Kingdom Tigatron

Prelude: When a new Cheetor figure was announced for the Kingdom line, pretty much everybody expected that we would get a repaint of it as Tigatron. After all, that’s how it was in the original Beast Wars toy line. We were pleasantly surprised, though, because the Tigatron we got is not a mere repaint of Cheetor, but rather a new figure in a bigger size-class, too. That’s a good start. As for the rest? Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: While he is an entirely new mold, Tigatron does have the same basic engineering design as Kingdom Cheetor and transforms almost identically, too. Given that the two of them used to share a mold, that is neither surprising nor in any way, shape, or form a detriment. Tigatron is a very nice figure with excellent articulation and while the white paintjob does swallow some of the detailing, the green and black highlights work very well.

One of the major advantages Tigatron has over Cheetor (apart from size) is that he actually comes with their signature Beast Wars weapon, the gut gun. A laser gun with something that looks like intestines at the back of it, just like in the TV series and the original figures. Very nice. Sadly his secondary weapon is not quite as nice. Just like Cheetor he carries the tail of his beast mode as a sort-of whip, but unlike Cheetor the tail does not sport a blade at one end, nor can it be stashed anywhere in robot mode. Well, you can plug it in his rear end, of course, but that looks kind of weird.

Apart from the tail thing, though, Tigatron is everything you could have asked for in an updated figure. Same look as Cheetor, but bigger, gut gun at the ready, and looking as if he just stepped out of the TV screen. Very nicely done.

Alternate Mode: Of course Tigatron transforms into a white tiger. The transformation is, as mentioned above, pretty much the same as Cheetor’s, but the resulting big cat does look a whole lot stockier and more powerful than the little cat. It’s got an actual tiger’s head with opening jaw, a good deal of articulation in all four legs, and though the tail itself is immobile, you can turn it around in its socket in order to have it point upwards, too.

For some reason some parts of the white tiger are slightly yellowed. Not due to age or sunlight, mind you, but rather straight out of the box (you can see it on the back of the box, too). Not sure why this choice was made. Sure, most white tigers aren’t entirely white, either, and show streaks of yellow-ish fur, but the transitions between white and yellowed are a bit jarring here and there. Just saying, if you can’t make it look natural, maybe just leave the tiger all-white instead of doing this. Not a big thing, just worth mentioning.

One big thing that is definitely worth mentioning, though: the gut gun has no place to go in this mode. Well, that is not entirely true, you can plug it into the tiger’s belly, but that just makes him look like a tiger with a gun hanging under his belly. Not sure why the gun wasn’t integrated into the beast mode like Kenner did back in 1996 for the original Tigatron (and as DNA Design did for their upgrade set for Kingdom Cheetor, too). Apart from that, though: a very nice beast mode.

Remarks: Tigatron was the first new character to be introduced in the Beast Wars TV show, emerging from a crashed stasis pod in the frozen North and scanning a snow tiger as his beast mode. Tigatron was more in tune with nature and the local animals than his fellow Transformers and was fiercely protective of the world he had awoken on. Tigatron, along his with lady love Airazor, was kidnapped by the Vok early in season 2 of the series and only returned at the end of season 3 in the form of the fused warrior Tigerhawk, who perished battling the Decepticon battleship Nemesis. He returned in the comic series “Transformers Universe” from 3H Productions, but that series was never finished.

As mentioned above, Kingdom Tigatron was a surprise. Not that we got one, but that he wasn’t a mere retool of Cheetor. So while the figure doesn’t really offer anything that we haven’t already seen in Kingdom Cheetor, he very nicely brings the old Beast Wars character to (properly-sized) life. Well done. Now if they had managed to properly integrate the gut gun into his beast mode, I’d have been tempted to give him an A-rating. Regardless, he’s a great figure for all Beast Wars and Tigatron fans. Thumbs up and recommended.

Rating: B+

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