teccotoys age of mecha kickstarter campaign is live

You may recall all of the awesome reveals from TeccoToys earlier this year, including printable offerings they shared to whet our appetites while we sat tight through the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’m very happy to share word that the time is now! The Age of Mecha Kickstarter Campaign is now LIVE! Here’s the scoop –

Age Of Mecha™ is a 1/35 scale, highly detailed Sci-Fi action figure collectible toy line, set in the year 2150 and focused on powerful Mech walkers and their respective hero pilot action figures. 

Age Of Mecha™ is combining classical action figure toys with the detail and fidelity of 1/35 scale model kits and collectibles, thus bridging the gap between grown up collectors and their kids for a shared hobby experience. The simple idea of having a toy collectible that has an outstanding playability and is sturdy enough to be played with by your kid, but can at the same time stand next to your most priced collectible on the shelf! 

Why 1/35 scale? A practical scale, easy to handle for kids and to take with on trips, which many of you may remember when you were kids yourselves. No limit of choice: the small scale means you can pack them all in your bag! Our action figures are about 2inch/5cm in height, that’s about the size of a standard AA battery. Also 1/35 is a great scale for model builders and our action figures greatly combine with model kits. When it comes to scale, you can build a more realistic world, the smaller you go! At 1/35, you can have more realistic proportions, without having to resort to gargantuan vehicles. So in comparison to our pilot action figures, the Mechs are huge machines, but still only the size of a 6-9 inch action figure. This gives our toy collectible line a very unique perspective plus a not so common pinch of realism and greatly goes together with our hard sci-fi background story. And of course it also allows for even bigger vehicles in the future if the brand can be established 😉

What’s also pretty unique is the focus on playability: In addition to a lot of articulation, our Mechs and action figures also feature a lot of assets, especially the Mechs with their completely removable and universally interchangeable armor plates! Not only can you display battle damage by removing single plates, but you can also create your very own and unique Mech designs by interchanging parts any which way you like! We also took a great effort to design a fully articulated frame for each Mech which completely retains its full range of motion, no matter how you mix the respective armor plates, for the best play value!

And to accompany all this, we have a realistic hard sci-fi background story and short and carefully intertwined character biographies for each of our action figure heroes, which introduce you to the world of the year 2150 and get you started to play out the stories of the Age Of Mecha™. (you can read the whole background story in the story section below and the character biographies in each respective character reward description)

Each pilot action figure comes with the following features:

• 10 points of articulation, fully poseable
• set of accessories including removable helmets, handheld weapons, backpacks (content differs between different pilot sets)
• ID collector’s card with character biography

Each Exo Armor Suit comes with the following features:

• Set of fully removable and poseable Exo Armor parts
• 1 fully poseable special ops pilot action figure included
• set of weapons/accessories (content differs between different sets)
• ID collector’s card with character biography

Each Mech vehicle comes with the following features:

• 33 points of articulation, fully poseable.
• one (1) pilot action figure + accessories included (all pilot action figures are also available separately)
• up to 24 completely removable armor parts, interchangeable between all Mech models for the ability to create unique custom Mechs
• feet transform to wheeled skating mode for fast pursuits
• a variety of handheld weapons 
• 1 individual hip utility pod, interchangeable with all other Mech models
• a fully detailed cockpit, seating up to two pilots each
• one individual extra play feature with each separate Mech model
• illustrated user manual
• set of high quality marking stickers to be applied individually to taste (details and designs will be revealed once the campaign is funded)
• ID collector’s cards with character/Mech biography

The early 21st century marked the beginning of global chaos. The advent of digitization developed into an unprecedented division of mankind with people of all orientations and beliefs unwilling to overcome their differences to unite and tackle the massive global crises which were unfolding.

By the late 2030‘s, most of the world’s nation states resigned from treaties and international organizations and resorted to armed conflicts over territory and resources.

By 2060, many of the former nation states collapsed from insurgencies and civil war among its populations and many governments were replaced by corporate entities or warlords who were able to seize power by the use of private armies.

In 2075, remaining key countries of the former EU together with parts of Africa, China, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan and New Zealand attempted a renewal to form a democratic and free union, known as The Alliance. One of their key intends was to push forward scientific programs to find a solution for the energy crisis and global warming and stop the exploitation of natural resources and thus a further destruction of the planet. A huge amount of the world (formerly south American countries, Russia, USA, Mexico, India, most Arab and Asian countries) was then governed by a union of conglomerates and industry giants under a rule of a total free market with no regulations, backed by the combined forces of their private militaries. They became known as the Free World Association (FWA).

The rest of the world remained under the rule of a coalition of organized crime groups and warlords, known as the Sol Crime Cartel (SCC) who rose to power amidst the turmoil of the mid 21st century, refusing any diplomatic relations and agreements.

Although the FWA continued to exploit resources all over the world, they agreed on a peace plan with the Alliance, based on a mutually beneficial economic free trade agreement and on trying to reduce pollution on a global scale, since the planet came into a diminishing state that threatened the existence of life as we know it.

With peace guaranteed, the Alliance was able to combine their resources to find a solution to prevent the extinction of mankind and life on Earth altogether and came to a breakthrough in 2086 with the invention of mobile fusion reactors.

With virtually no energy costs and huge amounts of power output, these devices made space exploration and exploitation economically practicable and feasible. The Alliance and the FWA agreed on a transition of all resource exploitation to mining colonies in outer space and a global non conflict zone, working together (officially) to establish a solar supply chain for all needed resources on Earth  and to fight the Cartel which was still in control of about one third of the world’s population.

Harsh conditions and rugged terrain on the gas giant’s moons’ established mining sites and ruined infrastructures and conditions in the uninhabitable zones on Earth made it necessary to develop a new kind of transportation, construction and defense device, versatile enough to traverse and work the most dangerous environments in our solar system.

By 2098, the Age Of Mecha™ began. Versatile 2-legged personal transports built from sturdy new materials were made possible by the immense power outputs of the mobile fusion reactors.

By 2115, Mecha were used in almost any regard: civilian, construction, transportation, police forces, medical, military. But most of all, Mecha were especially beneficial in resource exploitation in outer space mining colonies on Mars, the moons of  Jupiter and Saturn, and their defense against pirate and criminal  organizations.

It is now 2150 and the Age Of Mecha™ tells the stories of the brave people who pilot these metal beasts, on Earth and the colonies in outer space.

We have several reward packages to offer. You can choose from any one of the unlocked Mechs, Action Figures or Exo Armor Suits on the list below. Want more? Sure thing! There are several reward bundle tiers to satisfy all your Mecha needs, from Action Figure packs to Full Metal Army!

We will be using Backerkit to conduct a survey after the campaign ends to collect your addresses, your choice of reward products and to calculate shipping costs.

Your specific choice of Mech, Exo Armor Suit and Pilot Action Figure models can be made after the campaign ends in your Backerkit survey!

We also offer digital download A3 posters for every unlocked Character and Mech, illustrated by Robbie Trevino! Here are the previews for the posters. We’ll have 6 posters in total for the base campaign, the 3 below already exist. The rest will be commissioned if the campaign is funded. In addition, each unlocked stretch goal will include new posters for the respective illustrations!

Please note: Shipping costs are not included with this Kickstarter campaign and will be added on checkout with your Backer Kit survey after the campaign ends! 

Also, your specific choice of Mechs, Action Figures, Exo Armor Suits and digital download Posters can be made in the Backer Kit survey after the end of the campaign!

Please be aware that you have to add shipping costs to your reward selection which may range from anywhere between 8 US$ to 60 US$, depending on your selection of rewards, package weight and destination! We will try to figure out the best and lowest possible shipping rates including tracking for your packages.

Also, be aware that customs duties and VAT may apply, depending on your country of residence. Please be aware that we are not able to cover these costs.

Please be aware that, if not stated otherwise, all within this campaign depicted action figures and Mechs are 3D printed, hand painted prototypes! 

The final products will be injection molded and a material mix of ABS, PVC and POM with a finer surface finish and the final colors will be more robust and may slightly vary from those of the depicted prototypes due to a different coloring process. Also, the images on the character ID cards depicted here, are pre-visualization 3D renderings where no illustration is yet available, and colors may slightly vary on the final product!

01. FT-B01 Mech aka “Fatboy” + Dr. Matthias “Mad Doc” Vogel Pilot Action Figure

02. Dr. Matthias “Mad Doc” Vogel standalone action figure

03. Heavy Mech + Lt. Marvin “Cutter” Cole Pilot Action Figure

04. Lt. Marvin “Cutter” Cole standalone action figure

05. Exo Armor Space Type + Pilot Action Figure

06. Exo Armor Heavy Type + Pilot Action Figure

07. FT-B01 “Fatboy” Black + Dr. Matthias “Mad Doc” Vogel Urban Camo (+standalone action figure)

unlocked @ 420.000,00 € (499,000.00 $)

08. Heavy Mech Urban Camo + Lt. Marvin “Cutter” Cole Urban Camo (+standalone action figure)

unlocked @ 447.000,00 € (531,000.00 $)

09. Astro Mech + Maj. Janice Delacroix Pilot Action Figure 

unlocked @ 529.000,00 € (629,000.00 $)

 10. Maj. Janice Delacroix standalone action figure

11. Astro Mech Ganymede Camo + Maj. Janice Delacroix Ganymede Camo (+standalone action figure)

unlocked @ 556.000,00 € (661,000.00 $)

12. Police Mech + Cpt. Perry Lincoln Pilot Action Figure

 unlocked @ 639.000,00 € (759,000.00 $)

 13. Cpt. Perry Lincoln standalone action figure

14. Vulture Mech + The Hawk Pilot Action Figure

 unlocked @ 720.000,00 € (856,000.00 $) 

 15. “The Hawk” standalone action figure 

16. Yana Wolkowa standalone action figure

 unlocked @ 745.000,00 € (886,000.00 $) 

17. SGM. Connor Brady standalone action figure

unlocked at 770.000,00 € (916,000.00 $)

18. Cpt. Allan Delgado standalone action figure

unlocked at 796.000,00 € (946,000.00 $)

19. Lt. Alicia Sharma standalone action figure

unlocked at 820.000,00 € (976,000.00 $)

20. Combat Drone ZX-C standalone action figure

unlocked at 846.000,00 € (1,006,000.00 $)

The packaging cover artworks and character ID card illustrations will be created by the amazing artist Robbie Trevino. Since the budget for commissioning the artwork is included in the campaign funding, we can currently only show what we were able to commission ahead of the campaign, but if the campaign gets funded and stretch goals unlocked, we will immediately commission Robbie to create the corresponding illustrations and reveal the new artwork in frequent updates after the campaign ends.  

Here are some examples of what it will look like:

This 1st edition of Kickstarter funded products will be ages 15+ collectors’ items only, not suitable for children, and marked as such! Please be aware that sharing these 1st edition products with your kids is in your own sole discretion and on your own risk! We definitely urge you to keep these products out of reach of kids of ages 3 and below at all time! Small parts can be swallowed! 

If the campaign should succeed we will acquire the necessary certificates and safety tests required to assure safe handling for kids ages 5+ for future editions. If you are uncertain or uncomfortable with this fact, we urge you to wait for a later edition of products to be available in our online shop and/or our announcement and confirmation of certification and testing!

The manufacturing of collectibles as feature rich and complex as ours is very expensive. However, to keep them as collectable and affordable as possible, we decided to opt for the funding of larger volumes which ultimately allow for a much lower retail price tag. So please be not disheartened if your favorite stretch goal will not be achieved in this campaign. Even if only the base campaign succeeds, we will be empowered to offer the missing stretch goals as rewards in follow up campaigns.

Furthermore, your support of our Kickstarter campaign will help us to enable our future development, which means: 

more Action Figures, more Mech designs and a wide variety of possible other vehicles, including ground vehicles, aircraft and space ships! 

My name is Michael Herm, founder of teccotoys® and designer of the Age Of Mecha™ action figure line. I’ve studied animation at the Filmuniversity Potsdam, Germany and co-founded Talking Animals Animation Studio in 2009 and Lumatic Animation & VFX GmbH in 2014 in Berlin. In 2011, I started to collaborate with Michael Fichtenmayer of Industria Mechanika to create several unique mecha designs for high quality resin model kits. They are still available in their online shop. In 2017 I began to design the toys for Age Of Mecha™ and in early 2018 took to social media to reveal the complete design process on twitter, instagram, facebook and youtube. Please consider following my channels if you want to learn about the past development story and receive regular future updates, thanks.

The artwork for the packaging of our toys will be created by renowned artist Robbie Trevino. Robbie has a long career history in visual arts, games and the movie industry and publishes his personal art books. His clients include Magic the Gathering, Valve, Mondo, Tool, 3d Total, Artstation, Xbox, Netflix and Crunchyroll. He is highly respected by well over 200,000 followers on social media and in the art industry, due to his unique techniques and drawing styles, which set him apart as one of the most unique illustrators of our time.

Our production manager on this project is Christopher  Gawrych, a well established professional in the toy industry. Christopher started his career at NECA Toys, where he grew  and developed for 10 years as both a sculptor and a production manager.  While sculpting many of the amazing figures such as Freddy Kruger,  Jason Vorhees, Team Fortress, and Scut Farkus to name a few, he also  worked closely with factories to develop better tooling and  articulation, oversee all stages of production, and make sure strict quality control procedures were followed. He now works alongside Four Horsemen Studios, and has been key in producing their  expansive world of figures, including 7th Kingdom, Scarabus,  Gothitropolis, and their long-running Mythic Legions series. Chris is handling communication with the factories, ensuring our high level of detail and functionality will  be translated into the molds and tooling, along with making sure we get the best quality products into your hands. Chris’s new  consulting company D13 Toys, and Four Horsemen Studios, are graciously  allowing us full access to the factories they work with, and this means  we will be able to develop a reliable timeline based on our final  quantities, provide timely updates, and get our highly anticipated mechs  and pilots to you when promised!

Project budget

€399,950Making€273,100Taxes & Fees€105,450Fulfilling€19,900Multiple/Other€1,500Last updated February 25, 2020This is a projected budget provided by the creator and may be subject to change.

Risks and challenges

Toy collectible manufacturing is a complex business. Although we tried to figure out almost all foreseeable aspects and hurdles, there still might be occasional events that may delay the production and ultimately the time frame in which we assume you will receive your rewards. We’ve established a time frame for production with the factories, but these are estimates that may be subject to change due to unforeseen production changes. For example, the earliest and one of the most delicate stages is the manufacturing of the injection molding tools. These need to be of the highest precision and need to provide a perfect fit for all the parts so we get the most quality in surface detail and stable joints for perfect poseability. There might be unforeseeable delays due to required quality control iterations and subsequent adjustments of the injection molding tools. Same goes for the production of the parts for the toy collectibles itself, the injection molding process. For that, we have an established time frame as well, but to assure to get the best possible quality, there might be more iterations of testing necessary. Also, if the campaign should exceed expectations and more stretch goals are unlocked, it would of course ultimately affect production time, so depending on the outcome of the campaign and the capacities of the factories, there might be delays. The toy collectibles will be manufactured in China by highly specialized and experienced factories which produce the best available quality in toy collectibles. Currently our factories are not affected by the Corona Virus outbreak and we hope it will stay that way and the workers will be safe and out of harms way. However, depending on the development, there may be a possibility for delays. We want to make the production process as transparent as possible and keep you regularly informed and up to date on all steps accomplished the moment it has happened. However, toy collectible production can sometimes involve single steps that need weeks if not months for completion, so please be aware that we will not necessarily post production updates and news in fixed, preset intervals, but rather when we have actual news to show and tell. Lastly, we are using the services of a 3PL (3rd party logistics) fulfillment service in Hong Kong to ship the rewards to our backers worldwide. We tried to find the best shipping rates, all tracked and fast shipping with respected carriers, but due to shipping worldwide from one location, it may take several weeks for the rewards to reach you, depending on where you live.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter

Environmental commitments

Visit our Environmental Resources Center to learn how Kickstarter encourages sustainable practices.

Long-lasting design

The design of our toy collectibles features modular base elements which will also be present in future products to ensure compatibility and interchangeability with future release items and add-ons.

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I think it goes without saying that I’m beyond excited for this line! I love Mecha, especially at this scale, as these will pair well with B2.Five’s Acid Rain and Joy Toy’s offerings. 

Will you be getting in on the Age of Mecha Kickstarter Campaign? If so, go get that pledge in early so that we can begin to unlock some stretch goals!