I don't know what the majority opinion is on the mainline ROTB releases so far, but I've been finding them to be quite a fun lineup of figures thus far. Obviously they're nowhere near the level of detail and intricacy that the Studio Series figures have been, but it's nice to have a line of movie toys that are simply enjoyable to handle without being too fiddly to transform. Rhinox is the sole wave 2 Voyager of this line, and I was surprised to find him at a couple Walmarts up in North Dakota. Rhinox, naturally, turns into a robotic rhinoceros. He's a lot more tan than what the trailers suggest, but I think that's more for the sake of giving us color variety on the store shelves, since having him share shelf space with Primal, who is also gray, would make them a little too monochromatic. I guess this also doubles as a bit of a color homage to his original Beast Wars design, so it might be preferable to some. One thing I will give the mainline ROTB figures credit for is the sheer amount of molded detail that these toys have. Customizers will have a field day touching up all the greeble these guys have. The rhino does have an opening jaw as well, for anyone curious. I think my biggest complaint with this mode is how boxy the main body is. It kinda just squares off towards the rear end of the rhino mode, which makes it look almost incomplete. His included chainguns of doom, a clear homage to his original form, can peg onto this mode to add some artillery to this form. Size comparisons with the other mainline Maximals I own. Lastly, a shot of him with Wheeljack to reference their short encounter from that clip that came out a couple of weeks ago. He's a bit too small to recreate that shot, but I think that was to be expected. The transformation is fairly simple, essentially standing up the beast mode, but the legs consist of some folding panels which lead to a relatively clean lower leg for how much mass they have. The backpack might be the only major problem I have, as there's a sizeable chunk of rhino hide that has nowhere to go in robot mode. Speaking of, the robot mode looks powerful. Essentially a movie-styled version of his Beast Wars robot mode, it evokes a lot of the elements of that design, only lacking the signature rhino jaw torso of that character. The headsculpt also looks like a movie-ified version of the original character. No clue if he'll look like this in the film, but we only got a few more weeks to find out. The chainguns cover the hands when they peg in, and do free spin. The clip-on design does make it look a little cheap, but pins and rivets are kind of a rarity in figures these days. I tried to showcase some of the articulation in this picture. 12 points, only lacking wrist swivels. The rhino's horn is also on a 5 mm peg, which the instructions say to attach to his shoulder for extra oomph in his tackles. Group shot with Primal and Cheetor. And size comparisons with the mainline Voyager Prime and Tarn. A little short, but it seems the mainline ROTB figures are smaller across the board. So is he worth it? I don't actually know for sure. As much as I personally enjoy the mainline ROTB toys, I don't really know who they're meant for either. At a roughly ~$33 MSRP, they're a bit too expensive for kids, but a little too toyetic for collectors. It's a lot to ask for, especially when you consider that a couple dollars more can get you fantastic figures like Tarn or WFC Optimus that may be on shelves at the same time. But relative to his toyline, I like him more than Primal, but not as much as Prime. I'd love to see if this series rounds out the rest of the movie's cast, as there's only a few more characters left to do. But as it stands, I think he's worth picking it up on a discount.
Thanks for the review! I dig how this boxy figure looks, I'm looking forward to finding this mainline Rhinox than I do the Studio Series one because I'm weird.
So far, the mainline voyager Maximals are a hit. Primal is great, and Rhinox is even better. I enjoy both modes (and find the squareness of the rhino rear charming), and robot mode has plenty of articulation. I will likely still get the Studio Series voyager of Rhinox, as the few blurry screenshots we have of his robot mode would seem to indicate that the SS figure is more accurate (though the mainline is far from inaccurate), but I bet the mainline is a better toy than the SS will be.
Seen this in the store yesterday. Was SO easy to put it right back on the shelf. First time I seen a new movie voyager. Seeing the studio coming this was so easy to not buy.
The Minecraft rhino is pretty good. The face is unfortunate, poor guy looks like he's just been hit with seven life shattering revelations at once, but the robot is chunky in all the right ways, the transformation is smooth, quick and overall fun, and like Mainline Primal he is relatively accurate (colour aside). SS outdoes him, but this is still a 7/10 on that metric. Colours are well distributed, but he could really benefit from a third colour. I also realise that I now have a complete team of mainline maximals. Primal and Airazor are genuinely great, while the other two are still good. The maximals did pretty well out of this film, in both Mainline and SS. I suspect I will also complete the SS team too. Oh, and Kingdom Rhinox can get in the bin. Honestly, comparing this to that feel unfair to the ROTB figure, since aside from the most extreme basics for a Rhinox (legs make the back, Rhino head and shoulders shift down onto his back, front legs=arms), I don't see any Kingdom in this, any more than T30. And good, since as I said, Kingdom can get in the bin.
It's like the HasTak designers finally figured out nobody liked the Kingdom Rhinox mold after numerous complaints and countless shelfwarming Rhinoxes.
The “Kubrick Stare” is one of Stanley Kubrick‘s most recognizable directorial techniques, a method of shot composition where a character stares at the camera with a forward tilt, to convey to the audience that the character in question is at the peak of their derangement.
