Takara Tomy - Masterpiece MP-34 CHEETOR (2019 Reissue w/Bonus T-Shirt)

Once again, Takara creates a knockout, must-have figure. The paint on this thing is gorgeous. It's absolutely brilliant how the designers were able to devise a way to make the paint seem soft like fur (This is why the spots look pixelated in high-res photos. This pixelation is not noticeable in real life and makes the paint really come alive). The beast and robot modes are totally screen-accurate and the poseability in robot mode is top-notch. If Takara keeps this up, Cheetor, Optimus Primal, and whatever other Beast Wars figures they release will go down as some of the best figures in the Masterpiece line ever created... period.

I recently picked up this figure and am very impressed by the design and the quality of the toy. Is he perfect? No. But he is definitely the best Cheetor figure we have received to date. The Bad: * I really wish they had found a way to make the mid section joint more solid in beast mode. Every time I pick up the figure, this joint opens up a bit. If you buy him you will see exactly what I mean when you take him out of the box. This by no means a deal breaker, just an annoyance. * I would have enjoyed it more if the transformatino was a bit more intuitive. It took me a couple of times to get it right. The things to watch out for are the positioning of the robot hands when going back to beast mode and remember to dislodge and rotate the waist during transformation. Outside of that, transformation is a breeze * As most people have stated, I have concerns about the bending of the fiber optic whiskers when in robot mode. I feel these will break after extended use The Good: * Cheetor is a highly CGI accurate figure, that really captures the essence of the character. The interchangeable faces in both modes allow for a very dynamic range of emotion. * The transformation is not overly complicated and fun to do (once you account for the steps above). I really like the integration of the weapons into the beast mode. This functionality was one of the things that drew me to the original Beast Wars figures back in the mid 90's. The paint on Cheetor is excellent and the plastic quality is top notch. As with Primal they did an excellent job of capturing the nature of fur with paint on plastic. Summary: Overall I would recommend this figure to any collector thet is on the fence about it. This toy has earned a solid place in my collection.