Toy Review - Age of Extinction Snarl (Generations)

[Krayt]

Snarl
Series - Age of Extinction
Sub-line - Generations
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 3
Released here - TBA 2014
Approximate Retail Price - $30
Approximate Size - 14.5 cm to head, 16cm top of wings
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Stegosaurus
Main Features/Gimmicks - N/A
Main Colours - Green (This review is based off the SDCC G1 colour version)
Main Accessories - Mace, Blade/shield

Dinosaur Mode
Alt mode looks very nice. Spine blade designs are the sort of update to thinking I had watching Jurassic Park:lost world when compared to G1. Would love to have seen this lumbering down the highway in the movie (how unlucky is he to miss BOTH movies? He needs a better agent.)

Transformation
Very good homage to the G1 snarl, front half becomes the legs, back legs become arms, head folded into chest and spines and tail forming wings to the side and blades down the back. There is even an interesting surprise inside the leg

Bot Mode.
Looks absolutely amazing! Awesome head sculpt and wonderful look/per portions. Secret will help Strafe to not feel left out.only down side is the hands/arms. hands do not fold away, and only rotate at the wrist, needing another axis of movement. Also think the backpack should open another notch for my likings, but then is hindered by the sideways/shoulder mounted tail/wings section.

Overall
Absolutely amazing. Easily the best dinobot in the line, can not wait for the retail release!

[GoktimusPrime]

PROS
+ Nice use of metallic paints. The colours look nicer IRL than in photos.
+ Interesting use of the tail spikes as a club for the robot mode. This is the first stegosaurus Transformer where the beast mode's natural weapon becomes the robot weapon.
+ The faux dino head inside the right leg was an interesting surprise that helps to make the legs look more symmetrical.

CONS
- The arm/hand design is just monumentally and inexcusably bad. They could've easily designed the hands to have a 180 degree range of pivot, allowing it to fully extend in robot mode and conceal itself in beast mode.
- The panel underneath the head doesn't lock into place in robot mode.
- This toy has too much green and needs more colours to break it up. The urine-coloured spines don't help much either. Snarl isn't as bland as his casemate, Hot Shot, but he still really needs more variety in his colour palette. Colourwise, Snarl looks like the love-child of Waspinator and G2 Sizzle!
- Having one of the spine panels transform into the axe is a nice idea, but the peg on mine is too large to connect onto the hole on the back.
- The back spine panels can interfere with the tail kibble. This can be remedied by simply not opening the spine panels up all the way, but it's still a notable design flaw.

Overall
Massive disappointment. Sabreback is a far superior stegosaurus TF despite being 15 years older than AoE Snarl! Snarl is really just a sub-par toy by current day standards, and considering that this toy isn't even based on one of the "impossible to translate" AoE screen models, I cannot see how this toy ended up being as bad as it has. Then again, Slog and Slash had flaws too despite not being based on screen models. IMO Snarl exemplifies the AoE Dinobots in general. They're really all just ordinary toys whose engineering/design level are easily just as bad (arguably worse) than the Beast Machines Maximals.

Not recommended unless you just want to complete all the AoE Dinobots; in which case, reviews aren't going to matter to you because you're going to buy this toy regardless (just as I did ). If so, do yourself a favour and don't pay full price.


Photos

Robot mode

Dinobot mode with axe attached.

Dinobot mode without axe attached.

[Paulbot]

Continued from here

Incidentally, Snarl was my very first G1 Dinobot, and my last AoE Dinobot. IMHO, G1 Snarl is a fantastic toy by 1985 standards, whereas I find AoE Snarl to be just an awful toy by 2014 standards. The 1999 Sabreback mould massively outclasses AoE Snarl despite being 15 years older!

When you say "2014 standards" I think you actually mean "the standard I expect 2014 to be"? Because this is not awful compared to the actual Transformers we're getting in 2014. It's better than a lot of the other AOE deluxe toys and at least on par, if not better, than many Generations deluxe toys coming out lately. 2014 deluxe toys are pale imitators of what we got four/five years ago. Hasbro/TakTom can do better but the cost cutting means they don't so all the mainline toys suffer compared to what they could be in an ideal "2014 standard".

I don't agree that your list of cons don't add up to an awful toy. I agree the wrists, and particularly the hollow forearms, aren't great and the back spines interfere with the tail kibble, but this toy is still better than Slash or Voyager Grimlock, or any of the AOE deluxe cars.

(Sabreback has huge bits of kibble, beast mode legs for robot mode legs and as a cheat a third of the beast mode becomes a detachable weapon. It's not exactly the greatest toy either )

The box art shows a lot more black than the final toy got and I think that would have been nice to see on the final figure, but I think the monochromatic approach works in this case.

[GoktimusPrime]

When you say "2014 standards" I think you actually mean "the standard I expect 2014 to be"? Because this is not awful compared to the actual Transformers we're getting in 2014.

In my review I did state...

IMO Snarl exemplifies the AoE Dinobots in general. They're really all just ordinary toys whose engineering/design level are easily just as bad (arguably worse) than the Beast Machines Maximals.

But yes, I meant "the standard I expect 2014 to be," and we have had some better toys this year (e.g. Generations Thrilling 30). But on the whole, I haven't been impressed by Age of Extinction... least of all the Dinobots. :/ And sure, Sabreback has its flaws*, but that mould is 15 years older. But my point was that even with Sabreback's drawbacks, I still find it to be a better Deluxe figure than Snarl (IMHO).

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*Sabreback didn't impress me enough to bother importing it at the time; I still don't have that toy, but I did get Beast Machines Striker when that was released here.

[christalcase]

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:

[GoktimusPrime]

Overall, I think Snarl is worthwhile and absolutely fantastic, either as a display piece on his own or with the rest of the Dinobots.

What are your thoughts of Snarl's playability though? I don't mind Snarl as a display piece, and I think he looks great either alone and as part of the set of AOE Dinobots, but I find that there are a number of factors that hamper the toy's playability (being the core function of a toy). The hand/forearm design makes it impractical to do all sorts of arm/hand movements, which is further impeded by the rear spines unless you bring them closer together (but the official transformation has them fully opened).

A good looking toy is one thing, but IMO the substance lies in its play value. Having a toy that just looks nice but isn't fun to play with is like watching a movie with dazzling visuals but a lacklustre story.

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.

Mine refuses to lock into place, even with excessive force. Looks like I lucked out w/ the QA.

[christalcase]

What are your thoughts of Snarl's playability though? I don't mind Snarl as a display piece, and I think he looks great either alone and as part of the set of AOE Dinobots, but I find that there are a number of factors that hamper the toy's playability (being the core function of a toy). The hand/forearm design makes it impractical to do all sorts of arm/hand movements, which is further impeded by the rear spines unless you bring them closer together (but the official transformation has them fully opened).

A good looking toy is one thing, but IMO the substance lies in its play value. Having a toy that just looks nice but isn't fun to play with is like watching a movie with dazzling visuals but a lacklustre story.

For me personally, play value lies in the figure's transformation and poseability. Transformation is simple, but elegant and fun. Poseability is also decent, I agree that the inward elbows are annoying but they are not a deal breaker and Snarl can still pull off a great number of awesome poses. The elbow design is no different to hundreds of other TFs. Plus, Snarl has wrist swivels which slightly helps the issue. In summary, I find Snarl's play value to be solid.

[GoktimusPrime]

I meant outright full proper toy play where you're moving the parts around relatively quickly as you're making the toy execute action moves in 'real time.' Sure, transformation and poseability are important too, but these are just part of the overall package that contributes to a toy's playability, which is a toy's core purpose. Overall I find Snarl's design and play value to be quite lacklustre compared to what I think the standard should be. As Paulbot pointed out, these toys pale in comparison to Deluxe figures released a few years ago. I understand that it's due to cost cutting*, but the end result is what I consider to be a disappointing toy.

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*With no savings passed onto the consumer. I wouldn't mind Deluxe toys being made with declining quality if the price were also reduced. But instead we seem to be getting less quality for the same price (thus inferior value for money).

[liegeprime]

I keep mine in Dinobot mode, the robo mode is kinda so so for me, especially those hands kinda bug me. they look broken at the wrist in those weird position...

Besides I got the Dinobots anyways purely for the dino mode anyways

[griffin]

It's the frootloop parade... where's Sam Toucan?


(The Gen1 Dinobots were so colour coordinated... it makes you wonder why Retailers were happy back then, but now demand eye-catching colours over screen-accurate or even "realistic" colours.)