Tag Archives: Amazing Heroes

#3475: Amazing Heroes Series 6

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BLUE FLAME, VULCAN, LASH LIGHTNING, CAPTAIN TOOTSIE, THE CLAW, ATOMAN, BLACK COBRA, & BLACK FURY

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Oh, man, who we are!  We’re almost at the end!  Just one more review! ….one more eight figure review… No, I’m losing steam again.  I shan’t do that!  I’m making it to the end!  Forward, into battle!

In 2021, after running their own crowdfunding internally on their webstore, Amazing Heroes got another shot in the arm in the form of Big Bad Toy Store, who financed the whole next assortment.  And, they even financed a whole eight figures this time around, as well as returning the line to its fully public domain set-up.  This one’s gonna be even more rapid-fire than anything else, so let’s get into it!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Blue Flame, Vulcan, Lash Lightning, Captain Tootsie, The Claw, Atoman, Black Cobra, and Black Fury make up Series 6 of Amazing Heroes, and they were available through BBTS and Fresh Monkey Fiction’s website, with preorders opening in early 2021, and the figures shipping out late-summer/early-fall.

Hey, look, it’s the Human Torch!  No, wait, this guy’s blue.  Can’t be the same guy.  This must be the Blue Flame.  Classic mistake, honestly.  Blue Flame was originally shown as a stretch goal for Series 4, but he didn’t make it.  But, Fresh Monkey Fiction isn’t one to let a good idea die, so he resurfaced here.  The figure is on the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He gets a new head, now with all of the features removed…you know just like Human Torch…sorry, Blue Flame.  The paint work does the nifty scorch lines thing, which is fun, and he’s got some flame effects.  And he’s blue, which is especially fun.

Vulcan’s the descendant of the Roman God of Fire, who is also named Vulcan, which certainly has to get confusing.  Being descended from a God of Fire, he’s got fire powers.  Two fire powers guys in a row.  Weird.  Vulcan’s not blue, though, so I guess that makes it less confusing.  Vulcan is another figure that dates back to earlier, having been shown off during the very first Kickstarter as one of four choices of figures that you could back an entire production run for.  Like I said, they don’t let these things go to waste.  He’s using the Captain Action-style head, which is fun, and definitely looks the part of the character from the comics.  It’s got red hair, now, though, which certainly helps it look different.  Beyond that, he’s rather green.

“Lash” Lightning is another one that was held onto from the first Kickstarter.  I guess, what with BBTS financing a whole run of figures, they were entitled to pick two of the four.  Robert Morgan takes on the persona of “Lash” Lightning after training with the Old Man of the Pyramids and getting an amulet, because it was the ’40s and that’s just sort of how Egypt worked back then.  Especially if you were American!  Lash is another figure using the Captain Action head.  Now, he’s ginger, rather than the stark red hair of Vulcan.  I guess that’s different enough too.  Beyond that, he gets a pretty involved paint scheme, which is honestly pretty fun.

Captain Tootsie is, if you can believe it, and honest to god mascot of Tootsie Rolls.  I’m not making that up.  He was created by Captain Marvel/Shazam co-creator CC Beck, and he needed to consume Tootsie Rolls to gain bursts of energy to complete whatever tasks were before him.  He also had a sidekick named “Rollo”, because why not.  His figure is using the standard male head and the main body.  It’s not a terrible set-up, but it’s a bit of a shame he couldn’t get a slightly more Beck-inspired head sculpt.  As it stands, he’s a bit generic, but admittedly, so’s his design.

The Claw is yet another villain.  We didn’t get one of those in Series 5, I suppose, so he was overdue.  Claw was one of those villains of the Golden Age who just sort of fought everybody, and he’s also got the good virtue of just being a straight up alien, rather than some sort of horribly caricatured take on a real person.  Yay?  He did figure Daredevil a few times, so it’s a nice tie-back to the earliest figures.  He’s also got an all-new head, which actually does a respectable job of capturing his comics appearance.  It certainly works far better than anything they already had on hand for him.  He’s also got a clot robe piece, which is basic, but does what it needs to.  There are two sets of arms as well, one with white painted claws on the ends of the fingers, the other without, just so you have some options.

Atoman is another atomic powered hero, because that’s where everyone went for a while.  He’s honestly a pretty by the numbers character when you get down to it.  As such, he’s a pretty by the numbers construction, too.  Basic male head on the standard body.  He does get a cape as well, just to keep things a little more…cape-y?  Sure, why can’t that be a thing?  The colors are red and yellow, which is a pretty neat set-up; he winds up with a bit of a Firestorm vibe, I find.

Black Cobra is a Cold War-era character, so he’s sort of got a different vibe than the others.  It’s a very Commie-smasher, government agent thing.  He, too, uses the standard body and basic haired head; he’s one I feel might have worked with the other male head, but I guess it was already used twice, and you don’t want it to overstay its welcome.  His paint work is the roughest of all the figures in this set.  It’s not bad, but there’s definitely some slop.

And here we are with our last guy, the Black Fury.  Totally different from the Black Terror, by the way.  That’s a whole other guy in black with a red cape and skull and crossbones logo.  How could you possibly confuse them?  Black Fury is Daily Clarion gossip columnist John Perry, who decides that be best way to get gossip is to…go out and fight crime?  Like, he’s not even noble about it, he’s just like “oh, man, I wonder if bad guys ever spill the tea while duking out with good guys” and then he just goes for it.  Hey, good for him.  The figure’s honestly pretty fun.  He’s got a clean design, and it definitely translates well.  He’s even got a cool red cape, and some of this set’s best paint work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It was actually part of this set that alerted me to all of the others.  The guy that brought everything to All Time brought Vulcan and Claw first, and I snagged those, and was hopeful I might see some others, and then he just brought the rest.  And here I am.  Blue Flame was another one that was very high on my list, so I was definitely glad to see him.  The others in this set are decidedly goofy, to be sure.  I did like learning more about them all, though.  Honestly, that’s kind of my favorite thing about this whole venture.  Just learning all the craziness of these old, largely untouched characters.  It’s fun times.  There’s one more set, which introduced a female buck, which I’d like to track down some day, but for now, I’m done.  I made it, you guys.  It didn’t totally kill me!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3474: Amazing Heroes Series 5

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

MR. MONSTER, BADGER, E-MAN, STRAY, & BLACK PIRATE

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Oh boy, it’s part 5 of the Day of Amazement, and guys, I’m tired. Like, sure, there’s a thrill to these whole big bunch of reviews in a day thing, but the inertia’s always worn off by this point, and you’re just left wondering who placed you in this horrible position. And then you remember that you did it to yourself, and I’ll tell ya, that doesn’t really help matters. Why do I keep doing this? At this point, I think I honestly don’t know how to quit. Don’t worry, though, I’ll pull through this and the next review, and I’ll get back that thrill, and in about 2 1/2 years time, I’ll convince myself to do it again, because of all the *fun* I had the last time. I’m gonna need one of you to stop me next time. Oh, sure, you’ll have no way of knowing, but at least now I can blame somebody else.

…where was I? Something with toys? Oh, yeah, Day of Amazement. Yep. That’s the one. So, we’re on Series 5, and by this point, FMF had moved things back to their own site, but they built their own crowd funding thing, which they ran in September of 2020.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Mr. Monster, Badger, E-Man, Stray, and Black Pirate were all part of Series 5 of Amazing Heroes, which also included a re-release of Nexus from Series 2, as well as being augmented by a Comic House-exclusive Captain Canuck and a separately backed Oddity Madman.  What’s interesting about this particular set is that it’s largely *not* public domain characters, instead placing a heavy focus on creator-owned independent characters.  A lot of these had actually shown up previously as potential incentives for earlier campaigns, and wound up all bundled together for one fun creator-owned series here.

Mr. Monster sort of bridges the world between the two aesthetics, having originally appeared in 1947, created by Fred Kelly.  He had two appearances before disappearing into obscurity.  He was later discovered and revived by Michael T Gilbert, who reinvented the character in the ’70s and secured the trademark for the name on his new version of the character.  Mr. Monster is a legacy title, currently held by Dr. Strongfort Stearn, who fights all of the monsters of the night in true pulp hero fashion.  The figure uses the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Series 5 marked a switch up of sorts, because all of the new not public domain characters were also granted some new molds.  In addition to repurposing the flared gloves introduced on Series 4’s Blue Beetle, Mr. Monster also gets a brand-new head, as well as a belt add-on piece.  Since his usual build isn’t quite a perfect match for the general style of the line, Mr. Monster has been adjusted a touch to better fit with the rest of the line.  It works pretty well, and still keeps him true to the character’s spirit and design.  His paint work is quite sharp and clean, and also quite bright and eye catching, and is generally far more in line with Series 4’s quality.  Mr. Monster is packed with a pair of pistols, which are the same ones that were previously available separately on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, for the purposes of arming Black Bat.

Badger is, of course, fully into the creator-owned territory, having been created by Mike Baron in 1983.  He’s the sort of character that I’ve been aware of for a while, but not, like, every really *that* familiar with.  He’s a scrappy sort of guy with multiple personalities, though, so he does seem at least a little bit up my alley.  Badger also gets new parts, though in his case it’s just a new head.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a change-up.  I don’t know that it *quite* fits the vibe of the rest of the line for me, but I can definitely dig them going for something a little bit different.  Badger’s paint work is a little sloppier than Mr. Monster’s.  It’s still not awful, but there are a few spots that are a little sloppy, notably the change-over of color on the hips.

E-Man is a character who’s reputation for me is that my cousins used to call me “E-man” as a nickname (which stopped with the birth of my brother Christian, for whom the first letter plus “man” set-up created less than stellar results, at least verbally), and I found some back-issues of E-Man at one point and everyone joked they were about me.  Beyond that, I had no real idea who he was.  His design and name similarities to Elongated Man led me to believe for a good while that he was a stretchy guy, but that’s apparently not the case.  E-Man is actually a sentient packet of energy, which formed itself into a super hero, which is honestly kind of cool.  He was created by Joe Staton and Nicola Cuti, and he was a late-stage creation of Charlton, before moving elsewhere when they closed up shop.  E-Man gets a new head sculpt, which is honestly one of my favorites from the line.  There’s just so much character and expression behind it, and I really love that.  His paint work is also incredibly clean and sharp; there was room for the yellow and orange to meld together too much, but they rather smartly applied black outlining, which really finishes the look off super nicely.

Stray is a surprisingly new character, having only been introduced five years before joining the line.  Creators Vito Delsante and Sean Izaakse are clearly dialing into some Batman and Robin stylings, with Stray himself being a sort of stand-in for Dick Grayson, albeit with his own unique set-up.  He’s a fun concept, and a fun design, and a great way of adding a little bit of variety to the whole set-up.  Stray’s got an all-new head, which gives him his distinctive head gear.  It’s a pretty strong sculpt and it fits well with the overall style of the line.  Stray’s paint work is pretty involved, and a pretty different sort of color scheme.  His application is pretty clean; there’s a few little spots of slop, but it’s generally solid work.

Hey, we’ve made it to the one proper public domain guy in the set.  They gotta have at least one.  Even by the usual public domain standards, though, Black Pirate is pretty obscure. Don Angelo di Martini appeared in two issues of Avventure in Alto Mare, before the book was ordered to cease publication by Mussolini’s Fascist Party.  He may have made sure the trains ran on time, but apparently Black Pirate was not on his list of things to keep running on time.  For shame.  Well, at least he got a figure out of it all.  Take that, fascists!  Black Pirate uses the base body, with the flared gloves and cuffed boots from Series 4.  He’s also using the bald head, and he gets a cloth cape as well.  In terms of paint work, he’s got a lot of black, as you would expect.  His face is a little messed on my copy, which is a little annoying, but there’s a workaround.  In addition to the sword accessory, which was shown off from the beginning, Black Pirate *also* got a “mystery accessory.”  It turned out to be a second head.  This one’s an all-new one, which gives him a hat atop his mask, granting him a resemblance to another all-black wearing guy with a sword and a mustache, who should totally be in the public domain, but in a myriad of court cases that would make Disney’s head spin, isn’t.  What’s that guy’s name?  I mean, it’s definitely *not* Zorro, right? Right.  Honestly, the whole mystery piece angle was pretty brilliant, and I love the option to turn this guy into someone who’s very definitely not Zorro.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall a handful of these guys from when they were shown off in earlier campaigns, but I was totally out of the running on the line by the time this assortment showed up.  So, it was something of a pleasant surprise, honestly.  E-Man speaks to me for the odd nostalgic reasons, and I love Black Pirate for reasons that can’t legally be disclosed.  Stray’s a cool modern character, and the other two have pretty fun visuals in their own right.  Okay, just one more to go.  I can do this, right?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3473: Amazing Heroes Series 4

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

MAGNO, RUBBERMAN, & FANTOM OF THE FAIR

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

2019 was a pretty solid year for Amazing Heroes, all things considered.  Series 2 finally made it off the ground, and Series 3’s pre-orders came and went.  After the Series 3 venture, Fresh Monkey Fiction went back to the crowd-funding well, but not the Kickstarter well, instead using the smaller platform “Jumpstart” to get four additional figures funded.  This is the one time I got back into the line after Series 1, as I grabbed myself a Blue Beetle, because I’m not gonna be the idiot who skipped a Blue Beetle.  There were three not-Blue Beetle figures, which I’m getting to now!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Magno, Rubberman, and Fantom of the Fair are the aforementioned “not-Blue Beetle figures” from Amazing Heroes Series 4.  They were likewise part of the Jumpstart campaign that ran through December 31st of 2019, and they shipped out in the summer of the hell-hole that was 2020.

Magno is…well, he’s a magnetic guy.  You know, what with the name and all.  He had a sidekick who dressed pretty much identically to him and was named “Davey”.  Just Davey.  That’s the whole thing.  And they fought, amongst others, a guy called “the Clown.”  Is Magno just Spawn?  Well, they do both have capes, so there’s that.  The figure’s on the basic body that they’re all on, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall like the rest of them and moves at the same 5 points of articulation. Magno uses the secondary hair-sporting head, which fits well with his usual depiction. He also gets a new set of legs, sporting cuffed boots, which is a pretty big deal, and he’s got a cloth cape, with a collar, even. Magno’s color scheme is bright, clean, and honestly pretty involved. It’s clean in its application and also pretty sharp on the edges, showing even further improvement from the Series 3 figures.

The line is still doing its best to manage at least one villain per set here, and for this round it’s Herr Riktor, aka Rubberman! He’s the head of a rubber factory in Nazi Germany, who falls into a vat of hot rubber, which does what all vats of stuff do in comics, and gives him super powers. You know, as you do. He was a foe of Iron Ace, a guy in knight’s armor who also flew a plane. You know, as you do. He’s got a very, very basic design, but is also the sort that feels tailor made to this type of figure. He’s actually got three different heads; the mustachioed one is Riktor, while the other two, much like Series 2’s Puzzler, are henchmen. I do rather like the set-up and I also rather like his shade of purple.

Last up is the Fantom of the Fair, later known as “Fantoman.” He’s essentially a heroic Phantom of the Opera, who swaps out the opera house in Paris for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He had an underground lab, connected to an underground river, connected to an underground hip bone, connected to the Fair, which he guarded. He had a somewhat inconsistent look, but it’s okay, because the figure has that covered. He’s got a cloth cape with collar, plus three different heads. There’s a bald fully masked, a fully masked with hair, and a half-masked, which is also red? I don’t know, but they all look pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, I more vividly recall this set than the others, since I bought Blue Beetle while he was new and all. I thought about getting the whole set, I really did, but it wasn’t in the cards at the time. It’s cool, though, because, look, here they all are. In terms of quality control, Series 4 is just absolutely fantastic, and considering they were the ones made at the height of the pandemic, that’s really just astounding. I knew none of these guys going in, but I do sorta like them all.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3472: Amazing Heroes Series 3

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

WONDER MAN, ATOMIC THUNDERBOLT, BLACK BAT, & BLACK OUT

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Fresh Monkey Fiction’s devotion to the Amazing Heroes line was nothing short of…well, amazing, I suppose would be the most accurate term.  After getting Series 2 out there through a variety of means, they decided to refocus and scale back a little bit for the third set.  With only four figures this time around, all of them Golden Age public domain characters, Series 3 removed the crowdfunding side entirely, instead just going straight to pre-orders through Fresh Monkey Fiction’s webstore.  And here I am looking at all four of those right now!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Wonder Man, Atomic Thunderbolt, Black Bat, and Black Out, officially dubbed Series 3 of Amazing Heroes, went up for pre-order on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site in September of 2019, and started shipping out that October.  Compared to other sets, the release was honestly pretty simple and straight-forward.

Wait, Wonder Man?  Isn’t he a Marvel guy?  Well, yeah, now, sure.  But first he was published by Nedor.  And then a different version was also published by Nedor.  That’s this guy here.  Brad Spencer was exposed to, and this is a direct quote from the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki, “a sizzling voltage of a secret current.”  And haven’t we all, amirite?  The figure is built on the basic body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Wonder Man uses the first style of hair-sporting head…which is interesting, because all of the proto-shots used the other male head.  Not that it’s a big deal either way, but it’s a noted change-up. Beyond that, he’s all about that new paint. It’s a pretty garish mix of colors, but that’s true to the text. Wonder Man alternated between brown and black hair, but this figure settled on black, which seems fair enough. His application is still a bit sloppy around the edges, but on a whole is a lot cleaner and more consistent than the preceding assortment.

The Atomic Thunderbolt is a character I wasn’t familiar with prior to this. In essence, he’s kind of a half-step between Captain America and Captain Atom…which is interesting, because he actually predates Captain Atom. Anyway, William “Willy the Wharf Rat” Burns (yes, that’s really his name), a former merchant marine suffering from PTSD, is granted atomic powers in an experiment that results in the death of his creator, who took the secrets of atomic powered people with him in death. Fun times. Atomic Thunderbolt gets the bald head, as well as Madman’s wrist cuffs, which all in all replicates his comics look pretty well. Like Wonder Man, his paint is still a little wavy around some of the edges, but it’s generally cleaner than Series 2 was.

Black Bat? Gee, who could have inspired him? Okay, it’s actually a bit more interwoven than you might think.  Nedor, who published Black Bat, actually had an earlier version of the character, introduced in 1933, who was just a detective, rather than a costumed hero.  The name was repurposed shortly after Batman’s first appearance, for a similarly-themed costumed crusader.  Tony Quinn is a former district attorney who had acid hurled in his face, leaving him blind and scarred.  He honed his other senses to become a vigilante, and also received an eye transplant in secret, and apparently retained night vision because of his prior blindness…because that’s how that works.  Elements of Black Bat’s story would later be reused for the likes of Daredevil (the Matt Murdock one), Two-Face, and Dr. Midnight, which was all pretty darn cool.  Black Bat’s design was pretty reserved, and the figure follows suit.  He uses the bald head, and gets a cloth cape, which even gets the scalloped edges, like another caped crusader tends to have.  His paint is the cleanest of the bunch so far; it’s not a ton going on, but the application is clean, and the head in particular does very well with his mask detailing.  Black Bat didn’t get any accessories by default, but you could order his signature sidearms separately on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, if you so desired.

Hey, it’s Black Out.  Another guy with “Black” in his name.  Who is he?  Well, he fought Uncle Sam…and…that’s really it.  So, you know, bad guy.  There’s that.  He’s another basic bald-headed guy, with paint as his main defining thing.  It’s another pretty clean one, and the skull and crossbones on the head and torso are particularly impressive in their crispness.  He’s also got black eyes, which is unique, and I suppose thematic.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember the one-shot acquisition I mentioned earlier?  Well, these guys figured into that too.  This set’s cool because it’s got one of the figures I was most intent on getting: Wonder Man!  I’ve known about the Golden Age Wonder Man for quite a while, and when he was teased as a possible stretch goal waaaaay back in the first Kickstarter campaign, I was very hopeful he’d make the cut.  Sadly, that wasn’t the case, but at least he finally made it out.  The other three are pretty fun, too, and the improved quality on this set is definitely appreciated.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3471: Amazing Heroes Series 2

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

R.O.N. REAPER OF NIGHTMARES, NEXUS, AMERICAN CRUSADER, CAPTAIN FUTURE, PUZZLER, CHROMETURION

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?  Is this another review on the same day?  Oh no…it couldn’t be.  Yes, faithful readers, you’ve done it.  You’ve stumbled onto another one of my crazy “Ethan does a marathon of reviews all in one day” schemes!  And you can’t stop me…largely because I’ve, you know, already written and scheduled them all.  So, you know, it’s kind of done and all ready to go.  Yes, at the beginning of the week, I was pining for the thrill of the Day of the Vipers and the Day of the Wolverines, and I may have hinted at doing something like that again.  Well, I wasn’t *quite* planning to do it again quite this soon, but the spot opened up in my schedule and I was feeling dangerous.  So, without further ado, welcome readers to The Day of Amazement!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are loosely grouped as Series 2 of Amazing Heroes, but the path to getting them released was not an easy one.  After running successful Kickstarter campaigns for Series 1 and 1.5, Fresh Monkey Fiction ran into issues getting the next assortment funded.  The initial Series 2 campaign failed (which, admittedly, wasn’t their fault; toy Kickstarters had been hit by a slew of projects that never delivered, and it dragged the whole platform down), so they attempted to move the line to a different scale and style.  That didn’t work either, so they refocused, launching a Kickstarter for just American Crusader, and carrying Puzzler, Captain Future, and Chrometurion through as add-ons.  Cosmic Madman (not reviewed here) and Nexus arrived as “pre-orders” through Backer Kit after the campaign had ended, with all remnants moving to Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, and R.O.N. was released as his own artist-sponsored figure.  The point is, they made it out.

American Crusader was the ship that carried the rest, so to speak.  Archie Masters gained super powers when he absentmindedly wandered into a room with an atom smasher built by one of his colleagues.  Yes, for real.  He uses the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He makes use of the sans-hair head, which works well for his full cowled head.  He’s also got a cape, which is a basic black cloth piece.  In the comics, it was lined with blue, but that was probably more of an artistic thing than a true color choice.  American Crusader’s paint work is a little on the sloppier side, at least for my copy.  It’s not awful, it’s just some wavier lines on some of the change-overs.

Captain Future, aka Andrew Bryant, was a scientist who crossed gamma and infrared rays and discovered that when you do that, stuff blows up.  But, instead of just blowing up, he got super powers.  You know, as you do.  Captain Future was originally owned by the same publisher as American Crusader, Nedor, but it’s worth noting that they actually took his name from a pre-existing pulp character and magazine.  There were no similarities beyond the name, and his name actually had very little to due with the character himself.  Andrew here is using the standard male head, with no additional add-ons.  Like Crusader, his paint seems a little fuzzier, especially on the head.  I’m also not so sure about how the molded flesh tone works, but it’s not awful.

Hey, it’s a villain!  That’s a shift!  Yes, the Puzzler, who isn’t to be confused with the Riddler, the Cluemaster, or even the Puzzler (the other one), is a Black Terror foe.  He’s also a character who’s in a sort of a grey area where he’s kinda public domain and he’s kinda not, but no one knows for sure, and it’s all just kinda “hey be cool everybody.”  He’s got an interesting visual, which always makes for a fun figure, especially in this styling.  The paint’s again a little spotty, but it gets it done.  There’s just a lot going on with this one, so I think it’s easier to have those small mistakes add-up.  He actually gets proper accessories, which is fun.  There’s three different heads included, so that you can have classic Puzzler with his cowl, plus a full face mask look, and also a domino mask-wearing henchman!

The last of the Kickstarter figures was Chrometurion.  Whatever you may think, I assure you, he’s not Silver Surfer.  I mean, do you see a surfboard anywhere?  No, I didn’t think so.  Chrometurion is…well, he’s not actually a pre-existing character at all.  Like the Blank Slate from Series 1, he’s a made-up character used to get one more mold out there with minimal paint, making him a good base for customizing.  So, he’s a silver guy in a cloth cape.  Honestly, that’s pretty fun.  Also, that base body looks real nice all painted up in silver.

There are a selection of characters in the line that aren’t actually public domain, but are independent creations who creators were on board with the line.  One such case is Nexus, a creation of Mike Baron and Steve Rude.  Nexus, aka Horatio Valdemar Hellpop, is a super powered bounty hunter from the future, with influences from various Hanna Barbera properties, especially Space Ghost.  It’s as cool as it sounds.  Nexus is exciting, because he actually gets an all-new head sculpt, based on Rude’s illustrations of the character.  It’s basic, but also pretty darn good, capturing his look, and also merging well with the existing base body.  Once again, paint’s a bit iffy on this release; it all seems to be just a touch to thin, which is especially noticeable on the lighter colors.  The blues do look really nice, though.

R.O.N. Reaper of Nightmares is an oddity on his own.  He’s not *technically* a Series 2 release, but he’s closer to them then anything else.  R.O.N. was designed by artist Alex Pardee and…well, he’s a guy with his skin ripped off.  It’s the simple things, right?  Honestly, it works pretty well with the line, in a sort of an EC Comics kind of way.  He’s just the basic sans-hair head on the standard body.  The paint on this one is far more involved, what with all the revealed musculature and all.  It’s actually a lot sharper and cleaner than the others, which is cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, here’s the thing: I got pretty much all of the Amazing Heroes figures in one shot.  I missed out on all of them the first time around, but one of the regulars from All Time decided to unload them in one fell swoop, which was honestly a fantastic opportunity, and I just couldn’t pass that up.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3470: John Aman – Amazing Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

JOHN AMAN — AMAZING MAN

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Back in the summer of 2014, when the site was still very new, I jumped in on a hefty number of action figure related Kickstarters, just to do what I could to expand my horizons a bit.  It was actually a pretty fun, if perhaps financially draining time period for me.  One of my favorites to come out of the bunch was Amazing Heroes, a line of public domain super hero toys patterned on Mattel’s Secret Wars.  I actually backed two Kickstarters for that one, a Series 1 Kickstarter and the Series 1.5 Kickstarter, which added back in some of the stretch goals characters missed from the first campaign.  When Series 1 started shipping in early 2016, there was one additional character (with technically two additional figures) placed up for order to augment.  Created by Bill Everett (creator of Sub Mariner and both Daredevils), it’s John Aman, the Amazing Man!  John’s an orphan from the West trained to have superhuman abilities by the Council of Seven, a group of Tibetan Monks.  His origin served as an influence for the likes of Peter Cannon Thunderbolt and even Marvel’s Iron Fist.  Pretty cool, huh?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

There were two versions of Amazing Man made available in 2016, as part of Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Amazing Heroes line.  This one, officially titled “John Aman Amazing Man,” is based on Gallant Comics’ version of the character, and was available through their distributer’s website Indy Planet.  There was also a proper golden age version, which Fresh Monkey Fiction had on their website at the same time.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Amazing Man uses the line’s standard Secret Wars-inspired base body, with the default haired male head, and a harness add-on, which, in a rather ingenious bit of re-use, is actually just Champion of Mars’ harness flipped around.  The basic head works fine for the golden age Amazing Man, but his Gallant Comics incarnation got Quicksilver-style wisps on his hair, so it’s not *strictly* accurate.  Of course, it’s also close enough to work, especially within the context of the line’s styling.  Amazing Man’s color scheme is a rather eye-catching red, blue, and yellow, which very much works for this style.  The paint work is decent enough; nothing super involved or anything, but it’s all pretty cleanly applied and the colors go well together.  Amazing Man doesn’t get any additional accessories, but he does get the harness, so he’s at the same basic level as the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had the whole first series and the extra figures from the 1.5 Kickstarter when the Amazing Man figures got shown off, and I meant to get this one at the time, and I just never got to it.  Then my financial concerns shifted a bit, and I ended up skipping out on a lot of the line’s other figures, and Amazing Man fell into that grouping.  Thankfully I got another shot at him, when one got traded into All Time a few months back.  He’s another character I didn’t really know much about before hand, but it’s cool to read up on his background, what he influenced.  And it’s like picking up where I left off.  That’s pretty fun!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2481: Blue Beetle

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BLUE BEETLE

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

“When policeman Dan Garret grew tired of the slow pace and red tape of normal police work, he adopted the masked identity of the Blue Beetle to continue his battle to avenge the murder of his father!”

In the summer of 2014, I backed a good number of action figure-centered Kickstarters, as I was trying to really expand my reviewing options, as well as my reviewing foot print out in that crazy online world.  A pair of the Kickstarters that I backed were for Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Amazing Heroes line, which was devoted to producing figures of some more obscure, largely public domain super heroes.  After running two successful Kickstarter campaigns to get us nine figures to start things out, Fresh Monkey has also been slowly adding more figures as they can, through other channels.  At the beginning of this year, they ran a Jumpstart campaign to get another four figures produced.  I managed to jump in for one of those, Blue Beetle, who I’ll be looking at today.

Now, before I jump into the review proper, I’m sure there are a good number of you going “wait, isn’t Blue Beetle a DC character?”  Yes, yes he is.  And before that, he was also a Charlton Comics character.  However, thanks to a whole bunch of different incarnations in the character’s lineage, the very first Blue Beetle, Dan Garret (note the single “t” at the end of his last name; it’s important), actually went into the public domain.  Charlton picked up the character in the ‘50s, and eventually introduced his successor Ted Kord in the ‘60s, at which point the quietly added a second “t” to the end of his name, making Ted’s true predecessor Dan Garrett a proper Charlton creation.  But, at the end of the day, Garret is still public domain, and therefore easy pickings for this line.  Amusingly, he gets a figure, while Garrett never has.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blue Beetle is one of the four figures produced for Wave 4 of the Amazing Heroes line.  He was produced to demand, and he and the rest of his compatriots started arriving to backers in late June/early July. The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As with the rest of the line, Blue Beetle is built on a centralized body, patterned on the old Secret Wars bodies from Mattel.  He uses the core body and the bald head piece.  He also gets a little bit of new tooling for his arms, which now sport flared gloves.  It’s a small touch, but it does a lot to make him feel just a bit different from the earlier releases.  In general, this figure’s construction is nicely consistent with the more simplistic and basic feel of the rest of the line.  It definitely works well with Blue Beetle’s design.  The paint work is likewise pretty basic and simple, but it again works pretty well to convey the design.  They’ve opted not to do any hinting of his scale-mail, which seems like the right call, and is also consistent with the Secret Wars stylings, since Cap was the same way.  The application is all really sharp, though, which looks great.  Beetle is packed with an extra unmasked Dan Garret head, which is a repaint of the Captain Action head.  It’s a decent enough match for him, and it’s just nice to have the option.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had to forego most of the post Kickstarter Amazing Heroes offerings due to monetary reasons, which definitely bummed me a bit.  However, once these guys were shown off, I knew I wanted to at least grab this guy.  And hey, even in the midst of everything going on right now, Fresh Monkey still managed to get these guys out in a reasonable amount of time.  Blue Beetle’s pretty basic, but also pretty fun, and it’s nifty that we were finally able to get him in figure form.

#0834: Amazing Heroes Series 1

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

BLACK TERROR, DAREDEVIL, CAPTAIN ACTION, STARDUST, GREEN TURTLE, BLANK SLATE, CHAMPION OF MARS, SILVER STREAK, & MADMAN

AMAZING HEROES

AmazHero1

In the 1940s, Superhero Comics made their first emergence, replacing adventure pulps as the thing for magazines to be.  It was the era that gave us a good chunk of the DC line-up (though a fair portion of them weren’t initially owned by DC), as well as Captain America, Namor, and the original Human Torch (who wasn’t actually human). These characters have managed to stick around for a pretty long time, and their success allowed the companies who owned them to stay in business for the ensuing 75 years. Unfortunately, a lot of comic publishers from the era weren’t quite so lucky when the initial superhero boom came cooled down in the early 50s, causing many to shut their doors. While some were absorbed by other companies (see: DC absorbing Charlton, Faucett, and a few others), many simply disappeared, leaving scads of characters with no home. These characters eventually fell into the public domain. Since these characters have no associated licensing fees, you would think they’d be natural fits for action figures. Trouble is, they all went out of publication (and therefore fell out of the public eye) quite some time ago, making them a very, very niche property. However, through the help of some Kickstarter funding, some of these guys have finally made their way into plastic form!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These nine figures make up Series 1 of Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Amazing Heroes line. They are the result of two separate Kickstarter campaigns.

I’m not usually one to discuss packaging, but it’s worth noting that the Amazing Heroes packaging was designed to be collector friendly, so the figures can easily be removed and replaced. 7 of the included figures include extra, character specific cards, with art provided by several well-known comic artists.

AmazHeroPacks

SERIES 1:

The initial Series 1 campaign ran wrapped up in August of 2014. It consisted of six of the nine total figures.

BLACK TERROR

AmazHero4Black Terror is probably one of the better known characters included here, no doubt due to his fairly distinctive design. The figure stands 4 ½ inches tall and has 5 points of articulaiton. He’s built on the standard body for this line, which is used for all of the included figures. If it looks familiar, that’s because I’ve sort of looked at it once before; the Amazing Heroes figures are patterned after Mattel’s Secret Wars line from the 80s. The body isn’t a straight copy, of course; the build is quite similar, but the actual construction is a little different, as the AH body is built for easier customizablity, and does not feature any hollow parts like the SW figures. The body wasn’t the best fit for the Marvel Super Heroes of the 80s, but it feels much better for 40s era characters, such as Black Terror. Terror uses the main haired male head, which seems to have been sculpted specifically with him in mind. The sculpt is nice and sharp, with a fair amount of detailing, but not so much as to make it feel out of place on the more simplistic body. Terror also uses a cloth cape, handled in the same style as Kenner’s Super Powers figures. It’s definitely goofy looking, but in just the right way. Terror’s paint work is nice and sharp. Most of his costume details are handled via paint, and, while there’s a little bit of unevenness to some of the line work, the general look is very clean.

DAREDEVIL

AmazHero5Wait, isn’t Daredevil a Marvel character? Why yes, yes he is. But, before Matt Murdock became the horn-headed Daredevil we all know and love, Bart Hill held the name. Instead of blind, this Daredevil was mute. He was actually a fairly successful character, and probably has the most modern-day appearances of all the figures in this set. He’s also got one of the coolest costumes in comics. The figure uses the same base body as Black Terror, but he uses a different head(which loses the hair and defined ears), as well as an add-on piece for his distinctive spiked belt. The belt isn’t a perfect fit to the body, but it’s pretty close, and the sculpt is a very nice translation of the design. Daredevil’s paint is key to his costume being “one of the coolest in comics.”  Fortunately, his two-toned nature is handled very well. With the exception of one small section, the blue is painted on top of red plastic, which is definitely the right way to handle it because red paint tends to be the absolute worst. The colors here are nice and bold, and he just looks really sharp. Daredevil includes his signature boomerang, which he holds very well.

CAPTAIN ACTION

AmazHero6Captain Action is the one figure in the first set who’s not actually public domain, but his rights holders agreed to having him included here. Unlike the others in this set, this is far from the first action figure Captain Action has received, since he began life as a competitor to G.I. Joe (in fact, his line was actually the first instance of licensed action figures, though the good captain was himself wholly owned by Ideal Toys). The Captain gets a head sculpt that is different from the two prior sculpts, with a slicked back hairstyle and a slightly more expressive face. He was originally set to use the same head as Black Terror, but FMF used some of the Series 1.5 funding to get a third basic head produced, which is definitely a better fit for Captain Action. He also gets a separate piece for his traditional officer’s cap, which is molded to the sculpt of his hair, allowing it to sit quite nicely and securely. Captain Action’s paintwork is on par with Terror’s; it’s not 100% perfect, but there’s not anything particularly bad. The figure comes packed with a pistol, just like the one the original CA carried. I wouldn’t have minded getting his lightning-bolt-shaped sword too, but I suppose the line had to be drawn somewhere. Also, while he has no disguise pieces, the interchangeable nature of the figures means you can have him masquerade as any of the other characters in the set!

STARDUST

AmazHero7Stardust the Super-Wizard I was previously unfamiliar with, but reading up on him, he certainly is an interesting character. If you though Superman was overpowered, this guy can do pretty much everything Supes can, in addition to being able to transmogrify people! He’s also probably the figure done the least justice by the base body. His listed height is 6’8”, which would make him at least a little bigger than the rest of the Amazing Heroes. In addition, his original artist, Fletcher Hanks, had a very unique art style, which makes fitting him to a base body, or even rendering him in three dimensions at all a bit of a mean feat. So, it would seem FMF did their best to render him within the established style. As well as using the base body, Stardust also uses the same basic male head used for Black Terror. It works surprisingly well, and looks quite different than it did on Terror. A lot of this is owed to the paint, which offers enough subtle differences to make him look convincingly like a different person. The only real downside to Stardust is the rather unfortunate grey coloring of his original design, though next to the more colorful designs of his series-mates, he actually does stand out a bit.

GREEN TURTLE

AmazHero8The Green Turtle! Wait, isn’t that a sports bar? Umm, yeah, but he’s also a superhero. More importantly, he’s the first Asian superhero in comics, which is pretty nifty. I actually know a fair bit about Green Turtle, thanks to the recent (and fantastically done) revival, The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew. He’s definitely a fun character! He uses the same head as Daredevil, as well as a cloth cape, handled in the same way as Black Terror’s. It’s too bad it’s just straight green, as opposed to featuring the more intricate design of the comics, but I imagine such a design would have proved rather pricey. The rest of his unique features are done via paint, which is handled pretty well overall. The colors are nice and bright, and the general application is nice and clean. I’m also glad to see that Green Turtle has a slightly different skin tone than the others in the series, given his different ethnicity.

BLANK SLATE

AmazHero11The Blank Slate is kind of a multi-purpose figure. He’s the line’s one villain, based on a Daredevil foe from the 40s [EDIT: Helpful reader Lich informed me that the Blank Slate isn’t an actual Daredevil villain; he was given a fake backstory for the line.  I should have researched a bit better). Through a simple head swap, he can be either the lead Blank or one of his minions, which also makes the figure an army builder. And on top of all of that, he’s also a great base body, should people want to make their own Amazing Heroes figures. He uses the same basic body, and includes both the Terror and Daredevil style heads.

 

SERIES 1.5:

While the Series 1 was successful in funding the 6 main figures, it didn’t raise enough funds to get the two stretch goal figures into production. Fresh Monkey Fiction ran another Kickstarter in December of 2014, offering the two new figures, as well as Mike Allred’s cult favorite superhero, Madman.

CHAMPION OF MARS

AmazHero12I know what you’re thinking, but no, this isn’t John Carter. No, this is “Champion of Mars.” See, because John Carter isn’t in the public domain. However, some of his comics are, so we get this guy based on the art of said comics. But he’s definitely NOT John Carter! That said, “Champion” is really hard to keep typing, so I’m just going to use a common male name in its place. Let’s go with John. So, John here uses the same head as Captain Action, which was actually sculpted specifically with him in mind. In addition, he also has an add-on piece for his harness, which is a very nicely detailed piece, which adds a lot to the figure. Lastly, he’s got a cloth cape, which is identical to the one included with Black Terror. John’s paintwork is a lot more brown than his compatriots, which is actually quite appropriate for the character, and gives him a unique flair amongst the others. John is packed with a sword, which is a little flimsy, but still very cool.

SILVER STREAK

AmazHero13I don’t actually know much about Silver Streak, but he does appear to be your fairly average speedster character. And he’s even red and yellow! He also uses the same head as Captain Action, which, if I’m honest feels like one use too many. That being said, the head does actually fit Silver Streak pretty well, and I guess the blonde does enough to differentiate the two. I’ll just make sure to keep the three of them separate on the shelf! Silver Streak probably has the most vibrant paint work of all the figures, despite it not actually featuring anything even close to silver. Everything is nice and sharp, and the red in particular really pops, to say nothing of that pretty sweet patterning on the belt!

MADMAN

AmazHero14Madman is kind of unique amongst these figures. Not only is he not public domain, he’s actually a fairly contemporary character. This isn’t even Madman’s first figure. Heck, it’s not even the first Madman I’ve reviewed here. But it’s Madman, and it’s not like you can have too many Madman figures, can you? Of course not! Plus, Madman’s actually one of the few contemporary characters who actually fits in pretty well with the rest of these guys.  In addition to the standard body, Madman has been given his own head sculpt, as well as add-on pieces for the cuffs of his gloves. The head sculpt is downright amazing (heh!) and does a great job of melding Allred’s style with that of the rest of the line. The paint on Madman is pretty solid overall. There’s a tiny bit of slop around the eyes, but the rest of the work is nice and clean.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After being broken in to the whole Kickstarter thing with I Am Elemental and Return of Skeleton Warriors, it was really hard to say no to these guys. So, I backed the first campaign. And then, I backed the second one too, because I wasn’t going to let the set go incomplete, darn it! It’s been a long wait to get these guys, but they sure were worth it. These are just a whole lot of fun!

AmazHero15