Every so often I get an action figure that I have been dreaming of for decades... and it actually meets the extremely high expectations that have built up over those years. As a kid watching Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, I was instantly enamored with Firestar. I even naively expected there to be a Secret Wars figure of her. But alas, forty years later she finally gets the quality figure she deserves. When Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was being developed, the creators liked the idea of a Fire-and-Ice dichotomy. The classic Marvel elementals, Iceman and Human Torch, were the obvious choice. However, the rights to the Human Torch were tied-up in a never-produced television pilot and he was unavailable. (This is the same legal red tape that led to the creation of H.E.R.B.I.E. in lieu of Johnny Storm in the 1978 Fantastic Four show). So the creators took the general design of Mary Jane and paired them with Human Torch's powers to create Firestar. And little nerdy me thanks his lucky stars for that.
Firestar proved very popular in the cartoon and by 1985 she was introduced into comic X-Men canon.
Since then she has been an official member of many groups: X-Men, Avengers, Hellions, Young Allies, and New Warriors.
This figure comes with two fairly different heads. This first one is very cartoon accurate and is my favorite of the two. I especially love that she has her multi-toned red stipes in her hair, just like her original animated look.
Firestar comes with two heads, two sets of hands, and two small flame pieces.
She also comes with her pet Losa Opso, Ms. Lion. This figure is articulated at the neck.
Fun fact: Ms. Lion is male.
I'm not typically someone who dwells on packaging, but the cardboard insert of this figure is brilliant. It has a large graphic of Aunt May's living room after all the furniture has been flipped around to reveal the flashing and whirring gizmos that make up the Amazing Friends' base of operations. It was an incredulous setting, even as a kid I would see it and groan "oh, come on." But it's still really iconic at the same time.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are the two different decos of Firestar side-by-side.
And my Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends lineup. I may have to find a Spider-Man with brighter blue.
All my Firestar items together. From Left to Right: Eaglemoss Figurine (2011), Bowen Designs Bust (2011), HeroClix (2014), Marvel Legends (2020), ToyFare Exclusive ToyBiz (1997), Marvel Universe 3.75 (2009), Marvel Legends (2020), DST Bust (2007), Mini-Mate (2005).
All my action figures of comic characters that originated on Television.
From Left to Right: Jayna (All-New Super Friends Hour, 1977), Livewire (Superman The Animated Series, 1997), Harley Quinn (Batman the Animated Series, 1992), Firestar (Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, 1981), Laura Kinney/X-23/Wolverine (X-Men Evolution, 2003), and Isis (The Secrets of Isis, 1975).
Cheers!
Finally - a Firestar. Loved the cartoon. Was blown away when they had the episode with the X-Men. Thank you Hasbro.
ReplyDeleteBravo. Great job with the post and as always the pictures. Firestar is one of my favorite Marvel heroines as well so I flipped my lid when I heard she was being made. I still hope that perhaps we can get a more New Warriors style figure for her to go along side Night Thrasher, Rage, Nova and even Darkhawk...but I'm not going to get my hopes up.
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