Rhino1

Yes, I know I already did one of these fairly recently, but I reviewed a Spider-Man comic on the other site this week and I decided I wanted to look at the toy it came with.for this week’s Report. That toy is the Rhino, another of Spider-Man’s lethal foes. If you’ve seen the recent Amazing Spider-Man 2 you do not have an accurate portrayal of the Rhino. This guy is the original version. So let’s see how good the toy came out.

I’ll get my one complaint about the sculpt (until we talk articulation) out of the way: why does Rhino have shoulder pads? I kind of like the bracelets on the arms and legs but the shoulder pads just look silly to me. Actually I just noticed something else. He has eyes where his ears are, as if whomever designed this toy thought he actually skinned a Rhino. The scowl on his face works for the character. Outside of his face and his gold toes (why does he have gold toes?) he’s just a series of grays but that matches the look of the character so it works here. It’s all he really needs to prove he was based on his namesake. Really, there’s not much to add so let’s check out the articulation.

Rhino2

“Check out the guns!”

 

The articulation makes me sad, actually. I’ll get the oddest one going first. He had the ability to look up as well as turning the head left and right but it doesn’t stay up. Like the ab crunch it almost seems to be spring-loaded (I don’t believe it is, partly because that would be stupid), or at least something keeps putting it back in place. Those stupid shoulder pads also block the arms from lifting all of the way up, so I have another reason to not like them.  The wrists swivel although on mine the left fist is a bit tight. His waist articulation is good but you can turn it too far and show they’re separate pieces. Still as bad as Leaping Hulk and a minor issue but I felt I should mention it. He also has good hip and upper leg articulation. His feet turn not at the ankle but where they meet the leg bracelets. I can deal with that.

What really gets me is what he doesn’t have, like elbows and knees. The arms are molded in a way that in theory he could hold a Spider-Man figure but not very well or as if he was putting the web slinger in any serious death hold. This is disappointing but it’s the legs that make me cry. He suffers the same flaw as the Playmates Ninja Turtles in that he has permanently posed knees and left foot. Since he’s standing on his toes with that foot it limits Rhino’s ability to stand up and he can’t stand straight at all. Toy Biz should know better, since they had other figures around this time with proper articulation, even the Doctor Octopus figure I reviewed a few weeks ago. I think I know what they were going for but to demonstrate I need to break out his display stand.

Rhino3

“I’m not cleaning this mess up.”

 

The display stand allows Rhino to stand in a “charging” pose but I don’t see why he needed to lack joints to do so. The stand itself, presenting a smashed part of Broadway, looks nice although the fire hydrant should have been painted red rather than be left gray. It’s a nice piece and you have two peg holes to choose from with the left foot and one for the right (he doesn’t work as well if you pose him in the other direction) but again he didn’t need to be locked in a pose that limits his posing without it and doesn’t gain much with it.

Rhino4

“I want a better representation in Amazing Spider-Man 3!”

 

Decision: Goes

This doesn’t make that great a display piece unless you want one pose, and then you might as well try to find a statuette or something. As a play toy I guess it works but for my needs it’s not that great. I’m keeping the comic, though.

This figure is available in the Clutter For Sale section.

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