Why was Snarl not in Transformers: The Movie?

[CaptainWacky]

It's really starting to piss me off that we can't just get a straight answer to this.

NAD YES I KNOW HE WAS IN A FEW FRAMES OR WHATEVER IT DOESN'T COUNT.

 

[CaptainWacky]

decided to email the voice actor (Hal Rayle) who played Snarl in the original Transformers series.

Question: Was there any reason that Snarl had such a limited role in The Transformers Movie (1986) ?
Hal Rayle: It was out of my control. Based on other powers that be.
Question: Perhaps you could elaborate a little more. Was it simply that the character was forgotten (due to the large cast of the movie) or was there a decision by someone to minimize that character?
Hal Rayle: It was out of my hands. I suspect it had to do with toy sales and the powers that be.

 

[CaptainWacky]

lol what

 

[CaptainWacky]

Snarl is mysteriously almost entirely absent from the G1 movie, even though the Dinobots as a group are featured prominently. Copies of the script which have come into fans' hands repeatedly list the Dinobots, but never make mention of Snarl by name. In fact, at one point the script refers to "the four Dinobots". Despite this, Snarl does appear in three very brief shots—in which at least one other Dinobot (Swoop in one, Sludge in another) is entirely absent.

• On the other hand, the original production storyboards for the scene where Snarl first appears in the movie only mentions "the Dinobots", not a specific amount of them. Additionally, Snarl also seems to have been in the scene with Kup telling the Dinobots a story in at least one version of the film; the Japanese trailer for the movie has finished footage of this scene... but it's very different from the one in the film; the Dinobots are all in their robot modes, and Snarl is present in the scene instead of Slag. It's completely unknown why Snarl's appearance in this scene was cut.

HOW CAN NOBODY KNOW

 

[Gagh]

Swoop was omitted from the cartoon show too. I WAS FOOKIN' OUTRAGED WACKY, I EVEN WRITTED A LETTER TO POINTS OF VIEW WHO WROTE BACK SAYING "LOL YANK CARTOON"

 

[CaptainWacky]

Swoop was definitely in some episodes, I've been watching them on youtube in an attempt to feel childhood feelings.

 

[whisky]

A transformer exploded in hull during the 2007 flood, but that's probably irrelevant.

 

[CaptainWacky]

I was going to Google that to see which one then I realised it's a different thing.