Cheetor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cheetor is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers toyline. The first appeared in the Beast Wars and Beast Machines. He is a Maximal and takes the beast form of a cheetah. The second was an Autobot from Transformers: Armada who was a remold of Transmetal Cheetor, but was seemingly a different character.
Contents |
[edit] Beast Wars
| Transformers character | |
 Cheetor 10th anniversary box art. |
|
| Cheetor | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Maximal |
| Sub-Group | Basic Vehicles Deluxe Beasts Transmetal Transmetal 2 |
| Function | Scout Jungle Patrol Robotic Jungle Patrol Warrior Nocturnal Warrior |
| Motto | "You can't beat the best." (Timelines) "Quick action equals quick victory!" "Act with quickness, and leave the enemy no time to think!" "What can't be seen cannot be defeated!" |
| Alternate Modes | Racing Car, Cheetah (later transmetal and transmetal 2), Technorganic Cheetah. |
| Series | Beast Wars Beast Machines Transformers: Universe Transformers: Titanium |
| Voiced by | Ian James Corlett (English) Wataru Takagi (Japanese) |
Cheetor's original tech spec indicated he was a seasoned and confident warrior always in search of battle with the Predacons, seemingly in contrast to his youthful and impulsive portrayal in the original show. The tech spec released with his Tenth Anniversary Toy would be much more accurate to the show portrayal.
Cheetor is a speed freak and a penchant for childishness. Everyone treats him like the rookie, which is appropriate, since he has been known to make brash decisions, like risking his life in an energon storm against Optimus' orders. Cheetor seems to have an affinity for Tigatron, as he is the only other with a feline beast mode, and Cheetor will often refer to him as "Big Cat", to which Tigatron would respond by calling him "Little Cat". An unusual trait of Cheetor's is his tendency to have somewhat-prophetic dreams from time to time, though where this talent comes from is unknown.
For the first half of the series, Cheetor idolizes Optimus Primal. He tries, with little success, to model himself after Optimus and gain his approval. He also commonly referred to Optimus as "Big Bot" (Optimus at one point calls Cheetor "little buddy"). He later begins to reject Optimus as a role model after his second transmetal change, which drove Cheetor to carve out his own identity within the group while still respecting Optimus as his leader; he also seemed to idolize Rhinox as well. Cheetor had an unreciprocated love interest for Blackarachnia around the time of his second transformation. In pursuit of this, he conducted himself as he had in the beginning of the series with Optimus, by trying desperately to impress Blackarachnia and win her respect and admiration. He became jealous of Silverbolt for his relationship with Blackarachnia. His interest in Blackarachnia faded after she stated she was “sick of his stupid little crush.” Cheetor's character was similar to that of a teenager in the early series, and that of a young adult in Beast Machines. He matures into one of the more competent and dependable Maximal outside of Optimus, becoming second-in-command and leading the team during Primal’s bouts of instability during the middle run of Beast Machines.
[edit] Beast Wars Cheetor Toys
The original Cheetor toy was sold with a tech spec which said his function was Jungle Patrol. Cheetor had the largest number of variants in the early Beast Wars line, have one with both red and blue (feline) eyes, and in 1997, a third original version was released with bright green feline and robot eyes. (The feet and lower arms were painted gold.) Cheetor's figure was repainted for the characters of Tigatron and the Japanese-exclusive Shadow Panther. (Tigatron would get a show-accurate repaint of himself when sold on the Japanese market.) Cheetor received 2 post-Beast Wars (1999-present) recolorings; one in 1999 to promote Fox Kids' acquisition of the Beast Wars cartoon (most recognized for its dull yellow color and red spots), and another in 2006 to represent Beast Wars' official 10th Anniversary. The 10th Anniversary features nearly show accurate colors (excluding its now blue lower arms and feet), and most resembles a black-spotted version of the Fox Kids Cheetor.
In 1998, Cheetor and other characters would be remade as Transmetals. Transmetal Cheetor came with a metallic feline form, partially coated in vacuum-metallized gold. His robot form was made to appear more organic, with colors coming from his original cheetah form. While Transmetal Cheetor would receive mold recoloring in 2000 when an all-red Fox Kids version was released, his entire mold was retooled to produce a show-accurate representation of the former Decepticon Ravage. The Ravage version of the figure was used to create BotCon 2001 exclusive Transmetal Tigatron.
In late December 1998, Transmetal II Cheetor was released as an early variant of the 1999 Transmetal 2 (as opposed to "II") line. The "II" variant is more show accurate compared to Transmetal 2 Cheetor, which lacks spots in beast mode. Transmetal 2 Cheetor was repainted as Tripredacus Agent.
In 2005, the original Cheetor toy was one of the toys selected for the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary toyline. He was repainted in more show-accurate colors. He came packaged with one of the six pieces used to make the Transmutate toy. He was also packaged with a DVD with the Beast Wars episode Equal Measures on it.
[edit] Season One
Cheetor, Rattrap and Rhinox were members of the crew of the Maximal ship called the Axalon commanded by Optimus Primal, which chased the Predacon criminal Megatron on the stolen Predacon ship Darkside through transwarp space after the theft of the Golden Disc. The Maximals and Predacons crashed on prehistoric Earth, where high energon levels threatened to destroy the crew unless they adopted organic alternate modes. Cheetor was given the form of a cheetah (Beast Wars Part 1).
Cheetor served as one of Primal's most trusted warriors for season 1, battling against the Predacons on many occasions. However, his brashness and impulsiveness often made him a liability as well. On one notable occasion (The Web) Cheetor lost a valuable communications device. Determined to redeem himself in Primal's eyes, Cheetor tried to spy on Megatron's new weapon, but was captured by Tarantulas and had to be rescued by Rattrap.
[edit] Convention Comics
Cheetor was one of the stars of the 1997 Botcon Convention Comics, a story set near the end of season one of the Beast Wars television series.
In the Convention Comics plot, Inferno and Blackarachnia watched as the Predacon scientist Fractyl attempted to invent energon armor capable of protecting them from energon build up. Although seemingly successful, the armor was stolen by the Maximal thief Packrat. Blackarachinia and Fractyl realized the energon armor was flawed and could destroy the planet if it came in contact with large amounts of energon. Inferno pursued Packrat, but since Packrat didn't need to assume beast mode with the armor on, he got the upper hand in the fight with Inferno. Hearing the battle, Airazor, Cheetor and Rhinox joined Packrat. Fractyl convinced Rhinox that the armor was a threat to them all. Rhinox was able to talk Packrat into giving up the armor, which Fractyl aided them in doing. When Blackarachnia arrived with Megatron, Packrat suggested that Fractyl pretend to be attacking the Maximals, who fled. Megatron was impressed with Fractyl's new found battle prowess.
[edit] Season Two
A quantum wave reformatted Cheetor into a transmetal cheetah with flight capabilities.
In the episode "Bad Spark", Optimus speaks of the "dark secret of Axalon's voyage", which is to dump the stasis pod containing Protoform X (aka Rampage) on a barren world so that he could cause no more destruction. When it is revealed that Rampage did survive when his stasis pod crashed, Optimus, Cheetor, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia try to subdue the (ahem) rampaging Transformer, only to have him captured and forced to join the Predacons by Megatron.
In the three-part episode "The Agenda", Optimus, Cheetor, Rattrap and Rhinox race to prevent Megatron from reaching the Ark, but are one step too slow as the Predacon commander blasts Optimus Prime in the head while the Autobot leader slumbers in stasis, leading to a massive time storm that threatens to undo history.
[edit] Season Three
When an attack by Rampage left Cheetor unconscious and sinking in the water, he was saved by Depth Charge (Deep Metal).
After Blackarachnia joined forces with the Maximals against Megatron, Cheetor started to develop a crush on her, much to the dismay of Silverbolt. Accidental exposure to Megatron's Transmetal Driver granted Cheetor a transmetal 2 body (Feral Scream Part 2).
As Silverbolt and Cheetor continued to clash over their attraction to Blackarachnia, Blackarachnia did gain an attraction to Cheetor - or rather the powerful new Transmetal body he possessed, which would eventually see her gain one of her own.
After Megatron was captured, Cheetor returned with the other surviving Maximals to Cybertron on board the Autobot shuttle Omega Delta (Nemesis Part 2).
[edit] Beast Machines
Cheetor's character was carried over to the Beast Machines series, which was a sequel to Beast Wars. Although some believe that his personality instantly changed from child-like to serious, others argue that Cheetor's character arc through Beast Machines and Beast Wars was the only complete one. Throughout Beast Wars Cheetor progressed from a young child to a more mature teenager, eventually growing into a mature adult in Beast Machines. He received a new technorganic form and was promoted to Second-in-Command under Optimus Primal. However, as Primal slowly became more of a spiritual figure-head, Cheetor rose to the challenge of becoming the military leader. Although even in his adulthood he still held some of his younger, brash, tendencies.
Several different Cheetor toys were made for Beast Machines, three with mottoes, and they were all different. The normal sized Cheetor had the motto "Quick action equals quick victory!", while the Supreme Cheetor toy had the motto "Act with quickness, and leave the enemy no time to think!" and the deluxe sized Night Slash Cheetor toy has the motto "What can't be seen cannot be defeated!". There was also a McDonalds Happy Meal Cheetor toy for Beast Machines which looked a lot like the show character.
According to the Tech Spec, Cheetor created the Beast Rider called Che. Che never appeared in the television series, but did appear in the unreleased issue 4 of Transformers: Universe - Wreckers.
Bob Skir stated on DVD commentary for Beast Machines that Cheetor was inspired by the character of DC Comics Robin, growing from a sidekick to an independent hero.
[edit] Transtech
After the Beast Machines line ended, Hasbro planned a follow-up series called Transtech. The Transtech concept was a line intended to take Transformers to their most futuristic. Hasbro commissioned sets of designs from Draxhall Jump. The series was supposedly to bring back some of the characters who died in Beast Wars along with some Generation 1 characters, all in new, more organic-looking bodies, though with vehicle alternate modes instead of the animals used in Beast Machines. Many concept sketches and even a few toy prototypes were made, but Hasbro scrapped the idea in favor of bringing Car Robots to their markets as Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
Concept sketches or prototype toys have been seen for Blackarachnia, Cheetor, Depth Charge, Megatron, Nightscream, Optimus Prime, Scavenger, Shockwave, Silverbolt, Soundwave, Starscream and a new character called Immorticon. There were also rumors of a Transtech Dinobot.
It is generally believed that the concept for Transtech Cheetor inspired the design of Transformers: Cybertron Brakedown and the concept for Transtech Megatron inspired Armada Megatron. The concept was to have Cheetor transform into something that resembled a racing car.
[edit] Transformers: Universe
Cheetor appeared in the short lived Transformers: Universe comic book series in his Beast Machines form.
On the reformatted techno-organic Cybertron Cheetor, Rattrap, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia were interviewed by the Autobot reporter Rook. They then welcomed the Autobots Roulette, Shadowstriker, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker back to Cybertron. Buzzsaw, Quickstrike and Rockbuster were also present. (Transformers: Universe #1)
In 2005 a toy of Cheetor was released in the Transformers: Universe line which depicted Cheetor as an Autobot named "Night Slash Cheetor" (left). Presumably he would have changed to this form if the series could have continued. He did appear in this form in a flashback in the Transformers: Cybertron series, in a final battle with Unicron's forces.
In the comic story found in issue 8 of the Transformers Collectors Club magazine Cybertron/Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime told the story of the last battle he was in, set in the Transformers: Universe storyline. Alongside 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal they attacked the last of Unicron's forces when Unicron suddenly disappeared, and they barely escaped. Among the Autobot forces were Universe Fireflight, King Atlas, Universe Night Slash Cheetor, Universe Longhorn, Universe Prowl, Universe Repugnus, Rhinox, Universe Side Burn, Sideswipe, Universe Silverbolt, Sunstreaker, Tap-Out, Trailbreaker, Cybertron/Robots in Disguise Ultra Magnus and Universe Whirl. Among the Decepticons were Universe Blackaracknia, Nemesis Strika, Universe Obsidian, Universe Razorclaw, Reptilion and Universe Skywarp.
The Night Slash Cheetor toy was repainted as the Botcon exclusive toy Catscan. Plans for a repaint of the original Beast Wars Cheetor toy in grey called Nightprowler were canceled, although prototypes of the toy were seen on the internet.
[edit] Transformers: Timelines (2006)
One of the Botcon 2006 exclusive figures is a repaint of Cybertron Clocker and Swerve called Cheetor. This figures is supposed to represent Cheetor before he was reformatted into his animal form. He turns into a race car.
[edit] Transformers: Titanium
The upcoming Transformers: Titanium Cheetor is a 6 inch tall transforming model based on his Beast Machines form, and is highly show accurate, unlike the Beast Machines toys. Unlike other Maximal toys in the Titanium line, this Cheetor will be sold with a Maximal symbol base, not a Autobot one.
[edit] Transformers: Armada (2003)
The Transmetal Cheetor toy was recolored and released as an Autobot. He was partnered with the Mini-Con Cliffjumper. In the Dreamwave Productions Armada comic book series, he became one of the Four Horsemen of Unicron.
His motto is "Some cats roar - I just pounce."
[edit] Transformers: Energon
Armada Cheetor appeared as one of the Four Horsemen of Unicron in the Transformers: Energon comic book series. His mind corrupted and his body enhanced by the Chaos-Bringer's power, Unicron and his servant sent him and his fellow Horsemen - Airazor Rhinox and Terrorsaur - to attack Cybertron. They devastated much of the planet, before being stopped by Optimus Prime (now in his Powerlinking Energon body) who drove off all four.
Cheetor also was set to appear in the unreleased issue 31 of the Transformers: Energon comic series.
