Personally, I really like Snarl, he is by far the best Dinobot figure and probably the best figure in the AOE line (yes, even better than Scorn and Slug). I love his aesthetics, the way the plates end up in robot mode really enhances his silhouette. Sure, they get in the way sometimes but it is minor and has the easy fix of just not opening the back plates all the way.

I agree that the elbow joints and exposed robot hands in dinosaur mode are a clear negative and there were no excuses for the designer to not have fixed it up. The other great thing is the integrated weapons, the two pieces combining in an axe is fantastic and the fact that these weapons aren't awkwardly attached in Snarl's alternate mode is a definite plus.

I find that Snarl's knight theme/motif isn't as strong, he gives off a vibe of being a bounty hunter or an angry jungle warrior. Overall, I think Snarl is worthwhile and absolutely fantastic, either as a display piece on his own or with the rest of the Dinobots.

On a side note, my Snarl's head does lock in place in robot mode, I pulled the head/panel up and it clicked into place.

Some pics: