Snarl

Height: 13cm head height in Robot Mode, 15.5cm length in Beast Mode.

Articulation: 15 joints total: swivel head; 3 points each arm - swivel shoulder, upper-arm hinge, hinged elbow; 3 points each leg: universal joint hips, hinged knee.

Colors: Molded gray, red, black, maroon, and translucent orange plastic. Painted gold, red, gray, black, and blue(eyes).

Accessories: Club.

Release Data: Released fall 2008 for an MSRP of $9.99.

Author: RAC

One of the first robots brought to life on Earth by the power of the AllSpark, Snarl has a lot in common with the dinosaur whose form he takes in beast mode. He’s almost impossible to hurt, first of all, and he really likes smashing stuff with his tail, or ramming it with the horns on his head. He prefers his beast mode to his robot mode because he has more options for how to smash stuff as a triceratops. He doesn’t take delight in random destruction the way some Decepticons do – he just really likes being strong, and breaking stuff seems like the best way to enjoy it.

Snarl is largely based on Slag rather than the Dinobot he's actually named after. The reason for the name change, as you've probably heard before, is that "slag" is a pretty insulting thing to call someone in the UK. The fact that it's been used as a Cybertronian expletive for years led to the out-of-continuity explanation for the name also becoming the in-continuity explanation for the name. Cute touch!


Beast Mode

Snarl is of course a Triceratops with the classic G1 Dinobot features: gold face and tail, gray and red body. Unlike Slag, who had a chrome frill, the new figure opts for the same gray as the rest of the body. Unfortunately, like a lot of paint applications lately, the paint doesn't wrap, showing the maroon plastic underneath when the frill is viewed from any angle except head-on. The third horn is red here, and is also a lot beakier than most depictions of triceratops that I've seen. I do like that all three horns match, though. The silver Autobot emblem on his head is barely noticeable on a metallic gold background, and worse seems to have faded a bit since I got Snarl. It shows up much better in the photos than it does in person.

Like a lot of classic Beast Modes, not a lot of articulation to be found here. You can sort of move the front legs using what will become the Robot Mode leg joints, but very little of it amounts to anything useful or desirable in Beast Mode. The back legs do a bit better, but you basically have a choice of the legs hanging straight down, or leaning back a bit. Between the two you can at least sort of make it look as though he's just rammed something. But really, the most viable piece of articulation is the tiny little jaw piece- you can change his expression a bit, if nothing else.


Transformation

Like so many transforming quadrupeds, the Beast limbs become robot limbs- I know you're just shocked. The toy goes from horizontal to vertical, but it's a little bit more complex than just standing the triceratops on end, happily. The red sections of the triceratops body pull apart and swing down, and the triceratops neck and head fold into the empty space neatly- just be sure you've folded the red robot crotch piece correctly, or it won't plug into the hip joint as it should. Double-hinged transformation joints are hard to adjust for me when I can't see one or both hinges clearly, and there's at least three hidden in that torso somewhere. It's fidgety, but the overall effect is great.


Robot Mode

Despite the Slaggy Beast Mode, he's pretty darn Snarlish as a robot- excepting for the big Triceratops head on his torso, of course. The split tail on his back is the part that really invites comparison. The face, however, doesn't really resemble either G1 Dinobot to my eye- Derrick J. Wyatt has said that his ideal voice for Snarl would be Louie Anderson, and I see a certain resemblence to both Anderson himself and his Life with Louie character model.

Squatty little guy, isn't he? (Snarl, I mean. Though I guess Louie qualifies too...) His shoulders are just barely narrower than he is tall, by less than half a centimeter. Wide probably wins out once you push the buttons on the back of the shoulder armor and deploy the clear plastic flame pieces. It's a weird addition: I don't remember Snarl spending a lot of time on fire, just breathing it. (Though my memory is admittedly pretty awful.) They're also a little touchy for me, as the one on the left shoulder won't deploy fully on its own- I have to pull on it while holding the button down.

His head is a swivel, and turns the full 360 without incident- no real room for a ball-joint since he has no neck. Unfortunately, the dog collar that only made sense as of Human Error isn't painted here, either. The arms are really limited overall, and it seems to me as though this is in order to make for as streamlined a look as possible. The shoulders at least turn a full circle, assuming you swing the halftail out of the way. Below there's a hinge that's seemingly designed to only swing the arm clear of the hips, but can be forced further outward for more range if you like. The elbow, however, has barely any range- 45 degrees at most -and there's not a thing you can do about it. The fingers and thumbs are hinged, much like Ratchet's, and there's a socket in the palm for Snarl's club. The legs are much better than the arms- the hips have a nice universal joint, and the knees get half a hair more than 90 degrees. If you really want or need, you can also use the transformation joint in the shin as a makeshift ankle, but he has pretty broad feet, so you may not need to.

There's a couple joints that have more resistance than they need: when you force the arm to have better articulation than intended at that upper-arm hinge, you stand a good chance of pulling the torso apart. Likewise, the crotch-block doesn't lock as tightly as it should, as is often the case, and moving the hips may move it out of position or fan it back out. That gets a bit frustrating.


Accessory

Grimlock's sword and Swoop's flail are designed to look like they're made of red-hot, still-glowing volcanic rock, being dark gray or black with orange seams. So, technically, is Snarl's club- except that there was no money for black paint left in the budget, apparently. So you get a club you'd be forgiven for mistaking for a large, transparent Cheeto. Also like Grimlock's sword, Snarl's War Cheeto plugs into the palm via a small tab. Except that Snarl's doesn't quite want to stay in the palm, and falls out frequently- the peg's not a good fit and leverage is working against it. Which is a shame, because Snarl's fingers were molded to fold around it pretty neatly, and probably help hold it in longer than it otherwise would stay. So, yeah: an unconvincing weapon that the figure can't hold very well. Joy! And just to complete the bad accessory trifecta, there's absolutely no way to store the weapon in Beast Mode, just like with Grimlock.


Closing Remarks

If you want a complete set of Dinobots Snarl is required, and if we're so lucky as to someday have a complete set of Substitute Autobots available, you'll need him there too. He's got his downsides, but I think he's worth it: he's a bit low on useful articulation, particularly in Beast Mode, and his accessory needs work, but his transformation is fun and he looks neat. That balances out to Good, in my book.


-RAC