Bandai Rhino Questions

by **Graham** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:21 am

Can anybody who has the Bandai Rhino please answer the following questions for me: -

1) Do the side doors open for putting the action figures in, or just the top hatch?

2) Do the two front mounted twin cannon retract into the body of the toy, like in the show or are they fixed in place?

Thanks,

Graham
,

by **Doc** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:56 am

Hi!

One side door (left) opens, and the seat comes forward on a spring. A figure can be inserted. The figures don't swing forward though...

The top hatch opens to allow a figure to stand - it also hides the missile-fire button which fires the two missiles at the front.

The two front cannons are removeable but sadly do not retract.

The Rhino has a few nice features - the sounds are very cool and there's sound-chip interraction with the figures. It also has the booster rockets at the back which can be raised and lowered (both triggering sound effects). When raised the engine sound is different.

The downside is the size - it's not to scale with the Cheetah and Raid Bike - I hesitated to get it for this reason but it's well worth it IMO, even if it's more Armadillo than Rhino!

Hope this helps!

Doc

by **Graham** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:50 am

Thanks for the reply Doc.

I've got a Bandai Rhino on the way in the post at the moment and can't wait to receive it.

Yeah, I also noticed from the photos online that it seemed out of scale and way too small for the figures.

Can't wait for the Corgi version to come out, I just hope the colour gets changed from the current blue of the prototype pics to a more 'animation correct' colour scheme.

This may be blasphemy to some, but I just love all the NCS vehicle designs far more than the OCS vehicles. To me they not only look better, but in the show seem to have far better performance than the OCS versions.

Graham

by **Marion** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:36 am

Graham said:
I just love all the NCS vehicle designs far more than the OCS vehicles. To me they not only look better, but in the show seem to have far better performance than the OCS versions.

The 'better performance' might be because the original series had 'real' model machines - which were limited in what they could do by the techniques available to animate them. The NCS machines only exist in a computer program and can be made to look as if they're doing anything the producers want them to.
The machines in both series were never the reason I watched the show - either show - but they do play a part in the overall feel of the thing. However, to me they remain merely a means to an end - how they get where they're going...

by **Graham** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:08 am

Marion wrote:
The machines in both series were never the reason I watched the show - either show - but they do play a part in the overall feel of the thing. However, to me they remain merely a means to an end - how they get where they're going...

The machines are not the sole reason I watch GA shows either, but I do feel they play an intergral part in what makes the shows so attractive and beloved to fans, probably as much so as the characters themselves.

I like NCS & OCS for the story, the action, the characters and the music, not just the great looking vehicles.

But lets face it, neither NCS or OCS would be half as cool if the only vehicle the Spectrum agents had access to was a beat up old Morris Minor

Graham

by **Doc** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:21 pm

I remember watching the original series and wishing it was more like the paintings at the end - action-filled and dynamic with Scarlet leaping and dodging and the like. NCS has filled that void splendidly for me, and I much prefer the sleeker, smoother look of the vehicles and the show in general.

I miss the wires, of course, but then...

Doc :wink:

by **steviep** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:03 pm

Doc wrote:I remember watching the original series and wishing it was more like the paintings at the end - action-filled and dynamic with Scarlet leaping and dodging and the like. NCS has filled that void splendidly for me, and I much prefer the sleeker, smoother look of the vehicles and the show in general.

I miss the wires, of course, but then...

Doc

I agree. After growing up with the Sixties originals and reading the comic strips, I prefered it when the characters actually did something rather than just sat in a vehicle or moved along a conveyor belt.

The new vehicles are far superior in design simply because the CGI modelling can make them super-complicated and real looking. Let's not forget that the OCS models were invariably made from balsa wood, squeezy bottles and leftovers from Airfix kits. Being attached to strings didn't help either. Compare the Angel Interceptor flypasts (glorified beauty passes) with today's Falcon dogfights - no prizes for guessing who comes out on top there.

by **Graham** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:28 am

Got my Bandai Rhino and Captain Scarlet figure. They are both great, although of course way out of scale with each other.

One question, though, how is the sound chip interaction with the figure supposed to work?

I put batteries in the Rhino and it plays it's normal sounds, but I don't get any extra sounds and certainly no spoken phrases when I put the Captain Scarlet figure in the Rhino.

I guess I shouldn't have thrown aay the instruction sheet so quickly

Graham

by **Chris C** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:40 am

Hi Graham,

Don't know if it works the same as the Cheetah, but in that the voices only work if the figure is sitting on one particular side.