Of all the Dinobots, Snarl is my personal favorite, and I can't believe it took me this long to finally deciding to build him!
PROLOGUE
As a child, I owned many Transformers toys but most of them were KOs . And my first official Hasbro Transformer was Horri-bull, which I acquired in my early teens. I think it was about that same period I was given two official Hasbro G1 Transformers: Snarl and Sandstorm , hand-me-downs from my cousin who probably outgrew his toys.
I admitted I didn't really treat G1 Snarl good, and the last time I saw it.. it's pretty much thrashed, similar fate with most of my childhood toys.
DECADES LATER aka 2023
I started one project Snarl using LEGO set 31129: Majestic Tiger (video below), after an epithany of sorts: White paw parts suitable to become Snarl's fins.
While working on the project above last year, I learnt many techniques that eventually spurred me to initiate a new project Snarl , in his correct colors this time around. As always, I have a knack of sprinting through my projects within a week or two... then slowed down tremendously after being distracted by something else, or was stumped halfway through the design process.
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
When I started this project, the official Hasbro SS86* Snarl toy (inset) has already being released. I think this also contributed to me wanting to build one on my own.
*SS86 = Studio Series year 1986
His dino head was improved at the last minute after I snapped a few photos of his dino mode. I discovered that he needs a curved lower jaw, which I eventually applied with a lighter shade of yellow to make it more obvious , and continue with the photo session.
The tail will split into 2 halves in robot mode. For most part of the project duration, I applied hinged mechanism will limited range of swivel. Only yesterday while wrapping up this project, I made final enhancement to have them ball-jointed instead.
He's quite a head-turner! Original Snarl toy has his dino head split into 2 halves when forming robot mode. I wanted head articulation so I did not apply such transformation.
With sword mounted on his back. I must admit I'm not a good LEGO weapons builder, and this sword was made within a short timespan.
With Takara Masterpiece Grimlock. In animal modes, they scaled to each other pretty well.
TRANSFORM!
Note how a hinged piece from inside the robot leg unfolded out to pad up the gap between the knee joint and tucked in yellow dino legs.
The turntable parts only come in light gray, and I must apply them here coz that's the only part thin enough for me to use. There are no alternatives. I wish LEGO would release an actual "thin" piece without that "nipple" jutting out.
How the red flap folded to the back of the robot mode was inspired by the recently released official SS86 Snarl toy, which I watched quite a few video reviews recently.
The tail kibbles can be tilted up a lil thanks to the modifications from hinged plates to ball jointed ones .
ROBOT MODE
In the latest SS86 Snarl toy (above, inset) , his body is almost entirely in red, something I'm not too keen on copying. So I tried to take some cues from the original G1 Snarl toy (below) and apply a bit of gray on his waist. I even attempted to build his pelvis in white but the outcome was ugly. Finally, I ended up accenting a bit of azure colored tiles and called it a day.
His thick , broad chest was very tempting to me: I once thought of implementing chest plates unfolding to reveal missile racks! But I scrapped the idea , preferring to spend more time sculpting the round chest with minor grilled detailings. Nothing overly fancy.
MORE ACTION POSES
As always... minimal description from this point onwards since a picture should be telling a thousand words!
my LEGO Snarl is taller than MP Grimlock by one head!
FINAL WORDS
I know many of you guys are hoping that I produce more LEGO Transformers like Snarl above .
I'll try my best to fit my schedule into building at least 4 of such creations each year. And I will not skimp on quality and rush on stuff. Hope you guys can support me (especially my youtube channel below) regardless of what kind of creations I made. Thanks guys!
And yes... I might probably build the rest of Team Dinobots ,especially Sludge and Slag in the near future, too!
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