Snarl
(Cybertron)
Beast mode is a wolf.
Pretty much all of the Jungle Planet transformers have great alternate
modes, and Snarl is no exception. He's got good proportions in this mode,
with the sole exception being his front legs, which are a tad skinny if
you look at them from the front. The mold detailing is VERY good, as he's
covered with little fur and mechanical detailing-- nearly as much as a
Transmetal 2, in fact. He's also got quite a bit of paint detailing, with
blue detailing being used mostly for his fur while yellow is the color
reserved for some of his mechanical parts. The pearly white, blue, and
yellow, while not the best color scheme I can think of, works fairly well
for this toy, and it seems to be a nod to G1 Weirdwolf, a Decepticon Headmaster
who had the alternate mode of a wolf with a similar color scheme (though
the amounts of blue and yellow were switched). Another plus for Snarl is
the articulation, in which Snarl as front-and-back (and VERY slight side-to-side)
articulation of the front and back upper legs, with front-and-back articulation
of the front legs at the knees and ankles and the same articulation at
the knees in two places and the ankles on his back legs. The Cyber Key
power gimmick is the only real big detracting feature of the beast mode.
At first, it sounds cool; if you plug the Cyber Key into the port behind
the head, long Sabertooth fangs poke out from Snarl's mouth as he opens
it, and the fur pieces on the sides of his head rotate so that it looks
like his fur is standing up straight. However, the fur pieces look like
odd elvish ears instead of actual fur when they're standing up straight
like this, and the Cyber Key does NOT stick in its port-- you have to continually
keep holding it in or Snarl closes his mouth again and the key gets pushed
out. This is VERY annoying-- granted, the Cyber Key can thankfull be held
in a slot on one of Snarl's rear legs when it's not in use, but this rather
obvious oversight of giving the Cyber Key a place to "stick" pretty much
ruins the gimmick.
Snarl's robot mode isn't
quite as good as his beast mode, but it's still rather nice-looking, and
it's better than most of the Jungle Planet robot modes. Snarl's proportions
stay pretty good in this mode, though the way his upper legs are molded
in this mode looks like they could use a little less mass in the back and
a bit more in the front, since the lower legs are turned around during
transformation. His mold and paint detailing is also still great-- I especially
like the cool-looking designs on his chest and waist. His robot head design
is also pretty cool and original-- it's got a wolf-like mouth with fur
"sideburns" and WICKED-looking eyebrows. It has quite a lot of personality
in it. I just wish his face wasn't mostly off-white, the particular
color of that plastic used for this transformer makes it a bit harder than
normal to see some of the finer details. Snarl is articulated in the head,
shoulders (at two places), elbows (at two places), the wrist on his left
arm, knees (at two places) and ankles. He can also move back-and-forth
at his hips, but he can't move his legs from side-to-side much, which besides
his waist (which isn't movable on half of Transformers anyways), is his
only real place that restricts the poses you can put him in. (His Cyber
Key, when inserted in the clip on his upper leg, also restricts leg movement
a bit.) Snarl's wolf-head-hand I'm not all that fond of, namely because
there's a long skinny piece of his "fur" that hangs off the back of the
head, and it doesn't look very good. If there was a way to disguise the
wolf-head as more of a claw-thing, then I'd be more accepting of it. Snarl's
tail-weapon is pretty cool, though-- depending on which position you move
the handle into, it can be either a sword OR a spring-loaded missile launcher.
How's that for versatility?
Snarl is, as of this
writing (12/05), the best original-mold Jungle Planet transformer in Cybertron.
He has a great beast mode and a pretty good robot mode, with few glaring
problems. His annoying Cyber Key gimmick is the only reason he's not in
the "must-buy" category of 9.0+, but I still recommend this toy wholeheartedly.
Review by Beastbot