Cliffbee.com Tigatron Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Tigatron
Series: Beast Wars
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Reconnaissance
Alternate Mode: Bengal Tiger



TIGER MODE
Height: 10cm Length: 14cm Width: 6cm

   Original prototype pictures of Tigatron were of an orange and white Tiger, but in the end they went for the cream-coloured Bengal Tiger, presumably to differentiate him from Cheetor. They're the same species (Panthera tigris) at any rate. He's slightly stockier in the shoulders than a real tiger, but it's close. He's also a little slender around the rump, but this is because he shares his mould with Cheetor, who transforms into the much slimmer cheetah.

   His hindlegs are quite stocky, perfect for Tigatron's Arctic role in the cartoon, in which he spends a lot of his time wandering around on the ice. The eyes are green, there are a couple of small outbreaks of this green on his rear. His body is covered in moulded fur and black stripes, the stripes actually line up on parts that separate during his transformation, such as the neck and back and the back and shoulders. I'm impressed that they took the time to line up the paint masks on these parts.

   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. 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.

   Cheetor was delayed by a couple of months when he 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 Cheetor experienced. Anyway it's a good tiger, and the choice of a Bengal Tiger was a good one, since he looks really good in cream and black. It's probably a better tiger than cheetah, in fact, so this is a better beast mode that Cheetor, despite them being the same mould.

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 tiger front legs down, lift out the tiger 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 cream is the dominant colour, with green shoulders, forearms and feet. Tigatron's face is silver, his eyes are black. His shins and groinplate are also silver, and he has black stripes on his chest, since it's a tiger head. It's a very nice colour scheme.

   This is a nice robot mode, not just because of the colours, but the proportions are great also. He's solidly built without being stocky, and looks like a robot with lots of tiger bits stuck on - especially with that head on his chest. The mutant head, which is green, looks very insect-like. It's forgettable, 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 Tigatron's tail section also forms a rifle. The rump of the tiger 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 striped 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.

   This is a strong robot mode, with great colours, good poseability and good proportions. The weapons are lacking, but that's not enough to really hold this mode back. Just don't use the mutant head like Kenner did on his cardart.

VARIATIONS

   A repaint of Cheetor, as mentioned. Tigatron's Japanese release was a much lighter shade - almost white - which is closer to his colour in the cartoon, in fact.

OVERALL

   Both modes are great, the colours are terrific and the poseability in robot mode is good. The beast mode suits the tiger better than the cheetah, and he has better colours than Cheetor, so if you're the type who skips recolours, I'd recommend grabbing Tigatron, although I really recommend both. Another reason for getting this toy is that his cartoon incarnation was one cool cat (pun not intended, I promise) - 9/10

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