Wheeljack with Rhinox [Beast Alliance/Beast Weaponizers]

I really enjoyed Beast Alliance upon it's release (as you all noticed) and taking this look back to finish the series just as Transformers Wild King is debuting is making it a little extra fun. Both Wild King and Cyberworld feel like successors to the Beast Alliance series from Transformers: Rise of the Beats and I'm all for it. Today we're looking at Wheeljack with Rhinox from the Beast Weaponizers portion of the series.

Beast Battle Masters and the Beast Weaponizers were my favorite part of Beast Alliance and Wheeljack is a great example as to why. When I covered his mainline toy, I had a lot of fun joking about the naming, but really enjoyed the characters design all together (I really wish he was another character). I haven't gotten the Studio Series version of Wheeljack yet, but this might be my favorite toy of the ROTB version as good as that mainline toy was. Beast Weaponizer figures are similar to a Core Class figure, but just a little bigger. Wheeljack is nice and bulky with a pleasant amount of articulation. It's pretty amazing just how satisfyingly chonky this figure is in hand. There's some hollowness here and there and some skimping pf paint apps... but nothing feels lacking you know? They just did and all around good job.

Transformation is easy and everything just goes into place as it should. Thanks to the placement of joints, his windshield looks as though it has eyes. That's a funny little side effect of the engineering, but isn't overwhelming. Just funny. Unfortunately his Battle Master isn't a new character or new mold. Fortunately it's a good Battle Master with a slightly different deco. Beast Battle Master Rhinox partners with Wheeljack making a great pairing. Traditionally the two are smarty pants, but as this version of Wheeljack is beefy, they contrast nicely.

Rhinox is of course a rhino and as a Beast Battle Master turns into a gun that Wheeljack can either hold or be mounted to his vehicle mode. There's a good amount of points to stick a Battle Master onto Wheeljack, so maybe you'd prefer Rhinox to be arm mounted instead. Rhinox has less colors for this version, making him look more like a natural rhino. I do wish the barrel of his chain-gun mode had some color to add detail. Overall, I really like this set. Wheeljack's Urkel inspired looks contrast with his stocky build nicely and Rhinox pairs well with him. I'd love to see this mold get reused in Cyberworld or elsewhere down the road. It's a good one.

Rhinox (Rise of the Beasts/Voyager

I've always liked Rhinox, it's hard not to. He's this really likable gentle giant who's also the smartest person in the room (not counting the events of Beast Machines). Being one of the robots from the new movie, he's getting plenty of toys. This is his Voyager figure from the 'main line' of Transformers Rise of the Beasts. It's pretty great. I know I've been saying that a lot regarding these, and that's because they are. To me anyway, you might think differently. That's ok. I'm not pretending to be the definitive opinion on anything. This is just mine, and I like these toys. Being a Voyager class figure, Rhinox is pretty large. He's a big guy, so he should be.

Rhinox is fairly articulated and well sculpted. Many of you might wonder why there's a mainline and Studio Series Voyager figure of the same character... and that's a fair question. The Studio Series is meant to be a collectors line, while this is a better fit for all ages. This Rhinox is a little more toyetic, his transformation is a little easier and has more 'fun' features. These features aren't some sort of play gimmick, but accessories. Rhinox has his twin Chain Guns of Doom and the beast mode horn can be used as a melee weapon or mounted on his shoulder. The guns can rotate and of course pay homage to classic Rhinox's famous weapons while the melee weapon is similar to the one his Transmetal version wielded. That's probably not an intentional homage, but I find these movie beast warrior designs similar to Transmetals. So that's a neat extra, even if accidental. 

The chain guns can mount on his beast mode's sides giving a pretty fun look to the rhino. In the movie, Rhinox has a big hammer... as does his Studio Series toy. Like I said, they made this version more toyetic... this is fun. Not to mention, I kinda like this better. It's got a little more character. If I did have a complaint, it's that Rhinox could use more color. However, it's a movie toy so... yeah. Despite that, Rhinox is a really fun figure. He's big and chonky, nut not a brick. There's plenty of play value with his various accessorizes and they store away nicely in beast mode. I haven't had much bad things to say about the toys from this movie, and the way things are going, won't. That's a pretty great thing.

Rhinox (Beast Alliance/Battle Changers)

We're back with another Rhinox toy this week and a pretty good one at that. Since I've spent a little time talking about the Bumblebee and Optimus Prime from the Battle Changers size class, I'm assuming you know my mind set on these going forward. Rhinox is the better of the three currently available in this wave. Thanks to his transformation, there's some additional knee articulation. That's a nice touch. There is some hollowness a discount priced Transformer is bound to have. You know, I'm mentally placing Battle Changers as a middle ground between an up scaled Legion/Legend class to and a Authentics figure. They're fun little toys for not a lot of money. I'm hoping for some crazy repaints.

Rhinox looks as he should, though noticeably darker because movie. I don't mind it at all though, it reminds by his Armada toy a little with these colors and reliance on gimmicks. That's not a bad comparison, to me anyway. I loved Armada and that Transmetal mold. Speaking of Transmetal... that's what these movie versions of the beast warriors make me think. There's a strong bio organic theme going on and Rhinox is a good example of it. Even in this more simple figure, you can really see it. I was always a fan of the Transmetal look and it's a good aesthetic for live action designs. Rhinox is a mixture of gray and silver with a little gold and green in robot mode. It's a simple color scheme, but it works well. If you're into customizing, he's a pretty good blank canvas.

Transformation is pretty easy and both modes are fairly simple. Like the other Battle Changers, Rhinox has a flip out weapon. Though his completely replaces a hand... awkward. However it spins! His trademark chain-gun of doom is represented here decently enough. If you pair it with his Battle Master version then there's so many chain-guns of doom! Ok... just two, but that's still a lot of doom. You could even plug another into his arms via ports! This is a pretty cool little figure. You may disagree and that's cool. Me though, I like it. Sure, the price is what I paid for the Transmetal Rhinox I bought 20 something years ago but... dang, that's a sticking point isn't it? Who can we blame? Inflation? Corporate greed? Dick Van Dyke? Yeah... fuck that guy.

Rhinox (Beast Battle Masters)

Beast Summer is beginning with an analogy for life. You need thick skin and to charge forward, you need to be a rhino. A rhino also makes for a good beast mode in battle. Thick skin, heavy hitter, charge forward. That's why Rhinox as a Beast Battle Master just works. Admittedly I'm a big fan of both beast warriors and Battle Masters... but it's hard to not enjoy the idea of an animal based partner figure that changes into a weapon. In this case Rhinox changes into a chain gun. This is super appropriate as something like a rhino needs to be a BFG and well... it's Rhinox, those signature chain guns of doom are a necessity.

As a Beast Battle Master, Rhinox's main form is his rhino beast mode. It makes for a great partner figure, though I do wish they would have made it a different character in this form as there is a plethora of other Rhinox toys in the line. However they probably want to get some name recognition going as well as there's only so many trademarks in the budget. It also makes me think of the Arms Microns from Go! that were main characters as smaller weapons based partners. Like Bulkhead Knuckle. That being said, I'd love a boxing glove alt mode in Beast Alliance.

Transformation into gun mode is pretty easy as it should be for something this small. To transform into gun form, you essentially split the rhino in half and the chain gun barrel comes out the rear Ace Ventura style. The sides and extra parts fold away and you've got a BFG for whatever figure you wish to use it. I paired it with Battle Charges Rhinox. Because yo dawg, I heard you like rhinos. Also that toy was handy.

Bios: Rhinox

Rhinox

Function: Defense

Strength: 9 Intelligence: 6 Speed: 3 Endurance: 9

Rank: 5 Courage: 10 Firepower: 6 Skill: 6

The ground shakes with a terrible thunder as jungle trees snap like twigs. The noise draws closer in a cloud of dust and dirt. A herd of stampeding elephants? No. It's Rhinox, defending his territory from Predacon attackers! Courageous and cunning, had never backed down from battle, nor been injured in any way. Not even double-barreled laser cannons can cut through his triple-thick, steel-plated skin! If he comes your way, run for cover, fast!

A Landmine on Cybertron

In 2005, the then new Cybertron toy line had a nifty deluxe named Landmine. Presumably the same character from Energon before it, Landmine was an Autobot who transformed into a front loader. Landmine was an instant standout in the line for me as the figure was really good in both modes and just resonated well. Cybertron's main gimmick was the Cyber Planet Keys, which would unlock play features on the figure as well as being available in a multitude of colors and shapes (depending on the planet/faction they represented).

While I didn't mind the keys completely, I was often annoyed in cases where the key would be in the way of the toy in use. This was another good thing about Landmine as his key was out of the way when plugged in activating saw blades in the vehicles wheels. This ultimately just made for a cool looking robot mode more so than a weapon, but it was out of the way for the most part. As a character, Landmine was a seasoned warrior who was used pretty often in the show. A little later in the line saw a Walmart exclusive set of Landmine packed with a Mini-Con with a neat story blurb putting the two in an adventure. The toy was the same however, though this started a trend of the mold used only in exclusives for the rest of it's use.

The following year, the Landmine mold was used as a pre-Earth version of Rhinox for the 2006 BotCon exclusive box set. A straight recolor of the toy with his Cyber Key now colored to resemble one of the Golden Disks. I was particularly happy for this toy as not long after the original toy was released I thought it would make a good Rhinox. I guess I wasn't the only one who had that idea and the toy looked great.

Within a year the 2007 Transformers movie came out and was a big hit. Stores couldn't keep Transformers toys on shelves despite the onslaught of toys being made! It was during this time that in 2008 Walmart got a unique and cool set of exclusives. A new character named Grindcore was made from the Landmine mold. In more traditionally Constructicon colors, Grindcore was an Autobot that was another neat use of a great toy mold. Grindcore was featured in the fun movie based comics that were being produced at the time and is one of those cases where the character's name might be more popular than anything else. Sadly though, this was the last use of the mold, though still pretty remarkable. Usually a toy's various recolors can occasionally get a little bland, the Cybertron Landmine toy's various versions were all pretty great on their own.