yeah it is kinda sucky that snarls mouth can't be left open with the chip stuck in the port... would've allowed some need photos to have been taken... but anyways, this is a really really good deluxe TF, worth the buy, and how many TFs do you know of that LITERALLY have their heads up their asses?? Andy
Energon Divebomb - Head IS the ass 'butthead' designs were fairly common in Beast Wars and a few Beast Machines toys as well
It's really disappointing that the mouth closes if you let go of the force chip. Most chip gimmicks are a release type where is stays out/open even when you remove the chip, and a few you have to leave the chip in but it'll stay put (i.e. Optimus's left gun). This is just lazy on the designer's part.
I feel like it's missing paint apps. I'm not really impressed with this figure although the gun/sword is a cool accessory.
Snarl is a really solid toy, great articulation, cool details, and the key holster hads mega points The wolf mode is decent, I wish it had some side to side head articulation, but thats something I can overlook. The gimmick is indeed pretty underwhelming, but overall Snarl is a toy worth getting...after Sideways of course Snarl =B+
He is a great toy indeed. He really grows on me more and more each day. I am wondering, however, does anybody else have a problem with his wrist being loose?
He is. He's missing some white paint on his ab area and his toes aren't painted at all whereas Fang Wolf's are painted gold. I don't have Snarl or Fang Wolf but I just got a Dark Fang Wolf. The mold is pretty nice but added posability could have made it so much better. Such as a bicep swivel, waist articulation but most importantly in this bots case IMO, his legs need to be able to move outward further. I could make do without a waist swivel if only they had done something about these legs. Otherwise he's nice, especially in the dark colour scheme. I don't know if I'll dish out for the regular one or not yet though.
I had that problem, so I grabbed a screwdriver and tightened the screw on it a little. Now it holds in place just fine.
I have yet to see any new deluxes in my area (seen alot of new Basics) though I know I plan to pick this guy up. Shoot I hate it when there's a line that I want alot of toys from.
I FINALLY spotted this guy today... in fact, I almost missed him, which would have been a tragedy, since I bet I'll never see him again. For some reasons, he seemed like he'd be smaller from pictures, but I'm very happy to say that he's a normal deluxe size. For some reason, I don't feel he'd be quite as cool if he were smaller. On a scale of 1 - 10, his transformation gets a 10 from me. It's original and fun, not too easy, but no tricky "I need to get this JUST right" parts. He could use a little better arm articulation, I guess, and a waist swivel would've been nice. The colors work for him, but would have been more appropriate if his character had been a "winter wolf" kinda deal. Still, it's pleasing... but could be better. Same goes for the paint apps. He gets a solid B+. Not quite an A, but pretty close. Edit: Oh right. His cyber key gimmick sucks. But you know what? It's not at all necessary in order to like him, which is a plus. In fact, you could completely ignore his key and enjoy him just as much. But the holster is sa-weet! Double Edit: Okay. This guy gets a drunken A. Which is definately not worth as much as a sober A, but still... I can't help but think, "Goddamn. This guy rocks." This is mainly to say... nitpickers, you can probably go to town on this guy. You can catch minor flaws all over the place - this guy is no A+, 100%, perfect transformer toy. As awesome as I think he is... I don't like his legs in bot mode. I don't like Scourge's or Leobreaker's either, for reference. But yanno what? In the end... he's fun. And you won't see me giving either drunken or sober A's out to any toy that's not fun.
I just picked up Snarl. There's plenty of good stuff about him, but his primary flaws are pretty bad. The wolf sculpt is good. Wolf articulation is good. Color scheme is alright. The tail doesn't fit into his rear quite tight enough. I'll give them credit for the transformation. It shows thought and originality. Fun to transform. Robot mode is where most of the problems are. The whole robot sclupt seems too boxy. The robot head needs waaaaaaayyyy more paint to look good. The real killer is the articulation. First of all, there's no reason on earth why the elbows couldn't have been ball joints. No bicep swivel annoys the hell out of me. The legs have all of the joints needed, but they can't really move anywhere useful due to some bad sculpting choices blocking movement. Even the knees don't really bend past a few degrees. So.... you can't really pose this guy. The weapon is great. I normally don't like detachable tails, but I'll give this one a pass since the sculpt is cool and it doubles as a gun and a sword. Pretty baddass. The chip holdster is fantastic. The actual "motion" activated by the chip gimmick is really neat, but it is beyond stupid making me insert a chip just to open the guy's mouth. To summarize: Good wolf mode, interesting and fun transformation, great weapon, stupid requirement to use chip, slightly lacking 'bot sculpt, severly un-articulated 'bot. He's a C/C+ Fun enough to recommend a purchase. On a side note, he's the first toy I've bought that came with a DVD. So I got to see my first episode of Cybertron. The pain! Oh God, I want those 22 minutes back. I knew it was bad, but not that bad.
I got this figure for Christmas. After seeing the Hasbro pics, and pics of the GF version, I was really psyched to get him. Once I opened him, I was horrified by the paint application and the lack of paint apps. The head just looks unfinished without the full blue helmet, and the waist deperately needs that silver paint. Such a great mold gone to waste with poor paint choices. Looks unfinished. So far he's easily the most dissapointing figure I have gotten from Cybertron.
Picked up the dark fang wolf version today by complete accident (there's a funny story to that), and God it's awesome. Wolf mode looks halfway zoid halfway transmetal. The silver really works well with the greys and black used. My main gripe is the complete pointlessness of the key gimmick - it really brings the side profile of the toy down, and for what? An underwhelming mouth opening effect. Apart from that, great robot wolf. 8/10 Transformation is new and refreshing. Like others have said it basically involves turning him inside out. Everything clips into place, and everything is tight on mine. 8/10 Robot mode looks nice - the homages to BW Silverbolt are apparent (skirt and head mainly). Head arm is relatively unimpeded ariculation wise, and the free arm is good. The legs are a bit of a let down are their movement is restricted, but overall they're fine. Stable in the mode, but rather blocky comparitively. 7/10 My final rating is 8/10 - I know thats higher than the average I gave it, but the paintjob really does it here for me.
To me, Fang Wolf illustrates how BW should be redone. Good beast mode but not too organic-looking in robot mode so he still looks like a Transformer.
