Inferno (Beast Wars)

Inferno is the show's most disturbing running joke. Emerging from a stasis pod in "Spider's Game", his DNA scan gives him a fire ant beast mode and something in the process goes wrong with his mind: he does not believe he is a Transformer who turns into an ant. He believes he is an ant. Jim Byrnes voices him at a permanent bellow, and every line is about the colony.

Megatron works this out within about a minute and exploits it completely, presenting himself as "the Royalty" and the Predacon base as the colony. From that point Inferno is the only genuinely, unconditionally loyal Predacon in the series, and he is loyal to a delusion. He will burn anything, charge anything, and die for a hierarchy that exists only in his own damaged processor. Megatron never once reciprocates and never once needs to.

As a combatant he is a serious problem for the Maximals. He flies, he carries a flamethrower, he is physically strong and he has no self-preservation instinct at all, which makes him unpredictable in a way the tactically-minded Maximals struggle with. He also bullies Waspinator relentlessly, which is the show's way of noting that fanaticism does not make anyone pleasant to work with.

He appears to die in "The Agenda (Part II)", detonating a stockpile of energon and vaporising himself to deny it to Optimus and Cheetor, which is exactly the kind of act his programming demands. He is back in season three without explanation. He dies for real in "Nemesis (Part 2)", killed alongside Quickstrike when Megatron shells the anthropoid settlement they are attempting to claim as a new colony. Megatron kills him more or less by accident, which is a fitting end.

Fire ant beast mode with flight, powerful mandibles and a heavily armoured body. Armed with a flamethrower and an arm-mounted cannon. Physically among the strongest Predacons and, having no self-preservation instinct, extremely dangerous in a charge. Limits: no tactical judgement whatsoever, trivially manipulated by anyone willing to invoke "the Royalty" or "the colony", and entirely incapable of independent action.

• Megatron: an object of absolute devotion who cultivates the delusion and eventually kills him with it.
• Waspinator: relentlessly bullied by him, the Predacon pecking order made explicit.
• Quickstrike: a fellow blunt instrument, and the character he dies beside.
• Rampage: paired on missions as the Predacons' two heaviest hitters, with no relationship beyond that.

IDW's Beast Wars comics and Fun Publications material use him consistently with the show. No significant divergence.

Killed in "Nemesis (Part 2)" when Megatron's bombardment of the anthropoid settlement destroys him and Quickstrike, both of whom were attempting to claim it as a new colony.

• Voiced by Jim Byrnes, a blues musician and actor best known outside animation for Highlander and for his blues recording career.
• The name is reused from G1's Inferno, the Autobot fire truck, with no in-fiction connection; the Beast Wars character's fire theme is the only link.
• Inferno first appears in "Spider's Game", season one episode eighteen, emerging from a stasis pod, and is one of several major characters the show creates on Earth rather than bringing from Cybertron.
• He apparently dies in "The Agenda (Part II)" and returns in season three with no on-screen explanation, one of the show's more conspicuous continuity gaps.
• His toy was a large fire-ant figure with a flame-effect accessory, and the mold's distinctive silhouette made it one of the more recognisable non-Transmetal Predacon releases.

Where the cartoon, the Marvel comics and the toy bios disagree, or where a popular claim does not hold up. We record these rather than smoothing them over.

• His apparent self-destruction in "The Agenda (Part II)" is never reconciled with his return in season three; the show simply resumes using him.