Inferno (Armada)

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Inferno is a Decepticon-allied Mini-Con from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Inferno thinks he's a parrot.

Selected by Thrust to be his personal Mini-Con, Inferno has grown into the role of aiding his Decepticon partner. Inferno has become ever more enamored with the feeling of power that comes from being partnered with the respected veteran Decepticon, which has made him take on some of Thrust's arrogant characteristics. Swaggering among the other Mini-Cons and even Decepticons with a cocky attitude, Inferno sometimes hinders Thrust's schemes by making them too many enemies, too fast. Despite the liability represented by Inferno's boasting, Thrust still values his partnership with the capable and formidable Mini-Con.

Although small, Inferno is quite powerful in both robot and tank mode. His vehicle mode can launch high-explosive shells up to 7 miles away with pinpoint accuracy. Inferno also possesses limited cloaking capabilities, which he can pass on to a larger Transformer during Powerlinx along with increased speed and weaponry.^[1]

Sometimes he works with Thrust's brother, Sunstorm.

Fiction

Armada cartoon

Where's that damn fourth Chaos Emerald?

Somewhere on the Moon, Inferno was among a cache of Mini-Cons uncovered by the tactician Thrust when he first arrived. Thrust chose Inferno as his personal sidekick, and recruited the Mini-Cons for his future schemes. Tactician

After uncovering Sideways's duplicity amidst the Decepticons, Thrust and Inferno combined their cloaking powers to stalk the virus and eliminate him. Sideways seemed unaware that both could become invisible, and so Inferno drew his attention, making the traitor believe he had pinpointed Thrust's position. In fact, the tactician had crept up right next to Sideways, and got the drop on him. Detection

Battling on an island in the middle of the ocean, Inferno and Thrust assaulted Jetfire from one side while the newly arrived Tidal Wave trained his massive cannons on the Autobot Vice-Commander from the other direction. Awakening Demolishor later assembled the Decepticons' military Mini-Cons (Crumplezone, Leader-1, Blackout, and Inferno) into a ground warfare squad to confront the enemy. As he led them into combat, the Mini-Cons kept the Autobots busy on the ground while Tidal Wave and Thrust dealt with the aerial Jet Optimus. Desperate

Dreamwave Armada comic

Inferno was among the Mini-Cons who escaped from Decepticon captivity to live in a fortress on Earth's moon. They were eventually tracked down, and Inferno ran for his life as Megatron smashed his way into the base. Armada #11 He boarded an escape pod alongside Comettor and the Street Speed Mini-Con Team, but was left unconscious when it crashed in Alaska. Fire & Ice The Autobots and Decepticons both tried to retrieve the pod, and the Autobots ultimately won out. Armada #13 Inferno and the other Mini-Cons on Earth later travelled to Cybertron to fight Unicron. Presumably, he participated in the ceremony at the Loop, channeling his energy into the Mini-Con Matrix to deal a major blow to Unicron. The End

Legends World

Inferno was part of Rattrap's or Waspinator's Mini-Con collection in the Legends World. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

Ask Vector Prime

In Aurex 105.15 Gamma, Inferno informed Thrust's brother Sunstorm about Thrust's death, and the quest for vengeance led them to cut a deal with Unicron: Sunstorm would serve him in the Universe War in exchange for Galvatron being resurrected so they could, er, kill him again.

Turns out Galvatron was stronger than Sunstorm! After his master was beaten to death, Inferno was captured by Galvatron. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/06

Toys

Armada

He's looking for his long-lost brother, Cracker.

• Thrust with Inferno (Super-Con Class, 2003)

• Takara ID number: MD-05
• Takara release date: June 12, 2003
• Accessories: Launcher, missile
• Known designers: Aaron Archer (Hasbro), Yuichiro Hira (Takara)

Armada Inferno transforms into missile truck with a spring-loaded missile launcher. As a Mini-Con, he has a "Powerlinx" socket on his vehicle-mode underside (which ends up on his robot-mode chest) which allows him to attach to any toy with a "Powerlinx" style 5 mm post; some toys have special Powerlinx posts that activate/unlock gimmicks when a Mini-Con is attached. When attached to a Powerlinx plug, pulling back on Inferno triggers his own missile launcher; the launcher becomes an arm-mounted weapon in robot mode and can be triggered normally.

His pack-in partner Thrust's has a platform in the back of his jet mode specifically sized for Inferno's truck mode, giving Thrust a third missile launcher.

Unusually for this line, the Takara release of "Thunder" is virtually identical to Hasbro's Inferno.

Curiously, virtually all releases of this mold have a likely mis-assembly, albeit a minor one: his crotch. "Normally" there is just a small hole in front, but there is molded tech detailing on the backside, which would seem to be intended to face front instead. His legs are attached with simple ball-joints (albeit with no lateral movement), so they can be popped off and re-attached with a little effort if you wish.

This toy doubles as the Beast Wars: Uprising character Thunder.

• More information on Inferno at TFU.info

• Thrust & Air Military Micron (Multi-pack, 2003)

• Sonokong name: Sniper & Air Military
• ID number: MS-06
• Takara release date: June 12, 2003

In Japan, the Air Military Microns were also available in a multi-pack with Thrust and his Micron "Thunder". All of the toys in the set are identical to their individual releases.

Sonokong also released the set in Korea under their Eunha Yeongung: Cybertron line. All of the toys are identical to their Japanese release, other than packaging. This was also the only way to obtain "Sniper" (Thrust) and the "Air Military" in Korea.

• Powerlinx Thrust with Powerlinx Inferno (Super-Con Class, 2003)

• Takara release date: September 27, 2003
• Accessories: Launcher, missile

Released with Powerlinx Thrust in the seventh wave of Armada Super-Cons, Powerlinx Inferno was redecoed in white, blue, and black.

Powerlinx Thrust was not released in the normal Takara Legend of the Microns line, but did get a "USA Edition" release in Hasbro packaging through LaOX stores.

This deco of Inferno was repurposed as Grapple by Ask Vector Prime.

• More information on Powerlinx Inferno at TFU.info

• Powerlinx Thrust with Powerlinx Inferno (Super-Con Class, 2003)

• Takara release date: December ??, 2003
• Accessories: Launcher, missile

In Japan, a red Powerlinx Thrust was available as a "USA Edition" release, although Hasbro never released the toy in North America for various reasons. Inferno is similar to his western Powerlinx coloration, using light tan plastic instead of blue (but retaining the blue paint applications). This toy was available exclusively at the Toy's Dream Project members store Toycard, in Hasbro packaging.

Curiously enough, Hasbro actually did produce a small run of red Powerlinx Thrust, but never released it on the North American market. Instead, the toy, in European packaging, popped up in Israel in mid-2004, later followed by sightings in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The toy was even found in Australia, but only in stores that also occasionally sell toys imported from other countries, and again in European packaging. Furthermore, some of the European countries saw the toy being sold at instant discount prices, which suggests it was old Hasbro warehouse stock which had never seen a shelf release that was now being cleared out.

• More information on USA Edition Powerlinx Inferno at TFU.info

Universe (2003)

• Sunstorm with Inferno and Street Action Mini-Con Team (Multi-pack, 2004)

• Accessories: Launcher, missile

A redeco of Armada Inferno, Universe Inferno was re-done in black and white with orange detailing.

He was only available in a Walmart-exclusive multi-pack, with his new partner Sunstorm and evil versions of Grindor, High Wire, and Sureshock.

Bizarrely, the toy photography on the back of the cards depicts all of the toys in the set in their original Armada decos.

• More information on Inferno at TFU

Notes

• In the Armada cartoon, Thrust was already invisible before Inferno joined him (in fact, Inferno also vanished after coming within a few feet of Thrust). This contradicts his bio, which states that powerlinking with Inferno is what causes Thrust to go into stealth mode.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Thunder (サンダー Sandā)
• Korean: Thunder (선더 Seondeo)

References