This year marks the 21st Anniversary of the Axalon crew and the fan-favorite Transformers Beast Wars series of the 1990’s. It’s hard to imagine that just two decades ago we were watching this show on 6am weekday mornings, and watching a new era of the Transformers series unfold. It was an excellent show, with ties and characters from the 1980’s Transformers Generation One series making an appearance, including Starscream and Agent Ravage. Takra-Tomy have already released Optimus Primal, shown above, and now Cheetor gets his turn in the Masterpiece series. We know that the third figure will be a new Optimus Primal figure in new deco, and the fourth figure is rumored to be Dinobot. Beast Wars was a new age for Transformers brand, and is also the show that saved the property after the failed attempt that was Generation 2. Since the show ended in 1999, and its followed series Beast Machines, which was truly a disappointing show, the demand and following for Beast Wars only grew overtime, causing both Hasbro and Takara-Tomy to offer more toys including 10th Anniversary figures, special releases in the Generations line, and now these characters will be given the Masterpiece treatment.
This was a special kind of show, with excellent storytelling, voice talent, and even some humor that both kids and adults loved about the show. Primarily the never ending teasing between Dinobot and Rattrap. Two decades later, the memories of this show live on, and even if fans of the Generation One never gave this a chance, you can’t deny that Beast Wars remains one of the top Transformers television series of all time.
Availability: March 2017
Cheetor is based on his Season 1 appearance, as the second season he became a Transmetal 1, and the third season a Transmetal 2. Fans of the show will know what that means, and we recommend to research that if you are not familiar with the show. Previous Cheetor figures that were based on the show never had a great sculpt of the character, which was primarily the cheetah head sticking out too far in the front, and were just not the interpretation of Cheetor we wanted. Now that it’s 2017, the ability to make figures have improved dramatically, and Cheetor gets the definitive version that will ever be produced.
Cheetor’s beast mode captures his on-screen likeness and for the most part, it’s a great attempt at the character. On the show, you weren’t able to tell that the cheetah you saw on screen was a Transformer, and this figure has some of the bot parts visible. So it’s easy to tell he’s a Transformer compared to the series. Where they went wrong is that the robot feet are hanging out the back of his legs. This is probably unavoidable however bringing the show-accurate beast mode to life with this figure. It’s a great attempt, but not 100% perfect. The figure does have a great overall likeness though, including whiskers, an articulated tail, and three interchangeable head sculpts based on scenes from the show. Each head includes a different facial expression as seen in the show, and this is a great addition to the figure. Each whisker is made of a clear plastic piece sticking out of the head, and this is a great feature to the figure that no one ever offered before. This was also a previously unknown feature to us, and until we opened the box, we had to idea he would include whiskers, so bravo to Takara-Tomy.
Cheetor’s robot mode is much better as far as show-accuracy goes. Every aspect about this mode is perfect, from the sculpt, show-apparance, deco, particularly the metallic blue, are excellent. Cheetor looks as though he stepped right out of the screen and into your toy collection. Our personal favorite feature is the Cheetah head on his chest, and how it looks flat compared to the older figures that had it sticking out too far away from the chest. The legs on Cheetor’s back are crossed and are held in place using a peg on the side of one leg, and fits into the hole on the other. There is also weapon storage on the back for both blasters, which you can check out the gallery below.
In robot mode, he also comes with three alternate face plates that swap out easily and can attach securely, but the differences in expression are difficult to tell from a distance, and it’s not until you look at them up close, you are able to tell the closed mouth and two open mouthed expressions. In this case, it makes little difference which faceplate you decide to display him with, as all three look the same from several feet away. These are accessories that aren’t necessary, and actually we would have preferred that Cheetor came with an episode specific accessory or something over the two additional face plates.
Just like on the show, Cheetor comes with his primary blaster that fits on the bottom of his chest in beast mode, and you can see the stomach details on the blaster as also seen on the show. The larger rifle is a bit unique looking and also a bit complicated to transform due to the unusual design. This second blaster comes from his lower back and has the tail attached to it. But it works as a second weapon and the rifle part in the front is nicely detailed. The primary stomach blaster is his most iconic weapon and that is definitely the piece that he should be displayed with.
It’s hard to imaging that 21 years have gone by since the show first aired in 1996. What is truly remarkable is the passion and dedication that fans have to Beast Wars, and even though Hasbro have not confirmed more figures are coming, Takara-Tomy have saved the day with this new Masterpeice line-up of highly detailed figures based on the first season. Cheetor is excellent, and Optimus Prime is also a must-buy. Hopefully, some Predacons like Megatron, Scorponok, Waspinator, Tarantulus, Terrorsaur, and Blackarachnia are coming. But also lets not forget about Dinobot, Rattrap, Rhinox, Tigatron, and Airazor are also a must. The release schedule is also pretty spread apart, and hopefully the line will continue on for years to come so fans can complete the full cast of season one. Or at the very least, release one of these every quarter of the year so we can move onto to seasons two and three.
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