Henkei Inferno

There are times, in this world, where the inclusion of chromed plastic is excessive - an unnecessary luxury which may or may not do something to improve the look of a model. Typically, chrome has been wholly eschewed by Hasbro in the many permutations of the line that began as Classics a couple of years ago. For the most part, Classics have not suffered for want of chromed plastic and, certainly, when Takara Tomy began Henkei, their equivalent line, the use of chrome was positively vulgar in some cases.

Then there are times when the lack of chrome, and certain other aspects of the colourscheme, in the Hasbro version of a model puts it at a disadvantage. Such is the case with the updated form of G1 Inferno. The US/UK release was molded mainly in a dark, almost burnt red, with bronzish parts and a touch of silver here and there. The watergun was left as plain black plastic. Takara Tomy's version, meanwhile, uses what can only be described as 'fire engine red' - could anything be more appropriate? - and chrome is used quite sparingly - for Henkei - to cover the watergun and a couple of panels only seen in robot mode.

To cut a long story short, I wasn't intending to get Inferno - the mold seemed awkward, not quite right either in vehicle or robot modes - until I saw the Henkei version. At that point, all the deficiencies were outweighed by the improved colourscheme and paint job.