Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 3, 2009 21:24:49 GMT
Universe Inferno
Inferno is a very square blocky fire engine with a water cannon on the back. He's designated Generation 2 series - I assume due to the cannon. The G2 Inferno did have a water cannon, but it attached to his ladder - here there isn't one. Most of the toy is cast in red plastic - as you'd expect for a fire engine - but the red is a darker one than usually used on a fire engine. The cannon and some of the top of the back are black while the windscreen, grill & headlights, lightbars and missile are cast in clear plastic. The missile - fired from the water cannon - has an end shaped like a water blast and coloured blue. The cannon raises up and moves to each side but the mount for it is off centre like Combat Hero Optimus Prime. You won't really notice it till the cannon is most of the way to pointing out that back of the vehicle. With everything properly aligned Inferno holds together very well and feels surprisingly solid and chunky.
TF: Turn the cannon round so it faces back. Fold the black panels halfway along the truck forward till they're covering the sides of the front of the truck. Pull the tops of the side at the back up - right at the back they need to be pulled inwards first to disconnect them but closer the middle they need to move outward - reconnecting them right can be a challenge. Turn the vehicle over and fold the front wheels into the cab so they're still vertical but next to each other. Fold the entire underside - from the front wheels to the back - down and forward. Fold the front bumper down and over the wheels. Pull the legs apart and rotate the lower legs round 180 degrees so the wheels point back. Bend the ankles down, fold the feet out and bend the ankles back up. Pull the back two thirds of the cab sides out to the sides and up bringing the roof with it. Fold the front portion of these cab sides back under the rest. Swing the panels round till they face backwards. Pull each half of the back of the fire engine out to the sides of the cab to form the arms. Turn the cab panels on top of the shoulders round so they point backwards again and fold down the back of the shoulders. Fold the panels on the forearms up and turn through 180 degrees so they're covering just the forearms and not the fists. Fold the arms down to the sides and rotate the forearms out 90 degrees above the elbow. Push the right lightbar forward to cause the head to spring up. Fold the black panel up onto his back locking the head in place.
In reality Inferno's TF is effectively the Generation 1/2 Inferno transformation with some knobs on.... The robot is exactly as you'd expect given the shape of the cab - yet curiously the robot form looks more Prime like than many Prime's I've seen recently. The head is dead on Inferno's with some lovely lightpiped eyes. The shoulders bend back, turn and fold to the sides. There's a bicep rotational swivel, a bending elbow & rotating fists. The hips are interesting: the legs come out of the bottom of the cab on a bar that can bend slightly allowing them to move to the sides, then they turn and finally they bend. The knees bend & turn underneath. So the upper leg can turn through 360 degrees while the lower leg and the body remain stationary. This can cause problems, and while not affecting the stability of the toy can make it difficult to get the knee to face the right way. As we've seen before the feet bend. The cannon from the vehicle mode is now found hung under his right arm where it can still be fired. He has no other hand weapons.
Overall: Needs a ladder. Other than that and the odd hip joints it's a decent toy. It did annoy me for a while that as a Voyager class toy it was bigger than all the other Autobot cars in Classics/Universe etc which are deluxe sized. That changed after I reviewed the original versions of Inferno and Grapple. They're so much bigger than the rest of the Autobot "Diaclone" cars that it's only right that their new versions should be bigger too.
Inferno is a very square blocky fire engine with a water cannon on the back. He's designated Generation 2 series - I assume due to the cannon. The G2 Inferno did have a water cannon, but it attached to his ladder - here there isn't one. Most of the toy is cast in red plastic - as you'd expect for a fire engine - but the red is a darker one than usually used on a fire engine. The cannon and some of the top of the back are black while the windscreen, grill & headlights, lightbars and missile are cast in clear plastic. The missile - fired from the water cannon - has an end shaped like a water blast and coloured blue. The cannon raises up and moves to each side but the mount for it is off centre like Combat Hero Optimus Prime. You won't really notice it till the cannon is most of the way to pointing out that back of the vehicle. With everything properly aligned Inferno holds together very well and feels surprisingly solid and chunky.
TF: Turn the cannon round so it faces back. Fold the black panels halfway along the truck forward till they're covering the sides of the front of the truck. Pull the tops of the side at the back up - right at the back they need to be pulled inwards first to disconnect them but closer the middle they need to move outward - reconnecting them right can be a challenge. Turn the vehicle over and fold the front wheels into the cab so they're still vertical but next to each other. Fold the entire underside - from the front wheels to the back - down and forward. Fold the front bumper down and over the wheels. Pull the legs apart and rotate the lower legs round 180 degrees so the wheels point back. Bend the ankles down, fold the feet out and bend the ankles back up. Pull the back two thirds of the cab sides out to the sides and up bringing the roof with it. Fold the front portion of these cab sides back under the rest. Swing the panels round till they face backwards. Pull each half of the back of the fire engine out to the sides of the cab to form the arms. Turn the cab panels on top of the shoulders round so they point backwards again and fold down the back of the shoulders. Fold the panels on the forearms up and turn through 180 degrees so they're covering just the forearms and not the fists. Fold the arms down to the sides and rotate the forearms out 90 degrees above the elbow. Push the right lightbar forward to cause the head to spring up. Fold the black panel up onto his back locking the head in place.
In reality Inferno's TF is effectively the Generation 1/2 Inferno transformation with some knobs on.... The robot is exactly as you'd expect given the shape of the cab - yet curiously the robot form looks more Prime like than many Prime's I've seen recently. The head is dead on Inferno's with some lovely lightpiped eyes. The shoulders bend back, turn and fold to the sides. There's a bicep rotational swivel, a bending elbow & rotating fists. The hips are interesting: the legs come out of the bottom of the cab on a bar that can bend slightly allowing them to move to the sides, then they turn and finally they bend. The knees bend & turn underneath. So the upper leg can turn through 360 degrees while the lower leg and the body remain stationary. This can cause problems, and while not affecting the stability of the toy can make it difficult to get the knee to face the right way. As we've seen before the feet bend. The cannon from the vehicle mode is now found hung under his right arm where it can still be fired. He has no other hand weapons.
Overall: Needs a ladder. Other than that and the odd hip joints it's a decent toy. It did annoy me for a while that as a Voyager class toy it was bigger than all the other Autobot cars in Classics/Universe etc which are deluxe sized. That changed after I reviewed the original versions of Inferno and Grapple. They're so much bigger than the rest of the Autobot "Diaclone" cars that it's only right that their new versions should be bigger too.
