Figure of the Day: Day 141: General Grievous

GENERAL GRIEVOUS Grievous' Wheel Bike
Revenge of the Sith Vehicles
Item No.: Asst. 85196 No. 85348
Number: n/a
Includes: Wheel bike
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $19.99
Availability: April 2005
Appearances: Revenge of the Sith

Bio: General Grievous' wheel bike is a custom-designed mobile attack vehicle. He sits in the center sphere, and the wheel revolves around him in driving mode. The four legs are used in walking mode and to climb vertical surfaces, such as the sinkholes on Utapau where he battles Obi-Wan Kenobi on Boga. (Taken from the set's box.)

Image: The toy shelves of Adam Pawlus.

Commentary: The vehicle itself is flawed, so we'll just focus on General Grievous himself, the lone pack-in figure of the latest regular assortment vehicle collection. As a freebie, he's good-- he does his job, which is to sit in the bike. Problem is, he's a little flimsy and doesn't really like to stay put. The figure itself has very limited articulation and due to loss of limbs on screen, is not entirely true to the movie. Still, he can sit, he can hold the controls, and for the purposes of a shelf display, he works well. As a toy, or as your only Grievous, this is not a good figure. Like many pack-in figures, pretend the only purpose this one has is to man a vehicle. His slightly brighter coloring is true to how most fans presently perceive Grievous, rather than the brown/tan color of earlier releases-- and he was one of the first figures to be colored correctly. Or "correctly." This is not a figure you'll track down for his own right, but if you're getting the vehicle anyway, you'll be glad you own this one too.

Collector's Notes: Hasbro was wise to pack this figure in with the Wheel Bike as most other figures don't act as good pilots. The vehicle proved popular enough to continue selling through 2006, and in new packaging for The Saga Collection. Hasbro rarely offers a vehicle for more than a few months at a time, let alone nearly 1 1/2 years. As a result, this is a fairly common figure/vehicle, so you can get one on the cheap with little effort as of today. Still, it seems to be phasing out now so if you were waiting, your chances of walking into the store and buying one will likely end for good within 3 months.

Day 141: September 24, 2006