Anthro Gang Series

**The Anthro Gang Series** is a metaseries of action-adventure superhero stories set in the same universe, originally created by Kyle Hewitt, better known as AxlReigns on DeviantArt, published for the site.

The protagonists of the Anthro Gang Series are mainly anthropomorphic animal characters that usually consist of heroic heavy metal rock stars, wrestlers, bikers and vigilante pirates full of justice, that vow to risk their lives to protect innocent loved ones, defend the world and save the day. In a universe where the world is populated with anthropomorphic animals as characters, there are also dark villains that swear to take over the world, and usually, heroic strong animal heroes must step in to fulfill their duty to protect all that is righteous and moral. Usually, it consists of teams of heroes that form these "task forces" or "fighting squadrons" that use their fighting skills, weapons and powers for good to thwart off all of evil.

Mainly, these works are meant to be in resembling shows featuring animal characters and silly stories with a late 1980s and 1990s' Saturday Morning cartoon feel. More specifically, western animated shows such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996), Disney's Talespin, Disney's Gargoyles, Darkwing Duck, Sonic SatAM, Street Sharks, Extreme Dinosaurs and more. However, it could also resemble Japanese action-adventure superhero anime and Tokusatsu such as the productions that Toei was involved with such as Kamen Rider, Super Sentai (which became better known as the material that was adapted into Power Rangers internationally), Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya and Sailor Moon.

The series was formed in 2014, starting off with Nightriders that first actually got its' kickstart in 2015. What first originally began as a stand-alone series, ended up shortly later on becoming the first on what would be a series of works set in the same universe, forming a franchise of stories within a metaseries. Other creators would soon get involved to contribute entries to the franchise to become canon within the series' universe.

## List of Anthro Gang Series

* Nightriders (2014, 2015) - AxlReigns
* The Crossbone Chronicles (2016) - AxlReigns
* Dreamcatchers (2017 (original) - ShaneLyall
* Skylighters (2017, unproduced) - BlueMario1016
* Renegade Angels (2018) - ShaneLyall
* Dreamcatchers (2019 reboot) - ShaneLyall
* War of the Wrestlers (2019) - AxlReigns

## Name in Other Languages

 Korean
 Thai

## Reception

The Anthro Gang Series has received critical acclaim and praise from critics, fans and users all alike. Specifically with the first series being Nightriders which started it all. According to a fan journal that was more or less written similar to like a pop culture article, this series in particular was praised for its' originality while being inspired from 1980s' and 1990s' western animated shows that were dominant on Saturday Mornings and showing tribute to the heavy metal rock and roll genre, as well as character personalities and their development throughout the stories, their visual designs and animal choices for them, well-done artwork that brings the world to life, as well as high-quality writing towards the story and plot. The Nightriders and Flame Heart Girls are seen by several as very positive role models and have been favorably compared to other heroic teams such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers/Super Sentai. As a result, fans now hope for more to be made in the future.

Due to the success of Nightriders, more series entries have been created by AxlReigns himself and a few by other authors that would soon come forward. The most noteworthy being ShaneLyall, who would come to prominence with Renegade Angels and Dreamcatchers. And has been confirmed on War of the Wrestlers (another entry in the series) that Dreamcatchers and Nightriders are actually connected in the same world.

## References

1. ↑ What Makes Nightriders Very Special? by BlueMario1016. DeviantArt.com (2023-05-18). Retrieved on November 2, 2023.