Amazing Heroes had a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 that was run by Fresh Monkey Fiction. The first series are based on superheroes that are based on comic books from the 1940’s, and the first wave included Captain Action, Champion of Mars, Green Turtle, Golden Age Daredevil, Madman, Silver Streak, Stardust, and Amazing Man. The second wave will have a Kickstarter that will debut on May 1st, 2017. The new campaign includes an all new assortment of characters and you can check out that press release HERE.
Amazing Heroes brings The Golden Age and Indie Comics together with this line of retro line. The figure designs are inspired from Mattel’s Secret Wars line of the 1980’s, and just like Secret Wars, these figures also share the same body buck. The head sculpts are new on some, shared or repainted on others, and some of the figures even includes accessories.
Thank you to Fresh Monkey Fiction to providing some of their Amazing Heroes action figures, card backs and trading cards for review.
Availability: January 2016
The first wave of figures were available last year, and offered a wide range of classic characters from the golden age of comics of the 1940’s. Design wise, these work really well and fit in with the overall vibe of toylines of the 1980’s. The two 4.5″ action figures we can show you is the Green Turtle and Silver Streak. The first wave features great sculpting, and each figure shares the same body type with five points of articulation. As mentioned above, some of these figures have new head sculpts, while others are simply repainted or shared. On a line inspired by the 80’s style, these have great paint applications and quality to them. Every line is crisp and there is a lot of great attention to detail here, which is actually an improvement over paint apps compared to some larger toy companies.
What is interesting here is that Fresh Monkey Fiction is not only focusing on some of the core characters of the 1940’s, but the line also expanded into something more than a Golden Age line. Some of these characters like Champion of Mars and Silver Streak have an audience to this day, and even inspired other artists to create their own characters and enter the industry.
The card backs for these figures are incredible, and each one is clam shelled and easy to open. The packaging can hold the figure securely in place while not taking anything away from the eye catching backer cards that are inspired to look like a comic book of the 1940’s. The artwork there is incredible, and has the appearance of wear and tear on the edges of the front. The back shows each figure included in this wave on either side, along with a comic stripe of the group facing their foes on a battle world, much like Secret Wars. All of these characters are transported to this new world, and told they had to fight, which sets up the story.
Action figures aren’t the only offering from Fresh Monkey Fiction, as most figures in this line includes two swappable backer cards. This is truly unique and something that is definitely not common. In our gallery below, you can take a look at many of these backer cards, along with the back of each that has a different comic stripe. Some of the front of these don’t have the detailed wear and tear, and some do (see above). The cardbacks are also nicely drawn and definitely worth to add to your collection. Each figure’s alternate card is more character specific, featuring a big, bold illustration of the hero by a special guest artist. These cardbacks spotlight the specific hero, with some stats and history of the character, as well as a small bit of a comic starring him.
What is also available are trading cards, with both a front and back showcasing the artwork and a brief description of the character. The trading cards only have one design for each character, and would actually look great behind the figure in the clamshell packaging itself.
Fresh Monkey Fiction will be offering a brand new Kickstarter campaign starting May 1st, 2017. This will include all new characters and will have a lot of similarities in packaging and design that you see here. Check back for more coverage as it happens.
Overall, these are beautifully done, great sculpting, and the artwork on the packaging is truly something special.
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