Tigatron is back, and this time as a Transmetal! Tigatron also makes Transformer history as the first BotCon exclusive to be a Japanese mold. Tigatron Transmetal is a repaint of the Japanese Beast Wars Metals toy X-9 Ravage, which, in turn, is a repaint and partial remold of the American toy, Cheetor Transmetal. Now, on to the review!

    Beast mode is a transmetal tiger- or at least, it's supposed to be. It's too slim for a tiger, and one can tell that this mold was originally intended for a cat with a lighter build (a cheetah or panther, anyone?). Still, though, the coloring is quite nice, and you can definitely tell it's Tigatron- the old "white and light blue" color scheme is still there. The transmetal dark blue looks especially nice. Unlike the Cheetor Transmetal toy, Tigatron Transmetal can open and close his beast mode mouth, which is nice. The main problem I have with this mode is that the robot arms just hang out under the stomach area, and it really looks odd from nearly any angle except directly above. An attempt to hide these better would have been appreciated. Also, Tigatron's guns are stored on his thighs in this mode, but they don't detract from the look much at all, as they very easily blend in with their surroundings.
    Vehicle mode isn't much of one, but it still looks rather neat. As with Cheetor Transmetal, the jets located in Tigatron's stomach flip out to the sides and elongate, and voila, you're done. The guns on Tigatron's thighs actually complement this mode, as they look sort of like secondary thrusters.
    Tigatron's robot mode is pretty neat. The only extra is the "backpack" on Tigatron's upper back, made up of his beast mode front legs and upper back. In this mode, it becomes apparent that Tigatron suffers from a lack of detailing- he's nearly all white and light blue in this mode, and a greater color variation would have been appreciated. The only thing that kind of bothers me about this mode is that Tigatron's beast head carries over to form his robot head, which I think is a bit uncreative. Still, considering that this is a repaint of a Japanese Beast Wars Ravage toy, I can see why it was done. Unlike Cheetor Transmetal, Tigatron Transmetal has guns available to use in his robot mode, which is a nice touch. If you lift open his chest plate, there is a sticker inside that depicts a spark! Pretty cool! Another little add-on given to Tigatron Transmetal is that he comes with Vok and Maximal symbol stickers for his chest and shoulders (not depicted in the pics above, obviously). It's neat to see stickers coming with Transformers again, but in my opinion, just directly spraying or painting them on the toy would have been better- that way, they wouldn't fall off eventually.
    Tigatron Transmetal is a good toy, but his blatant extras in beast mode and his mostly monotonous color scheme make him a step down from the Cheetor Transmetal toy. If you have the money, then you might as well get it, however, since the mold with the cooler paint job, Beast Wars Metals X-9 Ravage, is actually going for more than this toy right now.

Review by Beastbot

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