Name: Snapper
Series: Beast Wars
Allegiance: Predacon
Function: Infiltration
Alternate Mode: Turtle
TURTLE MODE
Height: 4.5cm Length: 11.5cm Width: 5.5cm
An army green turtle with some crimson sticking out on his back legs, Snapper has grey painted claws, yellow eyes and a very tasteful yellow paintwash on his shell and head that tends to dominate on the seams, which works well. The colours are realistic enough (crimson outbursts aside) for a turtle, although they're slightly brighter than they should be for a giant turtle (which I suspect Snapper is meant to be).
The shell is very well done and the lower jaw opens to reveal a pointed beak and a red tongue inside. It also closes, which is better than the jaws of some early BW basics. The legs don't quite attach correctly, they sort of splay out in a star shape rather than pushing down. This is because they're the robot limbs, and this makes them longer than they should otherwise be. There's quite a lot of undercarriage, Snapper will happily rest on his belly with all four feet off the table - which looks surreal for a lumbering animal like this.
Other than the jaw there's not really any play value. The robot limb joints don't add any poseability, all they do is make the legs slightly less stable than they should be. While a toy with a centre of gravity as low as Snapper's is never going to fall over, the legs offer no meaningful movement, which is a little disappointing.
While there aren't many turtle Transformers, that's not quite enough to make this a good beast mode. The shell and head are quite well done but the bad legs and underside kibble really prevent this from being a notable beast mode. It's not a bad mode, but it's pretty average really.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Push down on the tail and you'll activate Snapper's auto-transformation. Internal gears will flip over the tail as a chestplate, retract the turtle head and reposition the undercarriage as his legs and groin. Swing down the arms, flip up his feet and you're almost done. Slide out the central panel of the shell and unfold it to form a shell-gun that can sit in either hand.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 9.5cm Width: 6cm
As you might guess, Snapper's robot mode is green and crimson. The upper arms, hips and thighs are crimson, along with the exposed triplet barrels of his gun. The chestplate is the beast tail, the feet the from claws and the forearms are the hindclaws. Snapper doesn't have true hands, rather claws with holes for the gun. The head is green with yellow eyes and beak-like mouth that mimics his beast mode mouth. The combination of green and crimson is fairly nice, and the yellow paint wash is still around, which is a good thing.
There are no proportion problems in this mode, although as mentioned Snapper lacks true hands, instead relying on claws that slope backwards. The beast head has retracted into his rear end, which is slightly disturbing once you realise it's where it is, but this is more of an oddity than a problem.
Poseability is pretty good, as it was for most Beast Wars basics. Snapper's head turns about 30° each way, his ankles are hinged and the shoulders, hips, elbows and knees are all ball jointed. The feet are fairly big and the undersides flat, making him stable in a variety of poses despite the shell on his back.
The robot mode is easily Snapper's better mode, although it's not as ambitious as the beast mode. There's a distinct reptile theme to the face which is kinda cool, the gun is quite good considering it's a piece of shell and the articulation is solid. While this is far from the best robot mode Beast Wars produced, it's certainly a good one.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of, although he came with a volcano playset in Japan.
OVERALL
Snapper has beast mode with some great aspects and some poor ones, while the robot mode is good without being exceptional. On the whole he'd be a fairly forgettable toy if not for the fact that turtle Transformers are so rare. The flipchange feature works well, although that idea isn't for everyone. For what he is and what he's trying to do, Snapper's a decent toy - 6/10
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