Here are my two-cents regarding Tigatron.

To The Point: Worth the cash, I'm not a fan of the Beast Mode but the robot mode is fantastic. If you're this deep into the BW line, you probably already preordered this figure.

Transformation: Not difficult, the lower leg can be tricky. If you look at my photos, to straighten the leg, you need to slide the tibia. If the leg isn't straightening easy, you haven't moved the joint far enough. Don't force it.

As for the actual transformation process, expect panel folding and tabbing. Not the most difficult, every step is intuitive so I never felt lost.

Paint: I don't see any paint chips so far; the paint feels textured.

Joints: Everything is tight and holds as expected. No need for super glue, clear nail polish, etc.

Toon Accuracy: I think its spot on but I haven't watched Beast Wars in a year or so.

Accessories: Plenty of face sculpts, a cool Megatron head, and missiles. Personally, I hope designers can eventually design a head capable of multiple expressions without having to switch faces. No idea how that could be accomplished but that isn't my field of expertise.

 

A video review by Mr. Stan: Masterpiece MP-50 Tigatron

 

Curses! I was hoping to do the first review.  

Very eager to get this guy. Tigatron was a personal favourite of mine as a kid, and I thought for sure he’d be such a minor character in the grand scheme he’d be skipped. He couldn’t be a retool of Cheetor, and I doubted TT would devote a brand new mould and high price point to one of the least popular season one characters. So glad I was wrong.

You didn’t post any beast mode pics, but is there any extending method for the neck you can find to make it sit higher? Literally my only issue with the toy is the head being too low and too sunken in. It really feels like there should be something to make it position better. Also you forgot to turn the eyes on the tiger head to robot mode orange.

 

That's some nice light piping, looking forward to big cat arriving over the next few days, good to hear there aren't any inital issues unlike Dinobot's weak ankles

 

Not really a way to lengthen the neck, you can get it to sit a bit higher, although that causes some gapping

here is the armature In the head


BEST CHEETOR RETOOL EVER

 

@Sponge

Great pics? What do you think of the Beast Mode?

@SPLIT LIP

I'll be honest, I omitted the Beast Mode because it's not my favorite. I can't describe it but compared to the others, something seems off to me.

 

Other than the lack of neck and ass I like it a lot

also now I want a full fledged megatron head Rubik’s cube

 

I just got mine and LOVE the beast mode. He's chonky in all the right ways and tabs together more solidly than Cheetor (although I had my doubts out of the box - I don't think they transformed him very well at the factory). The only thing I can't figure out is how to attach his wrist missiles - it looks like they may have redesigned the connector it would have slit into and I'm not sure they updated the actual missile accessory to go with the new connector - unless I'm misreading the instructions (which is very VERY easy to do!).

 

What's the trick to getting the painted blue sliding pieces that slide in and out below the knee to lock in and sit aligned with the molded detail?

If I force it in it locks but it sits suken in at a crooked angle and the lower legs become bowlegged. If I try to keep it aligned with the molded detail it doesn't go in a far in as it seems like it's suppose to go, as shown by the unpainted grey bit of it still poking out here, and doesn't tab as solid as the crooked angle. I'm not sure if I'm just suppose to push it in at the correct angle with all my might or it's just like that.

 

Last MP I’m getting, pegged the gun in and couldn’t get the Tiger mode to tab everywhere to be back together and knees and wrists are a little loose. He feels painted but I think this tiger is the swansong for me

See how I feel after I play around with him a bit but I miss the Primal and Cheetor days where the figure still managed to be fun

 

I don’t see what makes Tigatron not fun. Aside from the ROTF-era legs the transformation is surprisingly smooth and intuitive, I was shocked when I transformed him back to tiger mode and everything just started lining up. These are the tabs BW Megs should’ve had. I only had to consult the instructions once to make sure I got the robot mode arm placement right.

I mean, that’s fair, but omitting half the toy in a review is kinda strange.

 

Here's my thoughts on Tigatron. A thousand pardons for the pic quality but my camera just... didn't turn on. Batteries charge, memory card in, just push the button and no response. :/ So phone pics it is!





Tigatron's beast mode is great. Very accurate, conveys his personality perfectly. The eyes are individually articulated, the jaw opens and closes despite all the teeth, and like Cheetor he has actual whiskers. (and unlike Cheetor they actually work!) Articulation is good, not great. Full range in the forelegs, predictably limited rear legs, and a head that technically has side-to-side movement, but due to his very broad noggin you can't really get much out of it. It does rotate and look up and down splendidly, though, but it's a good thing his eyes move or he'd have serious tunnel vision. The rear end is a little empty, not helped by the legs "floating" a centimeter or so away from the actual pelvis on (swiveling) struts for... no reason I can tell.





Tigatron's beast mode is really smooth, and has a visible and tactile texture to the paint. At first I thought this was a byproduct of the paint, but no other BW MP or TF toy I know of has this texture, however the show model does have a visible "grit" to the fur to imply fuzziness. I'm inclined to believe TT deliberately went for this to as closely match the specific textures and look of the CGI model, just like with Cheetor, Primal, and Megatron's "printed" applications.









His transformation, as has been well-documented, is a panel tornado, and yet incredibly satisfying. Moreover it greatly replicates the way the show model literally split down the center, and unlike Cheetor ("unlike Cheetor" is the mantra of this toy  ) he transforms with the tiger facing forward, however also unlike Cheetor rotates at the waist not unlike the original toy, just backwards. Suffice to say, no engineering, tooling, or anything besides possibly the most basic CAD renders for their bodies was reused between the toys. (and if the rumours that TT somehow acquired the original Mainframe renders is true, then they wouldn't even need that) Back to tiger mode is also quite smooth and satisfying the more I do it.



Tigatron's gun is perfect. It's the only thing identical to Cheetor on the whole toy... or at least the transformation is. (if you can call it that) it's still a new mould, with different pegs and slight contouring at the base to fit in the tiger belly. He also has four extra faces, which after Blackarachnia's whopping one extra is great to see. I know it's old news by now, but the fact that the BW MPs get more expressive face options to me really signifies how important the characters themselves are. Tigatron has his default neutral/slightly angry look, a duplicate with blue eyes for hackerman mode, a seriously angry face, a shocked face, and a sad face, perfect for a step-by-step recreation of the classic moment when Tigatron slowly comes to the horrible realization that he killed an innocent animal and his closest friend. Thanks TT!







And thanks to his articulation, you can make him look as utterly fucking devastated as you want. From all-consuming guilt to total despair, there's no wrong answers, kids!





The articulation is, of course, fantastic. The wrists are a little loose but not in a way that does anything beyond make me say "huh, the wrists are a little loose." They hold any pose or accessory he has just fine. He also has a trigger finger, which is in a perfect button-pushing pose. The articulated eyes in the tiger head now change the eyes to an accurate orange for robot mode. (Cheetor had a fake head making this a non-issue, but Tigatron's solution is succinct and practical) The only downside is the knees. The actual knees are fine, tight and offer a deep bend despite being single-jointed, much like the elbows, but below it is a pair of "sub knees" that bend forward. Why do they bend forward? Who knows, but they really mess with the toy's balance and weight distribution. They become the tiger hips in beast mode, but don't do anything there other than make the legs angle backwards unnaturally, which isn't a requirement as there's nothing getting in the way of the legs at all. (as said, it's quite vacant back there) I just don't get it, you could glue these secondary set into the beast mode position and lose nothing of value. On an otherwise rock-solid, brilliantly designed figure it's a maddeningly impractical and useless addition.





Tigatron comes ready to hack the planet with his little USB claw, Megatron Rubiks cube, and aforementioned blue eyed neutral face. The Megatron head is pretty simplified from the actual puzzle, I mean I know Megatron wanted Tigatron to get the info on the Disk, but still. Also, in the interest of complete accuracy, it really ought to rotate horizontally, as that was an actual state of the puzzle in the show. At no point was it assembled such that only the middle section was flipped. That's disgustingly semantic of me I know, but so is pointing out that the hacking cable didn't go straight from his head into the Predacon ship, but instead was integrated and came out of his collar, with the other end coming out of his hip.





He also comes with the "Tiger Cannon," a very much not-cannon weapon that consists of two missile deployed from his arm. As a kid I could have sworn he used this all the time, as an adult I know he only used it once, and I can't imagine why. Also, apparently people have reported this can break if it goes over the tab sticking out of the panel, but... it's clearly not meant to. It just slots nicely over the panel itself, and I don't know why the instructions suggest such a needlessly extreme connection. Don't risk it folks. And yes, that is a giant, obvious, disgusting fucking cat hair in the picture I didn't notice until this very instant. (but hey, just goes to show how much detail my phone really captures!)



MP Tigatron is the latest home run in a series of home runs, and thankfully it seems there's no widespread quality issues. There's been one report of breakage on the ankle, and one or two reports of the missiles breaking at the clip. Neither are quality concerns and are user error. (albeit the latter is at the behest of the instructions, whom you'd think would be trustworthy at least from TT) He's not perfect, like I said the knees are mildly infuriating and it's worth noting just how particular the leg transformation is. Follow the instructions precisely, don't do things "out of order." No piece needs any force to move save for the tiger toes, don't force anything especially the robot mode parts around the leg. The plastic quality feels fine, it's just small, thin parts and hinges. Above the waist, however, is a lot more copacetic. The back is every so slightly cluttered but not in a way that bothers me personally, but it's definitely not as clean as Cheetor.

The Beast Wars Masterpiece series, barring a sudden and devastating decline in design and build quality, is destined to go down in history as one of the greatest TF lines. They're all consistently excellent, and all fit together just fine thanks to the immediate and wise (if ambitious) decision to shoot for total screen-accuracy. Nobody's been given an "update" or "re-imagining." TakaraTomy have made these toys look like they walked off the screen, just with a few more panel lines and hinges. This is not to dunk on G1 MPs of course, but the amount of 2.0 and 3.0's is evidence of the change in direction and mission statement. BW dodged that, and I couldn't be happier. Primal feels just as relevant today as he did four years ago even next to Tigatron. The line has the mesmerizing ability to keep getting better and raising expectations without making the older releases seem dated or inferior in the slightest. It just goes to show that "perfection" is not necessarily a lack of flaws, but the achievement of a specific goal. In that regards I find the BW MPs to be perfect, but Tigatron would be even more perfect without those silly, goofy, downright farcical knees.

 

Man, I got him from Amazon.jp yesterday and I can't wait to transform him.

 

This looks like a stellar figure. Great review @SPLIT LIP ! If I could afford the BWMPs I'd be all-in but I still only have Primal. Glad to see you guys enjoying it though, and glad that Tigatron finally got a figure worthy of his greatness.

 

I wrongly assumed he was just an upscaled retool of Cheetor but I am glad to see that I was wrong. He turned out a lot better than I expected to and now am considering adding him to the collection. lol. He was one of my favourite characters too with the few episodes I watched as a child. All these great pictures making it hard to skip. Haha.

 

I’m thinking of sticking cotton ball pieces in the tiger head compartment behind the eyes to keep them from rolling all over the place. They’re a little loose.

 

For anyone that wants to “fix” the loose tiger eyes, I stuck two small pieces of cotton in the compartment just behind the eyeballs. I pushed them down into the cavities with the tip of a paint brush handle. It’s a reversible solution and one that won’t scratch any of the paint off.

 

God I wish I did that instead of trying to use polish.