Kingdom Shadow Panther

Prelude: From the hidden nation of Wakanda comes the sacred hero and protector of this land, the Black Pan... no, wait, sorry. Wrong franchise. From the jungles of ancient Earth comes the Predacons’ undercover agent and infiltrator Shadow Panther, who is so dedicated to the concepts of stealth and deception that he rebuilt his own body to closely resemble that of Cheetor. Oh, and he’s got an ugly bug face. Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Shadow Panther is a repaint of Kingdom Cheetor, so this review will focus on the differences. Shadow Panther is black where Cheetor was yellow and silver where Cheetor was blue, with one exception: for some reason his shoulders, which were blue on Cheetor, are yellow here. Not sure why they aren’t silver as well, the yellow here is a bit jarring, but it’s not a big thing.

The main difference is, of course, the new head. The insect-like head resembles the original Cheetor’s mutant head, though in silver instead of the dark blue of the original. And... yeah, that’s pretty much it in terms of differences. Personally I would have preferred to have Shadow Panther with the original Cheetor’s head, but I enjoy the nod to the old Mutant Head gimmick. So bottom line: the robot mode of this variant is pretty nice, though personally I would have done some things a bit differently.

Alternate Mode: Nothing much to say here. Shadow Panther is identical to Kingdom Cheetor in this mode, except he is all-black. The only break is the small spots of yellow visible on the shoulders of the front legs and the silver on the back of the hind legs. Once again: why yellow? The yellow spots really stick out amidst the all-black color. Apart from that, though, no changes. The cheetah / panther still looks really sleek and agile in this mode and everything fits together nicely. No complaints.

Remarks: All three toy versions of Cheetor from the original Beast Wars toy line got black repaints. Two of them were called Ravage (or Tripredacus Agent, for trademark reasons). The original Cheetor figure became a new character, though, called Shadow Panther who... yeah, was basically just another toy-only Predacon, nothing more. His sole media appearances are in the IDW Beast Wars Sourcebook and the Beast Wars Uprising text story from the Transformers Collectors Club, that’s it. He’s still a handy repaint opportunity for any given Cheetor figure.

Which is basically just what this figure here is. A handy repaint, nothing more. He looks good, though I really don’t understand the yellow shoulders, and the nostalgia of the Mutant Head gimmick is nice. So bottom line: a figure worth getting if you like the mold, the Mutant Head gimmick, or are just a Beast Wars fan in general like me. Be advised, though: it’s really just a Cheetor repaint, nothing more, nothing less.

Rating: B-

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