Review: #362
Name: Inferno
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2016
Size Class: Masterpiece
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
Inferno comes in one of the fancier black boxes that's synonymous with the Masterpiece line.
Reflecting the figure's larger size and the sheer amount of accessories included, the box is bigger than your typical Autobot car such as Streak's.
The contents include your standard instructions, a card and a set of optional stickers.
To quickly cover off the accessories, Inferno comes with an alternate vehicle grill, a second vehicle grill with clear plastic attached, a gun, two wrist communicators, a rounded cartoon inspired helmet, three additional faces, water effects part, hose and a second non-chromed missile hand. All these additional accessories is the reason behind the high cost of the figure.
FIRE TRUCK MODE:
Inferno transforms into a fully licensed Mitsubishi Fuso T951 Ladder Fire Truck which is really cool. They nailed the G1 toy look with the chromed headlights.
Unfortunately in the quest for extreme cartoon likeness, this resulted in a relatively bland truck mode with little amount of sculpted detailing, particularly towards the rear of the truck.
It still looks very nice overall with some good details such as the hose on the side.
Approximately the size of a Voyager classed figure (above is Titans Return Astrotrain), Inferno is quite big and he is hefty.
The ladder can rise up (but cannot rotate unfortunately).
You can attach the water effects part to the nozzle at the tip. Furthermore, the sides of the truck can extend to anchor the truck, which is pretty neat.
If you wish, you can swap out the front grill for the Anime inspired one, which basically means no chrome and lower amount of detailing. It still works quite well.
A fantastic truck overall, just a tad bit disappointing on the lack of sculpting when viewing from the back.
TRANSFORMATION:
The transformation of Inferno is definitely one of the highlights of the figure and makes it truly worthy of the Masterpiece name. Even if you have been spoiled and know that the collapsing ladder into the torso is the best bit, you will still be surprised at how elegantly the back of the truck collapses to form the back of his torso with a trace of the kibble left. It is truly amazing and astounding. It's a fairly complex transformation but one that is intuitive. Very impressive.
ROBOT MODE:
Inferno's robot mode is spot on to the cartoon, right down the proportions such as the oversized torso and hips, huge legs and head.
The lack of kibble is amazing thanks to the ingenuity of the transformation scheme. It is impressive that the robot mode manages to compact so much of the additional bulk from the fire truck.
The headsculpt as you'd expect is fantastic. The head itself is on a balljoint but the box around it is also jointed to look left/right and up/down.
In terms of size, Inferno is taller than your average Deluxe.
He is a bit smaller than Masterpiece Optimus though.
However, he is much taller than the early Autobot cars, such as Tigertrack.
The poseability is quite good considering the blocky proportions.
He has a waist swivel, ankle tilts and wrist swivels to complete the set of articulation.
If you don't like having a barrel for a right hand, you can swivel it out for a proper hand (the barrel is tucked away into the forearm), which is neat.
Inferno's main weapon is a rifle which can be tricky to put into his hand since the protruding pieces on the handle likes to catch in the jointing on the inside of his hand.
If you're not using the gun, it can also peg into a dedicated spot on his back.
Inferno features swappable faces, the first one being an angry shouting face. Unfortunately, with the default toy-inspired helmet, you can only have either the neutral or angry face, since the others don't fit.
The water effects part can also peg into the barrel for some cool poses.
Inferno is flexible. If a Transformer can do a kneeling pose, then you know that articulation is superb.
If you feel the chrome is too tacky, which is definitely can since the extra detailing seems to clash with the relative blandness of the legs and arms, then you can opt for the non-chromed anime inspired chest and barrel.
To complete the cartoon look, you swap the helmet for a more rounded one inspired by the cartoon version. The neutral face is a different mold to the standard since the shape is slightly different.
You'll still have to settle for chrome in the small gun on the side of his though but otherwise, having this configuration seems to feel more natural.
All the red that you see is painted, which has a nice rich glossy color in hand. You feel that Inferno is a true premium product (barring that it is completely plastic).
The other gimmick is that you can attach a wrist communicator to each hand.
The communicators can store within his left forearm (it cannot store in his right since that's where the spare right hand is).
If you compare this figure with a still from the cartoon, they are so similar right down to the proportions that it's eerie. Toy engineering has gone a long way in order to allow this marvel.
The last alternate face of the set is for the rounded helmet and it is a smiling one.
This one, coupled with using the third alternate chest piece with the clear plastic attached, is specifically for Masterpiece Red Alert. This allows Inferno to carry Red Alert to mimic the one scene in the cartoon. Unfortunately, I had to use Tigertrack as a substitute instead.
Of course, you can have the best of both worlds and keep the toy-accurate helmet instead. The last piece of accessory is a rubber hose, the cord is soft bendy plastic.
The end is a clip so you can have some fun with it, including having Inferno tangled up in it himself.
The proportions might take some getting used to but it will eventually grow on you and you'd come to realize what a fabulous toy this is.
An amazing robot mode that's the pinnacle of Transformers engineering thus far.
OVERALL:
Masterpiece Inferno is one of the best Masterpiece toys to date. It's surprising that the designers keep managing to improve and impress as the line goes on. While the aesthetics direction has favoured the cartoon heavier now, with the lack of sculpted detailing, Inferno is an impressive piece of toy engineering.
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