Strength 5d

Agility 4x

Intellect 3c

Willpower 3x

Hand Size: Edge:

4 (25) 2

Powers:

Fire Control: Thomas has the ability to generate and control fiery energies at intensity 10. This grants him several potent abilities, the first of which is the power to fire a burst of flames at anybody or anything within firing distance. This fire will instantly destroy anything of a material strength of two or less, and may damage materials of stronger m.s., depending on their chemical nature.

Thomas can also manipulate existing flames, raising their intensity to his power level or lowering them by a similar amount, which will likely extinguish all but the hottest of flames (or those used by other super humans). To date, Thomas has demonstrated the following viable power stunts through the use of his fire control abilities:

* Fire Restraints: if he can make a successful average difficulty fire control (agility) action against an opponent, Thomas can effectively restrain him or her with a cage, dome, wall (or whatever) of fire. This power inflicts no damage, restraining the target with waves of fire and heat, unless said target tries to escape; this causes them power intensity damage.

* Flame Shapes: Thomas can generate shapes of flame, like fiery letters in the sky, big fiery monsters, and the like, with this power stunt. Such shapes will remain in existence for as long as Thomas concentrates on them, plus one full aura duration.

* Flight: by projecting his flames behind himself, Thomas can achieve the effect of flight, though this is limited to a flight speed of 5, as opposed to his maximum power intensity of 10. While not the speed of sound, this is nonetheless quite fast...

Energy Sheath / Fire: Thomas, while he uses his fire control powers, is constantly covered by a sheath of writhing flames. While the sheath is active, Thomas has intensity 10 resistance to any sort of physical or energy attack (the power overrides his normal strength's defense against attack).

Resistance to Fire and Heat: Thomas has been shown to be highly resistant to all sources of fire and heat. In game terms, consider this resistance to be +13 in scope, making Thomas immune to all but the most powerful of fiery attacks (even the Human Torch's)!

Hindrances:

(none)

Skills:

Boxing: Thomas has been trained in the fine art of unarmed melee combat by Bucky. As such, he can divide his total action score by two, and use this total for two unarmed melee attacks, the second of which will occur as a contingent action.

Energy Control: Thomas has been extensively trained in the use of his fire control powers by the Human Torch. As such, he makes all actions with this power (save for his fiery energy blasts) at one difficulty level lower than is normally required.

Trivia / Comic Books: Thomas was one of the very first comic book fan boys, and he could tell you just about any obscure fact about any comic book from the Vintage Age you could possibly want to (or not want to) hear.

Calling:

Youthful Exuberance: totally enamored in his super heroic life style, Toro throws himself into the battle against Evil with an exceptionally wide-eyed fervor. He loves his life and enjoys being a super hero a whole lot.

Costume:

Toro's costume was even stranger then Robin's; he ran around in green shorts and boots... minus a shirt.

Personality:

Toro acted like your typical teenager, even though he was raised in an atypical situation. He was very cocky, believing that his flame powers could protect him from almost all harm. Thomas called the Torch "Pappy", and loved him like a son would a father.

Real Name: Thomas Raymond
Occupation: adventurer, former circus fire-eater
Legal Status: American citizen with no criminal record
Marital Status: single (married after the War)
Alias(es), if any: none
Group Affiliation: the Invaders, the Kid Commandos, the All-Winners Squad

Height: 5' 7"
Hair: black
Eyes: brown
Weight: 170 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: none

Story:

Fred Raymond, an expert in flameproofing with asbestos, worked with Professor Phineas T. Horton, the man who would later create the original Human Torch. Prolonged expsoure to asbestos gave Fred cancer; however, having met and wed his wife Nora (who was ill from experiments with Radium) the two were blessed with a son Thomas. They nicknamed him Toro after the bullfights they had seen on their honeymoon in Mexico.

The Raymonds were eventually attacked by 'the Asbestos Lady', a villianess in the Human Torch's rogue's gallery. Wanting to gain control of a asbestos expert, it was her idea to get Fred to redsign her costume. Luckily for them the Torch was watching Fred Raymond in the event that something like this might happen, and he intervened to save them. The Asbestos Lady got away, but the Raymonds told the Torch of their son, Thomas and his resistance to flame.

Fred found out his wife had mere weeks to live, he arranged for one final family trip across country. The vengenful Asbestos Lady arranged for a derailment of their train and the Raymonds were killed, but their son Thomas lived. He was taken in by Tom and Ellie Alexander, a kindly couple who preformed a fire-eating act in a circus.

The circus became famous when Thomas' abilities came to light. Both the Torch and Asbestos Lady read of Thomas and his ability and raced to recover him. The Torch not only managed to defeat the Asbestos Lady but was given legal guardianship of Thomas, who became his crimefighting sidekick Toro.

During WW2, the Human Torch and Toro were members of the Invaders, serving for its entire exsistence; Toro left only briefly to work with the Kid Commandoes. He even served with the postwar All-Winners Squad.

In 1949 both he and the Torch were sprayed with the stolen "Solution X-R" a chemical stolen from the Soviet Union. The criminals left Toro alone, believing him to be useless. After he recovered, Toro searched for his missing mentor but when he couldn't find him he retired, fading back into the woodwork.

Until 1953, of course, when the Torch resurfaced again. He and Toro reteamed and worked together for 2 years before the Torch began to lose control of his powers. Saying goodbye to his human son, the Torch left again. (Is it just me or do you notice the reversed Pinochio nature of this relationship -- Torch being the artifical man who wants to be human and Toro his human son)...

Toro retired again and married his wife, Ann. After the Torch's reactivation by the Mad Thinker, the Thinker arranged for funeral services hoping that Toro would show up and Toro, loving the Torch like his now deceased natural father, attended the funeral.

Thomas was captured and brainwashed by Thinker into believing that he was the Torch, and a collar was placed around his neck which would cause him great pain if he didn't do the Thinker's bidding. Toro was sent out to battle Namor, and it was during this fight that his memory began to return, and Toro went after Mad Thinker in a fit of rage.

Toro flew up into the exhaust of the Thinker's escape vehicle and steered the craft into the Thinker's lab, casuing both the vehicle and the lab to be destroyed. It is believed that Toro was killed in the blast.

Using Toro in other stories:

Toro destroyed by a massive fireball from a jet????

Buffalo Chips I say... you could easily say that Toro was blown clear from the explosion and wandered the island amnesic... that he married a local girl maybe not knowing who he was...

You could even say that he and Ann had a son (Or daughter....) and that the child has the same abilites as Thomas. As such, using Toro in a modern campaign is a rather simple concept; he could either come back from the dead (as all Marvel heroes eventually do), not have been dead in the first place, or simply be replaced by a new guy or gal using his name.

Using him in Vintage Age stories is also quite simple. As the side kick to the Human Torch, Toro can easily be pulled into stories that take place during that era. Whenever he is needed, a game Judge can simply plug Toro into the story, though this will usually involve the Human Torch, eventually, and all of the Invaders...