The summer wave of SW sets finally appeared in my local Walmart last week and I picked up General Grievous’s starfighter. I missed the last release of this ship and needed a General Grievous for my minifig collection.
Set Details
8095 – General Grievous Starfighter
Pieces = 454
Minifigures = 3
MSRP = $49.99
Price per piece = 11.0 cents/piece
Box
The box is consistent with the other Summer 2010 sets, with the large clone war emblem in the upper right hand corner. We see the starfighter zooming over a planet, with the large central missile shooting out from under it.
The rear of the box is mostly devoted to the ship and its features. The back of the box also shows that in addition to the starfighter, we get General Grievous’ personal rocking chair. . .errr medical center. As with the other recent SW sets, some of the rear of the box space is devoted to showing us the other SW sets released this summer.
Opening the Box & Minifigures
Inside the box, there are four bags, a single instruction book and a very small sheet of stickers (five total). I was immediately struck by how empty some of the bags felt. I understand the appeal of a modular build but the approach felt overdone with this set.
The front page of the instruction book reveals that bag 1 contains the minifigures and chair (OK), bag 2 contains the body of the starfighter (OK), bag 3 contains the engines (hmm. . could be in bag 2, but OK) and bag 4 contains the flick-fire missiles and a few other odds and ends (why?).
Maybe it is a production thing, as opposed to a convenience issue? Opening bag one, I had expected to find Nahdar’s head in a separate bag as most of the recent molded heads come packaged separately. In fact, his head was loose and it was General Grievous that was packaged in his own separate three-part bag.
This is the first clue about the material the General is made out of. It is all a softer plastics, very atypical for the body of a minifigure. He is composed of a torso, neck/head, four arms and legs. The face is very detailed and consistent with his appearance in the Clone Wars TV series.
The General's four arms can be positioned so that battle scenes look very dynamic. Here he is he about to beat up on poor Nahdar. Not the face :P !
Nahdar has simple jedi robes on the front of his torso and no printing on the back. EV-A4-D is the formal name of the General’s medical droid. He has the standard droid arms and legs, with unique constructions for his head and surgical arms that protrude from his back. Sadly, his face is a sticker.
The Build
The starfighter builds up very quickly. Other than the cockpit section, the build was largely uninteresting, with significant repetition on both the hull and engines. The cockpit has a novel Technic mechanism that provides a snap-shut action. It is a nice touch and makes the cockpit function as seen on the tv series. Here is the body of the ship at the end of bag 2.
The engines are built from bag 3. Their novel feature is a hidden set of flick-fire missiles on each side.
This compartment neatly folds bag into the engine pod and are invisible when not deployed. Once the engines are attached, bag four adds some final touches to the bottom hull of the ship. Here is the finished product!
The ship has very nice lines and the subdued color scheme is very appropriate. The maroon and beige tiles on the top of the hull add just enough splash to make it visually appealing.
The ship just feels solid and very swooshable. It has a nice grip point just in front of the cockpit at the narrow section of the hull. There are no dead spaces and the weight of the starfighter adds to its air of menace.
The medical chair and lightsaber rack almost feel like afterthoughts in this set. It does allow you to recreate some of the scenes from the season 1 CW episode, if you wish. I prefer to imagine the General sitting in a psychiatrist’s office, grappling with the crushing guilt of slaying all those Jedi.
Pro’s
Excellent rendition of the General’s unique starfighter
Vastly improved General Grievous minifig
Solid, playable final product
Relatively few stickers
Con’s
General Grievous is made out of soft plastic
Sticker for EV-A4-D face :(
Medical chair feels like it was included simply to increase the piece count
Forgettable, uninteresting build
Final Thoughts
Overall, I like this set but it does have some aspects that I worry about, mainly as the SW line continues to move forward (and cost more!). The soft plastic General Grievous is very different than most other minifgs. I am guessing that this was necessary as each piece has paint on it. More bothersome is the “sticker face” for the medical droid. I can accept stickers are a reality for all Lego’s these days, but I REALLY REALLY do not want stickers on my minifigs
!The ship itself is awesome. I love its lines and how big & solid it feels when held. If you are OK with some of the deficiencies noted above, I can recommend
