Like many Star Wars fans, I decided to honor my favorite far away galaxy with a nostalgia watch. But I just binged watch all the movies recently, and introduced my girlfriend to the entirety of Clone Wars and Rebels. Mando is still fresh in my mind, but you know what I haven't revisited in a long time? The 2D Clone Wars animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky. While I immersed myself in its slick action sequences, I was reminded of how legitimately cool General Grievous used to be.

Remember the second season finale of Tartakovsky's Clone Wars? Let me paint the picture: a group of Jedi masters are outnumbered by the droid army. Exhausted, they retreat into the ruins of a fleet of crashed starships. With only a few moments of respite as the enemy forces close in, they have a quick exchange about how the droid general is "unstoppable" and a genius tactician. These are Jedi Masters talking, the best of the best (one is the conehead guy, but still). And yet they're clearly threatened by this droid.

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Then he shows up. General Grievous announces his intention to single-handedly grant them all a warrior's death. He quickly makes good on this promise by crushing a poor padawan under his bulky metal frame. Grievous doesn't sacrifice speed for power, however, as he proves by leaping over the Jedi and taking them on 1-v-5 with acrobatic martial arts. He dual-wields lightsabers with ease (a revelation at the time, because why would a random droid have lightsabers!?). By the end, after killing and/or disabling all but conehead Jedi, Grievous is using three lightsabers at once. The episode season ends with the implication that Grievous won.

via: Disney+

The reveal and subsequent showcase of Grievous' abilities instantly captured my imagination as a kid. This creepy droid just took on five Jedi and seemingly killed them all without ever using the Force. If there was a Batman in Star Wars, that is to say someone who can win without powers, it wasn't Han Solo or any Mandalorian. It was Grievous. I kept an eye out for any comic or novel that would explain his origins, and asked for every toy. While lore was scarce, the toys did a great job of stoking his mystique. One of my favorite pieces to this day is this statue from the "Unleashed" line.

via: eBay

Fast forward to the premiere of Revenge of the Sith, where Grievous made his movie debut. In his big-screen debut he... runs away from Anakin, spins his lightsabers for about 30 seconds, runs away from Obi-Wan, and dies.

Grievous would later get more screen time in the 3D Clone Wars series, but this depiction doubled down on the characterization of Grievous as a self-serving schemer. He still got some decent lightsaber fights, but nothing like that first. No more Capoeira-style fighting with his feet. But hey, at least he still looks cool during his brief appearance in the Bad Batch.

via: Disney+

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