- Tigatron is a Maximal from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family. He was previously designated Unit 2.
I must kill you... because God told me to!
Damage to his stasis pod upon crashing to Earth caused Tigatron to emerge far more tiger than robot. A loner who is more connected to the Earth than any other Beast Warrior, he enjoys the planet's natural beauty and is often concerned about the damage that the Transformers' battle is doing to it. Scout, infiltrator, and sometimes programming guru, Tigatron has filled a variety of roles for the Maximals.
- European-market name: Tigretron
Fiction
Animated continuity
Timelines: Dawn of Future's Past
He wasn't even supposed to be here today!
Tigatron was once known as Unit 2, part of the Maximal Command Security Force which protected the fragile peace that existed on Cybertron in the centuries following the Pax Cybertronia. One of the Security Force's elite troops, Unit 2 was often put in charge of guarding important Maximal artifacts, a job that often required his amazing prowess at tracking. Despite his strong command of this environment, Unit 2 wondered if his destiny and place was elsewhere.
When the Golden Disk was stolen by a band of rogue Predacons, Unit 2 responded along with Unit 1, Nitrostreak. After Nitrostreak was incapacitated, Unit 2 attempted to follow the Darksyde by commandeering the Chromia 10, pursuing, along with its pilot. During the ensuing firefight, their ship was badly damaged. Optimus Primal had their Sparks remotely uploaded to blank protoforms in the Axalon's cargohold, which saved their lives, but severely damaged their core mainframes. Dawn of Future's Past
(This story is a retcon, as Tigatron was originally treated as a newborn protoform in the Beast Wars animated series. Instead, here he is revealed to have been a Maximal who existed previously on Cybertron but ended up on the Axalon in a stasis pod, damaged to the point of not remembering any of his past.)
Beast Wars
- Voice Actor: Blu Mankuma (US), Kōichi Tōchika (Japan)
Tigatron was born in the far frozen north, at first heavily damaged in his memory circuts and unable to remember friend from foe. In his beast mode, he patiently watched the Predacon and Maximal forces duke it out. When Megatron threatened the white tigers, and Optimus Primal conceded the fight, Tigatron knew his alliance.
He and Cheetor held a strong sibling friendship. While Cheetor was youthful and eager, Tigatron was confident and wise. Cheetor called him "Big Cat" frequently.
Before Airazor, Tigatron had an organic tiger friend named Snowstalker, who may or may not have been the basis for his altmode. Some fans have speculated that the pair were more than friends, as the dumb stubbies say. Sadly, Snowstalker became one of the war's casualties, putting Tigatron in a funk for a short while, until he realized that doing nothing only meant more innocents would die.
After his revival, Tigatron became a background player, sending updates to the Axalon through communication towers. Optimus Primal became worried about Megatron's plans when he initiated a truce, so he ordered a covert ops. Rattrap and Airazor made enough of a distraction to allow Tigatron inside the Darksyde.
Inside, he tampered with the ship's computer systems and found out what got Megatron so worried - The Vok were coming back, and they weren't happy.
Tigatron and Airazor formed a very powerful relationship during this time. They both felt a strong connection to the prehistoric Earth, and they frequently spent their time outside of the Maximal base in their beast forms instead. Unfortunately, they were abducted by the alien plant, long before Cheetor could ever arrive. The two were not seen again until much later, when the awesomely powerful Vok emissary Tigerhawk arrived.
Universe: The Wreckers
Primeval Dawn
Hello, kitty!
Tigatron and Airazor's sparks were sent back to Earth by the Vok sometime after Tigerhawk's destruction. Tigatron's spark took possesion of Ravage's former body at the bottom of a lake. Joining Transmetal Airazor and a newly-created Primal Prime, Tigatron battled Tarantulas and Ravage, who had also managed to escape death.
(Note: The Primeval Dawn story was never finished, so how Tigatron came to join the Wreckers (see below) is unknown.)
The Wreckers
Tigatron, Primal Prime, and others arrived on Cybertron during Megatron's anti-biological reign. Various teams met with the Oracle, which assigned them various tasks. When Optimus Primal objected, saying that with all these soldiers, Megatron could be defeated easily, the Oracle swept him away and cleansed his memory of the recent events. Tigatron vehemently objected to this treatment of his former commander. A set of coordinates was infused into Primal Prime's head by the Oracle. When arriving at an Autobot shuttle, which was to ferry the Wreckers to those coordinates, Tigatron felt that something was amiss. It was then that the Vehicon generals Spy Streak, Scavenger, Quake and Blastcharge attacked. Tigatron used his Nature's Fury attack, utterly destroying Quake. During the ride in the Autobot shuttle, Tigatron meditated, recovering from the battle. Upon arrived at their destination, he once again sensed that danger awaited the Wreckers...
Beast Wars Metals manga
Let's hope Airazor doesn't find out about this.
(Note: although it picks up after the first season, the Beast Wars Metals manga is not in-continuity with the television series.)
In the Beast Wars Metals manga, Tigatron was interpretted as a samurai warrior and given a character re-design to reflect that angle. At one point, he is forced to do battle with the spark-less body of his beloved Airazor. Not wishing to harm her, he willingly let the evil Airazor take the opportunity to decapitate him.
Just as evil Airazor began to strike, the spark of the real Airazor entered his body. In cyberspace, the two embrace eacher other and vow never to be apart again. Their sparks then merge, resulting in the all-powerful Tigerhawk.
Toys
Beast Wars
Tigatron's control art. Note the extensive remolding from Cheetor that never happened.
- Tigatron (Deluxe, 1996/1997)
- Japanese ID number: C-8, VS-8
- This mold is a redeco of the original Cheetor in cream, silver, and green, transforming into a fairly generic big cat in shape. His robot-mode parts color layout is notably different from Cheetor's.
- Later, Takara released him in a more show-accurate bright white fur with the copied-from-Cheetor color layouts. This version also has slight mold tweak to keep the beast head pointed forward. He was available both individually and in a two-pack with the Predacon Blackarachnia.
- Tigatron (Transmetal Botcon 2001 exclusive)
- This mold is a redeco of Beast Wars Metals Ravage, which is a retool of transmetal Cheetor. He transforms into a mechanical cat with flip-out thruster-wings. His robot-mode arms have spring-loaded flip-out blaster grips, which also have barrel extensions that can be clipped to his legs in beast mode.
Timelines
- Unit 2 (Tigatron) (2006)
- A retooling of the Cybertron Clocker toy using Cheetor's new headsculpt, "Unit 2" transforms into an open-topped Cybertronic sports car. his rear engine assembly reveals a pair of spring-loaded flip-out guns when a Cyber Planet Key/Golden Disc Key is placed in it. This assembly becomes a hand-held blaster in robot mode., His side-pipes can also be removed and used as hand-weapons. He came with a bio card and a pale-gray Golden Disc Key with a Maximal sigil on it.
- This mold was also used to make Swerve.
Trivia
C-L-E-M-S-OH CRAP!
- An unproduced version of Tigatron shown at Toy Fair in 1996 was cast in orange plastic instead of cream-colored.
- In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, for the sake of humor, Tigatron was played as a "samurai" ronin. Additionally, since Airazor was made male in the Japanese dub, instead of their relationship being romantic, Airazor was presented as Tigatron's ward whom he looked to as a "brother" (hence the close bond).