hadriel.

[fulminants]

PLAYER
Player name: Qing
Contact: queen_qing@plurk
Characters currently in-game: n/a

CHARACTER
Character Name: Johnny Storm
Character Age: Late 20s
Canon: Fantastic Four
Canon Point: Post-Rise of Silver Surfer
History: here, supplemented by info here. More canon write up here and here, and the Fantastic Four novelisation.

Personality:
"I don't fly coach."

These four words pretty much determine what Johnny Storm is at a glance. He is the spoiled younger brother of Susan Storm, and has a personality that's a polar opposite to hers. Where Sue is responsible and career-oriented, Johnny is flighty, irresponsible, and is a sucker for a carefree life. At face value, he appears to be a shallow casanova, having a smooth way with the ladies, effortlessly picking them up and moving on to the next when he's had enough fun with them (one prime example is his encounter with the hot nurse at Victor's private hospital -- from temperature-taking, extreme snowboarding, and right to a pretty cozy time together with Johnny). It's also obvious when he's shown with more than four, five different women throughout the course of the two movies.

However, there's more to than that meets the eye. Johnny is self-assured, and has an unmistakable zest for life and all that it brings. He's an outgoing thrill-seeker, an adrenaline-junkie who loves dangerous stunts and the attention that he gets. For all of his showiness, Johnny is also very good at what he does. He's a competent test pilot at Von Doom Industries, and was given the task of piloting the ship out where Victor and Reed and the others can study the effects of the cosmic storm.

In the novelisation of the Fantastic Four movie, it was said that Johnny Storm was intellectually gifted from an early age but thanks to his fun-loving, impetuous nature, he lacked the discipline to cultivate more from his gift. He's also the kind of guy you don't take home to your mother (especially if she's a MILF), but the kind of guy who can show you a damn good time; he just doesn't stick around for any longer than that.

"Trouble is my middle name."

He's confident to the point of arrogance, cocky and reckless, irresponsible and outgoing, charming when he sets his mind to it. He's also a practical joker, a flirtatious skirt-chaser who enjoys the finer things in life. And this is before he gets his powers. Things don't change much when he does obtain them, except for the fact that he revels in his powers and enjoys showing off and performing to a crowd (see: his dangerous antics at the dirt bike rally where the emcee goaded him into showing them 'something new'), lacking the restraint of his other teammates. Johnny naturally sees the positive side to everything, adapts and clearly makes the most of it, excited by the appearance of his newfound abilities.

"What, you mean we won't be able to turn (our powers) it off either? That would save time, ha!"
"You don't really want to walk around on fire for the rest of your life, do you?"
"Is that a trick question?"
"Grow up, Johnny."
"Come on, am I the only one who thinks this is cool?"

Despite the fact that his mother had died in an automobile accident, Johnny is a daredevil, hopelessly drawn to fast cars, bikes, and indulging in extreme sports like dangerous dirt bike stunts, loving the thrill that it gives him as much as he loves showing off. It's almost as if he's out to defy/challenge the circumstances that caused his mother's death. This can evidently be seen in the first few minutes of the movie, where he's introduced speeding down an empty road with his flavor of the week, and midway through the movie where he drives a cherry-red sports car to a dirt bike rally, happy to be at the center of attention once more.

He's later seen entertaining questions by the press amidst a group of pretty hangers-on, at ease with all the coverage he's getting, thriving on the praise and adoration and very clearly milking it for all he's worth.

"I'm the Human Torch. Ladies call me Torch."

Johnny's always been flashy, driving a hot red sports car with a vanity plate that reads 'TORCH'D'; he's the kind of person who gets off on being the life of the party, and loves the new and extraordinary, despising dull, regular routines because they very obviously cramp his style. Evidently, when faced with aforementioned dull, regular routines, he simply creates his own brand of entertainment. This is seen when the Fantastic Four are on lockdown while Reed figures out a way to fix them. While he endures that for awhile, soon, Johnny's back to pranking Ben and sneaking out to the abovementioned bike rally for no other reason than he can. It's clear that he doesn't deal well with boredom at all. He's the kind of guy who thrives on the praise and adoration of the masses, accustomed to being a star -- staying on lockdown is akin to a death sentence for a guy like Johnny.

Also, never insult his sister or Ben; the last time someone did that, Johnny melted the perpetrator's tires off. Despite the fact that he and Sue don't see eye to eye and argue about many things, it's clear that he cares about his sister and is protective of her, taking her side when Sue and Reed broke up.

Johnny makes his ambivalent feelings about Reed (and the fact that Johnny's more perceptive than he lets on) clear in his conversation with Ben near the beginning of the movie.

"Please tell me your guy's not trying to rekindle things with my sister again."
"Of course not, it's strictly business."
"Yes, well. His eyes say differently, don't they?"
"Hey, two hearts got busted last time. Maybe she's not over it either."
"Wow, Dr. Phil, that's deep. Let's think about that: you got Victor, more money than God, stud of the year, and you got Reed, world's dumbest smart guy,

worth less than a postage stamp, that's a real toss-up."

However, things with Reed have improved from then onwards, with Johnny taking Reed to a strip club in the second movie, and even giving his sister away to him during their wedding ceremony.

Ben's and Johnny's relationship seems antagonistic much of the time; while he doesn't shun Ben when he turned into the Thing, Johnny's happy being quite an asshole to him, which reveals his mean streak. He's tactless and insensitive, going as far as to ask Ben: "Where are your ears?" after he first sees his mutated form on the bridge. He has a wicked, snarky sense of humor combined with that, when he ends up giving his other teammates names. 'Invisible Girl' for Sue, 'The Thing' for Ben, and commented that Reed's always been 'a little limp' when asked about Reed's powers.

Johnny doesn't think before he speaks/acts most of the time, much to his sister's chagrin. He's naturally hotheaded and very much a dick, reacting to any situation he faces with action instead of careful thought. One example is when he hits on a girl at a bar and finds out she has a boyfriend: when the boyfriend slights him, Johnny sets the boyfriend's drink on fire in an instant, and evidently doesn't give a shit about whether he'd get hurt. Johnny also tends to have a fiery temper; he doesn't think twice about getting into a very public fight with Ben when the latter crumples up his car and and tosses it in front of him. "You think this is funny, Pebbles?" And what he says later is further exacerbated by Reed telling him that his powers might be temporary.

"What if I don't want to be normal? I didn't turn into a monster!"

Here, it's shown that Johnny's averse to being normal and just like everyone else. He wants to stand out and make something of himself, to be extraordinary, even if his response is cutting to Ben. However, Ben and Johnny gradually grow to become close friends -- Johnny might tease him now and then, especially about Alicia and his looks, but they both share a friendly moment together at the bar before the showdown with Victor and Galactus begins.

For all of those less-than-savory traits, Johnny doesn't mean any harm, nor is he a particularly bad person. While he can be too too caught up in himself and be very self-centered, he's never too self-absorbed to help anyone who needs it, and this is seen in the way Johnny instinctively goes to the rescue of a little girl on the bridge before she can get roasted by an explosion. After that, of course, he's eager to answer the media's questions, declaring himself as the leader of the Fantastic Four (that's just awesome); of course, the whole Johnny-as-a-leader thing gets shot down, but Johnny doesn't seem to mind letting Reed and Sue take the lead.

Still, Johnny is quite the showman and his ego practically knows no boundaries. He is, as quoted by one of the women he'd been interested in,

"You're confident, reckless, irresponsible, self-obsessed, bordering on narcissism."
"Okay, so you do know me."
"All I see is a guy who almost got his team killed."
"Okay, I've been a little off my game lately."
"This is not a game."

Which sums up a lot of what he is and how he sees his calling as a part of the Fantastic Four; that in some way this is a game to him. He takes these words to heart, and the way he gracefully accepts this scathing assessment of him also indicates that he's also very self-aware, and isn't entirely blind to his own strengths and weaknesses. Johnny doesn't make excuses for his screw-ups, but he works to move on from it instead of dwelling. On a deeper level, however, some of his antics tend to be a cover for his own insecurities. He acknowledges that he's "not a very deep person", and outwardly wonders if he's "a complete screwup". He's a fun-loving free spirit who can be quite destructive. Case in point: he'd washed out of NASA because he brought two underwear into a restricted area at NASA (ostensibly to impress them), and crashed a flight simulator.

It's clear that Johnny is inherently impatient, and doesn't think about consequences; it reflects in everything that he does thus far. He also doesn't take the Fantastic Four thing as seriously as he should aside from the press attention that the Fantastic Four (more specifically, Johnny) get. His intentions and his feelings on his own powers are also quite obvious in the following exchange between Reed and himself.

"You need to control yourself. Think before you act."
"You see, that's your problem, you always think, you never act! What if we got these powers for a reason? What if it's some higher calling?"
"A higher calling, like getting girls and making money?"
"Is there any higher?"

True to his nature, Johnny's the one who makes use of their fame to get endorsements (because why not, right?). He's the first one to embrace the fact that there are action figures based on them, and is clearly open to openly endorse products. He even makes use of Reed's and Sue's marriage to auction off their wedding photos to the highest bidder. He's also found plenty of creative ways to make use of his powers aside from thwarting evil: one of which is him riding the Baxter Building's elevator all day, raising the temperature whenever a pretty girl stepped in so that she'd take her clothes off. What can he say, really? He does love the pretty ladies.

While he's poised towards heroism and his heart is in the right place most of the time, Johnny can be pretty immature for his age, often allowing his emotions to get the better of him. This can be seen in the way he reacts after he overhears his sister and Reed planning to leave the Fantastic Four, letting his anger get the better of him while they're on a mission to investigate the damage created by the Silver Surfer. Johnny lashes out at Reed during the helicopter ride to the site:

"He's too fast to be contained. When I see Silver, I'm hittin' him."
"Wait, you can't do that. You've gotta stick to the plan and work as a team."
"Oh, so we're a team now? That's news to me."

He's evidently sore about it, and later, he recklessly chases after the Silver Surfer, but thanks to his unstable powers caused by the latter, he makes things worse for his teammates by accidentally swapping his abilities with Reed's. Still, Johnny does display a slightly deeper level of thoughtfulness in the second movie, revealing that he's at least grown up a little more from when he'd first received his powers. He's seen asking Ben about how he'd want to spend his last few minutes before the end of the world -- he shows a different side of himself when he observes that it would be nice to have somebody, shedding light, possibly, into the fact that Johnny would like to have someone of his own to spend his last few minutes with, too.

However, it has to be said that while he can be an ass (and a pervert), he's got a pretty good heart. Despite his penchant for cash, fame and babes, Johnny doesn't think twice about going to his friends'/family's rescue when they need it, standing his against Victor and Galactus even if it could mean their deaths. Johnny doesn't back down from fights; he's bold, courageous, and tends to think quickly on his feet -- and this is seen in the fights that he engages in against Victor.

Despite a few power-oriented screwups that is more the Silver Surfer's doing than his own, Johnny comes through for the people that he cares about. Later in the movie, he shows that he's become more responsible, more selfless and more of a team player and taking his role as the Human Torch seriously as he and the others work to stop Galactus from devouring their planet. This can be shown in the following conversation between Reed and Johnny, when Johnny decides to take on all their powers, seriously risking his life thanks to his unstable powers just to stop Victor.

"It's going to take all of us (to stop Victor)."
"Or maybe just one of us."
"Johnny, we don't know what it could do to you."
"Let's not make this about me."

He proceeds to absorb their powers and to kick Victor's ass. Even though Johnny doesn't undergo a 180-degree character evolution through both movies, he does mature a little, adjusting better to his role as the Human Torch while obviously still enjoying the 'prestige' and fame that comes with being a part of the Fantastic Four. He shows a little more emotional depth and maturity towards the end of the second movie compared to the start of the first. He does still have commitment issues (as seen by the fact that he'd set his sister's wedding bouquet on fire before Frankie can catch it).

Inventory: FF Uniform
Abilities:

- Able to engulf himself in flame, and use that to fly without hurting himself
- Able to fly at high altitudes and for long distances, able to also outfly missiles, and actually keep up with the Silver Surfer at high speeds
- Immunity to other sources of fire
- Able to absorb heat / flames without a problem
- Having a much higher temperature than usual, and able to control ambient temperature in a room
- Physically more hardy and durable than before (he jumped off a roof and landed pretty roughly, but was otherwise uninjured)
- Able to start & manipulate fire
- Able to create walls/circles of flame/flame patterns in the sky that last for minutes
- Isn't hurt when his flames are put out by fire extinguishers, water, lack of air, etc
- The fire surrounding his body is hot enough to melt nearly every object that's headed towards him
- Able to use fire as a projectile weapon
- Burns at extremely high temperatures, enough to melt titanium without breaking a sweat
- Able to pretty much burn hot enough to incinerate the entire world if he sets his mind to it

Weakness:
- Lack of oxygen, fire cannot burn without oxygen.
- Neutralised if there's too much water / flame retardants
- Still effectively mortal
- He tires out after about 12 - 16 hours of going at full speed ahead

Flaws: - Johnny Storm is rash, impulsive, reckless, hotheaded, preferring passion to reason. He thrives on the attention of others and enjoys his powers. He's got a chaotic sort of nature, and he refuses to sit still -- and Johnny tends to sometimes have a cruel streak when it comes to teasing / playing tricks on people like Ben. He's not a bad guy, he just has a hot temper and tends to fly off the handle from time to time. While Johnny doesn't have an inclination to take over the world, it's shown that he won't hesitate to use violence where needed, and thinks that stagnation is a terribly tedious thing to endure. He's not interested in following tradition or being repressed, preferring to take matters into his own hands.

Johnny lacks discipline, and he doesn't respond well to authority, preferring to take the path that he thinks is right because of his own beliefs, not because anyone told him to.

SAMPLES

Action Log Sample: (used a sample from another game, hope this is okay!)

[ This is what the end of the world probably looks like, Johnny thinks to himself as he trudges through the jungle, tucking his handy knife back into his belt. Despite hardcore withdrawal symptoms from the tragic lack of nightlife in this areas, Johnny's good at making his own fun, flirting with the people in his camp, teasing them and, on the occasion, goofing around. Sure, it's a dire situation and all and its put a crimp in his fun-loving plans, but in Johnny's books, life's too short not to have a good time anywhere you can get it. Sue and Reed are sure going to disagree and probably fret the hell out of getting stuck in a place like this, but hey, not everyone can live it up like Johnny Storm, making the best out of a bad situation!

He's getting used to the strangeness of this place; the living's pretty good, and the people aren't so bad when you get to know them, and to hopefully put the whole 'waking up in a tank full of water' thing largely behind you. Because the truth is: this planet isn't a very friendly one, and he's very sure that it's out for pretty much all of them. See, Johnny likes to think that he's not That One crazy uncle you've got, the one that's an aluminium foil short of an immense tin hat, but there are things he's seen, things he's experienced that necessitates that they work together as much as they can, and to hopefully find a way home. Sure, he likes going off on his own from time to time, but even Johnny doesn't have his head that far up his ass to not be capable of being a team player.

All things considered, he's adapted pretty well and he's pretty proud of himself for it; it helps that he likes people and stubbornly refuses to let this new world and the distinct lack of entertainment amenities get him down. The eyecandy that comes his way isn't too bad either, he supposes. It's exciting, too, and new; Johnny likes new, most of the time. No one knows who he is here, which serves as a double-edged sword, starving him of his rampant desire for attention -- as well as giving him a blank slate, allowing him to strive to prove that he can stand on his own even without the rest of the Fantastic Four. Sure, he loves them and all, but a guy's gotta work out his own legacy too, right? Who knows, he can even be a superhero rock star! (At least, once they figure out to properly set up civilisation again. He could be Queen 2.0, you never know.)

Then again, he's not altogether irresponsible, even if he's largely reckless and impulsive (so often to his own detriment). He'd sent out an alert to Sue and Reed a few months ago, hoping that they'd receive it and come find him, wherever they are; he's sure Reed's got his ways of searching and rescuing, right? Today, he's feeling particularly restless -- while he normally wouldn't think twice about flaming on and doing his thing, this mission requires stealth (one of the things Johnny hates), and he sighs, carefully trotting through the underbrush. He's looking out for any kind of food he can salvage, anything that he can pick that won't kill or poison him, and he knows he's making good time, determined to do his part for his group.

If Susan Storm can see her little brother now; young, reckless Johnny Storm who had sailed through life without a care in the world (the truth is that he has too many; from a mother who’s passed away in a car accident to a father who drank and pissed away all his money and had ended up in jail) had become someone else entirely. Someone older, someone who has truly stepped out of his sister’s, his brother-in-law’s, his friend’s shadows. He's proud of what he's achieved on his own here without their help or counsel, and Johnny knows he can get used to it.

Still, it won't hurt anyone to have some creature comforts, right? "Ugh, what I wouldn't give for a sunny beach and to have Miss August on my arm." Johnny mutters to himself. Ebullient personality or not, he's just a touch grumpy as he thinks wistfully of simpler days, chicks who fell all over themselves to be in his company and when he had been the unmistakable life of the party. But that's a fantasy he'd indulge in another day, because he's pretty much hit pay dirt. ]

Score! [ He announces to himself proudly even if there's no one to listen. There is a large strawberry and blueberry patch right there, ripe for the taking -- the team's gonna have a pretty good dinner tonight! Pleased with himself, he quickly starts to gather them up, placing them in his pack and whistling quietly to himself. Sneaking around might've been the name of the game, but Johnny's not afraid of getting into fights; in fact, he'd gotten into trouble during the past couple of weeks like a duck gets into water thanks to his fiery nature, but he'd gotten out of it just as quickly with a touch of well-placed charm (and on the occasion, a good fight). He's a naturally flashy sort, proud of his superpowers and unafraid of letting people know it. See, he's not the kind of guy who's big on keeping his light under a freaking bushel, and who'd want to mess with the guy who can light himself on fire?

It doesn't take long before he's done and proud of his haul, and he's merrily heading back to the others; proud of himself and looking forward to basking in the warm glow of a mission successfully completed. How about that, huh? Johnny Storm the Human Torch, and now the freakin' provider for their little team. He's heard from somewhere men who showed they could provide scored much better with the women -- so take a number, ladies, because daddy's coming home. ]