Star Wars - or 'the franchise' as it's known among the aficionado - is one heck of a machine, even for those of us who think we know a thing or two about tie-ins, merchandising and gadgetry. It's a full thirty years since the childhood-defining movie went into hyperspace (you may count the years if you wish, but I wouldn't recommend it) and, let me tell you, we're still amazed by the ingenuity and quality of the industry that's grown up alongside it. Take these Chubbies, for instance. No. Nothing to do with Teletubbies. One can forget that straight away.

They're a half-Russian-Doll-half-Star-Wars-Doll hybrid made from robust PVC, in which one doll sits inside another in the usual fashion. What makes these unique, not to mention highly collectible, is that as you travel inside the doll, it reveals the character in an earlier stage of development. It's as though we are seeing it travelling back in time to its very origins. Clever. Our nemesis General Grievous is a living testament to the fusion of organic and metallic. In his formative stage, Grievous is merely a shell stripped of his ruthless persona. Next, his evil character is clearly on display; a twisted melding of flesh and metal. Finally, in his final and most menacing stage Grievous' living matter can be seen, encased within his precision-engineered artificial body. Golly.

The Chubby version of Grievous says don't mess. And we couldn't agree more.