Tigerhawk [Legacy United/Leader Class]

My love for Beast Wars is probably pretty well known. Earlier today (as I'm writing this), I was watching Beast Wars on the Transformers channel as I often do. It inspired me to talk about today's toy that I haven't covered on the site yet. This Legacy version Tigerhawk was a Christmas gift from the Mrs. last year and a most welcome one at that. The original is one of my 'best of all time' Transformers and something I hold in high regard.

Tigerhawk was created when the Vok merged Tigatron and Airrazor together creating a singular being. With that in mind, the designers used the more recent Kingdom  Tigatron and Airrazor molds for parts to use on this toy. That was both a fun bit of synergy and a good way to keep costs down. This time around, Tigerhawk is very show accurate in a way I wasn't prepared to appreciate.

Original Beast Wars Transformers were pretty thick and chunky as was pretty standard for robot toys at the time. Of course those looks were often streamlined on TV, and it was just something I was used too. This new Tigerhawk has the show models look down really well, and it's impressive. Of course I'm accustomed to the chonk, so it's weirdly different... but I'm very happy that the show model is so right on. I like having my original toys and show models represented well. There's no beating that original toy to me, so the new figure being the show model is a perfect solution!

They even nailed the proper purples and copper Mainframe used. In robot mode, he looks great and is nicely articulated. The feather missiles no longer fire, but can be held in hand. The same is of those wing mounted cannons. The chain gun ends are still present, but they flip around manually to reveal static cannons. Those cannons can be removed and held as well. They even combine to form a larger gun! The wrist mounted blaster is now an removable piece that can be placed elsewhere also. Tigerhawk was always heavily armed, but feels even more so now.

Transformation is similar to the original, but has it's differences. I had a little difficulty getting the chest to close correctly. It fits around the cockpit a certain way and it's all got to be in place just right to work. After a little finagling, it finally worked. The wings have a wide range of movement and can fold forward in attack mode as the original. Being show accurate, the battle mode helmet is gone as is the hidden tank mode. The cockpit is on Tigerhawk's robot shoulder, but hidden in beast mode like in the show.

Cockpit?

Yes, Tigerhawk originally was one of the Beast Wars toys designed with a Spark Figure cockpit. The gimmick was dropped, but those cockpits remained on the figures. Here it's just for show, but I'm glad it's there. This is a really cool toy and a great update of a classic. I'm very appreciative of it's show model accuracy and enjoy the differences from the original. That original may be an all time classic, but chasing down those missiles when accidentally fired was a nightmare. Like the original, this feels like something special I own. It's not just a toy, but a representation of a cherished character from a special time in my life.

That darn cat

I've been really looking forward to the upcoming Spark Armor figures from Cyberverse and early today the first looks at Cheetor figure popped up. If your dogs started barking like crazy, my bad, that was me. I am absolutely in heaven over this figure. I love Cheetor so very much and getting a new toy of him is something I'll break the sound barrier over.

Cheetor is a much more mechanical cat than his traditional Beast Wars look would suggest, and I dig that. I've always dug the mechanical look of animal based TF's in G1 and it looks great here. Weirdly enough, Cheetors Spark Armor partner is a reuse of the boat that comes with Bumblebee. I don't have any real complaint with that, it just seems odd. Bumblebee often comes with some sort of water themed gimmick as a throwback to his original special ability of being able to swim. Cheetor... not so much, but it doesn't look bad in armor mode at all. I'm guessing it has more to do with compatibility of the molds than anything.

The prospect of a Cheetor mold in a mainline TF line excites me as a fan of Transformers who fondly looks back at the beast era. I really hope for a ton of repaints. Obvious ones like Ravage or Tigatron or even something more obscure like CatScan or Cataclysm would be a great start. Actually a Shadow Panther or Panther from McDonald's Beast Wars Happy Meals would look great too. That's one of the great things about a more simple toy mold like this one, it lends itself to other things easily. Thinking about it, Tigatron with a blue jet armor would make for a great Tigerhawk.

Transmetal 2 Megatron vs Tigerhawk commercial

Boy, this sure is a 20 year old commercial. Still, not too bad considering the state of CGI at the time. Both toys are certainly favorites from the time for me. Both have third modes that aren't very well covered by many. Tigerhawks is a kinda-sorta tank mode that a basic Beast Wars figure could drive. Both have the cockpits from the abandoned Spark figure concept which at the time I initially rejected as Transformers are sentient beings and pilots were for other robot toy lines, but now would have liked to have seen more of. Honestly that was a non-sensical reaction as it was still the Transformer itself and not just some guy who found the robot in a garage somewhere (I was young, you don't always think the best when you're younger). There's a nice thought to the visual of a Transformer's essence forming a physical presence and acting as a pilot or ejecting for adventure in harder to reach areas.

It's kinda like Beast Wars Blaster Master in that manner of speaking and that's really appealing to me.

Tell me that tiny pilot wouldn't have been awesome.