Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,226: General Grievous (The Retro Collection)

GENERAL GRIEVOUS Kennerized
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0371
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: 4 lightsabers, another 5 figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $59.99
Availability: November 2024
Appearances: Revenge of the Sith

Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from a galaxy far, far away. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

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Commentary: This The Retro Collection General Grievous is great modern figure, based on a character that maybe just can't work as a Kenner figure. Thin limbs might snap, maybe the eyes wouldn't look right with less color in them. There's no right or wrong way to spin the tale of the Kenner-era Grievous. 2024 Hasbro opted to base Kenneral Grievous off of General Grievous (Four Lightsaber Attack) [FOTD #424] from 2005. Kenner of old rarely included button-activated features on its old action figures, but it wasn't shy about breaking out of the standard five jointed format for its droids. Hasbro also opted to try something new.

In terms of deco, it's very similar to the 2005 figure - bony armor, silver highlights, and mutli-color eyes. The eyes are a bit too advanced for any 1980s figure - honestly, it's pretty advanced for a 1990s figure. I would've been fine with a single-fill color, because the very fine red border around a yellow eye with a slice of black in the middle looks excellent for modern standards. Figures with two eye colors were very unusual back then - The Emperor comes to mind, cartoon C-3PO, some variants of Lando, Max Rebo - but not too much more. As to the color choices, it matches the movie - so as a fan, you might ask if Kenner would have gone with "movie colors" or the sneak preview figure colors, based on a cartoon or other preproduction source. Like I said, there's no wrong way to do it, but I think this one seems a little too good as coloring goes. I'm also one of very few people who would love to see a repaint of this figure in incorrect colors.

The arm engineering is this toy's shining feature, and shows some real creativity. With EV-9D9's mouth, C-3PO's removable limbs, and FX-7's many bending arms, Kenner wasn't shy about integrating all-new features on droid toys. General Grievous' arms all swing out - but not forward. He has seven jointed parts, which more or less would qualify as super articulated back in the 1980s. It's a choice that makes for a more fun figure, but also restricts his ability to fit inside most toy vehicles. (Note: you can cram him in the Grievous Starfighter if you slide him in without the control console. It's weird, but it fits.) This is something we've seen on a few collector figure lines that would sometimes get fixed down the road (especially 2007 G.I. Joe) but the oversight always stings a bit. Most old action figures were designed with vehicles in mind - Kenner wanted to get another $20 out of kids. This is an understandable, but unfortunate, choice that probably would happen in the old days. It's also possible they would sell another Grievous figure. I wish it had SilverHawks-style "squeeze the legs and arms pop out" action, but it's probably too advanced for the toy story that this figure aims to tell.

It's also fun to imagine this figure's hypothetical development cycle. We all know the movie, and Hasbro clearly made this figure after seeing it. But would Kenner have had the luxury? Would they even have known about the split arms? Yoda (1980) seemed to be made from the wrong playbook, so it's kind of fun to think of a version of this figure where they had to make up or imagine details.

While the Clone Trooper was almost too stiff, Grievous is a little too loose. His pose and posture all seem to show years of toy expertise and thought about how to make a good figure, whereas most old Kenner toys were a little simpler and in many cases, stiffer. C-3PO's pose was pretty close to how he moved on-screen, but not exactly. Grievous feels like they nailed it. There's a lot of detail with very skinny hands and fingers (probably impossible by 1980s standards) and a lot of fine detail that seems unrealistic for an old toy. The legs are sculpted more robustly, so he won't fall over - and I love that. The feet are also unusual in that the claws are instead massively wide talon-like toes, which is an interesting way to solve the problem. Walrus Man had swim fins, so seeing Hasbro imagine Kenner taking a weird swing at the feet makes total sense.

I can't imagine they could do the sculpt in a way that would work better, nor would hard plastic limbs likely survive being handled by a child. Thin, rubbery limbs were scarce in the Kenner days - I have to say Hasbro did the best they could with this one. The four retro lightsabers look great, and his hands are sculpted amazingly well to hold them without dropping any. It's a nice quality of life improvement, and I'm glad Hasbro is making Kenner figures with improved grips.

This one just doesn't have a Kenner feel or, other than the lightsabers, a real Kenner look. If I were toy tyrant, I'd probably ask Hasbro to make a version in the wrong Clone Wars cartoon colors and simplify the eye deco - but I'm not, and I'd say this is about as good as you can get. He's a popular character, but it's possible weaseling out of doing him in favor of Dooku or Obi-Wan Kenobi would result in no Kenner fanatics arguing how a cyborg's fingers and toes should look. It's a perfectly nice modern action figure for a great price.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,226: March 25, 2025