Toy Review - MP-34 Cheetus/Cheetor

[doublespy]

Looks to be another top release from the MP team. Can't wait to get him in hand.

[DELTAprime]

Got him today. I'm happy I finally have a season 1 Cheetor that's better than the Telemocha release, but still not a huge fan of the original character or design. I should note I removed the beast head from the toy for display in robot mode to avoid permanently bending the whiskers.

[Omega Metro]

Mine arrived today. Such an enjoyable figure. Good transformation and both modes look great. I've never been a BW fan so don't know much about Cheetor as a character but I'm liking the MPs from BW.

[doublespy]

Cheetah mode:





It's a beautiful looking cat. Aside from a few joint parts, he's painted all over. The fur colors and the tampo'ed on spots look great in person. I think the waist section is a bit too long to be anatomically correct, but overall the proportions are good. He doesn't have the big and powerful thighs you see on a real cheetah, but that's a compromise I'm willing to forgive (along with his robot leg kibble), because people often overlook the fact that for a slender cat like this, there's just not much volume to conceal extra parts/panels.






Articulation in this mode is surprisingly good. He even has side-to-side rocker joints in his front paws. I had so much fun putting him in different feline poses. There are quite a number of pin joints, some of which very stiff (more on this in robot mode). But tight pin joints are always better than loose ones that are hard to tighten.

All three heads are painted to perfection and have jaw articulation. Actually aside from the joint tightness, I have absolutely zero QC issue with this figure. And the eyes work well with different expressions. I'm also very happy with how the whiskers were done.


He can assume a semi-decent cheetah running pose.

My biggest issue with this figure is that the hinge joint for transformation in the cheetah mid-section has too much wiggle room, and the fact that the front and back halves don't lock together. In normal poses where his feet are planted on the ground it looks fine, but as soon as you pick it up, one half droops and creates a gap. If not for this, this cheetah mode would be nigh perfect for me.



Transformation:
It has a few clever touches, but isn't as elegant as some the other top MP figures. The shoulders split in the middle to create an offset for the arms to hide in the cheetah back, but it's a step very tricky to execute, both from and to cheetah mode.

Robot mode





At this point in time I think everyone is used to the amazing show accuracy and attention to detail that the Masterpiece line entails. Aside from the fake cheetah head chest being a little on the small side (again, not a complaint considering it needs to hide in the slender cheetah body), the 'bot mode is spot on (get it?). Love the little sculpted details like the polygons on the inside of the cheetah thighs on his back, which were meant for the CGI model to approximate a round shape. All three face sculpts are perfect, with great light-piping effect through the eyes and mouth just like how they light up in the show.

The paint apps are again perfect in this mode. I absolutely love the metallic colors, imitating the CGI metal texturing.








His articulation in this mode is crazy good. To put into perspective, he has the similar amount and range of joints of a modern Marvel Legends figure (lacks an ab crunch, but gains toe and extra shoulder movement) which is arguably the benchmark of a mass production action figure. There's well known joint tolerance issues, and I assume parts that make up joints being painted is part of the cause. But be careful when moving things around and watch where you apply force, there shouldn't be any real problem.

Love his guts gun and tail gun. For some reason the tail gun doesn't have pegs to fit in his palms so he can't hold it firmly, but no biggie cause the guts gun got way more TV time anyway. They can both store on the back of the robot.]



Overall:
Aside from the loose joint in cheetah mode, this is again a top MP release. The abundant articulation and combination of expressions makes the cheetah a great stand alone action figure. This is a great advantage that the beast-formers have. If done right, you get two great action figures out of one Transformer. Can't wait for Dinobot and more.

[Shirokaze]

He's amazing, everything I ever wanted. What's the bet that people who voted "No" in the poll haven't actually played with one...

[GoktimusPrime]

Well I finally got to play with one tonight! (courtesy of The_Scream_Man )

Like MP Beast Convoy and other recent G1 MPs, MP Cheetus is slavishly cartoon accurate, which is great if you're into that sort of thing. It really feels like the character has just jumped out of your television and become a three dimensional toy. Much as with Convoy, Cheetus does a decent job in trying to conceal robot kibble in beast mode, but it's just not possible to completely cover all of it. And as I said with Convoy, this is due to the fact that a beast mode needs to look good from all angles, whereas vehicles typically only need to look good from above, front and sides. Many vehicular MPs have openly visible kibble on the underside. But all things considered, they've done a top notch job. The painstaking attention to detail is guano insane! I also like the choice of going with the light-piped eyes.

I still don't know if this toy is my cup of tea, but technically speaking it is a great toy. It's well worth the 7000JPY RRP, although I don't know if I'd pay much more than that if I were to get one.

He's amazing, everything I ever wanted. What's the bet that people who voted "No" in the poll haven't actually played with one...

The poll question doesn't ask people, "Would you buy it?", it asks if it's worth buying or not. I don't know if I'll get this toy, but in answer to the question of "Worth buying?" my answer is Yes (at RRP or less of course). Although this is also why the standard poll format (as established by griffin) has the "Not even interested" option so that people who have zero interest in the toy can vote for that without skewing results based on whether people think that the toy is worth purchasing or not.

[griffin]

Although this is also why the standard poll format (as established by griffin) has the "Not even interested" option so that people who have zero interest in the toy can vote for that without skewing results based on whether people think that the toy is worth purchasing or not.

Yep, that's why it was introduced a number of years ago.
If someone doesn't like a toy enough to want it, then vote "not even interested", so that we can see exactly how many people who bought it (or are yet to buy it), who think that it was worth it, or wasn't worth it. It also shows us how many people are just so disappointed with a new toy that they wouldn't even buy it.

[Trent]

Finally opened it this arvo

Wonderful toy. Pretty fragile in places, that remind me of MP-09 and also smells like MP-09 too




But dat crotch-face!!! Looks like Roberto from Futurama!