Bot Reviews: Transformers: Legacy Evolution Core Snarl

See, the problem with the way combiner teams are released right now, with a figure or two spread out across a bunch of waves, is there’s inevitably one or two that are hard to get, distribution being what it is. And in the case of the Legacy combining team of Dinobots, this happened with the final release, Snarl. I missed the boat on pre-ordering him, only to find him sold out everywhere. I got really lucky, though, and stumbled across one at a Wal-Mart just before Christmas, and broke my “no robots until after the Holidays” rule, since I figured I’d never see one again. 

I’m mostly talking about distribution, because there’s not necessarily much to say about Snarl the character, who’s mostly known for being conspicuously absent in the 1986 movie, and also being a Stegosaurus.

Fun fact: The Marvel UK comics provided a bonkers explanation for his absence in the film (the comics weren’t in continuity with the cartoon, but the Animated movie itself still happened in their future). He’d been suffering from a rusting disease, Corroda Gravitas, and he’d end up having his mind placed inside of a real stegosaurus (there were living dinosaurs in Marvel, in a hidden jungle paradise called the Savage Land) until a cure, or new body could be found.

I guess they decided his two quick cameos in the film were just errors.  Hm, anything else I can say? I had the disappointing discovery that the QR code on his packaging (and all Legacy and Legacy Evolution boxes) doesn’t work anymore, instead of leading to a web page with his his Tech Specs. It seems they’ve all been taken off the internet, which is a huge downer. The new Legacy United boxes don’t have them, but that’s no reason to take down the old ones. Here’s hoping the actual figure gives me better feelings than the packaging, especially considering he’s the last guy I need for Volcanicus. 

Robot Mode

Like Slug before him, Snarl has a concurrent leader-class Studio Series 86 figure, based on the same animation model. But looking at pics of both the model and the larger figure, this little guy seems to have taken a tiny amount of liberties, in the best possible way. He isn’t a bulbous torso on stick legs like the original model, and he doesn’t have the barrel chest of the 86-er.

All the same details are there, including the split-tail “horns” behind his head, but he’s a bit more smoothed out, a bit more of a standard bulky humanoid than either one of them. He’s still immediately recognizeable as The Guy (admittedly mostly ‘cuz of the tail-horns and the spike-shins), so it works pretty well.

I do kind of wish he still had the odd little “targeting reticule” in his chest, it’s been replaced with a slot for altmode weapons storage. There’s a great headsculpt uptop, too, all angular and Sunbow-y, with his own set of little horns, and with a lot less chin than the Studio one. I’m really not emphasizing how nice it is that this is just The Guy, but Shrunk Down, a lot of these mini-Dinobots can’t manage that, and are a bit compromised due to the scale, budget, or the need to combine. This guy’s got altmode legs on his stego-shins, and that’s the only bit of inaccuracy. 

The colors are surprisingly complete-feeling on him, with one big, obvious exception: He has a space for an Autobrand on his chest, but it’s totally uncolored. It’s a really odd omission, and I might go digging through my years of bonus Toyhax samples and see if I’ve got a sticker that’ll fit there. Aside from that, though, he’s got a remarkably complete deco. There’s the usual grey (with some silver paint), red, and black, and a larger-than-his-team amount of gold (albeit flat gold) on him, plus a little bit of blue on his eyes. He ought to have black thighs instead of gray ones, but it doesn’t feel wrong, and I’m impressed they managed to color his feet gold. 

In terms of build quality, this is one of the more sturdy Dinobots. In particular, while he has the usual hollow lower legs, they sculpted in enough of a heel that he stays standing really effectively, despite having a bit of a stego-backpack. And for articulation, he’s got the complete Core-class suite (knees, hips, waist, elbows, shoulders and head), another thing not all of these Dinos have managed. I kind of wish they’d finagled some wrist or bicep swivels, but that’s only because of the accessory. 

So, Snarl’s the only Dinobot to come with a sword. It instinctively feels wrong for him to have  been the only one, since the original figures all had swords.

But the animation models didn’t, except for his, so he’s the one that gets it. And it’s a nicely-sculpted, ornate, if cartoonish thing, with a triangular tip.

You can make him look pretty dynamic with it, and while taking photos, I figured out I can use the transformation joints on his shoulders to detach them, and cheat some two-handed poses out of it.

Granted, it’s got a big, kind of unsightly tab on the side, but that’s only so he can stash it on his backpack, another feature I appreciate. 

Transformation

This is another nice and simple one, and I don’t imagine it’s terribly different from the G1 figure. You turn his head around, snap his tail halves over it, fold up his arms and peg them to his sides, then flip his legs in, flipping out the two halves of his stego-head in the process, before snapping it all together. I did run into an equally fun and frustrating issue going back to robot mode, though. His tail halves were plugged in so securely around his robot mode head, that I couldn’t undo them.

After that first, very difficult separation, though, they didn’t give me as much trouble. 

Stegosaurus Mode

Oh, this is a potato. We’re in old-fashioned lumpy dinosaur mode with this guy, as opposed to the sleeker kind of Stegosaurus that’s probably more accurate. I’m not really complaining, though, because this guy is adorable. It’s even dumpier than the animation model it’s imitating!

Like, he immediately appeals to me, especially when it comes to his kinda neutrally-expressioned little face. He’s not all starchy cuteness, though. For one thing, his legs are so short, that his entire face is dragging on the ground, and it’s really noticeable when compared to his dino-bretheren.  It’s like he’s leaning forwards to take a drink.

Meanwhile, around back, his tail’s basically nonexistently short (so no, he can’t Thagomize anyone), and his robot fists are blatantly hanging off of his rear legs, making it very clear that his back end is folded-up person. Again, I don’t know what their budget is, but there’s convenient hollow space in his forearms for those fists to fold away, which would have added so, so much.

For colors, it’s impressive, again, how complete this looks. He’s missing a bit of black and blue on his sides, but I don’t miss it, and he’s got a good-looking assortment of grey, silver, red, and gold. In particular, his head being gold, with a big autobrand, and blue eyes, really helps sell its cartoonishness.

So, here’s the thing: He technically has zero articulation in this mode at all, like Sludge did. On the other hand, he’s also a rock-solid brick of a figure, and has really grabbable energy, so it’s not something I immediately noticed. But it’s true, his forelegs are just sculpted  in, and his back legs are tabbed in. Of course, you can always untab those back legs to unlock a pair of ball joints, but you can really only make him look like he’s partially running. Or, you can make him stand up on his hind legs.

I take it back, this is really funny. 

As his one and only feature, you’re supposed to be able to stash his sword on his belly, using the peghole on his robot chest. But there’s two issues: Firstly, thanks to the black paint, it’s a really tight fit. And secondly, having a sword there looks…questionable.

Now, you can always do it the opposite way of the instructions, and point the sword backwards, which feels like the better way to have it, since it blends with his tail. 

Leg Mode

This is why it was especially important that I get Snarl if I wanted to complete Volcanicus: He forms his one missing leg. Getting there’s an interesting transformation, too, because he’s actually a partsformer: His stego-backpack comes off of his back, and re-attaches to the front of the thing.

There’s not much to say about this mode, it’s just a lump of stuff, and it’s even less of a cube than Grimlock, the other leg, was. But what he does have going for him is the fact that unlike Grimlock, he’s not really compromised for his alternate mode, he’s really just got a flip-up peg on top of him to connect to the main body, and that’s it. Also, I really appreciate him having dedicated weapon storage right on the front of him. So, what about the combined form? Well, honestly, I didn’t just want to cram him into the end of this review, so I will talk about him (and the team as a whole) next week!

Overall

I still think Swoop is the best of these mini-Dinobots, but Snarl’s a close second. His robot mode is just plain good, fun to pose and play around with, and he’s got the all-important sword that the rest of these guys really should have had. And while his altmode’s completely immobile, and a bit janky from the back, his potato energy automatically makes me like him. It’s funny that the one Dinobot that (to me) has the least going on with him character-wise got one of the better toys, but that’s how he turned out. And the fact that he’s not really compromised at all for being a part of a combiner team makes him easy to recommend. So, yeah, if you like Snarl, or just like Stegosauruses in general, this one’s worth getting, even if you’re not getting the full combiner, with the usual caveat of “prices for Core-class figures are a bit steep.” It’s a shame he’s so hard to come by, I can’t even say “wait for a sale.” Maybe Legacy United will be cool and repackage him, they’ve been pretty good about doing that.

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