Marvel Select Rhino Figure Review

Marvel Select has been on a roll recently with their releases. With the addition of more articulation, they have even Marvel Legends fans frothing at the mouth to collect them. This is especially true for the larger characters that Hasbro hasn't gotten to, or has already done but made too small. Fans have been waiting for a really great, massive Rhino figure for a long time that fits in their collection, and with Marvel Select's newest release it's certainly massive. But is it great? Continue reading to find out.

Check out hi-res images for this figure in our GALLERY below.




PACKAGING - Rhino comes in the standard Marvel Select bookend style packaging. It's really big, perfectly accommodating the figure inside, and then some. Marvel Select packaging has been unchanged since the beginning, which is really great for those MOC collectors who love uniformity in their collection.

The figure is displayed nicely inside the blister, with some cool artwork in the lower left corner of Rhino bursting through a wall, taken from the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #617. Rhino's name is going down the length of the bookend on the front, and there's a really awesome painting of Rhino's face on the side. The back of the package gives us a full photo of the figure inside, as well as shows off other recent Marvel Select figures, and provides a cool bio for the Rhino character. Despite the large size, it's very good packaging that protects the figure inside, and advertises it very well.

SCULPT - Rhino's sculpt is very awesome. First of all, he's huge, standing about 9" to the tip of his horn. The sculpt is extremely detailed, with lots of muscle tone, and lots of ridges that you would see on a rhino. The entirety of his suit is covered in cracks as well, giving it an amazing texture, and making it seem realistic. The toe nails and the horns on his head look awesome, and they have these deep striations sculpted into them, to give them an aged, worn look.

The head looks incredible. The cowl has the same great texture as the skin of the rest of his suit, with the cracks and the wrinkles and ridges it looks fantastic. There's even sculpted rhinoceros eyes on the sides of the head, which is comic accurate, but also still kinda creepy. There's some good depth in the sculpt here, and you can really see the separation of the mask from his actual face. The face underneath has this very angry expression, that's perfect for any pose you can put him in. Rhino is a villain, and you never see him smile. So whether he's in a charging pose, a fighting pose, or just standing there looking intimidating, the facial expression on him is perfect, and a really great rendering of how he's portrayed in the comics.

PAINT - I'll get this out of the way now, Rhino's paint job is flawless. I seriously spent a long time examining him, and couldn't find a single thing wrong with it. I suppose it's hard to screw up a a mostly gray paint job, but it's still highly commendable. Like I said, his paint job is almost entirely a flat gray color. However, he's got a light gray dry brushing all over the rhino suit that really makes those great cracks in the skin stand out, and once again makes him look realistic, and not just a big dull blob. The horns and toe nails are painted a light tan color, with a brown wash applied over them, seeping into the cracks and giving them an aged look.

The paint job on the head looks just as good as the rest. The rhino eyes on the sides of the head are painted in black with white pupils, again looks kinda creepy, even if it is comic accurate. There's no bleeding of the gray paint on the face, or the flesh tone paint on the suit. The flesh tone is a nice color, with the lips being an appropriate different shade from the skin. The teeth look cool, and aren't just white, but actually have some yellowing to them. The eye tampos are applied cleanly, and are centered correctly. Given how many Marvel Select figures in the past have had serious or noticeable paint flaws, Rhino is a nice change of pace and a very nice surprise. Seriously, the paint work on this figure is spectacular.

ARTICULATION - Now, the articulation on this figure is one area where this figure is less than sensational. Rhino has a ball jointed neck at the base, ball jointed shoulders, swivel-hinge elbows, cut wrists, floating ab joint, swivel-hinged hips, swivel-hinged knees, and swivel-hinged ankles. The thing here is that the figure looks like it boasts a really large amount of articulation, but a lot of it is pretty useless, and results in being very hard to pose the figure.

The ball jointed neck works fine, and the articulation in the arms all around are actually really good. The floating ab joint has a good range of motion, allowing to move back and forth and side-to-side in a 360 degree motion. The problem with the articulation really stems from the legs on this figure. The hips are attached to the figure very weird. Instead of being at a 90 degree angle, they're inserted standing straight up into the pelvis of the figure, making for some very awkward posing. It's possible to still get him in a charging pose, but you have to do some clever maneuvering of the different parts of his legs to get that to happen. I suppose it's good that the sculpt on his legs is ambiguous enough that it doesn't look completely off when you have to twist and turn his legs around. But what you see in the pictures is about as good as it gets. Even if you do get him into a charging pose, there's not much range to work with. The hips just don't move very far.

The range on the knees is pretty good, but the left knee on mine is extremely loose. Like, ridiculously loose. I had to use poster tack to keep it in place for some poses, otherwise it would just fall under its own weight. It doesn't prevent him from standing, but if yours ends up with loose knee joints, then certain poses will be hard to pull off. The ankle joints are probably the best POA on this figure. They're the pin and disc style joints, where they're inserted into the ankle at a 45 degree angle, giving him a rocker ankle motion that has a very wide range. So at least if you can get your Rhino into some cool poses, he'll be able to plant his feet properly.

ACCESSORIES - Rhino comes with no accessories, which is really fine considering he doesn't really need any. There's no special weapon he uses or anything like that. I suppose some kind of display base would have been cool, but he doesn't even have that.

FUN - Despite the articulation snafus, Rhino is a very fun figure. I've always thought Spider-Man had some fun, colorful villains, which I suppose is why his characters always make such great action figures. Rhino is a lot of fun just to look at, and being a very tactile person, I get a kick out of just feeling the great sculpt on the figure. Even with the limited articulation, it's still very fun to get him tangled in the web of your favorite Spider-Man figure.

QUALITY CONTROL/THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR - Just that loose left knee. Watch out for that.

OVERALL - Despite the flaws in the articulation, the quality control in his left knee, I would have to say that this is the ultimate Rhino action figure. Compared with any other Rhino figure made, it's plain to see that this figure is superior to them. Even though he's a Marvel Select figure, and therefore made in a 7" scale, he still looks fantastic with your 6" Marvel Legends, and looks pretty incredible posed with your other Spidey villains. The sculpt and paint job are top notch, and if you can manage to get him into some great fighting or charging poses, I think you'll be very pleased with this figure.

FINAL SCORE: 4 / 5