Marvel Legends fans may not have gotten to see the 20th Anniversary ML Toad figure everyone is waiting for during this week’s Fan First livestream—but they did get the reveal of a previously-teased and much-demanded revisit of another villain: the single-carded Marvel Legends Rhino Retro Spider-Man figure is now up for order! If you own the original Rhino BAF, is this release skippable or a worthwhile upgrade?

It might feel like just yesterday that the Spider-Man Legends Rhino Build-A-Figure came out, but it actually was way back in 2015. Yowza. Rhino is a beloved and classic Spidey villain, so it isn’t shocking that the Rhino BAF became quite pricey on the aftermarket during this seven-year absence. In fact, the Marvel Legends Rhino BAF was selling for over 200 bucks on eBay in recent months!

Clearly there’s still plenty of demand for a Hasbro rhino action figure, so who can blame Hasbro for capitalizing on this demand with their latest Spider-Man Vintage series figure: an updated Rhino on the oversized, retro Toybiz-styled packaging!

I apparently never finished the Rhino review I was writing seven years ago, but I do still have the photos I took for it, which I’ve included in this article for comparison’s sake. Talk about retro!

Hasbro didn’t announce the price-point for this deluxe single-packed Rhino Marvel Legends figure today, but I’d be shocked if he doesn’t retail for $33-35. I reckon the days of $29.99 deluxe figures are officially over. I guess we’ll know for sure tomorrow!

This won’t just be a “same old” straight repack, though: this time, we ‘re getting an all-new paint scheme, two brand new head sculpts and no cumbersome shoulder armor. That’s right, Hasbro filled in the unsightly shoulder holes on Rhino’s mold and is now giving fans a more iconic, shoulder pad-less version of Aleksei! I didn’t care for the shoulder armor on the ‘15 BAF at all, so I have no qualms with them being fully omitted here.

Hasbro has also freshened up Rhino further with a new, lighter grey color scheme (with a great paint deco wash to bring out the details). Both new heads are also excellent, and I especially like the angry head that’s not psychotic looking like the original release.

The new, sneering head is nifty too, though I suspect most fans are going to display Aleksei with the default head. Good on Hasbro for the effort of making two new portraits regardless! And for those who want even more options for posing, we also get a pair of interchangeable grappling hands for those who want Rhino to be able to toss heroes around and not just engaging in pure fist fights all the time.

The Spider-Man Retro Rhino Legends figure goes up for sale at 1PM EST on Tuesday 2/22/22 (what a date!). There should be a good supply of POs available for a while, but many of these Toybiz-styled figures sell out and get quite expensive on the aftermarket, so do be aware.

Is this new Retro Rhino Marvel Legends figure an improvement or an unnecessary re-release in your eyes, Marvel collectors?