Cyberverse Cheetor (Deluxe)

Prelude: In all of Transformers, there is not a single example of a better character arc than Beast Wars Cheetor. And while his Cyberverse incarnation did not get nearly as much exposure, he was still a very entertaining part of the cartoon. His first toy incarnation came with a battleship for some weird reason, but now we have a cartoon-accurate Deluxe figure. Is it worth to guard the AllSpark? Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: The first Cyberverse Cheetor figure was a pretty good figure with a weird accessory and not entirely cartoon-accurate. The new Deluxe class version, on the other hand, has cartoon accuracy to spare. This is Cheetor as we saw him in Cyberverse, right down to the belt made from his curled up cheetah tail. Well, it’s just a sculpted piece here, not the actual tail, but still: a nice detail. Cheetor is mostly colored an orange so bright it’s almost yellow with some blue and black highlights. He has an Autobot symbol on his left shoulder, which felt weird at first, but there were no Maximals in Cyberverse.

Cheetor is an extremely well-articulated figure with tilting ankles (in and out), twisting wrists, a hip joint, turning head, everything. He can easily pull off standing on one foot for running and kicking poses, too. His main weapons are a pair of yellow and green swords. Thanks to his twisting wrists, he can pull off all sorts of cool sword fighter poses. The swords can also attach to the shoulder pieces of the cheetah, which are behind his robot mode shoulders, though they hinder his arm movement a bit.

Additionally, there are two big three-pronged claws and a helmet for Cheetor’s cheetah head. The claws can attach to Cheetor’s shoulders and also clip into the forearms, but they don’t hold very well there. The helmet can also attach to one of the forearms, far more solidly than the claws, but the peg is a bit too thick to fit onto either shoulder. No idea why they didn’t make the two sets of slits identical here for interchangeability. In theory the helmet can also fit onto the cheetor’s head on Cheetor’s chest, but you need to unplug it a bit to do it.

Overall I like this robot mode a lot. The only flaws I can see are that the slits for the accessories on forearms and shoulders are not identical, weirdly enough, and that the cheetah’s head on the chest does not peg in solidly. Apart from that, though? A very nice and cartoon-accurate Cyberverse Cheetor.

Alternate Mode: Cheetor transforms more or less the same way he did back in Beast Wars. The resulting robotic cheetah is a bit strangely proportioned with huge hind legs and rather slim and short forelegs. The head, too, feels a bit small. All four legs are articulated, though, and the cheetah can open its mouth, too. No neck movement, sadly, but running poses are easily possible.

Cheetor’s cheetah mode can be enhanced with his accessory pieces. The helmet enlarges the head, the big claws make the front legs look a lot bigger, and the swords can clip to the cheetah’s shoulders, somewhat emulating the looks of Night Slash Cheetor or Titanium Cheetor. The cheetah actually looks better proportioned with the extra pieces on, so I advise leaving them on.

Bottom line: a nice cheetah mode. Not the best ever, but good enough.

Remarks: In the Cyberverse cartoon, Cheetor was created by the AllSpark during its exile on Earth to serve as the artefact’s guardian. Cheetor took his job very seriously and after recognizing that the Autobots were the good guys, joined them in their effort to bring the AllSpark back to Cybertron. After successfully returning it to the Well of All Sparks, the artefact was in danger of being corrupted by the spark of Shockwave. Seeing no other out, Cheetor sacrified his own spark, returning it to the AllSpark, in order to fully purify and restore Cybertron.

If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you probably know that Cheetor is among my all-time favorite characters. The Beast Wars version, at least. Though Cyberverse Cheetor did a great job as well and I was kind of sad to see him pass. In comparison with the first Cyberverse Cheetor, Deluxe Cheetor here is better in some ways and not quite as good in others. He is closer to the cartoon and has far, far, far better accessories, but the cheetah mode could be better.

Still, he’s a Cheetor and quite a good one. Good enough for me.

Rating: B