Raynos RHI-10 Pteranodon Type Zoids Wind-Up Toy Kit Item No.: Asst. ???? No. ???? Manufacturer: Tomy Includes: Stickers, 1 pilot Action Feature: Walks, opens mouth, wings move Retail: ??? Availability: ca. 1989 Other: Helic Republic
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This late-1980s Zoids kit came to me via my dad after going on a business trip to Japan. Raynos is one the bigger wind-up kits I had back then, with a nine-inch wingspan. The 1:72 scale kit is more of a blue, not a green or teal like we saw in America in the early 2000s (which, of course, was also sold in Japan.) The kit itself is similar, but the colors and stickers are unique.

It's been a while since I built it, but it was hugely exciting as a kid to have a winged dinosaur with an opening cockpit with a pilot in it. I didn't have any pterosaurs as a small child, but when this guy came out I was a bit bigger and - as you can see - super duper careful to take good care of these guys. Japanese toys were incredibly rare in Arizona and indeed much of America back then. I had all of these guys in an empty drawer, away from dust, out of the light, and preserved until now so you can see them. You could say I was a fun kid, or you could say I was obsessive, and only one of those is probably true.

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Tomy's

This guy measures around measures about 9-inches wide, but when you ignore the wings he's probably on par with the more common "basic" kits from the RoboStrux era. You know the ones - big, but not huge, although this guy might stand a bit taller and longer thanks to some adornments on the head and tail. Check out the pteranodon crest, the pointy teeth, the multi-pronged/bladed tail. Admire the many vents, the RZ15 decals, and the Helic Republic lightning bolts. Don't ignore the fun that the tail guns are literally tail guns, and for some reason there's a small, white plate-shaped thing with some prongs on it.

When I first got Raynos, my immediate thought was that the little white backpack thing looked like the Enterprise-D from the then-new Star Trek: The Next Generation. It pops right off, and you can fly it around like a little pretend scout ship. I'm sure that's not the intent of the designers, but honestly I'm not sure what they were going for here. It's a lousy laser cannon if it's pointed at the back of the skull.

The stickers were cut well and applied easily, or so is my memory. All of the parts move nicely, with the wings and legs propelling it forward as the jaw opens while dragging its tail along the table. The whole thing was powered by a wind-up motor with a unique--at-the-time black capped handle. It's easy to use, and blended in with the kit's design far more than the traditional opaque milky caps.

The gold chrome pilot really pops when you look in the smoky clear cockpit, and Tomy was really good at including multiple runners with different colors of plastic. The black parts make up the undercarriage and feet, while the blue was used for most of its most distinctive prehistoric parts. The claws, cannons, and backpack are all cast in a white plastic that, magically, still seems pretty bright now that this guy is starting to near his 40th birthday.

I can see why Tomy and Hasbro saw these old molds and saw them as viable for the Japanese, American, and other export markets in the early 2000s. The sculpts didn't seem dated, as the designs had enough style to not necessarily feel like some weird old 1980s thing your dad had. Admittedly, no child today is probably asking for a wind-up toy, let alone a model kit, when there are endless choices of dinosaur at the store. Paw Patrol, Transformers Studio Series 86, Spidey and His Amazing Friends, Jurassic World, and countless cheap store-brand terrible lizards are easily had in your town right now. There's really no reason to bring anything like this back next week, other than it might be very cheap to manufacture a toy where the assembly is outsourced to the end user.

Today, the old Japanese blue kit is pretty pricy. Heck, so are the teal reissues from America or Japan. There are other Raynos toys to be had, but I'm so happy with this one I never felt the need to pick up one of the others. If you can get any Raynos kit at a fair price, it's fun. But the Salamander/Pteramander kit is far more impressive if you can get one, especially since Hasbro's reissue from the early 2000s included a vac-metal gold pilot. I should also note that Hasbro made a Raynos carded action figure, which is neither motorized nor a kit. I skipped most of those so I can't speak to their value as a toy, but I was a "big kid" and I absolutely preferred these kits when the option was available.

Additional Images

See more Tomy toys in Figure of the Day:
Day 170: Tomy Zoids Wardick
Day 263: Tomy Zoids Gorgodos Action Figure
Day 364: Tomy Robostrux Brutox Figure Kit
Day 382: Tomy Robostrux Slithor Figure Kit
Day 406: Tomy Zoids Twinhorn Action Figure
Day 484: Tomy Robostrux Brox Figure Kit
Day 486: Tomy Zoids 24 Scale Neptune Figure Kit
Day 1,352: Tomy Robostrux Batlar Figure Kit
Day 1,422: Tomy Zoids Gator Figure Kit
Day 3,099: Tomy Zoids Sinker Figure Kit
Day 3,119: Tomy Zoids Raynos Figure Kit

See more Zoids, Robostrux, and Techno-Zoids in Figure of the Day:
Day 170: Tomy Zoids Wardick
Day 263: Tomy Zoids Gorgodos Action Figure
Day 364: Tomy Robostrux Brutox Figure Kit
Day 382: Tomy Robostrux Slithor Figure Kit
Day 406: Tomy Zoids Twinhorn Action Figure
Day 484: Tomy Robostrux Brox Figure Kit
Day 486: Tomy Zoids 24 Scale Neptune Figure Kit
Day 1,352: Tomy Robostrux Batlar Figure Kit
Day 1,422: Tomy Zoids Gator Figure Kit
Day 1,471: Takara-Tomy Zoids Masterpiece Shield Liger
Day 2,000: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-05 Gannontoise Figure Kit
Day 2,008: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-01 Wild Liger Figure Kit
Day 2,013: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-03 Kabtor Figure Kit
Day 2,017: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-04 Scorpear Figure Kit
Day 2,039: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-06 Gabrigator Figure Kit
Day 2,075: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-07 Kuwaga Figure Kit
Day 3,089: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-13 Gusock Figure Kit
Day 3,094: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-14 Stegosage Figure Kit
Day 3,099: Tomy Zoids Sinker Figure Kit
Day 3,104: Hasbro Zoids Dark Horn Figure Kit
Day 3,109: Hasbro Zoids Molga Figure Kit
Day 3,114: Kenner Zoids Armored Gator Figure Kit
Day 3,119: Tomy Zoids Raynos Figure Kit

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