Cheetor is one of those characters that fill in the child-appeal characters that mature over time as the series progresses. Not a bad thing if you ask me, but he kinda began those tropes that is later seen with Side Burn, Hot Shot, and some versions of Bumblebee. He's reckless, he sometimes gets in trouble, but his heart is in the right place. He changes appearance every season and eventually matures, to the point where he's less like a kid-appeal character in Beast Machines. Now he's back in the Kingdom line, and while the character may be written like Bumblebee or Mirage in the show (to the point where he'd sound like them), we at least have a figure to review!
Here is Cheetor in his, well, cheetah mode! It captures the anatomy of the character design quite well, and it allows us to appreciate how it changed from the original Cheetah toy. It's nice, sleek, and captures the anatomy of the animal quite well. I love that the deco used for the fur on the chest and mouth, and while some parts of the robot mode are exposed as well as the hinges, I can happily say that this guy captures the look of the beast mode very well! It's even got some articulation, with an opening jaw, front legs that move from and back as well as in and out, forelegs that bend up and down, hindlegs that hinge outwards, hind legs that move front and back, and every paw is ball-jointed. While the neck looks like it could swivel, it cannot (or at least mine can't), and I fear that any attempt at swiveling it will break it.
Transformation is solid though as mentioned with the plastic of the neck, part of this toy's plastic is somewhat brittle. Not like it's going to crumble in your hands like Randy from Beast Wars Neo infamy, but still bad. There are tabs that are thin and could snap off without you knowing, much like the piece that connects to the head. As for the actual transformation, it's not too shabby, with the hind legs becoming the shins, the head using a few more hinges to make the chest transform interestingly, and whatnot. The robot mode we end up with is pretty solid, with the proportions and design cues found in the robot mode that one would expect from Cheetor. I love how he turned out, though I feel the colors of the toy are a little inaccurate. There should be plenty of gold around the toy like the forearms and the helmet while the blue should be a metallic navy blue. This feels more like a Cheetor toy with incomplete paint apps and prototype joints.
Head sculpt is faithful to the character design, but the light blue face and lack of gold for the helmet make it feel more like a Playskool deco than it should be. Like the face sculpt looks good, but it just needs a little more of that sharp Cheetor essence from the colors used. Articulation is par for the course with the WFC line, as his head is on a ball-joint, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out (though hindered somewhat because of the cheetah parts behind them. Biceps swivel, elbows bend, and wrists bend. Waist swivels, hips move front and back, in and out, thighs swivel, knees bend, and the ankles pivot.
His sole weapon is groundbreaking, as it's a tail that can be yanked from the beast rump and be used as a whip or sword...just kidding, it's pretty much something I expected and is pretty dumb. I'd honestly prefer if we got one of the guns based on the toys (especially the stomach gun from the G1 toy). It can be held in two ways but the curved shape of the tail and the paint apps likely being scratched off would mean don't do it.
Here is the current reuse of the mold, which is the Netflix WFC version of the mold. It's got green cheetah eyes, a shinier shade of yellow, metallic blue replacing the lighter blue, and weirdly removes the paint apps on the legs and tail weapon. And for some reason, the stock photo shows that the spots are left intact on the tail in robot mode yet are missing in beast mode. This figure looks better than the regular one, but I wouldn't immediately say it's an improvement because of the missing blue paint.
While not specifically Cheetor, this is Nightprowler! He is pretty much Cheetor but with the yellow replaced with gray, though there is some yellow left on the crotch plate, shoulders, and head to have some color break up. This is in homage to the canceled Universe 2003 repaint of the original Cheetor mold.
For full-on cartoon accuracy, Cheetor (in this case, Cheetus) was repainted as part of the Instant Showdown set from the Beast Wars Again line made by TakaraTomy. He features more paint apps to better match the cartoon model and basically makes for a more complete set. Get him only if you want more paint apps while he is discounted.
And here we have a slight retool and all-black redeco, Shadow Panther. The guy himself looks rather slick in his beast mode, and the silver paint does make the toy feel rather premium, especially with the retooled mutant head (which lacks the actual gimmick of the old toy but whatever). I love the added Predacon logo, which shows that this guy may either be a clone of Cheetor as an undercover agent or one of the earlier bodies of Ravage during the Beast Era. If you can't get Covert Agent Ravage, this guy may be a decent stand-in.
Here is a comparison between him and his other counterparts. The original Cheetor figure is pretty dated for how blocky the proportions are and how unrefined the design is (though the plastic is denser than this toy is. The Universe figure is wasted potential thanks to the gimmick and inaccurate design. And now we've got the Masterpiece, which is pretty much the CGI model stepping out of the TV show. So of course people would probably think the Kingdom figure is inferior because it's not a mini-MP, but I think it works well on its own as a balance between being a realistic beast mode and a cartoon-accurate robot mode. I just wish the colors would be even better.
Here he is next to Rattrap! These two look great together as part of the synergy shared with the Kingdom line compared to most of the prior versions in the Generation line. Like the T30 Rattrap was solid compared to Universe Cheetor, but these two look like a duo of synergy. These two are shaping up to be part of the WFC line's best breath of fresh air; 2 years of G1 boredom I'm happy to see how the Beasties turn out in the line. Rattrap is already a nice take on the guy for his bite-sized perfection while Cheetor's a better CHUG interpretation of the character than the Universe version is, even if he feels a little cheap.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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