Name: Cheetor
Series: Beast Wars
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Jungle Patrol
Alternate Mode: Cheetah
CHEETAH MODE
Height: 10cm Length: 14cm Width: 6cm
A yellow cheetah with black spots all over him, which isn't really surprising, when you think about it. Cheetor is far stockier than a real cheetah, these things are slim, sleek, animals, whilst Cheetor is stocky and solid looking. So he has the wrong proportions for a cheetah - I guess cheetahs patrolling the jungle don't need to be built for speed like those on the savanna.
Cheetor's tail is shorter than a real cheetah's although it is sticking out the back for balance, as a running cheetah's does. His hindlegs are far stockier than a real cheetah's, also, I suppose this has to do with Tigatron being an Arctic tiger. His neck isn't as long as it should be, although his face is cheetah-like. The eyes can be red, green or blue, mine has red eyes. His body is covered in moulded fur and spots, so despite the proportions it's clearly a cheetah.
The play value in this mode is probably slightly less than you'd expect from a Beast Wars Deluxe. His hindlegs have ball joints at the hips and knees, although the hip ones are really restricted. I suggest swapping the thighs over, since they restrict both modes. The forelegs aren't designed to move at all, so he's pretty much forced to stand upright looking like a cheetah on steroids. He has a water squirter on his underside, if it's loaded pushing on his belly will cause water to squirt out from his chest. It's a little strange, since the illusion is that he's emptying his digestive tract. It'll shoot a stream of water about a foot.
This toy was delayed by a couple of months when it first came out, apparently so they could fix up the weaponry. In this mode, at least, the gut-gun doesn't really work all that well, so I'm not sure it was worth the delay. While it's far stockier and shorter than a real cheetah, it's clearly a big cat, and the spots leave you in no doubt that this is meant to be Acinonyx jubatus (AKA the Cheetah). While it's not an excellent beast mode, it's reasonable.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Remove the gut-gun and the tail. Rotate the rear and straighten the legs and flip out the feet. Rotate the cheetah front legs down, lift out the cheetah back to form the arms, swing them out to the sides and down. Fold down the groinplate, swing around the beast head and fold it down to form the chest. Give him guns if you wish.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 13cm Width: 6cm
Again dominated by yellow, but Cheetor's not as yellow as one might expect. His groin, shoulders, shins and face are a dark blue, his eyes, forearms and feet a dark gold, almost bronze. There's still a fair few spots, mainly on his chest. All up, these colours work quite well.
This is a nice robot mode. Not only are the colours good, but the proportions are great, and his head looks suitably heroic. He's solidly built without being stocky, and looks like a robot with lots of cheetah bits stuck on - especially with that cheetah head on his chest. The mutant head, which is blue, looks very insect-like. It's forgetable, but doesn't get in the way - just forget he has one.
The poseability is up to the standard you'd expect of Beast Wars - his neck has two joints, one allows his head to look up and down and the other side to side. His shoulders are ball joints, his elbows are hinged but there are swivels above them, so the elbows have full motion. His waist rotates, although it does so behind the groinplate, so can only rotate so far. His hips are ball joints, his knees are double jointed like his elbows. Off the card his thigh movement is restricted, but if you've swapped the thighs as I suggest, then he'll have great leg movement. The cat paws form nice big heelspurs, so he's easy to stand in a lot of poses.
Aside from the gut-gun Cheetor's tail section also forms a rifle. The rump of the cheetah is sitting on top of the rifle, but it still looks better than the gut-gun, which has his intestines, stomach and even blood vessels moulded onto the bellows. Better a spotty gun that one with innards on it. I'll give them points for bothering to mould these details, though. Anyway, he can hold one weapon in each hand, so he's quite well armed.
The robot mode is easily the better of Cheetor's modes, thanks to good colours, good proportions and good poseability. The weapons are lacking, but that's not enough to really hold this mode back.
VARIATIONS
As mentioned, Cheetor came with red, green or blue eyes. There is a Fox Kids! repaint. Additionally, Tigatron and Shadow Panther are repaints of Cheetor. There have been several reincarnations of the character since.
The 10th Anniversary Cheetor was done in metallic blue and yellow plastics, and featured green eyes.
OVERALL
The beast mode, while not really a cheetah in shape, is reasonable. The colours are good in both modes, and the robot mode is a clear strong point. Cheetor's such a prominent character in the show that he's basically a must have anyway, but even if he wasn't in the cartoon, I'd still recommend him - 8/10
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