could get it to balance for the photos, but it'll need a stand to prevent it from keeling over -- the one Sideshow provided is absolute $#!t and impossible to use. I ordered a custom stand from Freaks member "Cocoboloboy" (who makes a variety to different stands for figures), that is on it's way. I wish I could say that I'm completely happy with this purchase, but that would be disingenuous to say the least. It's scary to work with, very difficult to change it's poses, and would be hard to use for MY intended purpose. It does, however, look pretty bad-ass and will go great in any Star Wars display -- never to be touched again.

Looks great. I'm glad you managed to pose and balance it, just sorry it is so annoying to work with. Sideshow does have a bit of a history with delicate brittle stuff.

at least you got decent arm joints. I heard it was a pain for many collectors.

Well done getting him posed! He looks good despite the fragility and posing issues.

Are you going to put his cloak on him?

Just for fun, there's another option that the universe sent my way once I decided I wasn't getting the Sideshow Grievous.  Recent thrift store find, Lego Grievous, cost me about $4.  He was missing a few parts (which I replaced with whatever I could get, giving him a bit of a random damaged/rebuilt look) and he has a borrowed cape.  The Lego parts design would actually be receptive to running bits of wiring through, etc, for a fully damaged look.  Can't really recommend this for a fully serious display (except maybe a "back row" figure), but I've got to say, the posability is amazing.  Whatever chemistry Lego uses to keep those ball joints tight and effective is very satisfying.  So in that one respect, the opposite of Sideshow.

skywalkersaga wrote:Well done getting him posed! He looks good despite the fragility and posing issues.

Are you going to put his cloak on him?

I tried, but that’s an even bigger pain. And judging from the promo images, it can’t be done with the four-armed look, which was what I was trying to do — and you probably wouldn’t be able to do it with his arms raised while in the two-armed look. It’s a nice heavy material, and has slots for the four unlit light sabers on the inside, but it’s just too thick and weighs almost as much as the figure itself.

Oh I see..... does this figure not come with a suitable stand to keep him upright while on display at least? I guess maybe that's too much to ask of Sideshow... ;p

It does come with a stand, but it’s worthless. I couldn’t even find a way to make it work, so not sure they even thought it through to be honest.

Mine arrived a couple of weeks ago. I'm disappointed for the same reasons as Mark. Though I did get the cloak on him and have managed to use the stand but not satisfactorily.

Would one of those stands with the bendy spine thingie help? or is it too delicate even for that?

Sky, I don't know if the bendy stands would work -- the base would have to be fairly wide, and have enough heft to counter the figures weight.

That being said, my custom stand from Cocoboloboy arrived this afternoon -- IT IS AWESOME!!

Oh, excellent! That looks really good!

I agree, very nice base, and now you can be more at ease having him stand around, maybe even in more adventurous poses. And, bonus, he's grown a sort of tail!

GubernatorFan wrote:And, bonus, he's grown a sort of tail!

Or... he's pooping cable.

Stryker2011 wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:And, bonus, he's grown a sort of tail!

Or... he's pooping cable.

Either way, nice.

One thing I appreciated was that he comes with 8 light sabres, 4 extended and 4 retracted, and that the grips are magnetized to help them stay in the hands (also magnetized).

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:Just for fun, there's another option that the universe sent my way once I decided I wasn't getting the Sideshow Grievous.  Recent thrift store find, Lego Grievous, cost me about $4.  He was missing a few parts (which I replaced with whatever I could get, giving him a bit of a random damaged/rebuilt look) and he has a borrowed cape.  The Lego parts design would actually be receptive to running bits of wiring through, etc, for a fully damaged look.  Can't really recommend this for a fully serious display (except maybe a "back row" figure), but I've got to say, the posability is amazing.  Whatever chemistry Lego uses to keep those ball joints tight and effective is very satisfying.  So in that one respect, the opposite of Sideshow.

Oh... I love this Lego figure. Still play with him from time to time. LOL

Yeah, it may be a poor man's substitute, but this thing is an awesome toy. Yeah, it's a toy, not a collector piece. LOL

I really wanted to get the Sideshow one, but after seeing all the issues and how costly it was... I just couldn't justify. Granted, the Lego one isn't accurate, but it's still quite nice. I mean, this thing is a beast in posability compared to Sideshow. I mean this thing can stand on one leg and do a kick! :p
Kick by Vicki Lee, on Flickr