Meh.
He's certainly the most show accurate yet outside of masterpiece, and his articulation seems solid.
Beast mode is still a mess, and the weapons are still goofy.

He isn't much of an improvement from the universe figure. Just more of the same. Not worth the price point.

Seem like an uphill battle. The original design hasn't aged well and it's tricky to engineer. At least I can save some money and stick with the one I have.

 

wtf

 

It sounds like you’ve got more of an issue with the original design of the character, morso than any actual fault of the figure itself.

 

I don't even like this toy that much and I think this is wrong.

It's more like the lesser of two evils rather than a dramatic improvement. Either way Cheetor's torso is disproportionate, but with the panels open it looks less like there's actual missing chunks of pectorals and more like he's just a really thin guy. With thick arms. And fat lower legs.

 

Kingdom has knees dude

 

That's quite the spicy take you have there friend. I finally have him in hand and despite some painting gripes and tough joints I have to completely disagree.

 

I got my copy the other day, and I'm thinking the waist wobble is a feature? Normally tight joints need a gap to let air move yeah? With both sides of the waist being fully molded and painted, maybe the joint is loose on purpose so that it doesn't overheat? Mine is simultaneously tight to swivel and yet has the wobble. I'm just throwing spaghetti at the wall though, as I'm no engineer.

 

I had a lot of reservations about this toy going in so I'm surprised by how much I like it. Most of the aesthetic problems are in the dino mode and it really comes down to three things for me: the odd desicion to sculpt teeth over the lips rather than under them, the strange hand sculpt (which I get is somewhat necessitated by the transformation), and the legs not looking quite as digitigrade as I'd like. Overall though, the proportions are decent, I love the skin texture, and I don't think it does that much worse of a job at hiding the robot mode parts than the MP. I do wish he had as much articulation in this mode as Kingdom Megatron did but that extra engineering would probably demand a higher price point.

The transformation is, for a $30 toy, pretty ingenious. It accomplishes Dinobot's notoriously impossible conversion from the show without being finicky and ends in a great looking robot mode. My only visual complaint here is the missing gold paint apps and, as others have shown, that's pretty easy to fix with a gundam marker and some patience. Two hot takes coming in: 1) I don't mind the half-fake chest at all. There's a bit of a gap, yeah, but I don't find it distracting and I like that the actual raptor head is visible, unlike the MP. 2) I'm completely okay with the thickness of the arms. Yeah, I know Dinobot had guns in the show but, strictly as an aesthetic preference, I always found them a bit overly huge on the CGI model. My other gripe with robot mode is, like others have reported, the wobbly waist. It's not super bothersome, but it's a problem that feels like it could have been easily avoided at the design stage.

All told I'm really happy with this guy despite his flaws. It's frustrating because with a few minor changes I feel he could have been a homerun, but to me he's still a solid third base hit.

 

Vibing idol move, yo

 

Gonna need to get some of that shock oil for his thigh swivels though, because maaaan those are tight.

And the fact that his legs are all pins and rivets isn't helping lmao

 

It helps a lot. I used 40w

 

Yep. The waist is a bit wobbly, thigh swivels are hella tight, and the tabbing doesn't make for a fun transformation.

I will say both modes are solid though.

Overall, I love it! I give it 8/10!

 

To be honest, I just forgot.   Doesn't really matter to me either way.

Ok, so it's not just mine.

 

Pros:
* Robot mode looks good, beefy, and has a nice level of screen-accuracy.
* While not quite as tall/massive as the screen appearance or Masterpiece toy, the size is good, especially compared to other Kingdom BW dudes (though maybe not Rattrap)
* A bit of a challenge in spots, but the transformation is very good - innovative and not overly complicated like Masterpiece.
* I like that the tail weaponry can be left hanging off the back without it getting in the way if you so choose.

Cons:
* Raptor mode has similar problems to other mass-market Dinobot toys - robot kibble tucked under the body without hiding very well and poor articulation in this mode. The front claws look strange and awkward by their need to tuck away in robot mode, and I think they could have been done a little better.
* The false eyes and rib detail from the robot chest going to the raptor legs make dino mode look a smidge... Cronenberg.
* Weapons are ... okay, but not exciting. The sword leaves a suggestive purple tip sticking out the back of the tail in dino mode, but coloring that part to match would make the sword look like it was dipped in something brown so... hmm.
* Could use some improvements to the paint detail, especially in robot mode
* (nitpick) While the robot head sculpt is very good, I wish it was showing some teeth.

Overall:
While not without flaws, it's a very solid Dinobot toy, and one that fits my priorities well, looking good without being pain-in-the-ass complicated. Quite good, and with a few tweaks here or there, could have been excellent.

 

In to complain about the wobble...

but tangentially, I noticed something else irritating/potentially disturbing—most of his parts are “pinned” not screwed, in fact, most places that typically would have screws are now pins, and I’m worried that this is because the pins are probably cheaper at the factory? And Hasbro’s a cheapskate company. But I would’ve normally wanted to/been able to take apart areas like the neck to see what was going on with the wobble, but now I’m not able to. Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.

 

Amazon lost my package last week. I couldn't order a replacement via automation and had to talk to customer service, who tried to get me to cancel the order and they'd order a replacement for me, which I refused for various reasons and got escalated up over the weekend who assured me I'd get stock on May 1 when they got more stock. Then at 9:30 PM last night, I suddenly got him.

I really like him. The triple tab system for the legs is a bit iffy, partly because the joints are so stiff and tight, especially the thigh swivels. I'm fine with both modes, and pleased overall. I do have the slight wobble in the waist joint, but I can live with it.

One thing I find interesting is that they've got the back part that looks like his spine armor, but it's covered up by the tabbed in dino-mode skin piece. I wonder if the design changed over time?

Also, for anyone keeping track, I got another Optimus (with beasts) card. So my count is 2 Optimus (with Beasts), 2 Blackarachnias, and the rest are the Ark.

 

You're not wrong, but it's nothing new either. Pins/rivets going where screws probably would've been used previously really got going around 2012/2013 I think, during one of the last big 'paradigm shifts' in how TF toys were designed and budgeted.

 

Yeah, kinda sucks though, since I could probably fix the wobble myself if I could only take apart his neck without breaking it.
Now I'm debating getting one of the Japan releases to see if it's fixed, but I don't like doing that either since it's a waste of money...

 

I actually still really like the Universe version (even, if not especially the US version where the inaccurate colors make it look like a completely different character), but saying this isn't an upgrade is... just wrong.

Largely because my biggest issues with this version (comically miscolored, tiny, and indistinct weapons, imperfect raptor mode) existed in that Universe version.

It's not perfect by any stretch. But it's objectively an improvement over the Universe version.

 

Fixed it. 2 min, a dab of super glue and the corner of a business card