Marvel Legends Retro Vintage Rhino review

It took me until 2020 to review the Build-A-Figure Rhino, but I’m knocking out its upgrade much sooner. Hasbro has tried to accommodate latecomers to the line by not making them go through insane secondary market prices for wanted characters.

Throwing in the Retro packaging scratches the itch for old school collectors who like their figures with that environment destroying plastic window. This was one of those re-released/upgrades I wasn’t sure I needed, since I was mostly happy with the BAF version. Enough factors rolled out to at the same time to have me ordering this guy on Thanksgiving. Let’s see if Hasbro played me for a turkey or if my wish for a classic Rhino came true.

Packaging:  Clearly an advantage over the BAF, this Retro card Rhino features him on card and with a bio. Due to his size, his Retro packaging is much larger than the standard size. It’s one of those things you can’t really appreciate until you get the figure in hand.

I love the Spider-Man retro colors with the striking purple, orange and yellow and red lettering. Getting just this one sentence bio is nice and there’s also the illustration showing off the accessories.

Likeness:  A lot of this Rhino is reused from the BAF. There are some changes however. The BAF was a modern classic with the additional shoulder pads and wider open exposed face area. Thankfully with the omission of the shoulder pads, Hasbro filled in the holes on the shoulders so Rhino doesn’t have random holes.

I didn’t hate the head sculpts of the BAF figure — the non-masked ferocious expression had great intensity — but I really like the options here. The default is an intense one with gritted teeth and slightly squinted eyes.

For the second one it’s a more neutral one like he’s pondering charging into battle. Always nice to have options. And this time Rhino has the sculpted eyes on the sides like the classic costume.

The Toy Biz Fearsome Foes figure actually had the eyes so that advantage is lost with this update.

Rhino still has the terrific textured elements as well.

MORE:

• Image Comics reviews 5/10/23 – Junkyard Joe #6, The Ambassadors #4
• MAFEX Hush Batman figure review
• Hasbro debuts Marbel Legends Moondragon and Drax the Destroyer
• Star Wars The Black Series Ahsoka Tano – Clone Wars review

Scale:  Rhino is much taller and wider than Spider-Man while still coming up smaller and shorter than the 80th anniversary Hulk.

Paint:  Again, I was fine with the darker grey of the BAF Rhino, but I like the lighter shade much more. It also has a dark grey wash as well. The lighter hue allows the horns and toenails to stand out stronger.

The more precise work on his face turned out great without any bleed or sloppy overspray.

Articulation:  Rhino still suffers from the stubby single jointed elbows.

The head doesn’t have separate articulation from the neck and only moves slightly left or right. That doesn’t hinder Rhino’s primary charging attack mode.

Rhino’s center of balance is strong enough that he can stand on one leg, which should make for some really fun action poses.

Rhino has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees
• ankles
• tail

Accessories:  I already mentioned the alternate head sculpt, but Rhino also comes with a swappable set of open clutching hands.

These are nice as they allow for Rhino to grab Spider-Man or block Hulk’s punches.

Additionally, he comes with an alternate head sculpt with a mask covering his eyes. I like this expression too. I’ve read some collectors have had trouble swapping the heads off, but mine popped back and forth with no issue.

Worth it?  Rhino runs around $38.99. Considering the BAF version would by default cost $120 this isnt a bad deal at all. Still, I held off until Hasbro Pulse had a 25% off sale so I could definitely justify the purchase at that price point.

Rating: 9.7 out of 10

There’s enough difference from the original that it doesn’t feel like a worthless double dip. The new parts are welcome and he’s only really held back by the elbow range limitations.

Where to get it? Entertainment Earth has Rhino up for pre-order at $38.99 while Amazon has him available from secondary sellers right now.