Here's the thing, while I've written in-depth about the Siege and Earthrise toylines, I don't expect to ever write in the same way about Kingdom. The reason? Basically because Beast Wars exists outside of my nostalgia window, and thus I missed out on a lot of it. I've got a lot of respect for Beast Wars, don't get me wrong, but when you have limited resources and a bit of a sulk on about Transformers in general, sometimes you pass on a line. Perhaps I didn't miss that much, it's pretty obvious they didn't commit to Beast Wars fully, and went G1 again because of reasons. Possibly the single most depressing example of that was when the name "Inferno" appeared in stock listings and people got their hopes up. It was, of course, the G1 fire engine guy. Not the Beast Wars era fire ant. And this was a shame, because the ant guy is pretty amazing.
The 1997 Beast Wars Inferno toy
Inferno was a great example of how good the Beast Wars cartoon was. Inferno was completely bonkers. He was totally convinced that he was an ant, and that his status pod was his colony. He was actually a Maximal by birth, but it seems the ant mode he was forced to adopt overwhelmed everything. Or he was just insane in the first place, who knows? When Inferno officially joined the Predacons, this ant mentality led him to refer to Megatron as "his queen", which went down exactly as well as you'd think. He was also a cackling pyromaniac, whom flew around on a blender-butt contraption, burning things. Compared to that, the original Inferno is a cardboard cut-out, and this is me saying this as the son of a fireman with a baked-in love of the Fire Service. Like I mentioned, I'm not a Beast Wars guy, but a literal fire ant appeals to my perverse sense of humour. Inferno's history in toys meanwhile is a touch messy. He was originally supposed to be a new body for Megatron, and later on there was Transmetal ant called Scavenger, whom just seems to be Inferno renamed. There's also few convention exclusives and other trivia, but Legacy Inferno is the first modern retail release. Apparently because, despite of his undeniable charms, his original toy shelf-warmed something fierce.
The ant form is fairly typical of the recent Generations output, and also a demonstration of the fundamental issues there are with an insect mode. It aims for a realistic take as opposed to the original toy, and doesn't try to be as overtly monstrous. This means that this toy isn't trying to copy the transformation scheme of that toy either, resulting in a generally better looking thing with no balance issues. The downside to that is that it's basically a statue with moving mandibles and a port to mount his gun on top. You see, most insects have very small limbs versus their body, and they have a great many of them. Doing that as a toy with movable limbs, let alone one that transforms, is kinda tricky. You're looking at a lot of parts just to stand there, and they have to be thick enough so a child won't stick them up their nose or summat, so you compromise on something. Legacy Inferno's ant form is a compromise favouring visuals, which is fine given the end result, but there's a shortage of play features and 5mm ports. And maybe you don’t want to look at the underside. The mandibles move though. That's something.
Inferno's robot mode however does one thing very well, with everything else being on the good side of adequate. That one thing is the head, his general vibe on point anyway, but it's the head that truly elevates this toy. Its got an opening jaw, and so he can very easily look like he's laughing manically. This is something they didn't have to do, but it really does sell the whole thing. There is this wonderful insane energy to the toy, one that turns the insect kibble from a negative to a reinforcement of the theme. That's another common problem arising from the leg issue mentioned above, its hard to integrate bug legs into a robot, so they just end up, well, there. Inferno manages to carry it off though, it only adds to the insanity. Plus you can do the blender-butt thing. Factor in the typical Legacy articulation, and you're in for a good time. But a realisation hit me, one that made me reconsider my whole stance on Beast Wars.
Now, I known a few robots in my time. A lot of Japanese ones, transforming ones, and western takes. And Inferno doesn't strike me as a robot. I know he is, but the visual language doesn't say that to me. And that's for several reasons. The realistic ant mode obviously isn't a machine, that's the point, but the colour choices and detailing of the robot bits don't say machine either. The original toy has a similar look to my eyes. The Beast Wars era animation models didn't necessarily say robot either, which was both a technical and budgetary issue, so they often leant into the whole "90's shiny CG" look. And that's why I generally haven't gone in for the toys in the time since, visual design. It's not a thing that's bad. It's just an observation of my own tastes, and probably a big part of why I passed on Kingdom. So Inferno doesn't immediately register as a robot to me, but what he does look like is some cackling demonic alien wearing an ant carcass like a mardi-gras costume, and that has an appeal.
My point? Only that Legacy Inferno is something that exists. And they did a pretty good job of it.
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