You can find the fifth episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST on iTunes. While you’re there, please drop us a review on the iTunes page. Every comment helps! Alternatively, you may download the podcast by right-clicking here, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (50 MB).

Thanks again to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on these episodes! Additionally, special thanks to Daniel Adams and his band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our super-cool outro theme!

Thanks for listening! Send your feedback to: firewaterpodcast@comcast.net

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Killer Frost appeared last week on YOUNG JUSTICE in the episode entitled, “Terrors”.  We were treated to the Crystal Frost incarnation of the character, with voice acting by Sarah Shahi.  Those of you with long memories may recall that Killer Frost also appeared in the pilot episode for YOUNG JUSTICE.  Below is the description for the “Terrors” episode:

Batman assigns Superboy and Miss Martian to go undercover inside Belle Reve Penitentiary, a federal prison designed to house the world’s worst super-villains.

It was a really good episode, definitely worth your time!  Lots of cold-power fun!  Below you’ll find a few screen captures of Killer Frost from the episode.

My thanks to Michael A. Burstein for the heads-up about Killer Frost’s appearance. Thanks, Michael!

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Mark L. Taylor, the voice of Firestorm on Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, was recently interviewed about his time on the show!   Marc Tyler Nobleman landed the interview for his Noblemania blog.  During the interview Taylor discussed how he landed the role, his fellow cast members, and much more.  Be sure to visit Noblemania and check out the interview!

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SPECIAL ADVANCE NOTICE

Be sure to come back this Wednesday for a very special treat!  We’re featuring an exclusive interview with FIRESTORM vol III writer Stuart Moore! See you on Wednesday!

No Support Bizarro Firestorm! Put out flame!

It’s worth noting there were a few minor differences between “our” Firestorm and the Super Friends Firestorm.  Here is the Super Friends Firestorm origin explained on the SuperFriends Wiki:

High-School student Ronald Raymond, met Professor Martin Stein on the campus of Fairmont University. He would help Professor Stein on many occasions. One night, during an accidental explosion (from a molecular-fusion experiment), Ronald and Professor Stein fuse into one being; Firestorm, the nuclear man! Ronald Raymond had control of Firestorm’s body, while Martin was just a voice in Firestorm’s head.

A fairly close origin, but slightly different.  “Fairmont University”?  Ronnie helped the Professor prior to their becoming Firestorm?  Minor differences, but interesting.

Okay, so the real reason for today’s post is to show off the cool fusion of Professor Stein and Ronnie Raymond into Firestorm!

Check out the 10 minute 45 second mark of the video below to see more!

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Below is the insert from the toy bag.  Firestorm also came with Two-Face and Solomon Grundy.  Other than the toy itself, this is the only acknowledgment of Firestorm in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold Happy Meal promotions.  There is no mention or image of Firestorm on the Happy Meal boxes, the McDonalds Happy Meal downloadable activities, or in the TV commercial.

As I said previously, I’m THRILLED Firestorm earned a coveted McDonalds Happy Meal toy; I just wish they’d colored the figure a little more accurately.  The mold itself is pretty good and represents the Batman: The Brave and the Bold Firestorm quite well!  I really dig the translucent red hair and nuclear blast! It’s just the overall coloring that’s so far off.  To demonstrate the coloring differences, I’ve used the line drawing from the insert above.  The first image below represents how they actually colored the toy.

The next image below represents the coloring of Firestorm in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon.

Again, you can see the mold is just fine.  The only detail they left off was Firestorm’s trunks.  Personally I consider that level of detail pretty good!   If you compare the two images, you’ll see the coloring was off on the boots, belt, sleeves, chest emblem, cowl, and most surprisingly the facial skin color.  The discrepancies in the hair and nuclear blast are easily debatable, so I ignore those.  Now I realize Firestorm has a complicated costume and simplifying the paint job saves McDonalds time and money.  However, I still think they could have made a better effort.

The toy itself is rather small.  That’s understandable considering they give you three toys per meal.  To provide a sense of scale, below you’ll find the Happy Meal toy side-by-side with the Action League Firestorm and the Super Powers Firestorm.  With the exception of Heroclix, this is the smallest Firestorm toy ever.

While the paint job and lack of additional promotional material is disappointing, it’s still a huge thrill to find Firestorm reaching such a mainstream audience.  The Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon will be ending soon, so this is probably the last round of Happy Meal toys from the show.  Maybe we need a campaign for Firestorm to appear on the Young Justice cartoon so we can get another McDonalds Happy Meal toy!

Even if you’re underwhelmed by this toy, be sure to swing by McDonalds soon and pick one up.  I purchased mine separately for less than $2 without buying the Happy Meal.  Let’s show support for our favorite Nuclear Man!  If you still don’t want the toy after purchasing it, give it to a child. Let them discover the fun of Firestorm!

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Y’all know I really dig Firestorm. I do my best to be a cheerleader for our favorite Nuclear Man. I celebrate each of his appearances and use the power of positive thought to encourage his popularity to grow.  However, never in a million years would I have guessed that Firestorm was mainstream enough to merit a McDonalds Happy Meal toy!?!?  That’s hitting the big time!  Firestorm is part of the upcoming Batman: The Brave and the Bold wave of McDonalds Happy Meal toys.  This means kids all over the country who have never heard of the Nuclear Man will soon be playing with a Firestorm toy!  Let’s take a look a the McDonalds Happy Meal Firestorm toy…

Ummm…  gosh…  that’s Firestorm?!?!  I mean, he’s got the flaming hair, the colors are definitely yellow and red, and that’s his silhouette.  But jeez…  I realize a limited level of detail helps control costs, but in this case it seems pretty sparse.  This toy is supposed to be based upon the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series incarnation of Firestorm. They couldn’t spare a little red paint for his sleeves, mask and chest emblem?  Or at least use less yellow paint thus allowing some more red plastic to show through in those areas?  They couldn’t move some of that yellow paint to his boots and trunks?  When they used white paint on the chest emblem, they couldn’t get the belt at the same time? Did they have to make him a white guy?  Jason Rusch controls the physical form of Firestorm in the animated series and thus the skin tone should match that of a black man.  … Don’t get me wrong, I’m THRILLED Firestorm earned a coveted McDonalds Happy Meal toy.  I just wish they’d got his appearance a little more accurate.  After all, you don’t see Aquaman or Flash toys facing these types of problems.  I will say the translucent red nuclear blast and hair look really cool!

Firestorm will come in a three-pack set which also includes Two-Face and Solomon Grundy.   See below.

Below is a shot of all the upcoming Batman: The Brave and the Bold Happy Meal toys.  Some other somewhat obscure characters in this set include: The Spectre, Bat-Mite, Gentleman Ghost, Sportsmaster, Plastic Man as a car, and what appears to be the Earth-2 version of Robin!  Such a cool collection of characters!

While we can’t find anything definite on a release date, the rumor is that these Batman: The Brave and the Bold toys will be available from McDonalds starting today.  If you swing by McDonalds, let us know if these toys are available!

A huge THANKS to James Fabiano for tipping us off regarding Firestorm’s inclusion in this set!  You can bet I’ll be eating a lot more McDonalds in the coming weeks than I have in years. 

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They’ve also produced t-shirts based upon the shield logos for Red Tornado, Blue Beetle, and the Atom.  Wild!

My thanks to Walter from Boosterrific for the heads-up!  Thanks Walter!

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Below you’ll find the Firestorm character tattoo, beneath that is a shot of Firestorm from the actual cartoon.  Looks like the colorist for the tattoos didn’t watch the cartoon all that often.

Below you’ll find a tattoo of a unique-looking Firestorm logo.  It’s not bad, it’s just unlike anything we’ve seen before.

There were four different sheets in the package, each repeated one time (for a grand total of eight tattoo sheets).  To give you some perspective, each sheet measures about six inches across and five-and-a-half inches high.  There were two different sheets of characters and two different sheets of logos.  Below is the sheet featuring Firestorm.  I absolutely love the Gentleman Ghost and Despero tattoos!  Check out the Atom rockin’ two tattoos!  He obviously rates better than Firestorm or B’wana Beast!

Below is the other sheet of characters.  You just can’t beat Aquaman riding a shark!

The next two sheets feature the logos.

I really like these!  My four year old daughter LOVES temporary tattoos.  Now I just gotta convince her to wear a Firestorm tattoo for her dear ole dad.  Knowing my luck she’ll probably pick B’wana Beast.

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*** UPDATE ***

Our good buddies Frank Lee Delano (of more blogs than you could possibly imagine), Rob of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, and Doug of RED TORNADO’S PATH have joined in the fun and posted some of these temporary tattoos on their sites!  Frank’s also featured a similar Batman: The Brave and the Bold sticker set.  Glitter stickers!  Yes, you heard me properly – GLITTER STICKERS!  Show the guys some appreciation by demonstrating you know how to click …

• Ryan Choi gets a tat @ Power of the Atom
• The Big Red Cheese gets inked @ DC Bloodlines featuring Captain Marvel
• Despero gets some skin graffiti @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu, a Martian Manhunter blog
• Aquaman, Batman, and others get all glittery @ Justice League Detroit
• Aquaman gets some ink branding @ The Aquaman Shrine
• Red Tornado gets some new paint @ Red Tornado’s Path
  

Thanks Frank, Rob, and Doug!

In the teaser we discover Killer Frost is actually Louise Lincoln, former girlfriend of Ronnie Raymond.  Apparently Ronnie was quite the terrible boyfriend as he made Louise pay for all their dates and broke up with her via text message.  Ouch!

It’s interesting to note the original Killer Frost in the comics was Crystal Frost, with Louise Lincoln becoming the second Killer Frost. It’s sort of surprising  that they chose Louise for this appearance.  The name Crystal Frost for an icy character seems right up the alley of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Here are a few screen captures from the episode.

This was a great episode!  Be sure to check it out!

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