Transformers Legacy Inferno review

With the Kingdom line giving fans long-awaited Beast Wars updates, Hasbro was destined to give us an Inferno at some point, right? Well, they did, only it was G1 Inferno rather than the Beast Wars version. It as a cock tease considering fans generally prefer the Predacon fire ant rather than a red fire truck version of Grapple (though in his defense, the latter did have better pegs for the ladder base than his mold mate). However, fans are now more than happy to get their hands on the definitive version of the character considering how there is no other modern update of him (and Takara hasn't even completed the Season 1 cast for their Masterpiece line). So joining alongside Wave 2's Tarantulas is the protector of the queen and its ant colony!

Here is Inferno in his beast mode, which is a fairly solid take on the fire ant he turns into. Normally, these insects are not easy to pull off due to the skinny proportions they possess on top of their delicate legs. Remember in 2015 when Hasbro made a flying ant toy to tie-in with the Ant-Man movie and was riddled with some of the worst quality control due to its inability to stand on all 6 legs? This guy may not have as many points of articulation. yet by making the body lighter as well as adding fewer points of articulation, they succeeded in making the insect look accurate AND stable at the same time. Apart from that, the texturing for the body as well as the legs and antennae is nicely done, and the eyes being translucent is a nice touch. The pincers being bright blue is a little odd, but it is sort of accurate to the show. Oh, and his beast mode is actually of female appearance, similar to Tigatron and Waspinator.

The cannon is able to peg on the back, which isn't really the best form of weapon storage as I'd prefer he'd store it in the abdomen had it not been for the presence of the robot legs. At least it works as an attack mode.

For a beast mode size comparison he's the only Predacon from Season 1 to be a Voyager, as Megatron was a Leader Class toy and everyone else was a Deluxe. While he may seem oversized when put next to everyone else, it makes sense given how he's meant to be a larger-scale character that's only shorter than Megatron. 

Transformation is fairly involved, doing more than just the beast head chest schtick one would expect from a design like this. The arms and legs of the robot mode aren't necessarily used for the beast mode, as the arms instead make up a bit of the inner body of the throax while the legs are within the abdomen. In addition, I like how the beast legs are not as annoying to work with as they are with Waspinator, who weirdly has two insect legs on his legs rather than on the arms like with Inferno. As for the robot mode, his design is much closer to the cartoon than the original toy, down to his arms feeling rather small compared to the rest of the body. It is accurate to the design, and the ant legs at least add some form of additional presence. The body is predominantly red, but at least the metallic blue and some black help break it up. Also forgot to mention but I like the bacl.having a bit of dry brushing. 

Head sculpt is perfect for a character like him, being gnarly and sinister at the same time while remaining befitting for a guy who's loyal to royalty. I love the refined sculpt and metallic paint, especially as it makes for a striking identity as is the case with every Beast Wars character. His articulation is also great, as his head is not only on a ball joint but his jaw is able to open and close! His shoulders move front and back, in and out, butter fly joints, double-jointed elbows, wrists swivel, waist swivels, hips move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankles can pivot inwards. He can hold his gun, which is actually not cartoon-accurate because...

...it's meant to go with his ant butt as the propellor mode he uses from time to time. Yes, the abdomen opens up and can rotate in order to grant him his flight mode! You can't store it when it's closed, but at least the panels are painted. And for a robot mode size comparison, he's the second-tallest Predacon in Season 1! While we had to wait for Legacy to go with the Kingdom Predacons to complete Season 1 rather than use the entire line like with the Maximals, I'm happy that we still got to complete this faction with an impressive addition to both the team and the Legacy line. Highly recommend this guy to help you protect the colony FOR THE ROYALTY!!!!!!!

I also recommend the repaint made for Antagony, as it not only makes the figure look cool in this color scheme, but it also comes with an alternate Transmetal Scavenger that helps make this look like a separate character! The purple also makes this repaint look as lush as the average Skywarp. So yeah, get this AND Inferno!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐