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Inferno
Transformers character
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First appearance Transformers Generation 1
Voiced by Walker Edmiston
Jim Byrnes
Michael Daingerfield
(Japanese) Takuro Kitagawa
Shinichiro Miki
Nobutoshi Kanna
Information
Nickname(s) Thunder, Roadblock
Affiliation Autobot
Predacon
Mini-Con
Partner Red Alert
Firestar
Optimus Prime
Hot Shot
Ratchet
Longarm
Alternate modes Fuso T951 fire engine, Pierce Contender Fire Engine
Giant Fire Ant, Lamborghini Diablo
Missile truck
2000 BMW X5 fire truck

Inferno is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers series in the Transformers franchise. Despite having different alternate modes, the character name has been most associated with the form of a fire engine.

Transformers: Generation 1

Inferno is a fearless Autobot who has a firetruck as his vehicle form. Inferno enjoys receiving attention when saving lives and extinguishing fires, however is easily distracted, getting involved in combat preferring the heat of battle to the heat of a burning building. In battle his choice of weapon is an extinguisher rifle.

Animated series

Inferno first appeared in the episode "Dinobot Island, Part 2", alongside his friend, the fellow Autobot Red Alert, with no explanation or origin. He was featured prominently in the episode "Auto-Beserk", also alongside Red Alert. In the episode "Prime Target", Inferno was captured by big game hunter Lord Cholmondeley, along with many other Autobots in an attempt to lure Optimus Prime into a trap. Inferno is part of a team of three led by Ironhide to track down Optimus Prime on Cybertron in "The Search for Alpha Trion", and meets his old flame Firestar. Inferno was also one of four Autobots not to get his circuits scrambled by Kremzeek. Walker Edmiston is the voice actor for Inferno. Like his fellow Autobot Ironhide, Inferno speaks with a thick southern US accent.

Inferno also appears in the end credits of The Transformers: The Movie despite not actually appearing in it, leading to speculation that Inferno's scenes were cut or that he was intended to feature. After the movie, he never made any more appearances. An early script of the movie appeared on eBay revealing that Inferno was part of the Autobot team under Ultra Magnus in Autobot City.

In the Japanese Headmasters series, Inferno appears in the first and third episodes, under the command of Ultra Magnus on Earth.

Beast Wars

Animated series

Inferno was originally a Maximal protoform who was converted into a Predacon by Tarantulas, who had originally intended to recruit a third arachnid loyal only to him, as well as gain the stasis pod for himself to escape the planet. However, the scanner in Inferno's pod had already scanned a fire ant before Tarantulas arrived. A glitch in this process (and possibly Tarantulas' faulty programming) resulted in Inferno's beast instincts heavily influencing his robot mode. He believed he was an actual fire ant, protecting his "colony" (the stasis pod), which was soon destroyed by Tigatron. An enraged Inferno was seconds away from killing him when he was blown apart by Optimus Primal. Repaired after this, Inferno joined the Predacon ranks, reprogrammed to believing Megatron to be his "queen", the base to be his "colony" and the other Predacons as fellow "drones". His arsonistic tendencies and impenetrable personal loyalty to Megatron (whom he often referred to as his "Queen", or "the Royalty", much to Megatron's chagrin) forgive his quirks. This favored treatment would lead to a rivalry with Megatron's current second-in-command Scorponok, as the brutish Predacon considered the fanatically loyal Inferno as a threat to his position.

Inferno quickly made an impact on the Predacons, frequently leading the other flyers (Waspinator and Terrorsaur) on missions, although his desire for destruction often meant he disregarded any semblance of a plan. He also obtained revenge on Tigatron, killing his white tiger companion Snowstalker during a mission. Inferno was considered loyal enough to be sent on a solo mission to retrieve the alien second Golden Disk artifact from a mountain cave. Later, he was sent after Tarantulas and Blackarachnia when they tried to escape in a modified stasis pod, incinerating Tarantulas.

Inferno was one of the stars of the 1997 BotCon Convention Comics, a story set near the end of season one of the Beast Wars television series. In the Convention Comics plot, Inferno and Blackarachnia watched as the Predacon scientist Fractyl attempted to invent Energon Armor capable of protecting them from energon build up. Although seemingly successful, the armor was stolen by the Maximal thief Packrat. Blackarachinia and Fractyl realized the energon armor was flawed and could destroy the planet if it came in contact with large amounts of energon. Inferno pursued Packrat, but since Packrat didn't need to assume beast mode with the armor on, he got the upper hand in the fight with Inferno.

Scorponok and Inferno's rivalry was rendered moot after Scorponok supposedly died falling into a lava pit. After this, Inferno was promoted to sub-commander throughout the second and third seasons.

At the start of season two, he was still at the Maximal base, but inactive and imprisoned. When Blackarachnia turned off the energized cells to get Tarantulas' body, he was reactivated and freed. During the time he was free, Megatron was attacking the base. He soon fought with Dinobot and Rhinox, but was kicked out by Rhinox. When Megatron saw him, Megatron sounded surprised, as he probably thought that Inferno was dead. The Predacons were soon out numbered when Waspinator and Blackarachnia retreated, so Megatron retreated as well with Inferno.

He proved to be a great fighter in several occasions; he was the first one to fight the Fuzors, he had a cowboy-themed showdown with the newly resurrected Optimus Primal, he faced-off with the traitor, Dinobot, he helped take down the human civilization until Dinobot cut through him, and he tried to get the stasis pod which contained Transmutate, only to get blown away by Transmutate itself.

In the season finale, he tried to kill Optimus Primal and Cheetor by exploding the energon crystals. His plan failed and he almost destroyed himself.

Inferno was seen to still function at the start of the third series. He continued to serve Megatron loyally, even when commanded to help destroy the original Optimus Prime (which had he succeeded, would eliminate Inferno's existence, as he was a maximal protoform, however, he was never actually shown in reality flux). He scored a major victory for the Predacons when he managed to recover the Maximal defense computer Sentinel. Shadowing his earlier rivalry with Scorponok, Inferno had somewhat of a rivalry with the Transmetal II Dinobot clone, whose seeming loyalty to Megatron's rivaled his own. Inferno then took on any and every mission regardless of danger to hopefully win back his Royalty's favor. A recurring gag throughout Season Three was Inferno getting blasted by defense turrets in front of the Maximal base.

In the finale, Inferno led Quickstrike and Waspinator in search of a new "colony" after the Predacon Base was destroyed by Tigerhawk. Inferno decided that the caves of the humans would be suitable and he and Quickstrike attacked the base, after Waspinator defected. As Inferno tried to annihilate the human leader, Megatron appeared in the skies on board the Decepticon warship, the Nemesis to take revenge on the human, and unknowingly destroyed Inferno and Quickstrike in the process, blowing them to pieces with one blast. His parts along with Quickstrike's were later used by the human settlement as tools (notably his head is comically used as a bongo drum).

Throughout the Beast Wars series, Inferno was one of only three characters to last the entire series without receiving some type of upgrade (the others being Rhinox and Waspinator). Megatron was quite fortunate to have gained Inferno's glitched loyalty so promptly, as many tech specs suggest that Inferno's power, strength and size rivaled that of Megatron himself. On multiple occasions Inferno proved himself to be a highly effective and efficient infantry Commander. Although he received no transwarp upgrades he was still able to hold his own against upgraded Transmetals and Fuzors with little effort. Inferno is seen battling multiple opponents at once and actually tipping the tides of battle. He is armed with a semi automatic Rocket Launcher that doubles as a short range, high powered flamethrower capable of melting cybertronian alloy with great ease. Inferno is highly resistant to damage even able to withstand point blank Energon explosions.

Transformers: Armada

Inferno (known Thunder in Japan) transforms into missile truck and is partnered with Thrust. An antagonist, Inferno counters Thrust's role as a manipulator, picking up on some of his arrogance and grating on his fellow Mini-Cons and Decepticons. Despite this they still form a strong team.

Animated series

Inferno appeared in two episodes in the Armada cartoon, the first of which was episode #25 "Tactician", where he was chosen to partner Thrust. The second episode was #49 "Alliance", where he assists in the evacuation of Cybertron as its attacked by Unicron.

Transformers: Energon

Despite the name already being used for an Armada Mini-Con, the Inferno moniker was reused for a character in Transformers: Energon. This Inferno is an Autobot and physically a homage to the original Inferno. He was later upgraded and given the name Roadblock, and is the only Autobot from Energon who changed names rather than just changing color schemes.

Inferno's tech spec portrayed him as the epitome of what an Autobot should be. He always cares for his teammates, and is careful to always think of the consequences of his acts, unlike his Powerlinking partner Hot Shot. In the series he took over Smokescreen's role from Armada as the Autobot sniper.

Animated series

The level-headed master sniper of Team Optimus Prime, Inferno transforms into a fire engine and possesses the Spark of Combination, frequently combining with Hot Shot. He tended to play no major role until the Autobots were transported to a new region of space where Alpha Q had successfully recreated the planets destroyed by Unicron. Here, on Iron Planet, Inferno was charged with guarding Shockblast, but an attack by the Decepticons saw Megatron infuse Inferno with his own energies, trying to brand him with the Decepticon symbol and turn him to his side. Inferno fought the influence in a series of Jekyll-and-Hyde-like transformations, eventually plunging himself into the Energon Sun when he couldn't hold it back no more. Thankfully, Jetfire was able to recover his Spark and had a new body constructed for him, recreating Inferno as Roadblock (Inferno V in Japan), who now transformed into a truck crane. For much of the remainder of the series, Roadblock was staying at Ocean Planet, until Optimus called to him. Joining with the other Autobots, they merged into Optimus Supreme, fighting a Unicron-possessed Galvatron.

Transformers Movie

Inferno is also the name of a transformer in the live-action movie continuity. In it Inferno is an Autobot programmer. According to Hasbro employees, his colors are inspired by the Generation 1 Micromaster Autobot Tote, as well as one of the early concept drawings for Ratchet in the 2007 Transformers film. He transforms into a 2000 BMW X5 fire truck.

Transformers Animated

In Transformers Animated, Inferno is based off the Beast Wars character of the same name. He is very loyal to Megatron.

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