Cheetor (BW)


 * Cheetor is a Maximal (and later an Autobot) from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.



Cheetor is full of youthful overconfidence. He's also the fastest Maximal on four legs, so he gets into way too much trouble. Thankfully, Optimus Primal keeps a steady eye on him. In return, Cheetor has grown to idolize Primal, whom he calls "Big Bot." Optimus Primal knows the young and inexperienced Cheetor needs a good role model, so he doesn't mind too much. And, hey, he's a good kid. Just...keep him away from Dinobot, okay? Impressionable minds, and all.

Speaking of bad influences, Cheetor had a brief crush on the Predacon turncoat Blackarachnia, adding some real tension between him and Silverbolt. He seems over her now.


 * Japanese name: Cheetus (チータス, chii-ta-su)
 * Chinese name (Taiwan): Bàu-tz (豹子, "Cheetah" or "Panther" or "Leopard") / Hūa Bàu (花豹, "Leopard", used in Beast Machines sometimes)
 * French name (cartoon): Vélocitor
 * Indonesian name: Sidor (probably a pronunciation mistake)
 * Italian name: Ghepard (original toy), Metal Ghepard (Transmetal)
 * Polish name: Gepardon (Gepard=Cheetah)
 * Spanish name: Chitor

Beast Wars

 * Voice actor: Ian Corlett (English), Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Tata Guarnieri (Brazil)



After the Axalon crash-landed on a mysterious planet, the most youthful crew member of the disabled ship chose a cheetah as his new beast form. Impressed with his own appearance, the young 'bot renamed himself Cheetor. He then got beaten up by Waspinator.

Far too frequently, Cheetor looked up to Optimus Primal enough to rush out in an all-too eager attempt to prove himself. He seemed to botch as many missions as he carried out successfully; he broke an experimental communicator, rushed into combat, got himself captured by Tarantulas, and set up remote survey posts in the middle of a lightning storm on a bed of unstable energon crystals because someone stroked his ego.

It seems Cheetor also trusted Dinobot more than the rest of his crew. When Optimus Primal was feared dead, a vote was held to decide whether Rattrap or Dinobot would lead the Maximals. Naturally, both parties voted for themselves, but as Rhinox read out the votes, he was only surprised by Dinobot's second vote. This would imply that he did NOT vote for Dinobot, and that it must have been Cheetor.

Though clearly the youngest of the Maximals, Cheetor managed to prove himself as a fairly capable warrior, even before his two Transmetal upgrades. When both Maximal and Predacon alike were attempting to claim the protoform that would become Airazor (or rather, according to more recent fiction, had already BEEN Airazor), Cheetor held off three Predacons at once, defeating Waspinator and also Blackarachnia, catching a cyber-venom dart launched by the latter at point blank range, and then throwing it back, successfully incapacitating her.

When Tigatron turned up, Cheetor fast bonded with "Big Cat" and looked up to him. Tigatron's eventual (assumed) death left him greatly distraught.

When the quantum surge from the explosion of the Planet Buster engulfed the planet, Cheetor's exostructure was mutated into a shiny new Transmetal body. Along with a tougher metal hide and built-in weaponry, his beast mode gained the ability to fly via two powerful thrusters in his torso. Unfortunately, his first attempt at flying led him on a one-way trip into a bulkhead. As Rattrap later remarked after a disastrous rescue attempt, a few flying lessons wouldn't have hurt. Once he got the hang of it, he was constantly used on flight and recon missions, and often partnered (much to his delight) with the also flight-capable Optimus.



When Blackarachnia defected to the Maximals, Cheetor swiftly gained a big crush on her and deliberately joined her on a mission; he was left annoyed when she dismissed him as a "nice kid", and more so when she further emphasised what she thought of the crush via a big pointy weapon. Despite this, the crush briefly flared up again when she almost died.

While supporting Depth Charge's attack on Megatron's perverse cloning experiments, Cheetor came in contact with the direct energy beam of the transmetal driver, causing a massive explosion that made his fellow Maximals believe he was dead. However, he was seriously damaged and wandered around for megacycles afterwards, not knowing where he was, before he finally stumbled back to base.

Refusing treatment in the CR chamber, he was prone to hallucinations, panic attacks, paranoia, and delirium. He escaped the base and would rest for hours at a time, only to awaken and find himself somewhere foreign, his gears exhausted.



In reality, his Transmetal body was in conflict with the alien "Transmetal 2" power infused into it by the transmetal driver. While unconscious, he would undergo a mutation into a feral beast that acted with savagery and aggression. With Optimus Primal's help, he finally gained control of the power and rejoined the rest of the Maximals, who were surprised at the rapid changes to him.

This "new" Cheetor regularly lost his temper, particularly with Rattrap. Still, he was considerably less reckless, and all of his decisions seemed to have a casual air of confidence and a youthful belief in invincibility. At heart, he was still Optimus's little guy.

"Oh, joy," Rattrap remarked on this. "Cyber-puberty."



Beast Wars Metals manga


Cheetor retained his youthful, inexperienced personality throughout the Japanese interpretation of Beast Wars. For the Beast Wars Metals manga, his character design was retooled for a more visually blunt interpretation of his personality.

IDW Beast Wars comics
Cheetor appeared outside the Ark (in his Transmetal form) alongside Optimus Primal and Rhinox during Beast Wars: The Gathering.

Beast Machines

 * Voice actor: Ian Corlett (English), Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Hercules Fernando (Brazil)

At the start of Beast Machines, Cheetor was stripped of his Transmetal 2 power and thrust into a dark and unfriendly world. As a result, he relapsed slightly into the dependent bot that he was at the start of the first series, idolizing Optimus Primal and blindly following orders. However, as he slowly got a handle on his new situation, the maturity Cheetor had gained during the Beast Wars seemed to come full circle. He acted calmer, frequently took over leadership in place of Optimus Primal, and overall behaved more "adult". (The role of "kid" was taken over by Nightscream.)

After Optimus Primal and Megatron fell into the planet's organic core, starting the Cybertron-wide reformatting, the Oracle spoke to Cheetor's mind, possibly suggesting that Optimus Primal had passed his communication abilities to Cheetor as he died and thus, the role of leader.

Fun Publications
It is revealed that Cheetor is a Matrix Templar, as he and Rodimus (another templar) battle Cryotek. It also appears that Cheetor is one of Rodimus's biggest fans. They are very much alike it appears. They looked up to really big leaders, they both are known to live for speed, and their early days were filled with bonehead stunts. He is such a big Rodimus idolizer that "My first changeform was even based on yours!"

He later said of Rodimus's past "I'm not lookin forward to the day they chronicle my early bonehead adventures onto a datacon for all the world to see."

Hope he never reads this.

Beast Wars

 * Cheetor (Deluxe, 1996/1997)
 * Japanese ID number: C-3
 * Accessories: Tail-gun, water-shooting gun




 * Cheetor transforms into an organic, big cat-like creature somewhat resembling a cheetah. As such, he is yellow and covered in spots. In robot mode, he is armed with a rifle made out of his hindquarters and tail, along with a second "gut gun" formed out of his stomach. As with most early Beast Wars toys, he features a "mutant head" that replaces his face.


 * There are several variations of this toy. The initial "rocky bubble" version of the toy features blue cheetah eyes and was incredibly hard to find due to delayed shipping. The "smooth bubble" release later in the year gave him red cheetah eyes. He was released again in 1997 (what with being a popular show character) in Beast Wars ' s second year, this time with bright green cheetah eyes.


 * This mold was later redecoed for a "Fox Kids" version, as well as both the Hasbro and Takara 10th anniversary versions of the character.


 * This mold was also used to make Shadow Panther/Ravage and Tigatron. It was slated to be used for Universe Nightprowler, but that toy set was canceled.


 * Cheetas Vs. Waspitter (Vs pack, 1997)
 * Japanese ID number: VS-3


 * In Japan, Cheetor was available both separately and in a Vs pack with Waspinator. Both toys are identical to their original releases.


 * Cheetas (Deluxe, 1997)
 * Japanese ID number: C-3
 * Accessories: Tail-gun, water-shooting gun
 * Takara released two different Cheetor toys; one that was the same as the original, and a running change version that not only has various color tweaks to make him slightly more show-colored (including dark green cheetah eyes), but it also has a slight mold tweak to keep the beast head pointed forward in robot mode, which has been retained on all versions thereafter, excepting Hasbro's initial release of Tigatron. A one-of-a-kind, all-gold version of Cheetor was awarded in Japan for a TV Magazine contest.


 * Cheetor (Transmetal Deluxe, 1999)
 * Japanese ID number: C-42
 * Accessories: Tail-whip




 * Transmetal Cheetor is the first mostly robotic Cheetor toy. As with most first-wave Transmetal toys, his beast mode is entirely robotic, but his robot mode has organic elements in its design. In beast mode, two rocket boosters can be flipped out of the sides of the cat torso to create a "flight mode", plus his tail rotates 180 to provide a "stabilizer" fin. In robot mode, his removable tail becomes a spiked whip, but he has no ranged weaponry, though you can put his hideous hands together to simulate the "gun" he used on the show. The toy suffers from a design flaw in that the breast plate's hinges that holds both arms up in beast-mode gets a lot of stress on it, and over time, can't hold the cheetah head up properly anymore.


 * His color scheme slightly resembles another four-legged bot.


 * This mold was retooled into Jaguar and BotCon 2001's Tigatron, and slightly retooled to make Armada Cheetor. It was also used as the model for the non-toy character Cataclysm.


 * Cheetor (Transmetal 2 Deluxe, 1999)
 * Accessories: Launcher, missile, tail-flail




 * Transmetal 2 Cheetor is the first major departure from the usual Cheetor styling, but maintains the standard "stand up cat"-style transformation, for which the robot mode is essentially the beast mode standing on its hind legs. TM2 Cheetor transforms into a saber-toothed tiger-type big cat with a large rocket engine grafted into his back. In robot mode, this rocket engine becomes a spring-loaded missile launcher.


 * As with all Transmetal 2 toys, he features a spark crystal, a small, clear-colored ball with a vacuum-metalized faction logo inside. Cheetor's spark is placed on his left hind leg.


 * This mold was later redecoed into Tripredacus Agent. (Notice the pattern yet?)


 * Cheetor (Fox Kids Deluxe, 1999)
 * Accessories: Tail-gun, water-shooting gun


 * In 1999, a redeco of the original Cheetor toy was released, with "Fox Kids" branding on the packaging to advertise the show's move from syndication to a network. Aside from changing the black spots on his fur to a strange maroon color, at first glance, FK Cheetor seems identical to his original counterpart. However, a closer look shows that both the blue and the gold robot parts were all replaced with a metallic blue trim.


 * Product listings gave this toy the name "Jungle Strike Cheetor", but that name never made it to packaging.


 * Cheetor (Fox Kids Transmetal Deluxe, 1999)
 * Accessories: Tail-whip


 * Shortly afterwards, Transmetal Cheetor received a "Fox Kids" redeco, released along with a redeco of Transmetal Tarantulas. This red-and-charcoal version of Cheetor proved to be hard to come by, as this assortment did not ship for very long at all. Shipping lists listed the toy as "Live Wire Cheetor", but that name never made it to the packaging.


 * In Japan, this toy was released as a JafCon convention exclusive, along with the "Fox Kids" versions of Transmetal Airazor and Transmetal Rattrap.

Beast Wars Metals

 * Metal Cheetas (Deluxe, 1999)
 * Japanese ID number: C-42
 * Accessories: Tail-whip


 * The Takara Beast Wars Metals release of the Transmetal Cheetor toy features two small changes from the Hasbro version. The more immediately noticeable is that the "CHEETOR" tampograph on his beast mode was changed to "CYBERTRON" and the Maximal faction symbol. The other is that Takara Cheetor has green robot-mode eyes, whereas the Hasbro version has light blue.


 * Metals Cheetas Vs Metals Waspitter (Vs pack, 1999)
 * Japanese ID number: VS-42


 * Once again Cheetor was packaged in a vs-pack with Waspinator, this time in their "Metals" forms. Again, both toys are identical to the individual releases.


 * Cheetas (Deluxe, 1999)
 * Japanese ID number: C-49
 * Accessories: Launcher, missile, tail-flail


 * The Japanese release of Transmetal 2 Cheetor is the same as the American version.

Beast Machines

 * Cheetor (Mega, 2000)
 * Accessories: Tail-whip




 * Part of the first assortment of Beast Machines Megas, Cheetor transforms into a super-lean technorganic cheetah. In keeping with the early Beast Machines design trend of "articulated features", turning the beast-mode head causes its jaw to open and close. His left foreleg has a gear-spring horizontal "swiping" action activated by pushing a section of the above shoulder-armor towards his body.


 * In robot mode, his head has the same feature; turning it left or right opens and closes his Muppet-like jaw. The "swiping"-action armnow on his right sideis still available in this mode and can be used to swing his tail-whip around. It needs to be noted that because of cheetor's unusual body proportions and very small feet, he has issues standing up properly in this mode, especially with his legs positioned in the proper cat-like digitigrade style.


 * Cheetor (McDonald's Happy Meal, 2000)
 * McNumber:


 * This tiny, softer-plastic representation of Cheetor is great for the yung'uns. As one of ten toys in the McDonald's Beast Machines Happy Meal promotion, it features an incredibly simplistic transformation with no removable parts.


 * Cheetor (Supreme, 2000)
 * Accessories: Tail-sword, 2 missiles


 * One of the largest Transformers toys ever, nearly as tall as Fortress Maximus in robot mode, Supreme Cheetor was heavily hyped as an "ultimate" toy. Aside from having the most show-accurate sculpting of any Beast Machines Cheetor toy, he features electronic lights and sounds in both modes, articulated jaws on both his beast and robot-mode heads, and raising "hackles" on his beast mode back. Each arm contains a gimmick as well. His right arm has a geared up-and-down "slashing" movement. His left arm has extending fingers (yes, fingers) and also contains a spring-loaded twin missile launcher. It should be noted that even with his wide and rubber-padded feet, like Mega Cheetor he has balance issues in robot mode thanks to his top-heavy construction and oddly jointed legs. His teeth-clenched grin in robot mode is also somewhat off-putting.


 * This toy was an ultimately inauspicious start for the Supreme price point. It shelfwarmed pretty badly and ended up in blowout sales at online retailers for upwards 75% off its original price tag.


 * Night Slash Cheetor (Deluxe, 2001)




 * "Night Slash" Cheetor is a much more angular and mechanical-looking version of the character, with a more show-like face sculpt. Each bicep holds a spring-loaded sword attached by a brace that flips into his waiting hands when released. He has a Spark Crystal mounted on his upper back between his shoulders, and just behind that, a pair of thrusters on his back as well. His interior chest has an odd "roller" mechanism with moving parts whose purpose has yet to be determined.


 * This mold was used to make CatSCAN.

Universe

 * Night Slash Cheetor (Deluxe, 2005)




 * A redeco of the Beast Machines Night Slash Cheetor toy, the Universe Autobot version gives Cheets a predominantly orangey-yellow coloration again, but this time with a lot of red and some super-dark blue accents. All of his gimmicks from the previous version are retained.


 * This toy was one of the last Universe toys sold at normal wide-release retail.

Beast Wars Returns

 * Cheetas (Mega, 2005)
 * Japanese ID number: BR-02
 * Accessories: Tail-whip
 * In 2005, the Mega Cheetor toy was re-released as part of the Japanese Toys "R" Us exclusive Beast Wars Returns line. It does not appear that any significant changes were made to it. Reportedly, this item had a run of only 4000 pieces.


 * Perfect Choice Cheetas (Mega, 2005)
 * The original Mega Cheetor toy was redecoed in black and silver as a special Beast Wars Returns promotional contest prize. By ordering the cartoon series through the digital cable provider, you were automatically entered in a drawing for the toy, along with several other smaller merchandise prizes. All of the gimmicks from the first version are retained in this one. It is currently unknown how many "Perfect Choice Cheetas" prizes were awarded.

Beast Wars 10th Anniversary

 * Cheetor (Beast Wars 10th Anniversary, 2006)
 * Accessories: Tail-gun, water-shooting gun


 * In 2006, Hasbro redecoed the original Cheetor toy for their Beast Wars 10th Anniversary reissue line. He was cast in a different shade of yellow, and unlike most of the other toys in the line, he was actually further off-model than his original toy, the biggest difference being that the newer toy lacks the gold paint on its forearms and feet found on the show model. His right beast mode shoulder was tampographed with a Maximal sigil. He came packed with build-a-figure Transmutate's torso and a DVD disc containing the episode "Equal Measures".

At this point the mold for the gut gun had degraded somewhat, and a new mold had to be made.

Timelines

 * Dawn of Future's Past (Multi-pack, 2006)
 * Accessories: Engine-blaster, left & right side-pipes, Maximal "Golden Disk Key"


 * "Axalon Cheetor" is a redeco of Cybertron Clocker, transforming into a low-ridin' Cybertronian race car with a large Maximal sigil on his hood and a cheetah-pattern deco for his upholstery. Stylin'! Inserting a "Golden Disk Key" into the slot on his back pops up a pair of gun barrels, which can be held in robot mode as his pre-beast Quasar gun. His head is also retooled from the original body to represent his Beast Wars head more closely, making his face even more show-accurate then the original toy's.


 * He was available only as part of the BotCon 2006 "Dawn of Future's Past" box-set, with "Axalon" versions of Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Rattrap, and "Darksyde" Dinobot.


 * This toywith the retooled headwas used to make "Unit 2". The original version was also used to make Cybertron Swerve and movie-verse Clocker. It was also the basis for many many non-toy Maximal Command Security Force members.

Titanium Series

 * Cheetor (Cybertron Heroes, 2007)
 * Accessories: 2 scimitars




 * Titanium Series Cheetor is based heavily on the design of Cheetor seen in the Beast Machines cartoon, albeit with some differences, notably much thicker limbs, making him far more stable in robot mode. His twin scimitars can peg onto his hips for storage and are made of softer, rubbery plastic. His die-cast metal is limited to his shoulders, torso, and thighs.


 * Care must be taken when transforming Cheetor into beast mode. His robot head must be pushed back into his beast mode's neck until it clicks. Failure to do so will cause his robot mode head to get stuck inside the chest after the cheetah mode's neck is pushed into it, and may require disassembling the torso to get it out again.

Beast Wars Telemocha Series

 * Cheetas (Deluxe, 2007)
 * Japanese ID number: TM-03
 * Accessories: Tail-gun, water-shooting gun
 * In 2007, Takara did the 10th Anniversary thing for the Beast Wars Telemocha Series line, except much more show-accurate than Hasbro, with a ridiculous number of paint applications. The quasar cannon, however, remains a big question mark in terms of show-accuracy. No one's perfect. This release came with a DVD of the Japanese dub of "Chain of Command".

Universe (2008)

 * Cheetor (Deluxe, 2009)
 * Acessories: Tail whip, 2 shurikens



Based on the original Beast Wars Cheetor, he transforms from a massively hunchbacked robot into an oddly proportioned, sway-backed cheetah. His eyes flash from green to red through a switch on his back which also opens and closes his mouth, and he comes with two unfolding throwing blades that can be stored in his legs, under flip-out panels. His tail becomes a whip, much like Transmetal 2 Cheetor. Ironically, he contains about the same amount of articulation as the original BW toy, which doesn't allow for much poseability in beast mode.

Sadly, he doesn't come with a gut-gun.

Merchandise

 * Cheetas (candy toy kit, 1997)


 * Part of a set of four Kabaya candy toys, this version of Cheetor, based on the original toy, is an unpainted and unassembled plastic kit that transforms (and partially re-assembles) from cheetah to robot mode, though much smaller (and cheaper) than the original toy. It is cast entirely in pale yellow and grayish-tan plastics, as are the other three toys in the set: Dinobot, Rattrap, and Terrorsaur.


 * Beast Wars magnet set (1997)


 * The original cast of ten from the Beats Wars cartoon was rendered in adorable super-deformed style for a set of magnets. Awwwww.


 * Cheetor (3D Battle-Card, 2007)


 * A 31-point character in the 3D Battle-Card Game's "Energon Wars" expansion, Cheetor "transforms" into a Transmetal 2 cheetah. He uses the same parts layout as Ravage and Rampage.

Robot Heroes

 * Cheetor vs. Blackarachnia (2-pack, 2008)
 * Cheetor vs. Tankor

Trivia





 * The first Cheetor toy was originally intended to be part of the first wave of Beast Wars Deluxes released, but experienced a delayed initial release, coming several weeks afterwards. This was likely due to a change made to his "tail gun", which on the toy is much different from the version glimpsed in catalogues, commercials, and toy packaging cross-sells. The prototype gun is held via a handle on the top side of the tail rather than underneath the haunches and has a small blue gun barrel that flips out. Why this change was made and whether it was the actual cause of the delay are currently unknown.


 * Cheetor's design art seems to indicate he wasn't originally designed to be a cheetah or was at least designed to be generically big-cat-like enough to be other types of feline.


 * It's interesting to note that Cheetor fired the first shots of the Beast Wars. First he shot at Waspinator, unprovoked, and again at Megatron while Optimus was attempting to negotiate. What a little rascal.


 * Aside from Tigatron, Cheetor is the only character in Beast Wars who is definitely in the correct scale to the lifeform he has adopted as a beast mode (as seen in the first episode where he ran alongside two real Cheetahs). As a result, Cheetor has the odd distinction of being the yardstick by which other Beast Wars characters' scale inconsistencies can be measured.


 * On the other hand, Cheetor's original toy is monstrously out of scale with his fellow Deluxe Class toys and is only scale-compatible with larger toys such as the Ultra-class Optimus Primal.


 * Mainframe Entertainment's original plan for Transmetal Cheetor was to have his face mature over the course of the season, from a big-eared, wide-eyed, rounded face into one close to the toy. Also, he would have had a "Hero's Heart" which glowed after completing brave or heroic feats, somewhat akin to the classic anime character "Astro Boy". Due to time and financial restrictions, none of these concepts panned out. Thankfully.




 * Comic Bom Bom advertisements for the Game Boy Color's Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle feature Cheetor with a completely different (and much happier) head than the version which appeared in the game's instruction manual. Both are sickeningly cute, though.


 * According to Titanium Series concept designer Don Figueroa, making Titanium Cheetor use his Beast Machines body was his idea. It seems he was told simply to make "Cheetor", but his Hasbro supervisors never specified which Cheetor to make.


 * Cheetor has the somewhat dubious honour of being the only Maximal Megatron never refers to by name throughout Beast Wars and Beast Machines.


 * In "Bee in the City", Beast Wars Megatron accidentally calls Animated Bumblebee "Cheetor", the first instance of a running gag where the plucky young yellow kid-appeal bot is called by another kid-appeal bot's name.


 * The sound effect for the "gut gun" that Cheetor uses in his initial Beast Wars form is a stock sound effect that was also used in the show "Super Fighting Robot: Megaman", as the sound of the titular Megaman's "arm cannon". What's more, Ian Corlett played both characters. Coincidence?


 * Young, brash, impulsive, reckless, very fast and most likely to become the de facto leader in the event of his old leader's passing, sound familiar?


 * Cheetor's possessions from his room in the Axalon:
 * A photo of himself and Primal from the first season.
 * A big trophy.
 * A model of the solar system.
 * What could possibly be a model of a Cybertronian city.
 * A photo of Blackarachnia.
 * A potted plant.
 * A miniature model of the Axalon.
 * A clock with a kind of holographic display to indicate the stages of Solar cycle.
 * A miniature model of Unicron as his moon mode.
 * Several of Transmetal Cheetor's whip tails hanging on the wall..