Universe Snarl

Series: Universe
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Deluxe
Function: Matrix Templar
Year: 2003

The greater my adversary, the sweeter the victory.
A strategic genius, cunning hunter, and deadly warrior, Snarl is invaluable to the shared Maximal/Autobot cause. He serves his mentor, Alpha Trion, the avatar of Primus, to further the will of Cybertron itself. In both robot and lion forms, Snarl is an exceptionally capable fighter, with an intellect as keen as his razor sharp claws. Has an incredible awareness of his surroundings, almost impossible to surprise. Through his intense training as a Matrix Templar, he has developed the uncanny ability see into his opponent's sparks, to sense their weaknesses and exploit them to his advantage. Has an ambush style of attack that rarely leaves his enemies the option of survival. In his lion mode Snarl possesses superior agility as well as lightning speed. Outfitted with special stealth armor making him virtually undetectable to most monitoring devices. In robot mode, his tail coverts to blade weapon. Can focus and channel his own spark energies into powerful electrical blasts through the blade and his claws. In the battle against Unicron's corrupting influence, he must fight against is own predatory instincts, as his lust for battle may easily prove his own undoing.

Remarks: Universe Snarl is a repaint of Beast Machines Snarl, so look for the full review there. Just some words on the differences here. Universe Snarl is mostly black where BM Snarl was blue and red. He has some red, yellow and gold highlights as well as a gold-and-red mane in both robot and beast mode. Personally I like the darker paint job somewhat better than the original one, but that's a matter of taste, of course.

Two things I only noticed about the actual figure mold when I got my hands on Universe Snarl: The elbow of the right arm can actually be bent and stay bent despite the spring-powered punch action gimmick. You just need to keep the little wheel in his upperarm locked into place as you bend it. So some better poses are possible after all. And second, I put the mane together wrong in robot mode originally. Twisting the two mane-halves around makes for a much better-looking, naturally flowing mane in robot mode.

What else can I say about this figure? This is how Snarl appeared in the Transformers Universe comic book from 3H Productions (actually this mold's only appearance in any media), where he served together with Optimus Primal to fight against Unicron. He didn't really do much except spring Primal from prison in the series' third issue, then 3H Productions went bankrupt and we never found out what else he might have done. So bottom line: A nice figure with a better color scheme than the original (in my opinion). Not a classic, but good.

Rating: B