What do H.E.R.B.I.E., X-23, and Firestar have in common? All three made their debut in cartoons before making their initial comic book appearance. What do they not have in common? Marvel Legends. While X-23 will have two figures with the release of the upcoming X-force version, and H.E.R.B.I.E. has had two figures already, Firestar has had none.
Tragic.
Firestar debuted on the Saturday morning cartoon appropriately named Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends along with Spider-Man himself and fellow mutant Iceman. Oddly enough, she and H.E.R.B.I.E.’s creation share similar stories. They wanted a “fire and ice” motif to team up with Spider-Man, but the rights to the Human Torch were unavailable, so they created Firestar to serve the role of resident hottie. H.E.R.B.I.E.’s role in the Fantastic Four cartoon came about because of similar rights issues.
And yet, we have two H.E.R.B.I.E.’s and no Firestar.
Firestar went on to have a pretty good career in the comics, with major roles in both the New Warriors and the Avengers, along with various adventures beside the X-Men.
I was a huge fan of the Spider-friends cartoon, and at the time had no idea that she was not an actual member of the comic book Marvel Universe. Since I was very aware of Iceman and Spider-Man existing within the comic pages, I just assumed that I had never run across an issue featuring Firestar. It wasn’t until she was finally inserted into the MU with a proper in-canon appearance that I realized she had been created explicitly for the cartoon. A mini-series followed that debut, but it wouldn’t be until her appearances in the New Warriors when she finally felt fully integrated into the MU.
Over the years she has had a relatively small amount of costumes compared to most of the Mutant population. Most of her costumes have been decent, built around an obvious fire theme and most featuring a large amount of yellow. While either of her two Avengers-era costumes would be nice to get somewhere down the line, I think the mostly yellow version that she wore at the beginning of her comic career and, most importantly, in her cartoon appearances would have to be the way to go.
We’ve seen with Hellcat (who I still can’t believe actually got a figure) that all that yellow can be very striking as a figure. I’m sure the amount of custom Firestars made from hellcat number in the billions by now, so we’ve got a good idea how she’d look in figure form.
Marvel Legends have been on a run of redheads lately, with Jean Grey, Black Widow and Mary Jane all getting figures in the past few years, making Firestar’s absence all that more noticeable. Hopefully this time around she can get her own unique head with unique hair instead of passing around a different version of the same head.
Much like was done in the 4-inch Marvel Universe line, my personal wish would be for her to be released in a three-pack with a slightly thicker-bodied Spider-Man and a non-translucent, all-white Iceman — maybe utilizing the recent armored Beetle chest — but I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen. I’d settle for just a standard release. I’d say a slot in an Avengers wave might be more likely, but there’s definitely reason enough for her to be in a Spider-Man wave. Hell, pop her into an X-Men wave for all I care.
There are characters whose absence I can grudgingly understand, but then there are others continuously passed over time and time again. I feel like Firestar is veeeeeery close to getting a figure, it would just take someone in charge giving her a slight nudge. It’s time for that nudge.
