Inferno is a fearless Autobot who has a firetruck as his vehicle form. He relishes the attention he gets for saving lives and extinguishing fires any chance he gets, but Inferno's intentions are always noble, though he rarely gets involved in the battles.
Inferno would be a lot better at his job if he weren't so easily distracted. He genuinely wants to be responsible and perform his job well, but he simply cannot resist getting involved in combat. The rugged and powerful, Inferno likes things to be as intense as possible, although he prefers the heat of battle to the heart of a burning building. He's not unaware of the seriousness of his function, and he does enjoy the chances it offers him to save innocent lives. It's just that Inferno can't turn down an opportunity to get into the thick of the action. Like his fellow Autobot Ironhide Inferno speaks with a thick southern U.S. accent.
Marvel Comics
Inferno also appeared in the Marvel Transformers comic, acting in a capacity similar to his animated self, although he had few notable appearances.
In the U.K. story "Firebug" he is seen arriving on Earth along with Sandstorm and Broadside as part of the Cybertron monitoring team and encountering a Fibernian Firebug.
The trio reappear in the Christmas story "Cold Comfort and Joy" in which they accidentally wreck a human town while trying to join in with the Christmas celebrations, which led to them fighting the Autobot Powermasters.
In the U.K. "Time Wars" storyline he appeared aiding the Wreckers against Galvatron, but was knocked out of the battle when the insane future Decepticon crushed his leg. He was one of the few survivors of the fight and later formed the Survivors along with other survivors of the Wreckers and Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad. In the US storyline after many battles against the Decepticons, Inferno was deactivated by the Underbase powered Starscream. He was later reactivated by Grimlock who brought him back to life with an infusion of Nucleon. Inferno went on to fight against Unicron, but was later killed again by Bludgeon's ambush (he was not seen being killed, but his wreckage is visible among that of the victims of the ambush). He was resurrected by the coming of Optimus Prime and the Last Autobot, allowing them to defeat the Decepticons.
Issue #279 of the Marvel U.K. Transformers comic featured a story called "Divide and Conquer!" where Soundwave led the bulk of the Decepticon forces on Earth against the Autobot Earthforce headquarters while Starscream attacked an oil tanker. Sent into battle by Prowl, the Dinobots routed the main Decepticon forces while Springer led the Autobot Survivors Inferno, Skids, and Carnivac to defeat Starscream.
His luck ran true to form in the Transformers: Generation 2 comic, however. As he battled the forces of Jhiaxus, he saw his friend Smokescreen gunned down. In a rage, he killed all of them - only to be ambushed by more of them. Inferno dove for cover, but never made it, as the building collapsed on top of him.
The Inferno of the post-The Transformers: The Movie universe appeared in the Marvel U.K. comics, most prominently in the "Legacy of Unicron" arc, where his habit of dying spectacularly continued. He and Smokescreen were dispatched to escort Wreck-Gar back to the Junk. There, they discovered it had been taken over by the decapitated head of Unicron. The two escaped to warn Rodimus Prime, leaving Wreck-Gar behind to free his people, with Inferno being badly injured by the mind-controlled bounty hunter Death's Head. The two arrived on Cybertron - only to discover that Unicron's puppets Cyclonus and Scourge had launched an all-out Decepticon assault. The Decepticons badly damaged the shuttle, and Smokescreen refused to leave his injured friend. Inferno had other ideas and bodily threw him through the windshield to safety. Observing how he had always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, Inferno crashed the shuttle into a massive group of Decepticons, taking them out but with him dying alongside it.
Conversely, in the nightmarish alternate 2009 seen in "Rhythms of Darkness", where Galvatron has virtually conquered Earth, Inferno is one of only a handful of Autobots left alive. Along with Prowl and Jazz, he is the only survivor of the final battle with Galvatron's forces.
Animated series
Inferno first appeared in the episode "The Insecticon Syndrome".
His most prominent appearance came in "Auto-Berserk" alongside Red Alert. After a battle with the Decepticons ended with Red Alert being damaged, the Autobot became paranoid that Inferno and the others were out to get him. Red Alert deserted and teamed up with Starscream (who had been kicked out of the Decepticons after a disagreement with Megatron) to steal an Autobot device called the Negavator. After being damaged again, Red Alert realized what he had done and destroyed the Negavator, setting fire to the cavern they were in - and a guilty Inferno rushed into the fire to save Red Alert's life.
In the episode "Prime Target" the big game hunter Lord Cholmondeley captured a secret Soviet jet, leading to panic of possibly war. Cholmondeley then set his sights on the ultimate trophy, the head of Optimus Prime. In order to lure Optimus in Cholmondeley captured the Autobots Tracks, Bumblebee, Jazz, Grapple, Beachcomber, Blaster and Inferno. Windcharger and Huffer were able to avoid being trapped. When Cosmos learned of the location Cholmondeley was keeping the captured Autobots Optimus Prime accepted Cholmondeley's challenge to meet him alone. Although interrupted by the Decepticons Astrotrain and Blitzwing who attempted to ally with Cholmondeley, Optimus defeated the big game hunter and freed the Autobots. Cholmondeley and the stolen jet were given over the Soviets by the Autobots as punishment for his actions.
In "The Search for Alpha Trion", when Optimus Prime returned to Cybertron alone to save Elita One, Ironhide leads Inferno and Powerglide after him. On Cybertron the Autobots are briefly reunited with Chromia, Moonracer and Firestar, defeat the Decepticons and save Elita.
It is also worth noting that Inferno appears in the credits of Transformers: The Movie despite not actually appearing in it leading to speculation that Inferno's scenes were cut.
Headmasters
Inferno appears in the first episode of the Japan exclusive Headmasters series along with Tracks, Prowl and Jazz under the command of Ultra Magnus.
Dreamwave Productions
Inferno appeared in Dreamwave Productions' Generation One Transformers comics. He first appeared in the second War Within series as part of Grimlock's Lightning Strike Coalition.
Later, after the end of the Great Shutdown, Inferno was reformatted into an Earth fire engine and then surprisingly became part of the Cybertronian High Council.
Toys
Generation 1 Autobot Car Inferno (1985)
The toy of Inferno is based on a Japanese Diaclone toy.
In Japan, the toy form of Inferno was recolored and slightly re-tooled in 1987 and used to create the Japanese-exclusive Targetmaster Artfire. Among Artfire's unique features, his cab was colored white, his ladder silver, and he featured a clip added to the end of his ladder that allowed weapons mode Fracus (Scourge's Targetmaster partner in America) to be used by Artfire in fire engine mode.
Inferno's original toy, slightly modified, was knocked off and used as the titular giant robot in the Korean animated film Phoenix King. Phoenix King was dubbed and released in America by Digiview Entertainment as Defenders of Space, generally selling for the bargain price of $1.00. Scenes of "Inferno" from this movie were also incorporated into another bargain film distributed by Digiview Entertainment, Space Thunder Kids.
Generation 1 Action Master Inferno
Inferno was re-released in 1990 as an Action Master toy. He came with a "Hydro Pack" that could transform and squirt water.
Generation 2 Inferno (1993)
Inferno was re-released in Generation 2 of the Transformers with slight modifications, including a water squinter.
In the late 1990s, a knockoff of G2 Inferno with some yellow parts was sold in discount stores on a card reading "Transformers: Generation 3."
Universe Autobot Ratchet
According to interviews with employees at Hasbro, this redeco of Robots In Disguise X-Brawn was originally intended to be called Inferno, but when another toy mistakenly had its name swapped to Inferno, they had to come up with a new name for this toy. The original intention was for this toy to be a new incarnation of Inferno.
Universe Generation 2 Series Voyager Inferno (2008)
A new Voyager class mold was announced at SDCC 2008. Features a missile launcher which looks like the Generation 2 water squirter.
