Cliffbee.com Ramhorn Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Ramhorn
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Warrior
Alternate Mode: Microcassette



CASSETTE MODE
Height: 3cm Length: 5cm Width: 0.5cm

   A brown microcassette with a silver and beige sticker on one side. Like all the other Transformer cassettes, he's got side "A" on the top right, "60" on the bottom right (indicating that he's a 60 minute cassette). He's not metal position, which is somewhat unusual - Eject, Rewind and Steeljaw are all metal position. Magnetic media chemistry aside, he's got holes, and there's teeth on the spools and he has a picture of actual tape in the centre.

   As with Ravage before him, Ramhorn has legs and mechanical junk on the bottom of his tape mode. His sticker is only two pieces - one big section and a small one in the corner on his rear hip. This makes it far less likely to peel, he's less likely to peel than most of the tapes actually.

   Not a bad tape mode, although it's really kinda dull, and not much to look at from below - aside from the rubsign it's brown mechanical bits.

TRANSFORMATION TO RHINO MODE

   Pretty standard. Fold the head and tail out from the top edge of the cassette, fold the legs down from the bottom edge. Stand him up and attach his weapons to either side.

RHINO MODE
Height: 4.5cm Length: 8cm Width: 3cm

   Ramhorn's basically a flat rhino, save for his weapons on either side. His weapons come in either chromed gold or silver. He's mostly brown, with gold painted eyes and the weapons, which are very prominent and save him from being overwhelmingly brown.

   Despite being flat, Ramhorn's quite a cool little rhino. The missile racks on his sides beef him up very well plus he has a proportionally huge horn on his snout. He's meant to be an aggressive and effective warrior, and he looks it. I call the weapons missile racks because that's what they are - squarish blocks with a row of warhead tips sticking out the front. He has a smaller horn behind the main one and even has ears sticking up behind that.

   Poseability is about all you can ask of a rhinoceros that turns into a cassette. His hips and ankles swivel, you can pose him in running poses with a little care and he stands upright without much trouble. His tail can lift up and down, as can his head, although while the joint on his tail looks natural, the one in his neck is too high for him to lift his head in a natural way. The joint's reason for being is the transformation, not poseability.

   Overall, this is a pretty good rhino mode, considering it's a cassette. The weapons are well designed and the colours are fairly good. The only drawback of this mode is the hole in his back where the head folds out from. But he's a dark colour so it doesn't stand out as such.

VARIATIONS

   As mentioned, the missile racks come in chromed gold or silver. Personally I think the gold are better since they match his eyes (and the cartoon) - but both work, visually. In Europe and Hong Kong a painted version exists - the tape mode stickers being replaced with painted detail. This variant comes with the silver guns.

OVERALL

   Probably the best of the Autobot cassettes, Ramhorn doesn't really have any drawbacks aside from those inherent in him having to transform into a cassette. Even then, this is handled well - the fact he has two ears side by side on top of his head scores points with me. The weapons are cool, and the fact is Ramhorn's a pretty cool character which means a lot of people will want this toy for the character itself. Ramhorn only loses marks for the cavity in his back and the mechanical junk on his tape - 8/10

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