Back in December I got my hands on Hasbro’s Generations voyager-class Rhinox, and I was over-the-moon in love with that figure. I even went so far as to name it my Figure of the Year for 2013, beating out Masterpiece Soundwave, Masterpiece Prowl, Generations Springer, and a whole slew of other great figures we got in 2013. Finally, this was a Rhinox that could stand proudly in my Beast Wars display. I could not have been happier or more pleased with a figure … until Takara’s version was released.
As close as Hasbro’s Rhinox is to the Beast Wars show model, Takara hit the mark with even more precision.
Rhinox’s primary colors have always been green and brown, but the Hasbro figure’s gray/tan didn’t bother me one lick until I opened my package from amiami.com this week and I got an eyeful of this guy. He knocked me right on my butt before I even had a chance to free him from his packaging. He’s just beautiful.
As far at their respective ‘bot modes go, the only real, noticeable difference is the color of their organic rhino bits. Takara’s brown is much closer to the show model even with the metallic sheen. Now, in many pics I’ve seen, the metallic effect has been pretty strong, which put some fans off. In person, it’s not that dramatic, and I think my pics here do an OK job of portraying how it looks in person. It’s not perfect, but it’s close.
The difference between the two is pretty profound to me, and the Hasbro figure doesn’t hold a candle to the Takara figure. The brown/bronze color is just really doing it for me. This is the Rhinox I wanted all along.
With his colors as they are, he fits in perfectly with the 10th Anniversary and Telemocha Beast Wars figures. Above, he’s pictured with the 10th Anniversary Dinobot. Their colors are fairly similar and both have a similar sheen to them, which makes him fit in with the collection much more effectively than the Hasbro figure does. There is really no comparison as far as I’m concerned.
And then there’s the guns.
Aren’t they pretty? They’re gorgeous. The paint brings out so much detail that Hasbro version doesn’t because … yeah. I’ll just let the below pic do the talking for me.
His rhino mode is also closer to the show model. He was a brown rhino with golden horns on the show, and Takara comes much closer to hitting that mark.
However, the sheen does become more noticeable here, but it’s still much closer to what we saw on-screen than what we got with the Hasbro figure. But, the truth is, I could really go either way here.
There are things I like and dislike about both figures’ alt modes, even though Takara’s is more true to the source material. With the ‘bot modes, there is no question — Takara wins. But I think I have room in my collection for both rhino modes. I may just keep the Hasbro figure on my shelf in permanent rhino mode.
Based on initial pics, I wasn’t interested in this figure, but I happened to be online when he and Takara’s Waspinator went up for sale on amiami.com, so I tossed in an order for both because the price was right. It still took me a while to really commit to the purchase, but once I got them in hand, any doubt in my mind was eradicated instantly. I could not be more pleased with this figure. I recommend it highly.
Unfortunately, he’s sold out on amiami.com, but he’s still available at several US online stores, like Fwoosh sponsor Big Bad Toy Store.
