Firestorm is one of those characters in the DC Universe that has been re-imagined more times than the majority of the rest of their characters. He has been retooled and reworked so many times that he doesn't really have a simple origin. There have been more people that have been a part of the Firestorm matrix than have been members of the Justice League. Despite all the characters and all of the confusion, he remains one of my favorite DC Superheroes. If you want to learn more about the "Bag of Cats" that is Firestorm's brain, check out his Orgin(s) here: THE ORIGIN(S) OF FIRESTORM









cj067 R Firestorm
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8
Points: 59
Keywords: Scientist, Teen

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 6 13 2

6 6 13 2

6 6 12 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: The first time we ever got Firestorm he was a lot like the character in the comics. There's a lot of potential there, but there was a little bit of confusion as to how to unleash it. For only 59 points, he's got all the right powers in all the right places. Up front he's super mobile with his respectable eight movement with phasing allowing him to get into the fight and/or carry a friend. In a modern age of a lower average range, an eight is a sight for sore eyes. Combined with the ranged combat expert, he can be a mighty little cannon to have in your arsenal. He's lacking the prowess to be a main attacker, but as a taxi and as a secondary attacker, he hits many of the right notes.

CONS: It's almost as if he's trying to match the power levels of the Infinity Challenge Firelord and failing. Looking at his stats, it was as if they wanted to reign in the stats that Firelord had yet give him a few useful things like damage reducers, incapacitate, and phasing/teleport. Unfortunately, it seems as if they stole too much from the stat department to give to the powers department. To make him competitive in today's game he is going to have to have more support than is rationally possible. The biggest offender is the defensive stat. There are very few figures past and present that have to overextend to hit the puny 15 that he has top dial...and it doesn't get harder to hit from there.

THEME: With the amount of support powers that you generally find on a scientist team, the rookie Firestorm would make for a good taxi to get those grounded and often slow scientists into the action. On follow-up turns, they could give him the kind of support that he needs and he could really deliver some pain in the right environment. Hopefully said scientist(s) will posess some kind of defend power, though or else he is going to be a really expensive taxi.

Other players' comments/reviews



cj068 E Firestorm
Team: Justice League
Range: 8
Points: 75
Keywords: Justice League of America, Scientist, Teen

10 9 15 2

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 6 13 2

6 6 13 2

6 6 12 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: As was the case with most REV sets back in the day, this version of Firestorm takes the basic building blocks that were established by the rookie version and builds upon them and slightly improves on the formula. He has an improved opening attack, a higher starting movement, and has added the JLA team abillity as well as the Justice League of America keyword. He also adds another click of life and another click of toughness. You get all of this for a measely 16 points. At 75 points, he is getting in the territory of being a solid character. A Nine opening attack may not be the greatest attack value, but it certainly isn't something you can ignore.

CONS: The problem with this Firestorm still lays firmly in his defense. Though he's added another click of toughness, his highest defensive stat is still a 15. All it would take would be a 40-50 point bruiser to charge in and hit him once and then can basically shut him down by just standing there. Back in the day he could still shoot a character with a ranged shot even if they were adjacent, but now that is not possible without the sharpshooter ability. This has only hurt the playability of not only this figure, but all figures with ranged combat expert. To be able to effectively cancel a power by adjacency is too much of a handicap.

THEME: One of my first exosures to this character was through the Super Powers toy line that I had and played with as a kid. I feel that the Experienced version of him best captures the kind of power level of that character for that time, so I would be inclined to put him on a Justice League/Super Powers theme team. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Firestorm, and Martian Manhunter. This was my team growing up.

Other players' comments/reviews


cj069 V Firestorm
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 10
Points: 86
Keywords: Extreme Justice

10 10 16 3

10 9 15 2

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 6 13 2

6 6 13 2

6 6 12 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: The fully fleshed out version of the Cosmic Justice Firestorm looks a lot like what I think WizKids was going for to begin with...an analog of Firelord. They have the similar dial concepts of high damage and ranged combat expert, the high mobility, and the long dial. They just flipped the color of the defensive and the attack powers with each other and gave him phasing and this was the result. Speculation aside, He is a really powerful character top dial, and you get a lot for your minor 86 point investment. In a standard 300 point game you get a giant cannon and have 2/3 of your build left for even MORE powerful characters. To top things off, he has even been given a boost in range to a 10. Thankfully, though his ranged combat expert can be shut down by an adjacent character, he can at least bust all damage reducers on his top click.

CONS: They gave him an increased defense for his veteran version...but only by one. A 16 defense might be enough to stop one unlucky roll, but it still isn't winning any awards. Those last three clicks seem superfluous. It would have been nice to have some of those powers either reappear toward the end of the dial or just have a click or two less of life. Thankfully WizKids would get better with dial design and it would be more fluid and effective overall. Firestorm here represents a very top heavy era for the game.

THEME: His only keyword is Extreme Justice. There aren't many characters in the game that have that keyword and it hasn't been on a character since Brave and the Bold so you won't be playing it in a modern age game. That's probably for the best, though, as this isn't the most competitive theme one could be playing, but it will be a fun one.

Other players' comments/reviews


jl018 R Firestorm
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8
Points: 91
Keywords: Scientist, Teen

10 8 16 3

9 9 17 3

9 9 17 2

8 8 16 2

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 7 13 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Matter-Energy Transmutation: When Firestorm makes a ranged combat attack targeting an object, instead of dealing damage normally he can deal no damage and choose one of the following two options: (1) Replace a Special or Heavy standard object witha light or heavy standard object from outside the game, or (1) replace a heavy standard object with a light standard object from outside the game and bring in a new light standard object from outside the game and place it in a square adjacent to the target object.

PROS: With the new age Firestorm we get a much more capable run 'n gunner. This version gets running shot as well as multiple targets to go along with his energy explosion. It may just be personal preference, but I think that energy explosion really shines when it has two or more targets to use. He has so many more options for powers than the previous Ronnie versions did. It really gives you a lot of options to choose from. Even with his lower ending dial stats, he still has something to offer. He is a Firestorm that requires less supporting and offers much more to the team you put him on as a whole.

CONS: The first incarnation of the Jason Rusch Firestorm was also in one of the first sets to have special powers. Though he happened to get one of the few that existed at the time that didn't have some kind of recoil damage, he did get one that is just kind of...there. I have heard of people doing fun things with it such as using it to make the most out of Arcade's special powers, but after all is said and done, it's really not a game winning strategy. It's just kind of a fun thing to pull off. My biggest complaint conflicts with my love of comic accuracy. Though he is really kind of lame on his opening click, it does represent the fact that the character had just gotten his powers at the time and wasn't all that experienced. That being said, it sucks that he loses running shot just as he's getting to the better part of his dial.

THEME: Similar to the rookie Ronnie Firestorm, I would put him on a scientist team. He would serve a similar function as the rookie from Cosmic Justice would. He would be a taxi who could also serve as secondary attacker and team support. With powers like perplex, phasing, barrier, and his special, he could really be a great x-factor for a scientist team. Use him with Hank Pym or the Fixer for some wacky object hijynx that will still be within theme restrictions! DISCLAIMER: THIS TEAM WILL NOT WIN

Other players' comments/reviews



bd002 E Firestorm
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8
Points: 141
Keywords: Brightest Day

12 10 17 4

11 10 17 3

10 9 16 3

10 8 15 3

8 9 16 3

8 10 17 2

8 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Fight for Control: At the beginning of your turn, if Firestorm has no action tokens , you may roll 1d6. If you roll 1-3, Firestorm can use Penetrating/Psychic Blast. If you roll 4-6, Firestorm can use Perplex. He can use that power until he begins your turn with no action tokens.

Restructure: Give Firestorm a power action. You may destroy up to three wall segments and/or blocking terrain within his line of fire.

PROS: This version of Firestorm takes everything that was good about the other versions and pumps it full of awesome juice. Adding things like invulnerability, pulse wave, and regeneration while keeping the energy explosion and double targets make this one of my favorite versions of this character. The amazingly beautiful sculpt helps a lot along the way as well. His trait gives you the possibility of apples or oranges depending on a die roll, and no matter what you roll you get something useful. He has only one click on his dial that's less than stellar, and even that click isn't all that bad (Click #4, btw). His special power isn't the most useful thing in the world, but it could really help to get the drop on an opponent hiding behind some blocking terrain.

CONS: Though the trait is a cool option to have, it's a crap-shoot at times as to what you'll get. Neither is a bad option, but there are certainly times when one would be favorable over the other, and your fate is left to a 50/50 chance. Then there is the fact that you have to have zero action tokens assigned to the character to even use it. It's not a deal breaker, but for a 141 point character, I would have hoped it would have been a little less restrictive as it seems like it weighs heavily into his cost. For what you're investing in him it would have been nice to have some kind of combo of toughness and energy shields on clix 4-6 as well. He gets awfully squishy awfully quick.

THEME: Brightest Day is his only keyword and though there is only eight other figures that share that keyword with him, they offer up enough varied point costs to make a fun team out of. For a fun and fairly effective 500 point team, I would play with Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, Hawkgirl, and Aquaman from the Brightest Day set for the "Elementals" from that storyline. If you wanted to pick a theme that isn't keyword based, I would think that this version of Firestorm would be a good representation of the Black Lantern Deathstorm.

Other players' comments/reviews



jl52009 R Firestorm
Team: Justice League
Range: 7
Points: 95
Keywords: Justice League, Justice League International

12 10 17 3

9 9 16 3

9 10 17 3

8 10 17 3

8 9 17 2

10 8 17 2

11 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Merge: If this character is adjacent to JL52 #010 Firestorm and neither have an action token, you may give this character a free action to replace both characters with JL52 #021 Fury. Fury begins on the same click number as this character and cannot use the Split ability this turn.

Disable your Weaponry: Firestorm can use Probability Control once per turn when he is attacked. When he does, if the rerolled attack is a critical hit, he may use Probability Control one more time.

PROS: First let's look at that special power. Though it is limiting for the fact that it only works when he is attacked, it also has a nice built in bonus that it provides insurance against critical hits. With this power and in combo with his decently high defense that sports energy shield/deflection, it's going to make him a very hard to hit character from range. This will draw attackers in close, and when they do, you will be able to blast them with pulse wave. Switching it up mid-dial is the return of the double target energy explosion with running shot combo that gives way to the option of double target energy explosion or ranged combat expert. This is a nice option to have since either one could be the right weapon to choose from depending on your opposition. Ending the dial is the ever useful perplex. Phasing has returned on the dial, though, so Firestorm will be able to get to where the perplex is needed, and energy shields will help keep him supporting either himself or your team.

CONS: The Merge trait on both this Firestorm and his counterpart from the New 52 set are almost like a forbidden fruit. Though it can certainly be a tasty alternative way to use these two figures, it might also end up hurting you in the end when you overextend yourself to try to pull it off. It is certainly a neat feature and a cool way to make the whole Firestorm matrix work, but as strong as the two figures are seperately, I'm not fully sold on combining two good ranged attackers into one target. Situations may call for it, and there are certain strategic advantages to doing it, but it's almost too risky for me.

THEME: I am a lover of all things Justice League International. It's a team that I just can never get enough of. If I see that keyword on a character, the chances are mighty high that I will be trying to use that figure on a team before long. Once again, that is the case. I don't know about anybody else, but when I see Firestorm I think of the 80's, and when I thnk of prolific Super Teams of the 80's, I always think of the Justice League International.

Other players' comments/reviews



jl52010 R Firestorm
Team: Justice League
Range: 7
Points: 105
Keywords: Justice League

12 10 17 3

9 9 16 3

9 10 17 3

8 10 17 3

8 9 17 2

10 8 17 2

11 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Merge: If this character is adjacent to JL52 #009 Firestorm and neither have an action token, you may give this character a free action to replace both characters with JL52 #021 Fury. Fury begins on the same click number as this character and cannot use the Split ability this turn.

PROS: This version of Firestorm is the much more straight up offensive firestorm when compared to his new 52 counterpart. He has a nice high movement with running shot and that gives way to hypersonic speed. His attack and defense stats are decently consistent which only helps to let him get his licks in before taking a shot or two. He is very defensively capable on the last two clicks of his dial. With the phasing to get away and the incapacitate and barrier to slow down or block enemies, he should be able to find or make cover for himself or teammates fairly easily. Incapacitate is one of the best defensive powers in the game. Anybody that says otherwise is not using it properly. Sure, it can be used offensively to avoid mystic damage or to chip away at bruisers with big damage reducers, but sometimes pacing can be everything, and if you are slowing your enemies down, you can easily turn the tide of any battle.

CONS: His attack clicks just seem sort of bare. Though I don't use it often, I think energy explosion would have fit in nicely there. It's a shame when a character has multiple targets and there isn't a whole lot for them to use to capitalize on it. It doesn't help with ranged combat expert at all, and the best use of it isn't until his last two clicks where he has incapacitate. Sure, you should always multi-target when it is an option if for any reason other than to hedge your bets, but I guess I'm just left wanting a little more bang for my 105 bucks. Also disappointing is the three clicks of two damage on clicks 5-7. It's most felt on click five. He still has decent movement, attack, and defense for being that far down his dial, but he could have been more of a contendor if he would have bee able to bust big defensive powers.

THEME: Justice League is his only keyword...but what Justice League should one play him on? Personally, I would go for the post Infinite Crisis Justice League team. Jason Rusch was starting to get a handle on things and was really starting to come into his own. This version represents a more seasoned version of that specific Firestorm and is almost like a veteran version of the one from the Justice League set.

Other players' comments/reviews



jl52021 R Fury
Team: Quintessence
Range: 8
Points: 200
Keywords: Justice League

12 11 18 4

11 11 18 3

10 11 17 3

10 10 17 3

9 10 17 3

9 10 17 3

8 9 16 3

8 9 16 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Split: Give this character a power action if it has no action tokens and replace it with Firestorm JL52 #009 and Firestorm JL52 #010. Each replacement character is assigned an action token and can't be given an action this turn. They each begin a number of clicks from their starting line equal to the click number.

Release Energy: Fury can use Pulse Wave and Poison.

Absorb Energy: Fury can use Invulnerability. If Fury possesses this power after an action resolves in which he took damage from a ranged combat attack, heal Fury of 1 damage.

PROS: Fury is large, highly mobile, and has something to be afraid of on every click. His mixture of poison and pulse wave throughout most of his dial (And even combined in that opeingin special power) is going to make your opponent question if they should base him or go for a ranged attack. Luckily, since you can pulse wave while adjacent, they are more likely to stay outside his blast radius and go for a range shot. This will make it beneficial to stay in hindering terrain and get the +1 bonus to defense from a ranged shot. This will also help to get his mid-dial defensive special power to trigger. With that power and in conjunction with his regeneration, he is potentially REALLY tough to take down. To do so will require focused attention. You cant just ignore him or he's going to heal up and come back for you, and with the Quintessence team ability, he's going to be attacking often, and there's no outwitting him to help your case any.

CONS: Though he's often able to do damage that will either ignore defensive powers via pulse wave or just do a ton of damage via ranged combat expert, I think that a three damage for most of the dial is a large deterrent to playing this figure. It's not a terrible damage and it never drops below a three, but for a large 200 point monster, he just feels like he should be doing more or have more tricks in his bag. It's not so much a commentary on him, but moreso on all giant figures, but it would be awesome as poison would work as far out as they can reach. That would make him a little more deadly and would also help to up his playability. It would certainly be something to consider using a lot in conjunction with the high mobilty and Quintessance team ability. Finally, as is the case with most giants, there is a give and take with the giant size that he has. He can target more than a standard character can, but he can also be a giant lightning rod too.

THEME: With only the one keyword his options are very narrow, but as far as non approved theme teams go, the only real limit is your imagination. He would work on any team looking for that "Elemental" type of theme. Recently at my venue we played a "Four Seasons" game and everybody's teams had to be based on one of the four seasons. One of my players (CJDarkness) used an all Firestorm/Fury team to represent Summer and heat.

Other players' comments/reviews

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Now that we have had a little glimpse into the aspects of all the different Firestorm figures, let's take a quick look at his keywords and I will tell you my number one picks to use for each keyword theme available.

Justice League: Fury (You can split and have the best of three worlds)
Justice League International: jl52009 Firestorm
Brightest Day: bd002 Firestorm
Extreme Justice: cj069 Firestorm
Justice League of America:
Scientist: jl018 Firestorm
Teen: cj068 Firestorm


WHO NEEDS KEYWORDS?!

In this section, I'm going to list some possible theme teams that you could play Firestorm on that are definitely comic accurate but don't require keywords and provide links using Comic Vine and/or Wikipedia to tell you more about them. Unfortunately, using these teams means you are going to forego keyword bonuses, but every once in a while, Judges might let you slip by with one of these teams:

All Star Squadron
Black Lantern Corps
Justice Arcana
Justice League of the Air
S.T.A.R. Labs
Super Friends
Super Powers


This wraps it up for Deep Dish Themes: Firestorm edition. Feel free to post what you think about the article and feel free to nominate a character for the next edition of Deep Dish Themes. I'd like to thank Goldpony for the great character nomination, and I hope you all join me in two weeks for a character that was nominated by a good friend of mine...Greenman. He's Marvel Comics' premiere synthetic being: The VISION.

I'm pretty sure you meant "post Infinite Crisis" Justice League team for Jason Rusch, SLVRSR4.

Beyond that, nice writeup!

I'd just like to point out that WK has the sculpts of the two JL Firestorms on the wrong dials. Ronnie (red suit) got the part of the Firestorm protocol that is used for creating blasts of energy/fire (the opening RCE on the #10 fig). Jason (yellow suit) got the portion of the protocol that can manipulate matter (the SP on the #9 fig). Ronnie rushes into a fight (Running Shot) while Jason doesn't (Phasing). So yeah, WK screwed that up.

I used the Jason/Ronnie/Fury combo very effectively a couple of weeks ago. Played them with FF Wonder Woman and the team was pertty brutal. It's also the only time I've been able to get split/merge to work well.

Great write write up and analysis of the Firestorm characters!

Yeah, I probably did. I'll change it

Well, as long as it wasn't ME that screwed it up...

Nice review. Love this guy.

They can double date with super-apes Mikhlo and Peoter. They got the right correspondence between names and powers, but they turned the gorilla into an orangutan and vice versa.

Good overview/review. While they've made improvements they still seem to approach him overly cautiously, regardless of the incarnations.

You did a good job with the materials provided!

Is it worth Merging the 2 Firestorms?

All-Star Squadron? When was Firestorm ever on the All-Star Squadron?


Personally, when I want to play Firestorm, I use the Brightest Day one or the CJ Vet, if I'm short on points.
Bleep the keywords.

Oh yeah. Like I said, I played both with the FF Wonder Woman. Ronnie RS the target. Jason carries WW next to opponent. WW makes free attack. Now that target(s) are tied up you can merge to Fury for big damage RCE attacks with the higher attack value and Quint TA. Or, if the target has RCE you just pound them thanks to giant reach. And if Ronnie has taken damage, he'll be healed if you split them again!

I like the new combo in theory, but I still feel that there's never been a Firestorm who represents the character(s) well solo. Prior to the new ones, all of them have been too pricely for what they do, and nonre really capture the transmutation aspect well.

Heck, I'd settle for an RS figure with improved movement to ignore terrain when moving.

Great write up.

Firestorm is one of my favorite DC characters as well. I have the entire Ronnie Raymond run from his original series. The addition of the new Jason Firestorm was not a good thing, mostly due to DC touting it as the return of Firestorm.

That being said I've heard good things about the new 52 and I may decide to check it out in TPB.

Firestorm with his Transmutation powers is very difficult to do correctly in clix. After all, he's taken on the entire JLA and can basically create what he needs from an iron cage to kryptonite.

I'd really like to have seen this new version take the JL Firestorm's SP and allow you to create special objects/relics as well. That would bring in the entire slew of kryptonite and other items.