Rhino

Once a small-time muscle man who worked miscellaneous jobs for professional criminals, the man who became the Rhino was chosen by foreign spies for a top-secret experiment in which he was given superhuman strength and an artificial, bulletproof hide. Soon thereafter, the Rhino turned on his masters, seeking to carve out a criminal career by himself. He now stomps through the world, an unstoppable mass of thundering fury! Rhino is the Build-A-Figure for Spider-Man Marvel Legends Series 2, and comes in seven pieces: legs, arms, torso and heads. If you buy all seven figures from this series, you'll end up with an extra torso - and yet this time, the blame doesn't rest with the swap figures, because those all came with different pieces. The parts distribution in these series is getting really weird. You may have thought it odd that we listed "heads" as part of BAF Rhino's parts count, but he really does have two - they both come with the same figure, so it's not even a question of getting doubles when you buy different toys. The first is the classic Rhino, with a completely bare face. That's the way he's looked since he was first introduced in 1966 (though this one is missing the little rhino-eyes on the sides of his cowl). To set him apart from the Marvel Select and previous Marvel Legends versions, which were both relatively calm, this one has crazy eyes and a gaping mouth that's open so wide you can see his uvula. The second head is more modern. During Civil War, Aleksei Sytsevich ended up surrendering to SHIELD, and they managed to get his armor off him. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but got an early release due to overcrowding. He met a nice woman and settled down, but then a new Rhino with an advanced technological suit came looking to prove himself. To defeat him, Aleksei had to put the armor back on, and his new suit included a cowl that came down low enough to cover his eyes and nose. That's what the second head represents. Showing some really poor planning on Hasbro's part, Rhino's neck pegs are the same one-time assembly style as all the other pegs on the figure. Really, guys? You made a figure with swappable parts, and then didn't think to make them swappable? Basically, you need to do what we told you to do with The Allfather, and trim the peg down. Unfortunately, you need to do this BEFORE you assemble Rhino. Once the figure is together, you're not getting him apart again, and that includes the head - so don't plug the head in before trimming the peg. It's really easy to do, and the head still stays in place firmly. The figure's sculpt is a real beaut. It's not merely an upsized version of the Marvel Universe figure, but a much more intricate and anatomically detailed piece. The skin is thick and cracked, with large warty bumps scattered about. There's a line on the heads' necks below which the sculpts are identical, but above which they diverge - even the wrinkles on the back of the necks are unique. Each foot has three large toenails, and there are armored plates on his shoulders (which you can remove, if you want a more "classic" Rhino appearance). The only colorful spot on the figure is his face - whichever face you decide to use. The skin is peachy, and if you opt for the unmasked version, you also get white eyes ringed in pink, a few shades of pink for his mouth and tongue, and whatever off-white shade his teeth are. The toy is molded in grey, then painted with a lighter grey over top, and finally some tan drybrushing - it's not just the sculpt that keeps Rhino from looking flat! His toenails are brown, but his thumbnails (the only fingernails we can see, since his hands are balled into fists) are unpainted. Rhino's articulation is mostly good. Mostly. He has swivel/hinge ankles, hinged knees, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge hips, swivel waist, hinged torso, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged elbows, swivel biceps, and a swivel/hinge neck (which, we remind you, you should not plug into the figure until after you've modified it). The torso hinge is pretty bad, though: it only has one "click" of movement, and that only forward; there are bars molded on the inside of the upper torso that are specifically designed to stop it from moving back far enough to activate the ratchet joint. Why, Hasbro? Why would you do that? I know human backs don't actually bend back that far, but toys do. As it is, there's a lot of "wobble" in the chest joint in its upright position. Rhino stands just over 8⅜" tall, which makes him smaller than the Marvel Select Rhino, but bigger than the Marvel Legend. He's got good proportions and generally good articulation, and all the figures you buy to build him are either new or improved. Rhino is not without his problems, but overall he's good. Scarlet Spider | Superior Venom | Heroes for Hire (Misty Knight) | White Tiger Savage Force (Kraven) | Heroes for Hire (Ghost Rider) | Savage Force (Chameleon) -- 11/23/15

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