Name: Cheetor
Series: 6" Titaniums
Allegiance: Maximal
Alternate Mode: Technorganic Cheetah
CHEETAH MODE
Height: 8cm Length: 14cm Width: c8m
A gold technorganic cheetah with burgundy spots and claws. Cheetor has some bright red, lack and green elements here and there, but really he's about gold. This is an update of the Beast Machines Cheetor, in a slightly more sedate colour than the yellow Beast Machines toys. Okay, so there was gold chrome on those toys, but combined with yellow it did make them garish. The gold here isn't garish, although the red is a little bright but used sparingly. The main red feature is a Beast Machines style Maximal symbol on his back.
The trunk is shorter than it should be for a cheetah, since the designer has (wisely) decided to create a more solid robot mode this time, in the interests of stability. I would have liked to see an extension in the middle, but he's still a rather lanky cheetah overall, with slender limbs. The tail is long and thin, and it's composed of soft plastic. The sculpt is technorganic - a fusion of organics curves and mechanical lines. His mouth is open, the jaw is square and there are moulded teeth and whiskers. The eyes are red, as on the original. Cheetor's swords - something featured in the BM cartoon but absent from the toys - clip onto the outsides of his hind legs, and while they're visible the designed has ensured they blend in. One of the swords on mine tends to curl out, since it was bent into his bubble, but I hope to straighten it under weight for a while (I only opened him recently). I'm not sure if this is a common problem or not, but since the swords are composed of a soft plastic, the problem - if common - should be easily enough to fix.
There's not a lot of play value here, which is typical of the Titanium series - these guys are really designed for display more than play. The neck rotates, the head can lift up and down a little, his shoulders and hips swing while the ankles and knees bend. The waist pivots while the tail is fixed.
Curiously, the pegs connecting the limbs to the torso and the pegs which hold the swords are composed of a (dull) yellow plastic rather than gold. I presume this is because metallic plastics tend to be weaker - I don't have any problem with these locations being yellow, especially when the colours are as well matched as they are.
While the short body is a little disappointing, I'm happy to report that this Cheetor has no trouble standing on all fours - something both the Mega & Supreme toys struggled to do. It's quite heavy since much of his die-cast metal is in the more solid body parts (I'll come to that shortly), and this gives Cheetor a sense of mass, something the earlier versions lacked. The poseability isn't great, but then considering how slight his limbs are, I'm happy enough that this cat can support his body weight without issues. The gold is far more tasteful than the bright yellow and chrome of the Beast Machines version, to boot.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
While many of the issues with the Beast Machines toys have been addressed here, the transformation is still simple, using the rather mundane stand up and fiddle formula of Beast Machines. Which was always going to be the case here, sadly.
Straighten the hindlegs out to the back to form his robot legs, fold back the paws to form heelspurs, flip out his feet and stand him up. Rotate the waist, fold back the beast head and pull the robot head up from within the beast neck. Swing the arms down, flip back the paws which will swing out the forearms. Give Cheetor his swords, if desired.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 14cm Width: 8cm
Again, Cheetor is based on gold. The sports are again visible, on his chest, crown and thighs. The minor colours are all here, with that red allegiance symbol on his stomach while his eyes are red. The colour scheme is again fairly simple and uncomplicated, but again it works as Cheetor in a more tasteful manner.
Cheetor's robot mode is far less lanky than his earlier versions, which means he's not quite as show accurate as those figures. However you wont need to hire a structural engineer to get this robot to stand, either. A worthwhile tradeoff, in my opinion. The thighs are quite thick, the boots are fairly solid as well - although not as big as his thighs. The sculpt is again technorganic while the face is detailed and really looks like BM Cheetor. The tail can't get out of the way, sadly - it just hangs there between his legs. As with both of the Beast Machines figures, the hips are wide (forget child bearing, they're lizard hips). The proportions are still unusual, but not as other worldly as the earlier toys, in the interests of stability.
The die-cast metal is fairly prominent - even for this line. His chest, upper arms and thighs are all die-cast, and all are bulkier than their corresponding lower halves (forearms, groin, boots), making Cheetor unusually dense. Again the hip and shoulder struts are yellow, adding to the solid nature of this robot.
The poseability here is decent. His head turns about 20° to either side while the hips and shoulders are restricted ball joints. The elbows bend, although lifting them up drags down the paws stowed behind the upper arms. His knees are hinged, the waist turns and the feet can fold down a little. We have a range of movement for Cheetor to wield his swords, which is all I'd really expect here. Again, crucially, standing this toy up is easy.
While I wish that something was done with the tail here, overall I'm very happy with this robot mode. The proportions feel a little better than the originals, even if the show was as warped as those figures - simply because they allow the robot mode to actually stand securely. The switch to gold is again more tasteful and the swords are a welcome addition.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of.
OVERALL
This was a good choice for the 6" Titanium line's Beast Machines representative. If any prominent character from that series needed to be redone for the fans, Cheetor was it. Not only was he the most developed character, he was represented by _two_ awful toys - which were largely the same set of problems in two sizes. Sure, the proportions and general aesthetic are still unusual, but the designer here has realised that Cheetor needs to be able to stand up. Both modes are very stable, the die-cast is used quite liberally, the colour scheme is thoughtful and the swords will please fans of show. Cheetor is a very simple idea, but the designer back in the BM era managed to screw it up anyway. This time around we have a BM Cheetor toy that's worthwhile. Strongly recommended to fans of Beast Machines, and since he lacks the lazy engineering that plagued much of the 6" Titanium line, I'd say he's worth considering if you like that line (as I do). My only real complaint here is the tail in robot mode - but considering the improvements to the design, I can live with that one - 8/10
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