>>11324617Ah, the other one is Shadow Panther? My mistake, thanks for the heads up. I'm not well versed in non-show characters.
Shadow Panther is definitely an odd one in comparison to the Cheetor, since it's got less paint apps but has the extra accessories. Price is a weird one since ~$50 is about what a single NewAge toy of the same size would cost. I'm surprised they didn't sell them singles and use that as an excuse to jack up the price to the same level as their contemporaries.
Still, Shadow Panther makes for a nice legends scale bad guy and those are kinda uncommon.
Further comparing these two to other toys, the Megatron is the only other Robot Toys figure I've got and you can see some of the same strengths and faults. It feels like their design process was to make something one size class down and one complexity level up. They're the same mildly-awkward with clearly robot parts showing through as the Megatron is, but that's hardly a detriment.
And you're right on the articulation front, they're leagues better than anything Hasbro has done. Tasmania Kid's the least brick-y core class and he's still clearly a brick in comparison. There's so little in the size bracket it's hard to keep in mind just how nice it is to have two-axis shoulder joints in the beast mode, even if they have limited range.
