General Information: Images:
I remember during the course of developing the story for the Botcon 2006 set, the question was presented to me as to whether or not it was ever established that the characters Tigatron and Airazor had existed before the Beast Wars as fully functional characters, or were they always just Protoforms before the Beast Wars. When it was suggested we bring in the character of Tigatron, the solution became a matter of having Tigatron and Airazor "data dump" their Sparks into the Protoforms we saw in Beast Wars, but due to the trauma, they would not remember their "previous lives". However, before these dramatic events, we wanted to show Tigatron and Airazor in action. Since the original Tigatron toy was a redeco of the original Cheetor, we felt it appropriate to take the Clocker sculpt (with new head) and use it for Tigatron as well. The result is a figure that represents the heroic Maximal before the Beast Wars. Check out Cheetor's review for a detailed look at this figure. This review will focus on the changes made to the toy for this release.
Vehicle Mode: On top of these basic plastic colors are red, metallic green, black and metallic silver details. The front section is painted metallic green on parts such as the hood and the outer edges of the windshield. On top of the hood is a large red Maximal symbol, just like the one on Cheetor's hood. Metallic green also makes up details running along the sides of the vehicle as well as the sides of the engine/gun piece mounted on the back. Black detailing is used on the engine/gun piece as well, but of particular note is its use on the car seats. There you'll find black in a striped pattern, resembling tiger stripes. While this is an embelishment, the idea was to foreshadow his future form, and I think it works really well. Finally, the exhaust pipes on the sides of the vehicle are cast in white, but painted metallic silver. The metallic shades of green and silver really work well in this form. White is a tricky color to use on a figure because it always carries with it the potential to look really dull. It's the colors you put on top of it that matter, and these were a fantastic choice. The Cyber Key gimmick on Tigatron actually works better on mine than the Clocker I have from "Cybertron". The weapons snap up really well and the gun barrels point forward without a problem.
Robot Mode: The design concept behind Tigatron mirrors that of Cheetor's. Elements of his future beast mode were incorporated in. Since Cheetor and Tigatron essentially shared the same head design in the show, it was a no brainer to reuse Cheetor's head sculpt. We made sure to make the deco on the head distinctive so he would not look like a Cheetor clone. To this end the face is painted metallic green, the eyes are red (as they were in the TV show) and in the best touch, he has his trademark whiskers right above his upper lip. Moving further down, you'll find the stripes on the car seats are now on his upper arms, and actually extend around to the front of the upper arms. His chest also has black stripes set in a curved pattern and ending in points, resulting in a pattern that resembles fangs or claws. The circles on his chest are colored bright green with a black line through the middle, alluding to the colors of his future beast mode's eyes. Metallic green paint is used on smaller details such as the angled pipes on his mid-body and the sections right near his shoulders on the top of his chest. the result is a very striking looking pattern and set of colors set against his white body. The rest of the body is pretty much white except for the lower legs, w hich are painted metallic green. Black is used for the squared off sections (where the pegs to his weapon connect in vehicle mode). Off to the left side of his left leg is a small Maximal symbol tampographed onto it. The extra bit of detail is needed since his waist and upper legs are all just white with no paint applications. The result is an even distribution of colors that look really nice. All of Tigatron's joints are tight. Despite this sculpt being used several times already, there are no issues with the tool deteriorating (so it seems). The weapon and his exhaust pipes connect to the holes in his hands just fine as well.
Final Thoughts:
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