Rhinox (Armada)

Rhinox is an Autobot, and later the Horseman War, from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

A Rhinox that was eventually turned evil? Never happened.

Rhinox is a dedicated member of the Autobot cause. He is reliable and outspoken, willing to give it his all in the heat of battle and gifted with natural leadership qualities. Jetfire appreciates him greatly for this. His only true flaw is that others don't always react well to him because they are put off by his heavy-handed behavior. This includes his Mini-Con partner Armorhide, which hurts Rhinox.

As War, he holds the position of leader of Unicron's Four Horsemen.

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Unfortunately, this time Unicron could not be beaten with pop music.

Ask Vector Prime

In Aurex 503.01 Gamma, Rhinox was an engineer who modified Jetfire to be able to combine with Optimus Prime. His expertise was sought after when the attempted fusion of Overload and Rollout proved unstable. The fused being was brought to Cybertron, where he was rebuilt by Rhinox. Circumstances forced Overload to be deployed before reconstruction was complete, however. Rhinox intended to finish the task, but he was felled in the battle with Unicron. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/18

Armada cartoon

During preparation for the final assault against Unicron, Rhinox readied his Autobot fighter for launch. Mortal Combat

Dreamwave Armada continuity

Armada comic

There's a light...

Rhinox was among Jetfire's troops infiltrating Decepticon Command HQ on Cybertron in order to shut down the master space bridge nexus. When they came upon the mutilated corpses of the Decepticons inside, Rhinox wondered who or what did all that, unaware the perpetrator was watching them from nearby. He and the others soon came under attack too, but managed to survive by forcing Bludgeon out the shadows through the use of their headlights, which allowed Jetfire to destroy his shell. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4

...over at the Frankenstein place!

Having taken care of that for now, the group proceeded to the space bridge nexus. Rhinox, along with Overload, was ordered to guard the entrance against whatever had been inside their attacker and was still roaming around. At the same time, the breach of the nexus was noticed by several other of Unicron's heralds, leading to a situation in which the Autobots found themselves attacked from both sides. Rhinox, who was losing the fight against Bludgeon, and the others were given the order to clear the area while Jetfire would take care of the nexus, thereby also distracting the heralds from the rest of the team. A short time later, they regrouped on Earth with Optimus Prime, picked up by Jetfire from another reality, to prepare for the upcoming fight to save their own reality. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4

Rhinox was assigned as main operator for the space bridge to Cybertron until all of the Transformers on Earth had gone through and its self-destruct sequence could be initiated as a safety measure. During the subsequent battle with Unicron, Rhinox led a small team consisting of Airazor, Cheetor, and Terrorsaur. Unfortunately, Unicron, noting the fight was not quite proceeding as he had anticipated, declared that the four of them would provide him with answers and abducted them. The End

Energon comic

CAN YOU TELL I'VE BEEN COACHED BY SHOKARACT?

After ten years of exposure to the will of Unicron, Rhinox had gone from dependable Autobot warrior to loyal servant of the Chaos Bringer. As War, he and his colleagues served directly under Alpha Quintesson. This Evil Reborn They were sent to stall the Autobots on Cybertron, preventing them from reaching Earth with a brutal assault. What Lies Beneath Initially, War easily brutalized Optimus Prime. However, after Optimus was granted the Spark of Combination, he and the other upgraded Autobots repelled the Horsemen, with the help of the Omnicons. What Lies Beneath, Part Two After Scorponok and his Terrorcons botched a mission of their own, War and the other horsemen forcibly pulled them from Earth so that they could be disciplined for their failure. What Lies Beneath, Part Four

Rhinox and the Horsemen continued to do the bidding of Alpha Quintesson as months passed. Doomsday Redux! Still, they became suspicious over time as to whether Alpha Quintesson actually spoke for Unicron's wishes. In order to keep them busy, the Quintesson distracted them with an attack on the Autobots' Mars base. Armageddon Part 2 By breaking through Mars's defenses, the Horsemen planned to bring down Earth's defensive shield for their master's return. Armageddon Part 3 Unfortunately for their plan, the Autobots unleashed Omega Supreme to defend the Mars base from further attack. Armageddon Part 4 Omega Supreme was victorious in battle against Rhinox and the Four Horsemen. Armageddon Part 5

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

Rhinox was a reborn, multiverse-hopping Rhinox. Beast Wars Sourcebook #3

Toys

Armada

Probably related to Backstop.

• Rhinox with Armorhide (Super-Con, 2003)

• Takara release date: June ??, 2003
• Accessories: Horn/blade
• Known designers: Marcelo Matere (packaging artist)

Released in the fifth wave of Armada Super-Cons, Rhinox is a redeco and retooling of the Beast Wars Deluxe Class Transmetal Rhinox figure, converting from an organic-ish robot to mechanical rhinoceros. He has a third transformation that flips ski-boards beneath his beast mode forefeet and turns the hind-legs into tread assemblies. He was retooled not only to have Powerlinx plugs on the flanks of each rear beast mode leg (which do not activate any gimmicks, but are painted with "energy bursts"), but also to have a molded Autobot sigil in the space originally meant for a rubsign within his chest.

He came with his partner Mini-Con Armorhide.

Oddly, this version of the mold has the front rhino feet/robot feet swapped. The thin plastic semicircle details are on the outsides of his ankles rather than the insides like the original Transmetal Rhinox and its Fox Kids repaint.

As a hasty addition to the Armada toyline to meet demand, Rhinox was not available in Takara's normal retail Legend of the Microns line. He was, however, offered in Japan as a "USA Edition" release, exclusive to JUSCO stores.

His stock photo shows his beast form mistransformed, with his skis deployed on the front legs.

• More information on Rhinox at TFU.info

Notes

• During his cameo in the Armada cartoon, Rhinox is miscolored as the original Transmetal Rhinox.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Rhinox (ライノックス Rainokkusu)