Here is Rhinox in his beast mode, which is much closer to the CG model this time around. The proportions are more organic and rounded this time around, and the gray is certainly much closer than the brown he had on previous merch. What I like on this guy is how it mimics the way a normal rhinoceros would have this armored look to their skin, as this guy is multi-layered on the face, shoulders, and back. Some of the parts represent this via gunmetal paint apps in key areas. The problem is that I wish the rest of the figure was cast in a more metallic silver plastic or painted in silver so it could make the sculpt pop more than the bare gray plastic does. Even adding a few more rust paint apps would go a long way, as seen on the forelegs. At least the horn looks fairly impressive.
His articulation consists of jaw movement, slight front leg movement, and slight hind leg movement. In other words, no different from past Rhinestone. His hammer can hinge at the head so the handle can peg on the back. In this way, it's like a missile launcher, thinking about it.
For a beast mode comparison, here he is with the mainline version of himself. Slightly bigger, much closer to a normal rhino than the mainline version (which reminded me of the vintage Deluxe), and undoubtedly closer to the CG model. That being said, I still think the mainline Voyager is still a good toy, all things considered. Its sculpted details on some of the exposed inner workings and the chains is cool!
And here he is with the other Studio Series Maximals. This should be the right scale, more or less. Of them all, he is the closest to the movie. Cheetor should be a little more gold and have a ore accurate beast head while Airazor is not like her CG model.
His transformation is not too different from other Rhinox figures for the most part. You still have the beast limbs become the robot limbs while the head is stored into the chest, and I do like how the hands swap the rhino feet. But this figure is probably like the old Deluxe with how parts come off too easily. The shoulders, chest, stomach panels, and even the assembly holding the hands/beast feet do not stay on their nubs well. Is it hard to add pins onto a VOYAGER?! If the tolerances were together, I wouldn't complain. But we've seen other figures handle their assembly much better than him in this line. At the very least, I do like the robot mode. It's appropriately muscular and better suits him than his blockier mainline Voyager counterpart, considering this one was made likely after the film received final character art. He looks quite massive from the top in contrast to how small everything feels going downwards. He's almost stylized in that way when viewed from certain angles. More bronze is present in the abs, crotch, and shoulders, which helps break up the drab gray. The torso feels like either a callback to gis Transmetal toy or a hypothetical Beast Machines version of him had he not been Tankor thanks to Megatron's takeover of Cybertron.
His head sculpt looks good but is severely let down by the lack of paint on him. There are splotches of silver here and there but it feels super incomplete. It's like, FILL IT IN!!!! At least his eyes aren't in the creepy PTSD look that the mainline Voyager has. That felt more moviefied than this head, ngl. His articulation consists of a ball jointed neck, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, wrist swivels, waist swivel, hips that move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots. He can hold his hammer with the spikes probably still being missiles if he wanted an explosive MC Hammer approach in his attacks.
For a robot mode size comparison, here he is in-between Cheetor and Airazor once more. We barely saw them in their beast modes compared to their robot modes (not to mention Airazor never transformed) but this should be accurate to the movie if the Studio Series line is anything to go by.
And here he is with the mainline counterpart. Massive difference between the more Beast Machines influence of the Studio Series guy and the closer-to-Beast-Wars-Season-1 look of the mainline figure. I recommend both figures regardless, but while the mainline figure had some decent paint apps for a lower-tier toy and did not have issues coming apart, this Studio Series guy could really use better durability and better paint apps than he currently has. The bronze is fine, but give him more silver.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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