Cheetor (ROTB)

Cheetor is a Maximal from the Rise of the Beasts portion of the Movie continuity family.

All grown up!

Cheetor is a speedy Maximal, both in mind and in body. Athletic and graceful despite being the size of a small truck, this cheetah ‘bot runs faster than most of his enemies can process. This speed is, indeed, his greatest strength, but it is also his most substantial weakness. Cheetor’s agility breeds overconfidence, and he occasionally is too quick to act without considering the potential repercussions of his actions. Even still, he is a reliable Maximal warrior who provides invaluable assistance in the war against the Terrorcons.

Fiction

Rise of the Beasts film

Voice actor: Tongayi Chirisa (English), Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Eko Fresh (German), Sylvain Agaësse (European French), Duda Ribeiro (Brazilian Portuguese), Carlos Monroy (Latin American Spanish)

Somewhere in time and space, Cheetor was among the Maximals left on their homeworld when Unicron attacked. Making their way through enemy hordes, he and Rhinox met up with their leader Apelinq, and fellow Maximals Optimus Primal and Airazor, and expressed concern over several hostile new arrivals on their planet. As the situation grew dire, he witnessed Apelinq transfer leadership of the Maximals to Primal, as the former ordered them to retreat with the Transwarp Key. All Cheetor and the other Maximals could do was watch from their ship as Scourge overpowered Apelinq, as they entered the Transwarp bridge towards a prehistoric Earth.

I’m an agile cat.

By the year 1994, Cheetor and the other Maximals had settled in the jungles of Peru. When Noah Díaz and Elena Wallace arrived searching for the other half of the Transwarp Key, Optimus Primal mobilized the Maximals, including Cheetor, to intercept them. As Primal had them cornered, the Autobot Mirage arrived in an attempt to attack Primal. This prompted Cheetor to pounce and tackle the Autobot as he screamed for his life. Before the situation could escalate any further, Airazor flew in and eased the tension, with Cheetor kindly apologizing to Mirage for scaring him.

Later, Cheetor and the other Maximals led the Autobots to meet the human tribe that had kept the Maximals safe on Earth, present the Autobots the other half of the Transwarp Key. The next day, the Autobots and Maximals were alerted to a battle on top of a mountain, only to find a distraught Primal and an offline Airazor, who was forced to be deactivated after Scourge's corruption rendered her mad. Cheetor was visibly distraught at the sight. They did not have time to mourn their fallen comrade, however, as Scourge had already activated the Transwarp Key from the nearby volcano, ready to bring Unicron in. Optimus Prime and Noah were not ready to give up, and convinced Primal to fight back, with the Maximal leader explaining how the Transwarp Key worked. In order to stop the process, the key would have to be shut down from the control panel, but someone would have sneak through the underground tunnels to avoid Scourge. Cheetor then corroborated that while the tunnels may be too small for Maximals, they would be big enough for humans, which meant Noah and Elena were the only ones who can shut the Key down.

Behold, the power of Cheetos!

Hoping to distract their enemies, Prime and Primal led their respective teams to face the Terrorcon army head on, hoping to lead them away from Noah, Elena and Mirage working their way towards the control panel. As the Autobots and Maximals approached the Terrorcon army, Primal ordered Cheetor and Rhinox to maximize, making swift work of the Terrorcon drones. Eventually, the endless hordes of drones exhausted both the Autobots and Maximals. At one point, Cheetor was overwhelmed by several Sweeps, but not before he spotted Noah being whisked away by Nightbird. He threw his spear at the Terrorcon, releasing Noah. As a second wave of Sweeps entered the battlefield, along with Unicron's Predacon reinforcements, Bumblebee swooped in, turning the tide of the battle, and giving them a boost in morale. As Elena finally reached the control panel, and with Scourge being handled by Optimus, Cheetor and the rest of the Autobots and Maximals held back the army that was diverted towards the control panel, with Cheetor pouncing on a few Scorponok drones. Eventually, the control panel was destroyed, forcing Optimus to sacrifice himself to destroy it. Cheetor and the rest of the Maximals were then ordered to retreat.

Now we only need Hot Shot to show up.

Fortunately, Primal saved Prime and they escaped the ensuing fallout. Cheetor and the others then regrouped at a valley overlooking the volcano. They acknowledged that Unicron had definitely survived the collapse of the Transwarp bridge, and he may return to destroy them. Despite this, Cheetor and the others remained steadfast, as they now had a newfound alliance between their factions, ready to take on Unicron, whenever he may return. Rise of the Beasts

Toys

Studio Series

Wakanda forever!

• Cheetor (Voyager Class, 2023)

• Movie: Rise of the Beasts
• Hasbro ID number: 98
• TakaraTomy ID number: SS-108
• Accessories: 2-part spear, "Peruvian Jungle Discovery" backdrop (1st version)

Released as part of the 19th wave of Studio Series Voyager Class figures, Cheetor transforms into a mechanical cheetah in 24 steps. The toy comes with his spear, which can split into two weapons. The halves store on his back in both modes. His backdrop showcases where the Autobots and Maximals first meet.

As with all Studio Series Rise of the Beasts figures, Cheetor is based on concept art, most notably featuring a bulkier physique and different cheetah head to the final design.

Cheetor's box renders show him in a much darker color scheme than what is present on the final figure, similar to the concept art at the top of the page. His instructions are colored Autobot red rather than the blue introduced for other Maximals and Terrorcons.

Hasbro revealed the figure on January 24, 2023.

Buzzworthy Bumblebee

We finally know how a cat would wear pants.

• Cheetor / Nightbird / Wheeljack (Jungle Mission 3-pack, 2023)

• Accessories: Tail weapon, blaster
• Known designers: Tomoki Tatsumi (TakaraTomy)

Released in a Target-exclusive Buzzworthy Bumblebee "Jungle Mission 3-pack", this Deluxe Class version of Cheetor converts into a mechanical cheetah. His transformation scheme is somewhat patterned on Kingdom Cheetor, while his overall appearance is based on a non-final movie design, with a significantly different Beast Wars-inspired robot mode. He is armed with a small blaster, which, in a nod to the original Cheetor toy's "gut gun", stores in his cheetah mode abdomen, along with a bladed whip weapon formed from his beast mode tail. In an undocumented feature, the gun can store on Cheetor's robot mode back via a rectangular slot; however, no such storage exists for the tail weapon, which he's left to hold at all times.

His stock renders omit the tip of his tail that covers its blade in beast mode, though the hinge it attaches to is plainly visible. The renders also depict differences in deco from the final toy, such as blue shoulders, a brown maximal symbol, and a bit of orange at the base of his tail/whip.

This set also includes Nightbird and Wheeljack.

Rise of the Beasts

“I am NOT a kid… and maybe I’m not so nice either.”

• Cheetor (Deluxe Class, 2023)

• TakaraTomy name: Deluxe Class Cheetor
• TakaraTomy ID number: BD-02
• TakaraTomy release date: April 15, 2023
• Accessories: Tail weapon, blaster
• Known designers: Tomoki Tatsumi (TakaraTomy)

Outside of the United States and Canada, the Cheetor from the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Jungle Mission 3-pack was also available individually at general retail under Rise of the Beasts packaging. It was first sighted at Australian retail.

The renders on this release's packaging have been corrected with the toy's final deco.

Why would you give the cat a rubber band!?

• Cheetor (Flex Changers, 2023)

• TakaraTomy name: Kurutto Change Cheetor
• TakaraTomy ID number: BKC-03
• TakaraTomy release date: June 24, 2023

Released as part of the "Flex Changers" line for the Rise of the Beasts toyline, this Cheetor transforms from beast to robot with the use of a flexible plastic band.

He first appeared at Mexican retail without any announcement, unlike his wavemates.

Uh, meow?

• Cheetor (Titan Changer, 2023)

• Accessories: Tail-whip

Part of the first wave of Rise of the Beasts Titan Changers, Cheetor is a repackaging of Authentics Titan Changer Cheetor without any changes to the figure, and transforms from a thin robot to a mechanical cheetah. The tail comes off to become a whip. Considering the great design similarities with the above Cheetor toys, it's possible this toy was meant to be released here first before the delay of the movie and toyline.

Beast Alliance

Wee Booties

• Cheetor (Beast Battle Masters, 2023)

• TakaraTomy name: Kakusei Weapon Cheetor
• TakaraTomy ID number: BW-01
• TakaraTomy release date: April 15, 2023
• Known designers: Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy)

Battle Master Cheetor is a very small, slender cheetah cast in creamy yellow and silvery grey plastic. He converts into a triple claw weapon which can be held by or mounted on the forearm of a larger figure via a 5mm post. The paint on his yellow parts is fairly extensive, with black cheetah spots and silver musculature highlighted on all 4 legs, plus spots on his head and bright red eyes. However, he has none on his grey parts due to being cast in what appears to be unpaintable plastic. He has ball joints at the shoulders, hips, and front paws, the last of which are cast in silver grey. This allows for some small range of posing but is limited due to lacking knees or elbows.

Part of the “cool scenes that should have happened in the movie but didn’t” range.

• Arcee & Cheetor (Beast Weaponizers, 2023)

• Known designers: Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy)

This redeco of Battle Master Cheetor comes with the "Beast Weaponizer" Arcee toy. It swaps out the silvery plastic with light gray and removes all paint on his legs.

This figure was first found listed on Canadian store kidtoy.ca's website, prior to any announcement by Hasbro.

CatSCAN, is that you?

• Burning Cheetor (Kakusei Weapon, 2023)

• Release date July 15, 2023

"Burning Cheetor" (バーニングチーター) is a redeco of the Battle Master, cast in red and clear-red plastics.

He was available as a campaign item through TakaraTomy Mall, free with the pre-order of Ultimate Optimus Primal, BP-01 Beast Power Bumblebee, or BP-01 Beast Power Optimus Prime. Pre-orders opened on June 7, with delivery by July 15. He was also made available at brick and mortar stores with any purchase of over 5000 yen.

Merchandise

Figural Bag Clip

• Cheetor (2023)

Released by Monogram, this 2.5" 3D foam bag clip takes the form of a chibi Rise of the Beasts Cheetor in cheetah mode.

It was available only as part of a mystery blind bag collection.

Notes

JON WHERE IS MY LASAGNA?

• Much like Optimus Primal, at some point during the development of The Last Knight, Cheetor was considered to appear in the movie. A few designs were conceptualized during the film's production (see #Gallery).
• In the Japanese dub of Rise of the Beasts, Cheetor speaks with having his sentences ending on "Jān" just like in the Beast Wars Japanese dub in addition to having Wataru Takagi reprising his role.
• Cheetor's robot mode design bears similarities to his original incarnation's Transmetal design. He also has a mouth in robot mode, visible for only a second in the film when he saves Noah and in a single promotional art.
  • Meanwhile, the design used for the Rise of the Beasts toyline is closer to Cheetor's initial Beast Wars design.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Cheetor (チーター Chītā)
• Mandarin: Huáng Bào (黃豹, "Yellow Leopard")
• Hungarian: Gepárd ("Cheetah")

Gallery

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  The Last Knight concept

• 

  The Last Knight concept