Transformers Animated – Difficulty Level : A Billion

Today I went to Toys-R-Us to look for some cool toys. In my part of the world, collectibles are fairly easy to find depending on when the trucks arrive. There was a large shipment of Transformers Animated toys, and I decided to pick up Snarl the Dinobot because I didn’t have him yet. I needed him for several reasons. The first reason being that Triceratops are awesome.  The second reason being that Triceratops that transform into robots are doubly awesome.

Snarl is pretty bad-ass in his packaging!

If you look closely, you can see his “snarl” in the top right corner.

It was a long day, and so after resting a while I decided to unwind as I thought about my youth and how I loved to play with transformers instead of just creepily keeping them in their packaging never to see the light of day.  I ripped open the packaging and even had some help from the cats who sensed the fun yet to occur.

I opened the instructions and thought, who needs to look at this crap?  The instructions are for babies, who needs all this paper along with the packaging? I almost threw it away until I realized that they were blueprints. I remember the Transformers in the 1980′s having similar instructions, but nothing this elaborate. Shit, I almost thought about going back to grad school and getting an engineering degree!

The next step was the actual transforming of Snarl.  Comedy did ensue, as did the prospect of Snarl being thrown out the patio door and onto the driveway fifteen feet below.

While I was working out the kinks on my transforming abilities, tragedy struck! Snarl’s leg had become loose and broke off in my hand.  Now I know how my dad must have felt on Xmas eve when he was trying to help me assemble some toy.  At this point, I was ready to chuck it all in the trash.  I persevered and continued to work on Snarl and his little broken leg.

SHIT!!!!

After about 45 minutes of losing and finding the screw that was necessary to attach the leg, I finally finished transforming Snarl.  See the finished picture below.  In the picture, Snarl is holding his weapon which seems to be an orange piece of dinosaur poop, or a Cheeto.  Snarl is going to stay in robot form for the remainder of his days.  The reason?  I don’t have my degree in engineering yet.  I was told it would arrive in a couple of weeks.