Anyone remember Visionaries?

Wolfang · Post by **Wolfang** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:44 pm

Man, I loved the show (I have the series on VHS and VCD), and I loved the toys: same poseability (sp) as G.I.Joe, a little bit bigger than those figures, and sporting some nifty vehicles (The Dagger Assault sits atop my wardrobe).

I just want to know who has any memory of the show.

The basic idea was a wizard called Merklyn (yeah, great creative minds need not apply) issues a challenge to the people of the planet Prysmos when all their futuristic power sources 'dry up', so to speak.

The challenge is to reach his shrine atop Iron Mountain. Any knights (as people now are) who manage to brave the dangers and reach the summit are granted the primary ability of changing into an animal spirit (or totem) animal based on their personality/abilities.

The knights who eventually reach the summit are summarily allied as 'Darkling Lords' (the villains, who have green totems and gold weapons) and the 'Spectral Knights' (the heroes, who have blue totems and silver weapons).

Any takers?

Wildfire Herald · Post by **Wildfire Herald** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 4:59 am

I remember having one of the evil guys with spiny snail/slug monster on his chest hologram. Do you remember Air Raiders? I don't know if they had a show, I just liked the toys.

Scout · Post by **Scout** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 7:17 am

I don't remember Air Raiders, but I liked Visionaries a lot! My fav character was Ectar. Here's a link to a semi-decent website with them just for kicks, Wolfy:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimensi ... sionaries/

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 9:38 pm

Knights of the Magical Light?

Never heard of them

I barely remember the cartoon, never had any of the toys...

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 9:50 pm

Had a couple of toys, the UK annual, watched quite a few episodes... neat concept, I thought. Introduced a good few kids to poetry (the rhymes used to invoke powers on the standards) too...

Neat interview with Flint Dille on that site...

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 10:35 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
Had a couple of toys, the UK annual, watched quite a few episodes... neat concept, I thought. Introduced a good few kids to poetry (the rhymes used to invoke powers on the standards) too...

A whim, a thought and more is sought
Awake my mind thy will be wrought...

or something...

I remember my favourite one was the guy that could suck the life out of things... 'receed and rot' was the end of his incantation...

Wolfang · Post by **Wolfang** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:40 pm

Originally posted by Scout
I don't remember Air Raiders, but I liked Visionaries a lot! My fav character was Ectar. Here's a link to a semi-decent website with them just for kicks, Wolfy:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimensi ... sionaries/

I know about Merklyn's Visionaries homepage. Isn't it neat?

Wildfire; the guy you are referring to is Darkstorm, the leader of the Darkling Lords. His totem is a giant energy-spewing mollusc. His power is decay, and he wields an axe with a second knife-like blade ttached at a 180-degree angle behind the main one.

The incantation for his power of decay is: 'By what creeps and crawls, by what does not, let all that grows receed and rot.' I apologise in advance for the spelling of 'receed'.

And Ectar is cool. I always thought the colour schemes were off though. I thought maybe Ectar should be red/black/white (a la Sideswipe) and Leoric should be gold/dark brown (like a lion). The others could have done with a fresh lick of paint too...

And the best chant was Cravex's power of fear: 'Oh mist-filled pits, dark dank unclear, touch all before me with frost-fingered fear'.

Also, most of the cast were TF voice actors.
Sue Blu (Arcee) was Galadria, Peter Cullen (Optimus) was Cindarr, Chris Latta (Starscream) played Darkstorm and Cravex, and Beau Weaver (Octane) was Feryl. There are a few more here somewhere...

EDIT: Oh, and Sky? The incantation you remembered (very accurately) was the power of wisdom bestowed upon Arzon (Spectral Knight, carries the totem of the eagle).

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:44 pm

Originally posted by Wolfang
'By what creeps and crawls, by what does not, let all that grows receed and rot.'

That's the one!!

Yeah, I have a memory for the bizzarre, what can I say :\

Wolfang · Post by **Wolfang** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:51 pm

Don't we all?

Oh; Michael McConnohie (Cosmos/Tracks) was the voice of Arzon, Hal Rayle (Shrapnel/Snarl/Pipes) was Ectar and Lexor, and Neil Ross, who was Leoric in the Visionaries series, voiced Pointblank, Fracas, Monzo, Sixshot, Crosshairs, Nosecone, Springer and Rippersnapper. He also took over the roles of Bonecrusher, Hook and Slag after TF:TM.

Wildfire Herald · Post by **Wildfire Herald** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 5:05 pm

There's something extremely nerdy but really cool about talking about 80's cartoons and how they tied into each other, such as voice actors.

Wolfang · Post by **Wolfang** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 7:02 pm

Actually, a few 80s properties are related. 'GIJoe' (the 12-inch figures) were turned into 'Neo Henshin Cyborg' figures for Japan (soory did I spell those right?).

And, similar to the way Joe spawned 'A Real American Hero' figures, 'Cyborg' spawned 'MicroMan' ('Micronauts') which incorporated 'Micro-Change' (one of several lines that became part of 'Transformers').

Galvatron91 · Post by **Galvatron91** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 12:02 am

I had some of those...those crazy cats always trying to find ways to get a free dip of their wands...errrr...

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 10:39 pm

My favourites were Arzon, Witterquick (stupid name but I can't talk can I), Ectar and Feryl.

Feryl was cool because he was lame compared to the other guys, like a Visionary version of Bumblebee, suitable only for battling with that bootlick bad guy. All he had was that club thing, and a pea green suit. I always thought of Ectar as something of a cross between Magnus and Springer.

But I hated the voices, such forced English accents really grated. And that fact that episodes were set aside specifically to delve into one character, his 15 minutes in the spotlight if you will, and then he would slip into the background again for every other show.

I know exactly the same thing was done with Transformers, but I could forgive them because they were Transformers. They also didn't all have stupid accents. Its like Bob Hoskins in Roger Rabbit, if that annoyed you guys, think what Visionaries did to (perhaps only) me!

And the quality of animation would jump from episode to episode. A lot of 80's cartoons were like that, except maybe Jem & the Holograms.

Whoops, I've said too much.

Sir Auros · Post by **Sir Auros** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 4:17 am

Hmm, I had some sort of Native American guy who had like a visionaries shield and his chest could be taken off to reveal some sort of hologram, but his arms and legs were solid and not really poseable at the joints.

dai-atlas2000 · Post by **dai-atlas2000** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 2:05 pm

Visionaries is a great 13 part series which never got the second season which it deserved - the reason so many of the voice actors (Chris Latta, etc) cross over is because Visionaries was a Sunbrow production - with Hasbro doing the toys again i think. The gimmick with Visionaries was it was the first time that holograms had been incorporated into a toyline - and they were the main focal point of the heroes and villians powers.

In the first episode, we see that it's set on a planet in the future, where present day has gone past and has reverted to an age of medievalism, but with modern day weapons. Merkyln the wizard invites challengers to climb his mountain (I think) and past tests, those that climb it become the visionaries - some are good, some are bad (as always). Merkyln, then uses the Visionaries to complete tasks for him. They can only use their power staffs once before they have to be recharged - by Maerkyln, thus maintianing his grip over them.

I love the series, so I'll field any Visionaries questions any of you may have - although the website which Scout gave is the best website out there available at the moment.

All but 1 episode has been released on tape here in the UK, so they aren't that hard to find on VHS.

Brave Maximus · Post by **Brave Maximus** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 2:19 pm

I sorta remember watching it as a kid, but not alot. I do have Leorics figure.

Just wandering around the site: anyone notice that one of the good guys names was Cryotek?

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 3:49 pm

Yup... 'twas recalled as soon as I saw the blue dragon thing...

Wolfang · Post by **Wolfang** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 10:09 pm

Originally posted by Sir Auros
Hmm, I had some sort of Native American guy who had like a visionaries shield and his chest could be taken off to reveal some sort of hologram, but his arms and legs were solid and not really poseable at the joints.

I would suggest that that is probably one of 'The SuperNaturals' and not a Visionary, Auros. Don't know a link offhand for those... is the hologram of a lion or an eagle?

Sorry, Wildfire; I remember bits of Air Raiders (the idea being the land was uninhabitable thanks to some cataclysm, so there were numerous flying cities), but not a hell of a lot.

Windy; Feryl had crappy yellow and brown armour and weilded a twin-bladed dagger that produced light. He got the lamest vehicle of the bunch, the Capture Chariot; lame in that it actually had very little in the way of being able to capture anything and moved about as fast as a tortoise with three legs missing. (Plus, I know worse names than yours).

Yes Max. Thats what happens when you still have the copyrights to a name; you transfer them from a knight in red-and-blue armour with a triple morning star who turns into a bear, to a big ass robot who turns into a blue dragon and some vaguely vehicle-like thing.

Arzon was alright, but I agree... that accent particularly got on my nerves. Ectar was, far and away, the coolest of the Spectral Knights. Witterquick was tolerable as well. Leoric was just a pansy... Cindarr (the dopey one who was voiced by Peter Cullen) was the best of the Darkling Lords.