Studio Series Rhinox (SS-103)

Prelude: If you’ve seen the Beast Wars TV series, then you will naturally remember Rhinox, a character with many layers who went on to transcend into a cross-franchise figure. If, however, the Rise of the Beasts movie is the only thing you have seen with Rhinox in it, you’d be forgiven for barely remembering him. He didn’t really do much in the movie, but he nevertheless got multiple toys out of the deal. Today we are looking at the Studio Series Voyager class figure. So get ready to charge (because that’s all he does) and let’s say go!

Robot Mode: We saw Rhinox’ robot mode but briefly in the Rise of the Beasts movie, but this figure here is a pretty good match to. There is some resemblance to how Rhinox looked in Beast Wars, too, though the paint job has changed to mostly grey with a few golden highlights. Overall Rhinox looks more like a knight in armor here than a beast former.

In terms of articulation Rhinox adheres to modern standards, meaning he has everything from ankle tilt to twisting wrists. The only slight limitation is that his hip swivel is somewhat limited by the butt flap on his back, which only folds up a little bit. Otherwise, though, Rhinox can pose with the best of them and looks pretty good doing it.

His only weapon is a big hammer that doubles as a (non-firing) missile launcher. Sadly there are no Chain Guns of Doom to be found here, but Rhinox did not have them in the movie, either, so that is screen accurate. In theory Rhinox can wield his big hammer double-handed, but due to his broad chest he cannot quite move his arms close enough together to accomplish it. It only works behind his back.

So bottom line: a nice robot mode that accurately depicts Rhinox as we (briefly) saw him in the movie.

Alternate Mode: Rhinox transformation into beast mode isn’t really all that complicated, but it does encompass a few steps and you need to do them in the right order, otherwise you’ll have plates popping off left, right, and center. The resulting techno-organic rhino looks pretty good and also very close to the way he was depicted in the movie. A big horn unfolds from the beast head, which can also open its mouth and look down for a charging pose. All four legs retain articulation to some degree, making running poses possible. The tail can move up and down, too, and the front feet are ball-jointed.

Now for the downsides, though. One, Rhinox can attach his hammer to his back, but has no way of storing it inside his body. Which is weird, because, two, Rhinox has a rather open underbelly. His robot chest plate is now his belly, but there is only a gaping hole where the rhino’s chest should be. Couldn’t have been that difficult to make the hammer fold together and fit in there, could it? I mean, DNA Design is doing it for their Rhinox Upgrade Set.

Apart from that, though, the rhino looks pretty good, too. Nothing terribly revolutionary about it, but good.

Remarks: For all that Rhinox was one of the main characters of the Beast Wars TV series (though he didn’t get a good toy until Thrilling 30), he was little more than a background prop in the Rise of the Beast movie. Of all the Maximals in the movie (and there weren’t that many to begin with) he was the only one without even a single line of dialogue. His job was to charge the enemy lines in the final battle and smash disposable drones with his big hammer, that was pretty much it. A far cry from Beast Wars’ flower-loving genius-level engineer with the big chainguns of doom.

The figure is somewhat representative of the movie character, I’d say. It’s good, but not spectacular. It looks great in team pictures with the other RotB Maximals, but on his own he is a tiny bit boring. He looks enough like Beast Wars Rhinox to carry some of the charm, but too different to really bring it out. So bottom line: a good figure, a good beast former, but nothing too special. I am a big Rhinox fan and wanted to get the entire Maximal cast from the movie together, that’s my reason for getting him.

Rating: B-

Picture Gallery: