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AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Max-B and Hellscream do look great (alas, poor top-heavy Hellscream). Dirgegun looks massive in comparison. Aiming to complete the set with Thrustor?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:That's how I chosen to leave my Hellscream also. The Turbine arm looks really cool, but it is far too heavy. Especially given the weak ankles of the Cybershark mold.

I considered Crazybolt. Possibly dipping my toe into completing the Iguanus variants. But he is ridiculously expensive on the second hand market. Much like Diver, for the Spittor variants.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Congrats! I've seen the RiD one before but passed at TFcon, but I didn't know there was a Japanese release that kept the spark pilot

BotCon has been known to have rare, or cancelled figures on display from time to time. So we'd like to bring you a little bit of that experience today!
Although only appearing in the main toy lines from 1996 - 2000 and receiving a store exclusive figure just recently, Cheetor is one of many characters who have had their appearance evolve quite drastically in both toy form and in media. BotCon sought to place end caps on this evolution with the adolescent-looking vehicle mode Cheetor of the 2006 box set and the old bearded lion mode Cheetor of the BotCon 2014 souvenirs (who in the story had merged with Alpha Trion to become named "Alpha Trizer") .
Perhaps the strangest looking iteration of Cheetor though was the "Megatron's Monster" approach given to the Transmetal 2 toy. A mutated mesh of metal and fur, this Cheetor so ugly only a Transformers fan could love him!

Today we're taking a look at the variants of the Transmetal 2 Cheetor toy!

The first batch of pictures feature your standard release Transmetal 2 Cheetor. There were no differences between this release and the Takara release outside of packaging.

The second batch of pictures is what is a curious and unique variant to the toy. It was offered in Japan in Hasbro packaging with a sticker on the back covering the tech spec with Japanese writing.
The figure itself features a bright metallic silver paint in place of all the gray paint apps on the standard release.
There are mixed reports to the actual origins of this release. One of the more likely, according to Walruslaw on Twitter, is this would have been a prize from the TV Magazine coloring competitions for February, 2000. Another report is that it, along with other toys prominent in season 3 were special theatrical early releases.

Finally. The canceled deco! This deco of Transmetal 2 Cheetor is commonly referred to as the "feral" Cheetor, representing his wild ferocity in the 2-part "Feral Scream" episodes from the hit Beast Wars cartoon! The deco itself doesn't seem to be completely finalized as the gray plastics and yellow paint applications appear to be like the ones on the mass released version. The yellow molded plastics are more pale and feature a dark color swirl. This predates the Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters toyline; known for the swirly plastic colors by 15 years!
The burnt red even has a bit of gold seemingly swirled into it. This is of course, a preproduction sample and features pieces with different molding and number markings on the toy itself. The gray paint is even of a darker color and not matching the plastic. Truly a remarkable deco had the toy been released this way!

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Kingdom Rhinox has to work really hard to dethrone this guy