Pyro

Pyro was one of the new mutants invented by Chris Claremont and John Byrne for the second incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - the one Mystique assembled. So far, though, she and Pyro the only two members we have, so he'd better hold down the fort until reinforcements arrive. In his youth, St. John Allerdyce used his mutant abilities only for profit. As a side job, he wrote widely read and critically despised torrid Gothic romances. When Mystique approached him with an invitation to use his powers in the Brotherhood, Pyro accepted. Dutifully fighting against the X-Men, Pyro's life would not be lost to combat, but to something worse: the Legacy Virus. Seeking redemption before the Virus claimed his life, Pyro halted the Brotherhood's second attempted assassination of Senator Kelly. As Post was about to kill Kelly, Pyro - summoning up one final fiery onslaught - annihilated the mutant before he could carry out the murder. First of all, "St. John?" What the hell kind of first name is St. John? What parents would be so hateful as to name their child like that? As a last name, maybe. But not a first. It's no wonder he grew up to be a villain. Secondly, you notice that bio doesn't actually tell you anything about St. J-- about Pyro's abilities? As his name implies, he's a pyrokinetic: he controls flame. This Aussie can't create fire from thin air, but give him even the tiniest spark and he can grow it into a raging inferno that he can shape, size and control. The figure stands 6 1/8" tall, which suits him - Pyro's never been the biggest mutant around. He moves at all the Legends-standard points: balljointed head, balljointed shoulders, double elbows, gloves, wrists, fingers, torso, waist, balljointed hips, double knees, boots, ankles and toes. The hip joints are particularly stiff, and feel like they're going break when you move them. So far, though, that seems to just be the way they're constructed, not an actual weak point. Pyro's costume is a product of the '80s, something we can can be thankful for: it means he fell in between the go-go disco suits of the '70s and the straps, pouches and armor of the '90s, so his costume actually looks decent today. It's just three colors - red, yellow and tan - and they're divided into large chunks. The tan is supposed to be orange, so now his hair is the same color as his mask. His big red goggles still stand out, as does his only bit of exposed skin. The sculpt is simple and nice. Pyro was, as we said, a skinny little guy, so the sculpt delivers that. His gloves do seem a little oversized: they make his hands too big and his arms too long. Tubes run from his backpack to the backs of his hands, but only three fingers on each hand move, which leaves him looking kind of silly, to be honest. He has no accessories, which seems like a waste; we couldn't even get some snap-on flame pieces? Maybe he can borrow some from War Machine. All the figures in Marvel Legends 13 come with one piece of this series' Build-A-Figure, Onslaught. Pyro, being a fairly skinny and straightforward guy, actually has two: he's got the hips/stomach and a piece of the big guy's back. Why is Onslaught broken up this way? Ah, who knows? It doesn't really matter how many pieces he's in, as long as he looks good once he's all together, right? Pyro also comes with a reprint comic, in this case Daredevil #355. Now, I'm all in favor of the Man Without Fear, but this is a really, really odd choice. The character's been around for two decades and the best story they can find with him is a one-shot against a guy who isn't even in his normal area of expertise? Yeesh. ML13 also has a new extra packed in with the figures. There's a VS. card, from the CCG of the same name, but those have been an on again, off again insert since ML8. This time, however, we get a diorama backdrop display thing printed on the cardboard insert. Cut it out, stick in in the included stand and you've got a nifty little scene for your figure. Pyro gets a big flaming bird, which would really work nicely for Phoenix, too. Have you ever "accidentally" set something on fire? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.

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