|
WildWill |
Name: Firestorm
Set: Cosmic Justice
Number: 67-69
Rarities: 3-5
Cost: 59, 75, 86
Health: 7, 8, 9
SSADD: 8/8/15/2, 10/9/15/2,
10/10/16/2
Powers: Phasing/Teleport,
Incapacitate, Toughness, RCE
Exp & Vet add no new powers
Ranged Attacks: 1 Range 8,
1 Range 8, 1 Range 10
Team: None, Justice League,
None
Ronnie Raymond and Professor
Martin Stein were caught in a nuclear explosion, and instead of liquefying
like most normal people, their meta-gene kicked in and they kind of fused
together in one body with Ronnie’s teen age body and Martin’s scientist
mind. Together they figured out how to control the merging and
became…Firestorm the nuclear man! For over 100 issues, Firestorm was fairly
unique in the DCU, Ronnie always acting like a teen, and Martin being the
big mentor figure. Made for a good combination. Of course, all good things
come to an end, and at one point, some commie pinko scum err…I mean a nice
Russian boy named Mikhail Arkadian took over the Firestorm persona and they
became a Fire Elemental (don’t ask, it was during the time when DC was
exploring all sorts of nifty elemental things over in Swamp Thing)…but that
didn’t last long. The Fire Elemental separated Prof. Stein from the mix,
and Ronnie ended up the only member of Firestorm…until the new Firestorm
series, which, coincidentally came out yesterday (if our scheduling works
out right it did ;-)
So…let’s take a look at his
Heroclix. Firestorm was always a favorite of mine, going far above and
beyond his prototype, Human Torch character mold. In the comics Firestorm
was pretty ding-dang powerful, but that really hasn’t transferred over into
the game as much as it probably should. WK tried to keep Firestorm at a
reasonable cost, which they did, but they sacrificed some of his power to do
so.
His powers remain the same
across the REV spectrum, the only thing is his stats get pumped up as he
goes along. The Rookie is playable, but with a starting attack of only 8
you’re going to want to perplex that up some in order for the RCE to take
effect. The Exp. is nice in that it adds the Justice League TA, and is by
far the most playable of the three. The Vet loses the TA, but gains an
extra click of health and the starting attack is now 10, which is much more
palatable. At 86 points though, the Vet is not a front liner, he’s a
support piece, and only in a 400+ point game would you want someone that
expensive as a secondary attacker.
Because Firestorm is from
Cosmic Justice, pretty much everyone who wanted one has one by now, and even
though his Vet is a rare, sets aren’t going for all that much, when you see
them. Expect to pay about five bucks for an REV. It’s worth it though,
because in the REV set you get at least two playable figures, and a really
nice sculpt.
My Ratings (Playability
First, then Collectability)
Rookie 2,2
Exp 3,2
Vet 4,3
Next time – A Gorilla with a brain…rounding out this week’s theme
of…wait…was there a theme this week? I don’t think so Stimpy…
|
|
Shooter |
Firestorm
86 points
Range 10; 1 Targets
8 clix of life
Phasing (2 clix); Incapacitate (4 clix); Toughness (5 clix); Ranged Combat
Expert (3 click)
Ok so he’s atomic and not radioactive, so sue me….(see the end of Monday’s
review if you don’t get it). Firestorm’s sculpt leaves a little to be
desired. I would have much preferred an attacking pose or even just a pose
with some implied action to it. Quite frankly, I’m not sure what he’s
supposed to be doing with his arm extended like that. Presumably, he’s
firing off an atomic blast, but the pose just doesn’t really imply action in
my mind. But not a bad sculpt by any means.
Stat wise, he’s front loaded. He’s so front loaded that I might mistake him
for an Indyclix just looking at his dial. However, since he’s a long range
combatant, that’s not necessarily as bad as the up close BCFers that Indy
created. This guy can move into position with his 10 speed with phasing,
carrying someone (probably a medic to heal him up if he’s shot back at, and
then shoot for 5 damage thanks to a natural 3 plus RCE. That’s pretty nice.
His 10 attack definitely helps out as well, giving him a much easier time to
hit his target. He has 4 clix of Incapacitate, but I really don’t see that
being used, since 5 clix of damage should be debilitating enough usually,
but if it isn’t, then I could see using Incapacitate, but only it that
situation. He starts with a 16 defense and toughness, which is again nice;
it’s not amazing, but it’ll do just nicely for a ranged secondary attack.
Let me reiterate, he is a secondary attacker, and only really useful in
higher point games. His stats drop off far too quickly for him to be a
primary attacker. He’s nice for the first 3 clix, but after that, he’s a
sitting duck unless you get him healed up. By click 4, he has lost both
Phasing and RCE, is down to a lowly 7 attack value and a 14 defense. He
still does 2 damage, but you’re not going to hit much with such a low attack
value. His dropping defense does make him a fairly easy heal however, so he
should be able to be healed up and put back into action quickly.
In terms of his use, I would say that he’s definitely not a pushable
character. Do not push him unless he’s been based by a brick figure and can
be healed immediately after pushing. I would also say that Firestorm is a
sniper and later on a clean up attacker. If I was going to use him, I’d
start him out in a good position where he has line of fire to a fairly large
area, and just have him take pot shots at anyone who comes within his range.
I would put a medic behind him, and use him and his phasing to tote the
medic around to heal your other troops as well as Firestorm during the
battle. Late game, when everyone else has taken some damage, you can have
him venture out and move himself into positions where he can finish off you
opponent’s weakened forces. You could always just TK him out as a suicide
bullet and have him deal as much damage as possible before your opponent can
react also. Think about it, with 1 perplex to his range and a helpful TK out
into the middle of the field, he can hit your opponent’s big gun before they
even get a chance to move.
Ratings:
100 points: 1 out of 5
200 points: 1.5 out of 5
300 points: 2.5 out of 5 (Maybe more useful if you had an inexpensive brick
that was good at this level)
400+ points: 4 out of 5 (He’s downright useful here)
---Shooter
Next time… Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well…
|
