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.
Henkei Inferno was numbered C-15.
Colour swap time:
Neon red replaces red, with the lower arms and arm panels almost entirely painted yellow
Browny grey becomes black
Black becomes bright blue.
A typically G2 colour nightmare. No thank you!
Hang on a second.... Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime was a red fire engine whose Sam's Club Universe repaint was yellow. Was there some form of Inferno/Grapple homage going on there that I've missed for the past eight years?
Back to your scheduled repaint review.
Grappel and Inferno have got two obvious differences: the colours and the cannon swapped for a crane arm. But there's a few more when you look closely. Let's get the colour swaps out the way:
Yellow replaces red
Grey replaces browny grey
Black remains the same.
Clear remains the same, except on the emergency lights where it becomes orange.
Some details become more noticeable here like the windscreen wipers started on the body that continue onto the windscreen and the seats inside the cab, both of which are present on Inferno but I'd never noticed before. The crane arm is attached to the same pivoting mount as the gun was and rotates at the top of the pivot. The yellow crane arm extends in one place and has a yellow pivoting hook at the end which would have looked better in grey or chromed. There's two mould differences in vehicle mode: the penultimate side panel has completely changed now becoming a solid part of the robot arms that form the spine of the vehicle. The round bars either side of the cab roof have been enlarged to the 3mm size necessary to work with the C-clip weapon system. There's no recess into the roof so the clip has to be applied with the open side pointing down.
Transformation is identical.
The robot modes again look similar, but again there are differences. The crane arm can either be pointing out from under the forearm or swung round under it pointing back. The forearms are new units which are rounded and part of the panels on the side. The fists are new, and posed open loosing the ability to hold 5mm weapons. The fists are now fixed in position loosing the rotational joint. The loss of the 5mm peg hole, in which Inferno had no weapon to hold, is compensated for by the 3mm bars now found on each shoulder. Grappel gets a new head, moulded in black plastic again with a clear lightpipe leading to blue tinted eyes. Lower down the body we discover Grappel has new feet too.
Generally a good reworking of Inferno, with the crane arm and the 3mm bars being good points countered by the loss of the wrists and 5mm peg holes. Does make me want an Inferno with a ladder though.
Hasbro: The transformation for this toy is spot on for what a new version of Ratchet/Ironhide need. Universe Ratchet/Ironhide is one of the big disappointments of the Universe line for me for over complicating the toys. Keep it simple like this and people will be happy.