Tigatron is the Cliffjumper to Cheetor's Bumblebee; the difference is that while Cheetor at least had some frequent reappearance in recent fiction, most notably in Cyberverse, Tigatron instead has been found only in all Beast Wars-related media, all within the multiverse of G1 iterations. At the very least, he has received new merchandise of late, especially shocking on one line since he appeared before 3 of the original Maximals! And now, after struggling to wait with getting this guy, from my preorder being taken down and struggling to find a decent website that has him at a proper price, I finally own Kingdom Tigatron, so let's get to the review!
Here is Tigatron in his beast mode. A white tiger as part of his beast mode would imply, he's done up quite accurately to the real-life animal, both in terms of the stripe pattern as well as the fur sculptwork and the anatomy. I even like the slightly yellowed spots on him, as it feels reminiscent of the fur patterns that real white tigers have without it looking like it's actually the plastic yellowing. Some may prefer the cartoon-accurate beast mode of Tigatron, but as is the case with the Beasties in the Kingdom line, they're a balance between realism and cartoon-accuracy, so we'll stick with the real tiger face. I have to commend Hasbro for making the stripes stay on better compared to Cheetor's spots. I don't know if it's the type of paint they used or the plastic it's being used on. Additionally, the figure has slightly less noticeable hinges that come from the transformation as well as seamless proportions compared to Cheetor, due to his budget as a Voyager. His articulation is almost the same as Cheetor's, with an articulated jaw, ball-jointed upper legs, bends at the forelegs, and hinges as well as ball joints for the ankles and paws. You can store the gun underneath his chest, but it looks worse than the weapon storage of the original Beast Wars toy.
For a feline beast mode comparison, here he is in-between Covert Agent Ravage and Cheetor. You can tell how different the proportions are between the three of them. Tigatron feels the most proportionate to the real-life animal due to his Voyager budget, and you can definitely compare how he looks next to Cheetor, who makes the most out of his Deluxe budget pretty decently. Ravage, while very distinct as a jaguar due to his head sculpt and similarly bulky front body, does have to go with the compromises of trying to be show accurate to the robot mode. And as you can tell, Tigatron's not exactly the same as Cheetor, because apart from being an obviously different beast mode, the parts that cover the gaps for the shins in beast mode are not the backs of the feet, the hinges are less noticeable, and the paws have more articulation than with Cheetor.
For a Maximal beast mode size comparison, here is sTigatron next to everyone else in the line. Amusingly, Rhinox feels undersized in his beast mode while Primal and Dinobot are close to each other. Obviously, some sacrifices were made because of the sizes being prioritized for the robot modes, but it is amusing to see how funny they all look. I think some more dynamic shots can help reduce any size discrepancies.
Transformation might seem reminiscent of Cheetor's at first glance, but it's a case similar to how Kingdom Rodimus Prime uses an improved version of Studio Series 86 Hot Rod's transformation; the increased budget allows Tigatron to have forearms that don't have any remaining pieces of the beast mode, while the front legs can fold away better, and the shins don't stick out as much as they did on Cheetor. Even the tiger head transforms a little differently, being on different hinges on top of not requiring the jaw to open so it can tab in. This does mean that the back of the tiger head ends up as the back of the robot head unlike Cheetor, but I'll take it. The resulting robot mode ends up being better than Cheetor's, all thanks to his better proportions as well as improved engineering. While it has most of the same points that Cheetor had previously showcased, you'd get a better sense of how much better Tigatron turned out compared to the younger, shorter Maximal. Though one should keep in mind that the budget between Deluxes and Voyagers are clearly different.
Head sculpt is pretty accurate to how it looked in the show, as it was a mature version of Cheetor's face with the appropriate red eyes and teal green face. The mouth is even more catlike than on Cheetor! The funny thing is that they shared the same heads in the shitty Netflix show but because the Beasties were not made with the same CAD files of their toys they end up being pulled out of the animators' asses. Anyways, the red paint on the eyes looks nice, though it does look a little faint on the forehead. His articulation is consistent with every WFC figure. His head's on a ball joint, shoulders can move front and back as well as in and out, the biceps swivel, the elbows bend at two points instead of one, and the wrist swivels. The waist swivels, the hips move front and back, in and out, the thighs swivel, the knees bend, and there are ankle pivots.
The accessories he comes with are the tail whip not unlike Cheetor's and a gut gun. Now, the former is pretty much more of a whip because of the position it's sculpted in, and it lacks the blade that would make it count as an homage to the Transmetal version of Cheetor, so it more than makes up for that nonsense with the latter weapon. It's got the stomach organs painted in pink as is the case for the organic weapons, and it manages to be a nice addition after Cheetor was missing his. Weirdly, Tigatron has both a buttflap that Cheetor didn't have as well as a very tight crotch panel that doesn't move as easily as Cheetor's, and it only goes less than 25% of the range. It's a strange addition because of just how unnecessary they both seem, especially with how difficult it is to move the latter.
For the only reuse of the mold so far, this is Mutant Tigatron, so named because of the bio stating that a quantum surge (not me btw) killed nearly every Maximal and Predacon, yet he was weirdly left mutated and much more aggressive than before. This means he went from a white tiger to a normal tiger and also has a newly sculpted mutant head similar to but not exactly like Shadow Panther's. This deco also evokes the original prototype of the 90s toy before it was changed to a white tiger.
And Takara would later make a show-accurate repaint featuring stark white plastic and metallic paint apps for the Beast Wars Again line. Packaged with a Blackwidow figure (the Japanese version of Blackarachnia, not the Avenger), this guy better not yellow.
For a robot mode size comparison between him and the two other cats, here he is in-between Tigatron and Cheetor once again. He definitely towers over the two, and it especially shows how much more of a budget he has when compared to the others. Cheetor is an average Deluxe, and Ravage is basically a Deluxe that tries to be screen-accurate to a fairly basic robot mode that has his beast head as a robot head and skinny arms. Tigatron definitely wins overall.
For a robot mode size comparison with the other Maximals, let's recreate a photo that is used regularly in the Season 1 lineup courtesy of Mainframe. As you can see, the size really isn't that accurate between everyone. I guess it fits between him and Cheetor, but he's not supposed to be taller than Primal, nor should he be the same size as Rhinox. Rhinox and Dinobot are fairly close but both should tower more than a head than Primal. And of course, Rattrap should be bigger. The scale itself isn't going to make me lose my sleep, but it's something amusing since they're not 1:1 with the scale compared to the WFC Trilogy Autobots and Decepticons. As for Tigatron himself, he's definitely worth getting. While there are a few things I don't like about him, mainly the weapon storage and the unnecessary flaps, he's a worthy purchase to get, especially if you can get him before the holiday season makes him disappear. The improved engineering that he gets as a Voyager is undoubtedly a godsend if you ask me.
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