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Description; the Nuclear Hero gets DC Direct treatment.

Firestorm is aproximately 7" tall and is decked in the classic yellow and red uniform from the '80s; puffy red sleeves, the yellow unit with a stylized atom ion it with large shoulder-pads, red hose, and his trade-mark flaming 'hair'.  The figure has 9 points of articulation for decent posing options.

He also comes with a stand with the letters 'JLA' emblazoned on it. 
Firestorm - DC Direct
Meat and Potatoes; 4.8
Perks; 4.0
Homer Factor; 5.0
Ah, teen-age angst... ok, so when you get to be past college, it's not 'angst', it's whining.  So what happens when a super-hero is a teenager?  'None of the other superheroes understand me!'  'You villains never respect my space!'  Ok, ok, so the parents in the crowd are nodding their heads in understanding.  However, for comics, the teen hero actually is a very interesting character because for once, life is really complicated.  For the adults, like Superman and Capt. America, it's no big deal.  They magically balance 'real life' and superhero life without blinking.  Ah, but the teens like Spider-Man and Robin... that's a different story.  Feeling inadequate, trying to have a social life, all these things that normal people face day-to-day come crashing down on them, and make the characters much more grounded.

During my comic days, my favorite was Firestorm.  Teenager from a dysfunctional family, who on top of everything is bonded with Dr. Martin Stein, who had is OWN problems.  Together they became the nuclear-powered being Firestorm!  And he had  TON o' problems; father died in explosion, girl-friend thought he was nuts, Martin's ex-wife shacked-up with the bad guys... wow, sounds like an episode of a soap-opera, doesn't it? 

Firestorm has gone through a multitude of changes over the years, but I still love the original version; the flaming hair, those Barry Manilow poofy sleeves... ok, so maybe I'm the only one who liked them, so there.  Firestorm has been a figure a handful of other times, but now he's back with DC Direct!  How is our flame-headed hero doing?  Not too bad, although the figure does expose a slight problem with DC Direct...

Meat and potatoes are very good, as is the case with DC Direct.  The figure is very, very well sculpted and painted, capturing the Nuclear Hero well.   A nice touch is using clear, almost gelatinous plastic to recreate the 'flame' effect in his hair.  Normally this would be red plastic, but the clear plastic is a nice effect.  The articulation is ok; shoulders, elbows, knees, hips.  Personally I wish a few more joints were there, such as ball-joints in the shoulders and hips, that sort of thing.

Perks.  Ah, this is the problem.  The figure comes with a stand.  Cool!  It's got JLA written on it and is constructed of black plastic cut into an oval.  Ok, that's nice.  What else is on it?  That's it.  Yep, that's it.  No COOL stand that looks like the floor of a building, no backing that looks like the control panel of a reactor, no additional attachments so it looks like the figure is flying.  Nada.  Now these figures are sent to specialty shops only, so the price-point is going to be higher then a Marvel Legends figure.  Still, considering the cost, it would be nice to have a bit more.  No, there doesn't have to be a Marvel Select level of extra stuff, but come on people!  Give us a LITTLE more! 

Homer factor?  Hey, this guy was with me in high school; the angst, the turmoil, the whining.  What's not to like?

Over all, it's a nice figure; well sculpted, decent articulation, and a fun character if you're a Gen-Xer.  Unfortunately, having mediocre accessories for this cost can be rather painful.  I'm hoping DC Direct changes things to give fans more bang for the buck.