Character Spotlight on FIRESTAR!

X-Men, Avengers, Young Allies, Hellions, New Warriors... She's Been Everyhere!

Angelica Jones was one of the first super-heroes I became enfatuated with as a young boy.  I remember watching Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends and eagerly anticipating her change sequence when a wall of flames would wash over her and suddenly she'd be costumed in that awesomely retro yellow and red outfit.  It's interesting to read all the creation stories about this character and how she came to be.  According to most tales, they originally wanted the trio in the cartoons to be Spider-Man, Ice-Man and the Human Torch, but either the legal rights to the human torch were tied up or they thought a boy engulfed in flames would send a bad message, so they had to create a substitute character in a hurry.  Apparently they took inspiration from Spidey's longtime love interest, Mary Jane, and viola!  (oh yeah, and she's apparently named after the creator's ex-girlfriend).  No matter how she came to be, I love her in all her microwave glory.



Click to Spider-Friends.com FireStar Bio!

FireStar has been one of the most shamefully under-used characters in the Marvel Universe.  A couple years ago she really picked up steam for the first time in years, but now she seems non-existent yet again.  She hasn't been merchandised much, but I love every little figure I can find.  Lets check out the bounty...

First Up, the Marvel Universe 3.75" figure from Hasbro's Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends 3-Pack (2009).

This is a great little figure and arguably my favorite of the bunch.  Also, in comparison to other MU females, she has a lot of nice details and great joints (most of my other marvel ladies have weird legs).  Her hair is fantastic!

Next up is an abomination of a figure made by ToyBiz in 1997 that was marketed as a ToyFare Magazine exclusive.  She's basically a repainted ToyBiz Medusa figure.  I was so glad they made her since she was the first FireStar action figure ever produced (to the best of my knowledge), but things luckily have improved for Angelica since.

Next up is a 2005 Art Asylum Mini-Mates FireStar.  She is in a weird blend of her classic costume and her Avengers costume, but I don't mind the look.  She's pretty standard with all re-used body parts.  Great little figure.

Here we have her Eaglemoss lead figurine.  I had to touch-up this figurine a LOT.  She had paint splotches everywhere.  I hated the gold details on her, but I decided to keep them since it was oviously an intentional design choice, and they've really grown on me.

Here is a cool little figure from the HeroClix collectible-figure game, made by WizKids in 2004.  These figures are all kind of odd and sloppy, but they make such a wide variety of cool characters that they're hard to resist.

Next up is the first high quality collector's product made of FireStar.  This is a Diamond Select mini-bust released in 2007.  She's kind of great, but the treatment of her chest area always seemed a little seedy to me.  She was never portrayed as an overly sexualized character and these nipple-tents just seemed like a unnecessary pervy detail.  Beyond that though, this is an absolutely beautiful statue.  I bought it at a closing comic shop for $20.. still overjoyed at that.

The final and most recent FireStar collectible is a Bowen Designs mini-bust from 2010.  This is a pretty nice piece, but when I received her I instantly had a few problems with it.  First of all, her mask seemed askew.  i.e., her eyes were not centered in each eyehole and it looked comical.  (I actually repainted her eyes so you are seeing a corrected version.)  Secondly, I thought her hair was really dark for a fiery redhead, and lastly, her outstretched hand is unproportionately huge.  It's as if it's meant to be foreshortened like the hands on Michaelangelo's David, but it just looks awkward from any view except pointing at you.  Again, overall, I love this piece, but I am critical at heart and must list my gripes.

Group shots!

Cheers!