Masterpiece Rhinox

Prelude: The original Masterpiece line will come to an end in 2024 (to be replaced by the MPG line, which so far seems to be mostly Trainbots and repaints) and the next-to-last figure to appear is Rhinox from Beast Wars, the loveable big guy who occasionally turns into a highly dangerous bad guy. So here he comes, Rhinox in Masterpiece scale, ready to sniff flowers, fart Energon, and unleash his Gatling Guns of Doom on poor Waspinator. Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Now this is probably a redundant statement for a figure from the Masterpiece line, but still: Rhinox looks like he jumped right off the TV screen onto my desk. The figure is really awesome-looking and captures the look of the TV character to perfection, right down to the three-fingered hands. Okay, the backpack is just a little bit larger than the one worn by Rhinox in the series, but apart from that: perfect. Oh, and just in case anyone is wondering: no, the chest piece is not the actual lower jaw of the rhino, it’s fake part. But it looks great.

Rhinox is about as well-articulated as you can be, considering his vast bulk. His hip swivel is a bit restricted by his “skirt”, but apart from that he can move almost freely. The right shoulder joint on my version seems a bit less tight than the left one, but still strong enough to keep Rhinox’ arms raised even when he is carrying his big guns. The head is on a balljoint and the lower jaw moves, too. Together with two different face plates for Rhinox (neutral and angry) makes for at least four different facial expressions. In theory the head also has light piping, but it doesn’t really work.

Now like many Masterpiece figures, Rhinox comes with a bag full of accessories. First and foremost are the aforementioned big guns, the Chain Guns of Doom (alternatively the Gatling Guns of Doom). They are really, really big and look fabulous when Rhinox holds them in hand. The front part spins, there are all sorts of cool details sculpted in, and the handles look they’re made of wood. Fabulous! Additionally Rhinox comes with the device he built in the episode “Chain of Command”, which he used to extract Optimus Primal from a Vok probe (he must be a miracle worker). He can clip that one to his right forearm. Finally he comes with a spark, presumably Airazor’s, homaging the episode “The Spark” where Cheetor had a dream sequence, seeing Rhinox hold a spark in his hands.

So bottom line for the robot mode: amazing, fantastic, fabulous! The only slight complaint I do have is that the forearms could tab a bit better together, but that is really just nitpicking. Overall: two thumbs up!

Alternate Mode: Unsurprisingly Rhinox transforms into a rhinoceros and does a great job doing it. The transformation is… complex, let’s leave it at that. Not terribly difficult, so MP-5 Megatron won’t lose his top spot anytime soon, but it does take a while until all the various plates are positioned correctly so they can all click in. The resulting rhino is a very, very close match to the animation model from the TV show. Sure, you see several gaps in the hide, but that was going to be the case no matter what. Also, the underside, while not revealing any robot parts, does look a bit unnatural. The one part that does not really line up with the TV look, however, is the horn. Why does that horn have rings carved into it? Looking at the TV rhino, you can see some ring-like patterns on it in some scenes, but those were just colors and the horn itself always appeared smooth. Not sure why they did it this way. Not a big thing, but noticeable.

Articulation is not great in this mode. Rhinox can bend all four legs at the knees (somewhat), which is enough to make it look like he’s walking, and you can make it sit down on its butt, but little more than that. The tail can move up and down a bit, the head can move the ears and open its jaw. You can also move the head sideways, but only if you unclip it from the torso, thereby producing a gap where the neck should be. Good enough for a few extra poses, though. Just don’t expect Rhinox to perform the lotus seat pose he did as a rhino in the episode “Dark Voyage”.

Several early Beast Wars episodes showed Optimus Primal riding on top of Rhinox in their beast modes. Rhinox comes with an extra “seat” part made from transparent plastic in order to recreate that scene, which slots into his back in rhino mode and plugs into Primal’s hip in gorilla mode. Nice, but it works without the seat, too, so it’s a bit superfluous in my book.

Finally, I cannot help but remark on Rhinox’ Spiked Anus of Doom! When you look at the rhino from the back, you see the spikes from his lower legs in robot mode between the butt cheeks. I am uncertain whether or not this was done intentionally, but it is hilarious in a juvenile, poop-joke-level way. Now we just need an Ace Ventura add-on for this figure and we’re all set.

So bottom line for the rhino mode: not quite as perfect as the robot mode, but still pretty damn close.

Remarks: I wrote quite a bit about Rhinox’ background in the Beast Wars series in my recent review of Kingdom Rhinox, so look there if you want a refresher as to why Rhinox has found his place among the franchise’s favorite characters. Done? Good, let’s continue then. Rhinox is MP-59, so he is the next-to-last figure in the original Masterpiece line, which will end with MP-60 Ginrai. Not sure what this means for the Beast Wars season 1 figures we have yet to see in Masterpiece scale (Airazor and most of the Predacons). Maybe they will appear in the MPG line, maybe they won’t and some enterprising third party company will pick up the slack. We’ll see.

As for this figure here: it’s Rhinox from the Beast Wars TV show, that’s really all there is to it. I would say he is one of my favorite characters from Beast Wars, but to be honest, I like pretty much ALL the characters from Beast Wars (except Quickstrike). Anyway, this figure is expensive, yes, but if you are a Beast Wars fan like me, I’d call it a must. Now we just need someone to start up the Masterpiece Beast Machines line, so I can put an MP Tankor right next to this guy.