Man that looks good. I like how the cheetah head kibble is hidden;it differentiates him from Beast Wars/Kingdom. The robot looks clean.

 

I think the design is okay, but just okay. Beast Machines Cheetor might actually be my favourite Cheetor design, at least I like it far more than people have historically liked it. The long legs and chiseled body were just alien and cool. But I don\'t really think this design looks THAT much like BM Cheetor beyond the smoother head and lack of kibble. Which I guess is what BM Cheetor is, but the silhouettes are pretty different.

There are things about this design I like, like the little bumps that look like cat ears on the head, and if that isn\'t a faceplate, but a mouth that opens just above the bottom of the chin, then that\'s a unique way of incorporating Cheetor\'s big cat face into the head design.

But I think this look has the same issue as the other Autobot designs in that it looks really safe. He doesn\'t have long digitigrade legs like BM Cheetor, he\'s not as lithe as him either. Especially for something that turns into a cheetah of all things. He doesn\'t have as much going on as his BW designs either both in terms of colour or iconic parts of his armour. Much like how I wish Wheeljack was squatter or fatter, Cheetor really should have looked sleeker and thinner to reflect the alt-mode and to avoid giving 90% of the robots in this movie the same body-type, which is increasingly seeming to be the case. While this may be a design that I\'d have to see on the screen to get a good sense of, it\'s probably my least favourite Cheetor look, maybe slightly better than his Transmetal 2 design, but idk.

 

 

You're certainly right that they've leaned much more toward a monolithic take on the brand. But like I said earlier, I think it's - not quite a mistake yet, I don't mind it and it's not a bad technique for strengthening a brand - but with Hasbro's track record, it seems like it can become a shortcut for them to put in less effort, getting by on just touting nostalgic imagery for the fans to eat up without any substance. The reinvention method not only allows Transformers to discard a take if it fails, but also forces the brand to try harder to make sure each take succeeds. The fact that it's riskier is inherently why it's usually more rewarding, because it has to be.

I agree with absolutely all of this rhetoric.

I just don't think Transformers needs to be held to the standard of superheroes in terms of importance of iconography and fidelity considering its history.

Okay but did radical reiterations of Spiderman like those get several years being the main version of Spiderman in the public eye like Transformers did starting with BW?

I'm not a Spiderman fan but it sure seems like it's usually Peter Parker in New York with a dead Uncle Ben fighting crime in the cartoons, games, and movies.

And that's fine. If you want to see a significantly different character in the superhero genre, you just look for a different superhero. Superheroes change less because they depend on their powerful imagery a lot. Hence why I always think superheroes are a poor genre to compare Transformers to.

 

Bay isn't a director anymore and I doubt he had much input on this movie than helping Caple with some small stuff. Also his movies brought in a lot of new fans and please many others that were already fans of the brand. So maybe chill out a little bit there buddy.

 

>Bay didn't have much input
>Bay is one of the film's poducers who have obscene levels of influence, as evidenced by everything known to be Lorenzo's fault

Frankly, Bay caught a lot of shit over the past 15+ years and he's definitely responsible for some of it, but fault likely also lies with the executives like Lorenzo who keep trying to play 'monkey see, monkey do' with Hollywood as a larger picture. After all, I'm certain Bay wasn't responsible for the fact you can clearly see where TLK was trying to ape The Force Awakens with the girl/robot pairing.

 

Man I\'m really liking that head sculpt for Cheetor its giving me some Black Panther vibes 

 

I knew that toy was too good/accurate to be true haha

SS looks kiiiiinda neat if not a big generic. Shades of BM cheetor, which is kinda cool, but then I kinda miss the digitigrade legs

What do ya do

 

Just to quickly interject - I would like to Hasbro try new things once in a while, and I agree that they coast on nostalgia to a fault - but I'd much prefer that newness in the form of something that establishes it's own setting and unique cast of characters over the 80th round of "Here's the fresh new take on a 1984 guy, fight over it". Probably the best decision Beast Wars made was scrapping the idea of that Optimus and Megatron being the exact same characters as G1, and letting them be their own guys. If the "fresh new reinvention" is really that great, it'll probably stand just fine as it's own character without having to compete with 30+ years of preconceived ideas going against it.

 

I personally like the design. This makes me wanna get rid of my Kingdom Cheetor tbh

 

Don't count out a reduction just yet. When the Earthspark Deluxes went live on Pulse they were $25 but then got restocked at $20.

It could be a price change that hasn't started propagating just yet.

 

The only time I've seen Bay involved in this movie was when he was in Peru. I doubt he had any input on the design for this movie. If I remember well, he helped Knight keep the studio from hijacking the movie.
I get it that Bay being involved in anyway rubs people nipples the wrong way here but personally I don't see a problem with him being involved in some way. Then again I am a Bayverse fan and I have liked most of these movies a lot.
I agree that TLK was a mess. I know The Force Awakense insert was obvious.

 

The film version of a multimedia character needs to be the most recognizable embodiment of it's I.P in order to expose the concept to the largest audience possible.

 

Oh I have no intention of picking this guy up at all, I just had forgotten that the price went up a dollar since my last Voyager.  

 

Alt mode has good proportions, but the hands just being THERE is poor design.

Robot mode is very meh.
Reminds me of how they skipped Ironhide's G1 design and went more G2 instead.
didn't like it then, don't like it now.

Easy pass for me.

 

Let's hope that he will be just like that in the future film!

 

Today in TFW2005:

Which version of Spider-Man are you talking about? Gwen, Miles, and Parker are all the main characters of their respective stories at the moment and have been that way for years.

If I've learned anything, it's the Beast Wars fans would have reacted much more respectfully towards Hasbro and this film had they simply introduced new characters. Just ask IDW, and the guys who created Nyx and Skold.

 

Honestly I love the look of this figure, even if I agree he could use a better paintjob.

I'll likely get this to stand in as a post-Beast Machines Cheetor Primal.

 

I think people forget that Bay while is very much involved he has most definitely absolutely NOTHING to do with the designs and I very much doubt he worked on the toys. What Bay is good at is action scenes and that's most definitely what he is doing with this movie just like he did with Bumblebee. Everything goes past Caple Jr. and people seem to have forgotten that if there is anyone who has had an effect on Cheetor's design it's him. (Not that people should get on his ass aswell, just saying that because he is the director)

Still even as a fan of the movie aesthetic it don't stop this guy from looking crud to me lol

 

I disagree to some extent. It's good branding to keep certain design cues consistent across iterations for brand recognition and consistency. You see a blue and red robot with a faceplate and pointy antennas and you recognize it as Optimus Prime, regardless of what he turns into or the proportions and differences in detail. If someone showed me this figure without any context or telling me what it was called, I'd still be able to recognize it as a version of Cheetor because certain design cues are still present, albeit more subtle, particularly in the head.

 

Everything in beast mode from the shoulders back looks like a monkey, not a cheetah.