Malevolence (#9515)

This is General Grievous' flagship in the Clone Wars series (or was until it was destroyed...).

Here's a quick video of me putting the set together. I just took a photo after finishing each of the numbered bags. So, over-all while it was a fun build there wasn't anything which I would consider really challenging. If your kid has had any experience in building, I think (s)he'd have no problem with this one. It says ages 9-14 on the box, but there's a little bit of give on the low end.

The set comes with six minifigs: Count Dooku, 2 battle droids, General Grievous, Anakin, and Padme. If ever there was a perfect opportunity for Grievous' MagnaGuards, this was it. Even one would've been good. I can't be the only one with a bag full of battle droids, I don't think anyone would've complained if the set had included a MagnaGuard, commando droid, or even a tactical droid.

For being such a large set, there really isn't a lot of room for figures on this one. Let's take a quick stroll through the interior, shall we?

The command center. There's a chair for Grievous, a station for a battle droid, and then enough room for Dooku and the other droid to stand around.

I didn't like the absence of storage for the weapons, so I made a quick & dirty little storage rack for Grievous' lightsabers and the battle droids' pistols.

In the rear of the ship, there are two trolleys. In the Clone Wars episode, the ship is 4.8km long and there is an extensive hovertrain system inside the ship. In the set, the sled can move forward for a whole 2x2 flat tile. Since they really don't add anything here, I'll probably end up taking them out and using the space for more battle droids.

The view from the front of the ship...

...and the rear...

Flick-fire fans will like this. There's a six-round "clip" on each side.

Each time you fire, you can advance the dial for the next missile. I'm leaving it in because visually it still works as a reasonable stand-in for the ion cannons shown in the episode. I may take out the firing mechanism though...

There's a convenience pull-up handle which makes transporting the ship much easier, although the set is fairly sturdy and can be safely transported with a good grip on the bottom.

Here's the top view. Let the ooohs and aaahhs commence...

It looks cool when it's done, but my one complaint with the set is the lack of interior play opportunities. Typically a set this big would have more play areas on it. I think they could have done something more effective in the rear section than the sadly scaled-down train system. Having said that, it is nice to finally have a capital ship for the Separatists. The Republic has the battle cruiser and a frigate, so this should help even the scales a bit.

I'd give this set 8/10. It seems sturdier than some of the other larger sets and it really does look cool. It lost marks in my book for not having more features.