We already know Cheetor at this point, as he was a main Beast Wars character that had various designs in addition to having proper development over the years, from his youthful rookie days in Season 1 to his more experienced role in Beast Machines. But before the TV shows even began, he was a toy with no defined character made in mind. At first, the toy was going to be a version of Prowl back when the Beast Wars toyline was a direct continuation of the Autobot-Decepticon war. Hell, he wasn't meant to be Cheetor but a version of the Autobot Prowl! And that would eventually lead to an Optimus Prime retool in the form of a lion (before the Primal name was going to be used for an entirely separate character); much like how that concept was passed on to an entirely different lion toy that was named Prowl with the Prime-esque head (albeit for Magnaboss), the basis of this toy was passed on to an entirely reworked character design in the TV show. With all that said, let's see how the original Cheetor holds up!
Here is Cheetor in his beast mode...which is not the best-looking beast mode all around. I don't mean that as the beast mode looking bad, but moreso the general proportions that it's left with. They're far too bulky for a cheetah, and while I'm sure some people would want to go with the chonky cat memes, they're not quite appropriate for a cheetah's sleek profile. It makes sense that they'd want to have the toy be reused for other predatory felines, including tigers, panthers, and even a snow leopard. However, it's least appropriate for a beast mode like this. On top of that, the sculpted details look passable in some areas, like the fur textures combined with the spots painted on, but other details like the feet, especially the rear feet, and the gap with the stomach where the rather unsettling placement of the water gun, makes it age like milk. The robot kibble is hidden okay from most of the areas, but the aforementioned gun and the blue robot parts do remain exposed. The articulation is certainly not what the designers had in mind. I mean, you can pretend that the hind legs can move back and the forelegs can kind of do the same, but the joints were not made for the beast mode in mind. There's not even an articulated jaw.
For a beast mode comparison, here he is next to the Kingdom version. This guy is undoubtedly a chonker as the internet would call fat cats when put next to his modern self. The new Cheetor's sleeker, faster, defined and very accurate to the real beast mode. That being said, I do like the shade of yellow that the original toy has compared to the shade of yellow that the Kingdom toy has.
Cheetor's transformation is where things get a little more interesting. Most of the time, it's a case where the beast mode becomes a robot with straightened legs and arms as well as replacing the head and removing the tail for a weapon. The original Cheetor toy has the legs straightened out, yes, but the robot feet flip out while the lower legs swivel around in addition to the waist swivel so the robot details can be on the outside of the legs. From there, the transformation gets a little more distinct than the norm, between the way the back becomes the robot arms, the forelegs go on the back, and the cheetah head swivels and hinges down. The robot mode Cheetor has...also shows its age. The arms and legs don't look too shabby, but it's the torso that kills it. I know this figure has been made with limited engineering as a 1996 toy, but it looks bad all around, and lifting the head up won't make it that much better since the cheetah head would obscure the robot face.
Head sculpt is most certainly a pre-cartoon take on the character design we're all familiar with, but without the youthful facial details that he had courtesy of Mainframe. The head crest does look kinda Prowl-like now that the comparison was made. And of course, it has the discrepancies of the mutant face as we'll get to. Until then, his articulation's pretty good. Head can swivel left and right, shoulders are on ball joints, the biceps swivel, the elbows bend very deep, the waist kind of swivels, the hips move front and back, though the thigh panels are hindered unless you do a part swap a la Runestone. The lower legs swivel above the knee, and the knees bend very well.
His weapons consist of the gut gun and the rump gun, the former being the water squirter courtesy of the stomach, while the rump gun is just the tail flipped back to reveal the barrel. Oh, and the face can be flipped down to reveal the mutant mask if you wanted, which is the inspired look more commonly seen with Shadow Panther.
As far as repaints made specifically for Cheetor are concerned, this is the Fox Kids version. Not too different from the regular version at first, but the blue is more of a greenish tint while the spots are red instead of black. You'll notice that I did not add the first version, and that is because the original and the new reissue are not that different even up close. Here, it's more noticeable all around, especially with the blue forearms and feet.
This is the 10th Anniversary version, which has a different shade of yellow and a new version of the gut gun. This figure tries to be more show-accurate, but it fails as it shares the same shade of blue from the Fox Kids version, to the point where the feet and forearms are still blue instead of gold. The figure also has the wrong eye color for both modes (and in the case of the cheetah mode, the wrong pupil shape).
And this is the Takara version, which tries to be screen accurate yet the figure has looks like he has gunmetal instead of blue. At least the feet and forearms are gold but come on! I do appreciate the robot head being painted and the same goes for the cheetah spots. Even the weapons look nice.
Back then, Tigatron used to share the same mold as Cheetor, which is not quite the case for the Masterpiece and Kingdom counterparts. The Hasbro Tigatron did not really match the look of the TV show, as the figure's stripe color layout was not consistent with what the TV show came up with. Perhaps the figure had his deco altered after it was decided to make him white tiger instead of a normal orange tiger. In any case, it's a rather unique interpretation of the formula, especially with the chream white.
Here is Takara's take on Tigatron, with more show-accurate colors all around. Does look nicer than the Hasbro version, I admit, but it is likely to yellow badly and look like the Hasbro version.
And this is the Telemocha version of Tigatron, now with metallic green as well as silver paint apps. Does look like the best version of the mold, but that's only for the deco; there was no retooling done for this guy! I remember there being intentions to retool the animal shell, but not the case with the final toy back in the 90s!
As far as separate characters are concerned, this is Shadow Panther, a Takara-original deco that was recently referenced in the Kingdom line. It's been repurposed as Tripredacus Agent when Hasbro imported the toy for online collectors, meaning this may have been a version of Ravage. I like the silver paint apps, though the yellow stands out less here than on the Kingdom version.
And finally, here is Nightprowler, who I guess may have been the intended version of a Beast Wars Prowl had he gotten a hold of this figure. It's basically a snow leopard version of Cheetor, so there's that. He would have been in a 2-pack with a Halloween-themed Transmetal Waspinator, but the Universe line made a massive glut of toys that retailers didn't want anymore.
For a robot mode comparison, I think it's quite clear one wins over the other. The new Cheetor does capture the look of the character better, from the proportions and the benefit of understanding hindsight as well as learning from previous mistakes. The original figure does win with the better colors and plastic quality, though the visual department otherwise isn't the best. So overall, Cheetor is a decent figure when you consider how the figure holds up today. It's not the best in terms of the robot mode and the beast mode is pretty bulky for a cheetah, but at least the articulation is decent, the paint apps and colors are nice, and the transformation is pretty fun for how different it works in some areas. If you got this guy at $6 like I did during Christmas, I highly recommend him. He's not really worth $22 right now.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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