Armada Cheetor

Prelude: Back in 2005, Beast Wars Transmetal Cheetor was one of the first figures I ever reviewed. Thirteen years later, in 2018, I reviewed his repaint Fox Kids TM Cheetor. And just a few days ago I reviewed his Third Party Masterpiece version, TransArt Metal Panther. So really, reviewing Armada Cheetor is nearly superfluous at this point, but nevertheless: Hi, my name is Phil and I want to tell you about a Transformer, namely Armada Cheetor and his Mini-Con Cliffjumper. Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Just a short look at what is different in this particular incarnation of Transmetal Cheetor. He has gotten a new paintjob, thankfully without shed-prone chrome paint, in black, dark blue, and red. That’s pretty much it in terms of differences. Personally I like the new paint job very much, but that’s subjective, of course. The only slight downside here is that, in robot mode, Cheetor has no way to powerlink with his Mini-Con partner (see below). Not sure why they didn’t include a peg on the beast mode legs on his back, for example. Apart from that, though: still an excellent robot mode and no danger of chrome shedding. Very nice!

Alternate Mode: Of course Cheetor still transforms into a robotic feline, possibly a panther, certainly not a cheetah. No changes here except for the paint job, too. Once we get to Cheetor’s third mode, though, we arrive at the one design change this figure has. Cheetor’s flight jets have been modified so they have Mini-Con pegs at the front. Now this seems a very, very strange place to put a Mini-Con peg, especially since it basically requires the Mini-Con in question to have his peg at the back of his vehicle mode. Cliffjumper, Cheetor’s Mini-Con, has such a port, but I think he might well be the only one, or one of very, very few at least. So bottom line: still a great beast mode with a nice flight mode included, but the placement of the Mini-Con pegs is just weird.

Partner: Cheetor’s Mini-Con partner is Cliffjumper, a repaint of Ransack from the Adventure Team. Cliffjumper is among the top Mini-Con molds in my opinion. Nicely articulated robot mode, good vehicle mode, and he even comes with a gimmick (apart from being a gimmick): a hook on a wrench. Color-wise he fits in well with Cheetor, sporting dark blue and red as well. So bottom line: one of the line’s top Mini-Cons.

Remarks: In order to cope with the increased retail demand caused by Armada’s success, a number of Beast Wars Transmetals were repainted, fitted with Mini-Con pegs, and sold in Armada packaging along with a more or less random Mini-Con partner. Cheetor is one such Beast Warrior. He did not appear in the cartoon, but had a role in the Armada/Energon comics from Dreamwave, where he was forced to become one of Unicron’s Horsemen, Pestilence.

I really like Cheetor’s new paint job (even apart from the lack of shedding chrome) and Cliffjumper fits well with him as well, color-wise at least. The one drawback of this figure is the weird placement of the Mini-Con pegs on the flight jets. Would have made much more sense to me to put them on Cheetor’s beast mode front legs. Seeing as the Mini-Con does not unlock any gimmick, though, you can just safely forego any powerlinking and simply have Cliffjumper drive or walk alongside Cheetor, no problem. So bottom line: still a great figure, and now sporting a kick-ass new paintjob (and no shedding chrome).

Rating: A-

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