Cheetor's "new" cheetah mode now looks a lot LOT more like a cheetah than his original version. Granted, it still has the limitations of being a plastic toy, so it can't look COMPLETELY convicingly like a cheetah, but still. The fur detailing is all over the place, and the proportions are almost spot-on cheetah-- a very skinny, almost non-existant stomach, long legs, a bit of a hunch back-- aww yeah. However, there are a few minor robot extras visible in this mode-- from certain angles, you can see the robot fists inside the front cheetah legs, and the top of the robot legs is a tad visible from a side view, near the rear of the cheetah. Those aside, though, this mode is very close to perfect. Cheetor's color scheme is spot-on to his classic Beast Wars toy-- really the shades of pale metallic blue and dull yellow are pretty much exact if you compare. Pretty much all of his paint apps in beast mode are his spots, though he does have some neat "tan-white fur" paint apps near his paws, which is of course realistic. I wish his tail had spots as well, though. Cheetor can move at the top, middle, and at the feet on each foot, and his tail can move where it connects to the main body. Pressing down on a tab on Cheetor's back makes his eyes change from green to light red (both eye colors on variants of the original Cheetor toy) and his mouth opens up to "growl". Pretty cool!
    Cheetor's robot mode, though... ick. Quite honestly, it's hard to believe Hasbro gave a deluxe this misproportioned of a character at deluxe size in this day-and-age. His proportions are absolutely awful-- he has this HUUUGE hunch behind his main body, for one-- basically half of his cheetah mode sticks out from behind his back, without collapsing at all. That's WAY too much of a price to pay for a simple eye-color-changing gimmick. His arms are also way too short, and the lower parts are bolted into the shells of the upper front legs, which makes articulation extremely restricted, even though they would have much more freedom of movement otherwise. The feet are also so long they're clown-like, as they're made of almost half of the rear cheetah legs flattened out. His lower front cheetah legs also stick out rather blantantly from the sides of the lower arms. In addition, his lower body hooks in at a slight angle compared to his upper body, which is a little odd, and his head sculpt is... off. His "cat lips" are too big, and he doesn't look youthful enough. He also comes with a really lame "tail whip" weapon, which have been done to death and beyond by now-- and it doesn't move at any point either, so it's more of a beat stick. He also really needs more paint apps on his robot mode, particularly on his leg-- he needs more blue. However, two "ninja stars" can be taken out from the little "pockets" on the sides of his lower legs and unfolded, which are pretty cool new weapons for the character. In addition, I do appreciate the detailing that's almost exactly the same as the original Cheetor toy, such as the waist detailing and the knee detailing. I also like how he has an actual stomach this time, and his entire main body isn't just composed of a cheetah head.
    Universe Cheetor has an excellent, excellent vehicle mode, but unfortunately that's all but ruined by his horribly proportioned robot mode which makes his original robot mode from over 15 years ago look tons better in comparison. Out of all the Universe deluxes, I'd sadly have to recommend this one the least.

Review by Beastbot

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