Cheetor (BW)

The name or term "Cheetor" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Cheetor (disambiguation).

This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.

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Cheetor is a Maximal (and later an Autobot) from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

There he is, your little guy.

Cheetor is full of youthful overconfidence. He's also the fastest Maximal on four legs which, combined with his impulsive nature, often gets him into more trouble than he can handle. It's needless to say that Cheetor's overbearing enthusiasm gets on the nerves of some of his teammates, Rattrap in particular. He's in those awkward formative years. Thankfully, Optimus Primal keeps a steady eye on the young Maximal. In return, Cheetor has grown to idolize Primal, whom he calls "Big Bot." Optimus Primal knows the inexperienced Cheetor needs a good role model, so he doesn't mind too much. And, hey, at spark he's a good kid. Just... keep him away from Dinobot, okay? Impressionable minds, and all. And Matrix help us when Cheetor gets past his "cooties" stage and notices Blackarachnia.

Cheetor also appears to have vague precognitive skills, sensing important events before they actually happen — usually in the form of ominous dreams. With such power and potential, who knows — maybe the lad is destined for great things someday.

I'm not lookin' forward to the day they chronicle my early bonehead adventures onto a datacon for all the world to see.Cheetor, about Rodimus, in "Wreckers: Finale Part II."

Fiction

First wave toy bios

Whose tusks gleam in the night? Not his!

Eyes of a stalker hunting its prey... The super-swift cheetah springs! But food is not on this hunter's mind...Optimus Primal vs Megatron!

Cheetor is a quiet and confident warrior, who constantly stalks jungles in his search for Predacons. He is efficient, striking hard and fast with incredible reflexes in either mode. He is known to openly dare Predacons to challenge him and his laser-powered quasar cannon. Cheetor Bio

In a swamp outside the Fusion Building genetics lab, a fleet of ferocious animals has gathered. Suddenly, the cheetah and his wild comrades are under attack by a massive alligator! Surprise! This is a battle between Optimus Primal and his Maximals and Megatron's Predacons! Cheetor quickly transforms to attack Waspinator, and the Beast Wars have begun! Optimus Primal vs Megatron!

Collect them all!

This comic and the on-package bios of the first wave of Beast Wars toys predate the development of the Beast Wars cartoon and its backstory. They seem to present the characters as a direct continuation of the previous Autobot/Decepticon conflict, with Optimus Primal actually being a new form of Optimus Prime and Megatron being his Generation 1 counterpart, and their battles taking place on present day, human-inhabited Earth, rather than in the distant past. Once the cartoon launched, the toyline adjusted itself to match that continuity instead, relegating this one to an aborted micro-continuity.

Cartoon continuity

A former cadet of the Maximal Command Security Force, a Maximal who would later call himself Cheetor left the organization young after being recruited by Optimus Primal based on his leadership potential. "Cheetor" enthusiastically joined the crew of the Axalon, hoping to see the furthest reaches of space. His vehicle mode could reach 550 mph, making him the fastest Maximal aboard the Axalon even before landing on prehistoric Earth. Cheetor served as the ship's communications officer.

Beast Wars Metals comic

Off to go train with Piccolo or something, I'm sure.

Following the Quantum surge, Cheetor was upgraded into a Transmetal but left stranded on Energoa far, far away from the other Maximals and believed dead by Rattrap. Following Optimus Primal's return to life, Cheetor could be seen staring poetically at the moon from his distant location. Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!

Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic

The Cirrrcle of Liiiife...

After Starscream and Ravage stole energon cubes from Hound, Cheetor appeared on the scene, defeated both of them and got the cubes back, getting the adoration of Hound and random fauna. Cheetor then went to live in a safari park. Henkei! Henkei! volume 8

Games

Beast Wars: Transformers video game

This game takes place in an alternate version of the first season of the Beast Wars cartoon.

My eyes are up here!

Upon arriving on prehistoric Earth, the dangers of Energon radiation forced the Maximals and Predacons to take on beast alternate forms. "Cheetor" promptly grabbed a cheetah by its underbelly, hoisted it up to his optics, and scanned the creature's molecular structure. The indignant cheetah could do nothing but silently ask the robot "Do you mind?" Cheetor transformed into his new organic cheetah mode and darted into Predacon territory. Unfortunately, Cheetor was spotted by Tarantulas, and the two battled until they were forced to return to their beast modes to avoid Energon radiation damage. Beast Wars: Transformers video game advertising comic

Cheetor is a playable character in the Maximal mode of this game for normal gameplay.

I lost weight! Can you tell?

All of the Beast Wars combatants had managed to construct personal bases, customized to their personal tastes, due to the extended duration of the war. Cheetor's own base featured sphinx-like statues bearing his likeness and colour scheme.

Cheetor warred against both the Predacons and the evil extra-dimensional aliens dubbed the Skriix. Beast Wars: Transformers (video game)

Due to the nature of this game, a player may select various individual characters to perform the feats required in every level, and complete the game's narrative. Thus, any playable Maximal can fill the role of protagonist in Maximal Mode, and any playable Predacon can fill the role of protagonist in Predacon Mode. As such, each character's page only lists said character's actions when they fill the role of antagonist during gameplay. To view the various feats Cheetor can accomplish throughout gameplay in Maximal Mode, it is told on the pages of the several Predacons included as opponents in this game, as well as the game's main antagonists, the Skriix, wherein Cheetor fills the role of the nameless Maximal. To view the plot as a whole view the Beast Wars: Transformers (video game) page.

Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals video game

This game takes place in an alternate version of the second season of the Beast Wars cartoon.

Glitch, game stats!

Voice actor: Ian James Corlett (English), ??? (Japanese)

During a decisive battle, Cheetor witnessed Optimus being badly injured. Cheetor’s reaction was to charge into battle with unmatched fury, turning the tide of the war in favor of the Maximals. Thanks to this victory, the Maximals eventually overpowered the Predacons, and established peace on the planet. Following the battle, Optimus and Cheetor had this heartwarming exchange;

SECRET COLORS CHEETOR and also Cheetor's Tigatron cosplay.

Optimus: "You showed a lot of potential out there. Someday you might make one prime leader." Cheetor replied: "Sorry Bigbot, but that's your department... But who knows? Maybe in another universe!" Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals

He liked to pelvic thrust, arms around the back of his neck, after each victory. Hello, pussycat.

Each character possessed an alternate ending, displayed if the Nintendo 64 game was beaten with said character. Each character has only their own ending listed on their pages, see the other characters' pages for Cheetor's fate in those outcomes.

A series of unusual decisions was made regarding Cheetor and Tigatron in the Nintendo 64 game's localization. In the Japanese version of the game, Cheetor had a red-tinged set of "Player 2" colors and an unlockable "Player 3" color scheme obviously based on Tigatron. The North American version of the game added Tigatron as a playable character... but instead of reassigning the pre-existing "Player 3" colors to him, a new color scheme that looked less like Tigatron was created for him. Furthermore, Cheetor's Japanese "Player 2" colors were eliminated entirely and his original Tigatron-themed colors were kept... resulting not only in two primarily white Transmetal Cheetor models in one game, but a Tigatron who looked less like himself than Cheetor did.

Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle video game

Adolescence is so unstable.

Cheetor became involved in a series of one-on-one battles when the discovery of a super-powerful Energon crystal on Earth leads several Maximals and Predacons to attempt obtaining the crystal's powers for their own gain.

Cheetor could also partake in various other tasks, such as a mission to break a boulder to reveal an energon crystal hidden within before sundown, using a block in a mission to defend himself against various incoming projectiles, and missions to run across a pit-riddled field, sometimes involving hideously large bacteria he had to fend off.

Cheetor eventually defeated Megatron, the last bot standing between the crystal and himself. Once the crystal was in his possession, Cheetor absorbed its power, becoming the most powerful of the Maximal. This allowed him to soar through the ranks and become Supreme Commander. This position was more then he could handle, however, and he abandoned his post after only three days. Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle

Each character possessed an alternate ending, displayed if the game was beaten with said character. Each character has only their own ending listed on their pages, see the other characters' pages for Cheetor's fate in those outcomes.

3D Battle-Card Game

Cheetor, in his Transmetal 2 body, was one of Optimus's many allies in a fight against Megatron's own army, in what might possibly have been an inter-universe battle. Energon Wars Expansion Set

Notes

• Cheetor fired the first shots of the "Beast Wars". First he shot at Waspinator, unprovoked, and again at Megatron while Optimus was attempting to negotiate.
• Cheetor has the first line in the show Beast Wars; he also has the last line in the show Beast Machines, closing the arc of the two shows in a coherent development of Cheetor as a young rookie to Cheetor as commander.
• Cheetor and Tigatron are the only characters in Beast Wars who are definitely in the correct scale to the life form they have adopted as a beast mode, since Cheetor specifically was seen near a real cheetah in the pilot episode. As a result, Cheetor and Tigatron have the odd distinction of being the yardstick by which other Beast Wars characters' scale inconsistencies can be measured.
• The animation model for Cheetor's original body (and thus Tigatron's as well) is one of the comparatively more toy-accurate of the Season One cast. His transformation scheme, however, is simplified by having his arms and crotch-piece unfold from his beast mode's belly instead of its back, possibly in order to eliminate the need for a mid-transformation change in the direction he is facing; a rarity in Beast Wars design and something only Terrorsaur does in the actual show.
• Mainframe Entertainment's original plan for Transmetal Cheetor was to have his face mature over the course of the season, from a big-eared, wide-eyed, rounded face into one close to the toy. Also, he would have had a "Hero's Heart" which glowed after completing brave or heroic feats, somewhat akin to the classic anime character Astro Boy. Due to time and financial restrictions, none of these concepts panned out. Thankfully. His toy, however, DOES have a molded heart on the abdomen.

I wonder what Beast Machines Cheetor thinks of this artwork?

• Comic Bom Bom advertisements for the Game Boy Color's Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle feature Cheetor with a slightly different (and much happier) head than the version which appeared in the game's instruction manual. Both are sickeningly cute, though.
• Cheetor has the somewhat dubious honour of being the only Maximal Megatron never refers to by name on the show.

Things usually do look more badass in concept art.

• Though most early artwork for Beast Machines character designs were very different from the final product, Cheetor's design seems to have changed very little, with only the green being downplayed in his color scheme.
• In "Bee in the City", Beast Wars Megatron accidentally calls Bumblebee "Cheetor", the first instance of a running gag where the plucky young yellow kid-appeal bot is called by another kid-appeal bot's name.
  • This is also ironic in being the first and only time his name is spoken by Megatron.
• In the Japanese dub of the Beast Wars cartoon and in the Beast Wars Metals manga, Cheetor had the quirk of ending nearly every sentence in a long, stressed "Jā-n", which is supposed to sound like a cute kitty growl. He maintains it in the Henkei pack-in comic that was packaged with him and Hound.
• According to Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II, Cheetor likes pie.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Cheetus (チータス Chītasu)

• French: Vélocitor (cartoon)
• Indonesian: Sidor
• Italian: Ghepard, Metal Ghepard (Transmetal toy)
• Mandarin: Bàu-tz (Taiwan, 豹子, "Cheetah"), Hūa Bàu (Taiwan Beast Machines, 花豹, "Leopard")
• Polish: Gepardon ("Cheetodon")
• Spanish: Chitor, Chitah (America, "Cheetah")