Death's Head
23-08-11, 08:58 AM
Cheetor was one of the early Beast Wars characters that suffered a bit of as a toy. Cheetahs are generally lithe and nimble creatures, but this hasn't translated very well to the world of Transformers. Having to house various robot parts and weaponary, the beast mode is a bit too chunky to convince you he's a cheetah. That said, the mould was repainted for Tigatron, whose Siberian Tiger beast form was a much better fit. As flawed as this original version of Cheetor is, it's still head and shoulders over the unnecessary Universe update.
Despite the failings of the beast mode, Cheetah is a very nicely engineered toy. Transforming him is a little bit of a puzzle, but in a good way. The weapons unplug from the rear and stomach respectively, the robot legs are formed out of an nice 180 degree rotation of the cat's rear legs, with the robot feet flipping out of the heels. The back of the cat folds down to give Cheetor, um pants. The front legs rotate back at the shoulders allowing you to split the remainder of the back in half and swivel out the robot arms. The cheetah head then rotates around and pivots on an axle and clips back against the torso. Job done.
The robot mode is a little cluttered, and that cat head renders the toy a little too top heavy, but despite this, Cheetor can strike some excellent poses. He has superb articulation and the shoulders, elbows, waist, knees and neck. For me, the articulation on show here is perfect. It's not a mess of easily worn down joints and therefore maintains the figure's balance very well.
In terms of paint apps, there's not a lot going on. Cheetor is mainly yellow and blue. His forearms and feet have a splash of gold, and the cats eyes are green (for those of you who like your variants, blue and red eyed versions of Cheetor showed up later in the toy's production run). Its not a lot to shout about, and does make Cheetor feel a little bland, but for the era it was perfectly acceptable. Shame Hasbro decided colouring the intestines pink (visible on the water squirting 'gut gun' and correctly coloured on the TV show) was too much. This latter point also seeing the toy's release delayed slightly at the time. The mutant head is also an ugly looking thing and just hovers over the body as it lacks a neck.
Cheetor is a solid, but unpretty Beast Wars toy. He's good and nicely engineered, but knowing there's a superior Transmetal version of the character available, makes picking up this version perhaps for completists or those curious about the early days of the line only these days.
362363364
Despite the failings of the beast mode, Cheetah is a very nicely engineered toy. Transforming him is a little bit of a puzzle, but in a good way. The weapons unplug from the rear and stomach respectively, the robot legs are formed out of an nice 180 degree rotation of the cat's rear legs, with the robot feet flipping out of the heels. The back of the cat folds down to give Cheetor, um pants. The front legs rotate back at the shoulders allowing you to split the remainder of the back in half and swivel out the robot arms. The cheetah head then rotates around and pivots on an axle and clips back against the torso. Job done.
The robot mode is a little cluttered, and that cat head renders the toy a little too top heavy, but despite this, Cheetor can strike some excellent poses. He has superb articulation and the shoulders, elbows, waist, knees and neck. For me, the articulation on show here is perfect. It's not a mess of easily worn down joints and therefore maintains the figure's balance very well.
In terms of paint apps, there's not a lot going on. Cheetor is mainly yellow and blue. His forearms and feet have a splash of gold, and the cats eyes are green (for those of you who like your variants, blue and red eyed versions of Cheetor showed up later in the toy's production run). Its not a lot to shout about, and does make Cheetor feel a little bland, but for the era it was perfectly acceptable. Shame Hasbro decided colouring the intestines pink (visible on the water squirting 'gut gun' and correctly coloured on the TV show) was too much. This latter point also seeing the toy's release delayed slightly at the time. The mutant head is also an ugly looking thing and just hovers over the body as it lacks a neck.
Cheetor is a solid, but unpretty Beast Wars toy. He's good and nicely engineered, but knowing there's a superior Transmetal version of the character available, makes picking up this version perhaps for completists or those curious about the early days of the line only these days.
362363364