BEAST
MACHINES: TOY REVIEW
Name: CHEETOR
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Warrior
Beast Mode: Techno-Organic Cheetah
Average Price: 40 AUD
BEAST MODE
Points of Articulation: 21
Grr... stupid twist ties...
Anyway, once you've ripped them all out, Cheetor's ready
for action. Cheetor is now an exaggeratedly thin mechanical cheetah. It
gives Cheetor a new lithe, sleek and nimble look that was not present in
his original form. The primary colour
is yellow with black spots and accents throughout the toy. There are also
a lot of transparent green parts used as well. The top of the head and
the eyes are transparent red, with light entering through the top section,
the eyes appear to glow. A simple but nifty gimmick. There are also some
chrome-gold parts around the chest and face. The head is on both a ball
and swivel joint, allowing it to move in a very organic-like fashion.
The teeth ar white and the jaw opens and shuts when the head is swiveled
from side to side. One of the immediately appealing features of this toy
was the way it proudly shows off its Maximal allegiance. The spark crystal
is clearly visible and the left thigh has a big-arse Maximal insignia painted
on it too. The left foreleg has a "slashing" gimmick activated by pressing
on the left shoulder. It looks more like a reject disco move.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
The illustrations in the instruction booklet are crap.
Looks like it was drawn by a salamander with a crayon shoved up its...
uhh... let's not go there.
Anyway, to transform Cheetor to robot mode; remove the
tail and set it aside. Bring the forelegs down and turn the lower parts
around 180 degrees. Bring down the chrome-gold chest plate and fold the
entire back section... back. Open the smaller chrome-gold panel (the one
right beneath the neck). Swing chest panel up 90 degrees. Bring robot head
out. Push the beast head into the chest cavity until it clicks into place.
Bring the entire chest plate (which is attached to the arms, btw) round
180 degrees. When at 90 degrees, you'll feel a bit of resistance. Use a
little bit of excessive force, but not too much. If there's too much resistance,
that means the beast head is not down enough. So push the head in some
more and try again. Close both panels. Rotate waist 180 degrees and push
hips up into abdomen. Extend feet ("Go Go Gadget legs!"). Place tail in
hand. Very similar to the transformation scheme of Transmetal
2 Cheetor, in terms of practically all the transformation taking place
above the waist and the hind legs doing nothing more than standing upright.
Although I feel that it was executed far better here.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 22cm
Points of Articulation: 17
The colour scheme has remained effectively unchanged
from beast mode, although a tad more transparent green in visible in this
mode. This mode also looks a bit more mechanical than the beast mode too
(duh, it's a robot mode).The head looks quite robotic. Very "Transformer"
like in my opinion. The head is chrome-gold and the face is yellow with
black cheetah-like accents. The top of the head and the eys are red (yep,
it's the same light gimmick). Turning the head side to side also makes
the mouth open and close. One of the most striking features of this toy
is it's waif look. Despite this, it's a reasonably sturdy figure. The right
arm uses the slashing action with the weapon. The weapon is described as
a sword on the box, although it looks more like a whip, or some kind of
thin foil/rapier at best. It certainly doesn't look like the sabres that
Cheetor uses in the show, but I think that's because the CGI model was
based on the Supreme sized Cheetor, not the Mega sized one. As one may
well imagine, this toy is a bitch to stand, even on the smoothest of surfaces....
though not as troublesome as Transmetal
2 Blackarachnia. I find making Cheetor's torso lean back a bit counterbalances
the toy.
SPARK CRYSTAL LOCATION
Right beast shoulder, left robot shoulder. Very nice a clearly
visible inside a transparent plastic bubble!
OVERALL
Very impressive. Better than I expected, actually.
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