Toy Review: Civil Warrior CW-01 General Grant

Civil Warrior really shows us what they’re about with this first release.

Producer: Civil Warrior

Price: Approx. $170

Release Date: Jan. 2020 (Second Run ETA: unk)

Item Height: approx. 11.25″ armored

Item Weight: N/A

Batteries: 4x LR41 Cell Batteries

WHERE TO BUY: TFSource (Sold Out)

After Spark Toys had released the previously-reviewed Alpha Pack figure in 2016 and it didn’t exactly light the collecting world on fire, I’d figured the ship had pretty much sailed on unlicensed homages to the Transformers War Within characters but here I am almost four years later in shock that a company not only took the property on but has pretty much knocked it out of the park. Civil Warrior brings us the first in their Civil Warriors toy line with General Grant which is an homage to the Optimus Prime of that universe. I bought this on an absolute whim a few months after it released just because I’d seen it some months ago, thought it looked cool, and had a few extra dollars to spend and I was very impressed with what I got. Check out my thoughts and pics in this gallery and let me know what you think in the comments.

Presentation: The box is a fairly simple, cardboard one and the item is well packed in a plastic clamshell within. The graphics and whatnot on the box are really simplistic as well and definitely don’t prepare you for how good the piece inside is.

Build: Civil Warrior’s General Grant is a big, diecast bundle of joy. Solidly built, expertly painted/finished, and a real treat to play with. Despite its larger stature it’s not an intimidating piece to handle by any means but the strong ratchets throughout will require some bracing while posing which may throw off those who aren’t accustomed to figured put together like this. It has LEDs in its blaster as well as its chest and while the battery compartment is very easy to access in the gun I had to use tweezers to insert the batteries into the chest compartment due to the clearance being a bit tight with the wheel there.

Accessories: Here’s a list of the accessories taken from the product listing;

– 1 X Transformable Trailer
– 1 X Blaster Gun
– 1 X Energon Axe
– 2 X Gatling Guns

The accessories are relatively simple and well put together. The Blaster and Energon Axe unfortunately don’t have storage in either mode which is unfortunate and I do wish that he was able to hold the blaster a bit tighter as it’s prone to fall out of his hand while handling even tabbed into the palm (which in part is also because it has such well done, heavy ratchets.) The Blaster does have an LED that shines a really nice, blue light from the tip of the barrel but the standout weapons to me are the gattling guns which I can’t describe any other way besides MEAN. I do like that the weapons are plastic and relatively light regardless of their larger sizes to not have any potential damage on the figure’s joints as well.

Articulation: Even with it’s large build and bulkier proportions, Civil Warrior General Grant actually has an advanced level of articulation from articulated hands with each mandible having multiple points of articulation and the ability to spread to fully butterflying shoulders to multiple levels of **deep** ab crunch.

Overall Score: 8.0/10 – Having went into this one with no real expectations buying it on a whim I was pleasantly surprised. Civil Warrior’s General Grant one of those pieces that really comes off like a labor of love in terms of just how much effort and quality was put into a release for an iteration of Optimus Prime that’s far from being the most talked about. It’s a good piece that clicks so many boxes in terms of aesthetics and build that I think it has a lot of crossover appeal for collectors of other genres (for me personally, the armored mode in particular has a very “super robot” appeal.) I can talk this up until I run out of breath but unfortunately I can’t give it a perfect score one one closer to just because of little things like it not being able to hold the blaster more firmly or having weapon storage in either mode. Regardless, this is a big, solid piece and fun as all get out to play with; definite recommendation from me.