Cheetor (Beast Machines Transformers)

Quick action equals quick victory.

Name: Cheetor
Allegiance: Maximals
Function: Jungle Warfare
Timeline: Generation 1 (Beast Era)

Toyline: Beast Machines

Profile:

Once, Cheetor was your typical young Cybertronian: inexperienced, hot-headed, and possessed of a cavalier attitude that would lead him to take on opponents more powerful and dangerous than he, often necessitating a rescue from his fellow Maximals. But Cheetor's experiences in the Beast Wars and the Spark War have forced him to grow up fast, his youthful naivete replaced with the humourless, grim conviction of a veteran soldier. While Cheetor still stands firm by the side of Optimus Primal - adopting the role of Optimus' second-in-command - he finds Optimus Primal's fanatical devotion to "restoring the balance of mechanical and organic" to be incredibly wearing. Cheetor doesn't believe in half of the things Optimus talks about, instead preferring to focus his efforts on the more clear and present mission to liberate Cybertron from Megatron's oppression and free the sparks of the world's population. And while Cheetor is still willing to take on opponents more powerful and dangerous than he, he now approaches these encounters with a predatory ferocity that leaves his targets in need of rescue.

Abilities:

Cheetor's transformation into a technorganic form has diminished none of his beast mode's incredible speed, and he remains one of the fastest Maximals on land. He is also one of the most agile Maximals with split-second reaction times. Cheetor's new robot mode possesses an aerodynamic form and frictionless surfacing which enables him to be almost as swift and agile in his robot mode as he is in his beast mode. When moving at high speeds in robot mode he can accelerate particles around himself, creating a vacuum that can knock back opponents and deflect most conventional energy blasts. Cheetor's speed and agility make him difficult to hit, and his robot mode's frictionless surfacing is resistant to Vehicon targeting sensors - meaning Megatron's generals are forced to rely on optical targeting.

Cheetor's new technorganic form possesses superior visual accuity to his previous bodies and gives him some of the best eyesight among the Maximal forces. In robot mode, Cheetor's primary weapons are two vanadium steel swords, which can slice through the toughest Vehicon armour with little effort. In beast mode, Cheetor relies on his jaws and claws - his claws being just as effective at slicing through Vehicon armour, and his jaws capable of tearing through a Vehicon's fuel line. Although Cheetor no longer possesses the flight abilities of his Transmetal form or the rocket booster of his Transmetal 2 form, he is capable of gliding for short distances by combining his swords.

Night Slash Cheetor
During the Sparkwar, Cheetor upgraded his systems and adopted a low-visibility model to help him evade Vehicon sensors more effectively. With his modifications, Cheetor is virtually invisible to all Vehicon sensors and radar. Even traditional optic sensors can barely register Cheetor in either mode. Coupled with Cheetor's incredible speed and agility, he can launch surprise attacks on Vehicon assault units before they even know he is there and be far away by the time reinforcements arrive - all to the dismay of Vehicon general Thrust.

Weaknesses:

Cheetor is finding himself increasingly at odds with Optimus Primal's spirituality as the Maximal leader becomes ever more fanatical. This threatens to drive a wedge between Cheetor and the Maximal commander, which in turn could lead to the fragmentation of the Maximal forces.

Cheetah mode:

More information on Titanium Series Cheetor at TFW2005

Additional images of Night Slash Cheetor:

More information on Night Slash Cheetor at TFW2005

Author notes:

Cheetor is one of the rare characters in Transformers who you get to see develop naturally from something of a cavalier in the early episodes of Beast Wars to the hardened veteran warrior you see by the end of Beast Machines. That is something that I feel helps to make Cheetor one of the most enduring Transformers characters out there. This profile covers Cheetor in his "final" form as seen in Beast Machines - Beast Wars Cheetor and his many forms will be covered separately.

The thing with Beast Machines Cheetor, and a lot of the Beast Machines characters, is there hasn't ever been a great rendition of the character. There's been plenty of toys, including the huge Supreme version and the original Mega class release, as well as the two toys I'm currently showcasing on this page - Titanium Cheetor, from the Titanium line and Night Slash Cheetor from Beast Machines. 

Titanium Cheetor is, to date, the best looking version of Cheetor. He's largely got the right look in robot mode - although I feel like he's been squashed down slightly. Cheetor's design was, in my mind, a little taller and slimmer. He was well-built but not to the beefcake extents that Titanium seems to depict. And while the looks are good, Titanium Cheetor doesn't have a whole lot of poseability, which is particularly frustrating for a sword-wielding bot who you want to put into a few action poses.

That being said, this is one of the better releases from the Titanium series if not the best one. It's a solid figure that doesn't seem to be affected by any of the loose joints or fall apart that others in the line suffered from.

Night Slash Cheetor is a toy I always enjoyed fiddling about with. His design is a much more show accurate version of Cheetor when compared to the original release, and he's got a cool stealth deco which works surprisingly well for the character. He's not 100% accurate, but I find the changes made to his design are mostly for the better and really make him a powerful looking warrior.

It's not a perfect toy, though. The arm movement is extremely limited to accommodate the toy's sword slash gimmicks, and for me that really dampens my enthusiasm for the figure. Whenever I get a character who uses swords, I want to be able to pose them in some proper swordfighting poses, not just move their arms up and down. It's a shame since that's the one thing that really holds this one back - the rest of the poseability is really good. I'm amazed we never got this one in a show accurate yellow with green accents deco - while a yellow version was eventually released, that version - which came out under the original Transformers Universe line - was not a show accurate deco either, although on reflection it may have been using the Transmetal 2 Cheetor as a reference.

In any event, the Beast Machines 25th anniversary and the Transformers 40th anniversary are both coming up in a few years' time, and Hasbro hasn't forgotten Cheetor given his involvement in Transformers Cyberverse and rumoured inclusion in the Netflix line. So maybe we just might see an anniversary line revisit this character and give him an awesome representation at last.