Nothing like a little ice storm to get in your way. For us here in Michigan, ice storms are pretty common in the late fall and early spring – but not in January, when we’re usually buried in snow and single digit temperatures. But with this freaky winter, and temperatures staying right around freezing, we’re getting some weird stuff.

So as the generator putters along outside, my laptop batteries all charged up, and my Internet connection live, I can still get my column together. Ain’t it amazing?

I’ve been collecting the Gentle Giant Star Wars busts since the beginning, but I haven’t covered a lot of them with reviews. I’ve been doing more recently though, and the last few releases have been truly outstanding. Let’s check out the latest – General Grievous.

If you have any questions or comments, drop me an email at mwc@mwctoys.com.

“General Grievous Mini-bust from Gentle Giant”

The good General, mostly machine with just enough flesh to be a problem, is definitely a master with the light saber. Generally, these sabers are taken from Jedi with extreme prejudice, so Grievous has earned his place as a big bad in the Star Wars universe.

Packaging – ***
Okay, they tried. They really did. But this is one very fragile bust, so reports of breakage in the box have been pretty widespread. Mine was fine, but I had to be extremely careful getting it out to ensure I didn’t snap off a small wire or edge piece as I was extracating it.

This box is huge too – at least twice the size of a regular Star Wars mini-bust box. That’s because he comes packed with the complex arms off to either side inside the foam tray, making the box much, much wider than usual. I am glad for the small window though, which shows off at least the intricate face.

There’s also the normal baseball card sized Certificate of Authenticity, and the edition number is printer there as well as on the bottom of the box. And if you’re curious, it’s an edition size of 7000, so shortages, at least to start, shouidn’t be an issue.

Sculpting/Design – ****
The one thing that always makes or breaks a bust or statue is the design – even a great sculpt can’t save a stupid or silly pose. Grievous created a particularly difficult situation, since the four long arms means the amount of space any particular pose might take up could get pretty out of hand. So what to do?

Gentle Giane went with a rather interesting pose, that I don’t recall as screen accurate, but which fits the character well AND takes care of the issue of space conservation. The two left and right arms are actually sculpted as one, joining at a single shoulder joint. The two back arms are posed behind him, each holding a saber taken from a fallen Jedi, one green and one blue. The forward left arm holds a blaster at face height, preparing to level it on an opponent, almost old west style, while the forward right arm is empty, clutching at empty air in anger…or anticipation of the battle.

The sculpt is simply fantastic, and this is one of the most intricate and elaborate designs of the entire mini-bust series – and that’s a lot of busts. I was amazed at the small detail work as I was trying to get this guy out of the package in one piece. There are tiny wires, tubes and small pointed edges everywhere, and the weathering and damage added to his armor looks extremely realistic.

The difference between the fleshy eyes and outer metal skeleton is made apparant through different types of texturing, although in reality it’s all the same material. To go even further, they’ve used a very cool, translucent green resin for the inner flesh body, covering organs that can just barely be seen. It’s tough to get a good photo of this, but in person it’s quite striking.

My only issue with the sculpt or design relates to how well the arms and sabers all fit together. There was a looseness in the fittings that is unusual for this line, and the two sabers don’t quite line up front to back or top to bottom with each other. It’s a fairly minor nit though, and one that doesn’t pull him down from the overall four star sculpt.

Paint – ***1/2
The paint is almost as impressive as the sculpt, with the best work running around the eyes. Weathering of the blaster, and the work on the saber hilts is also quite well done, and I’ve already mentioned the uber-cool translucent green resin that makes up the very interior of the body.

The silver and black work on the tubing and wires is decent, but the work on the armor damage and weathering isn’t quite as nice as the rest of the work. It’s not a major problem though, and for the most part, this is an excellent paint job.

Value – ***1/2
I’m giving this guy a very high value rating, although he runs the standard $45 that most of the GG Star Wars busts do. However, with the complexity and attention to detail, this bust could have been priced much higher, and still warranted the green. For the money, this is one of the best mini-busts in the entire series.

Overall – ****
Wow! Two four star reviews in one week – one for the Premium Format John Wayne from Sideshow, and now this new Gentle Giant mini-bust. I waffled around a little bit over this score, almost dropping it to ***1/2 largely because of the slightly loose and sloppy connections between at the shoulders and light sabers. But in the end, I didn’t think those minor problems were enough to pull down the score. This guy is fantastic, one of the best they’ve done, and with the recent Chewbacca and Darth Maul, both of which were just as amazing, Gentle Giant has really gotten the year off to a bang.

Where to Buy –
Online is your best option, unless you have an LCS that carries them:

– Alter Ego Comics has him in stock for $46.75.

– CornerStoreComics.com has him in stock for $55.

Related Links –
I’ve been doing more of the Gentle Giant Star Wars busts lately:

– the most recent was Chewbacca and Darth Maul.

– and then there’s Qui-Gon, Palpatine, and Lando in his Skiff Disguise.

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