Review: #714
Name: Cheetor
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Maximal
Line: Vintage Beast Wars
Year of Release: 2021
Size Class: Deluxe
Mold Status: repaint / reissue of original Beast Wars Cheetor
PACKAGING:
As part of the Vintage line (celebrating the 25th anniversary of Beast Wars), the packaging aims to replicate the original packaging of the Beast Wars toys when they were first released.
As a result, Cheetor comes in a fairly big blister bubble. Also harking back to simpler times, the instructions are on the back of the packaging and is only eight steps.
BEAST MODE:
Cheetor, as the name suggests, transforms into an organic cheetah.
This is a pretty decent beast mode all around, except from the back where the blue from robot mode is visible. This is the only robotic kibble that you can see in beast mode though.
Despite a Cheetah being sleek and powerful, Cheetor is kind of the opposite, taking on a stockier stature.
Above is a comparison against TLK Bumblebee for a size comparison, as well as Kingdom Cheetor, just to see how much toy technology has evolved and improved over 25 years.
Despite the beast mode being a statue as there is no meaningful poseability whatsoever, this is still a fairly good looking beast mode.
TRANSFORMATION:
Getting Cheetor to robot mode is quite simple. The rear legs straighten to form the robot legs, you just need to flip out the feet. Rotate the waist around, and then fold the front legs up. The robot arms can then fold out from inside the body. To finish it off, fold the cheetah head down.
ROBOT MODE:
At first glance, and in all stock photos, Cheetor looks pretty good in robot mode. He has a blocky aesthetic to him, reminiscent of G1.
He carries some kibble on his back, mainly the front legs of the cheetah. They're quite big but they're hollow so it isn't too bad in the end.
The cheetah head as his head is the biggest flaw. There's a huge gap between the head and the cheetah head, and it looks horrible. There's no way to reduce that gap at all, which is really disappointing.
The head sculpt is good, it's different from the show as it is less beastly and more like a robot.
The first wave of Beast Wars toys all had a "mutant head" gimmick, an alternate head so to speak. For Cheetor, you just need to flip the head 180 degrees to get the other one.
A quick size comparison shows he is roughly the height of a normal Deluxe, but he does feel bulkier and sturdier, as he has less reliance on hollow parts for cost-cutting purposes.
And now a comparison with his Kingdom version, once again showing how far toy design has improved.
Articulation is pretty good, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips and knees.
With the cheetah feet acting as heel spurs, Cheetor is extremely well balanced and easy to pose.
He comes with two weapons, both are guns. One is made from his tail and backside, while the other was stored underneath the beast mode (his "guts").
He can hold both in either hand, although the guns are a tad bit oversized and awkward for him to wield.
It would have been cool if the guns could have a missile launcher built in, but unfortunately that is not the case.
The other gun, the one formed from his "guts", have a gimmick where if you press down on it, it will blow the air out.
Apart from the half formed chest, this is a good robot mode.
OVERALL:
For a toy designed over 25 years ago, Cheetor holds up surprisingly well. Yes, there are some flaws, ignoring the blocky aesthetics, the main one is his chest, which is just terrible design even in 1996, and could have been easily fixed. Is he worth it nowadays with better updates? Unless you are curious about older toys, or have nostalgia, then it is better to grab the Kingdom version.
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