I think what separates Visionaries from MtG and D&D, and what ultimately makes it a better fit for the Hasbro Universe, is that it’s a space fantasy, set on a post-apocalyptic alien world, rather than a pure fantasy series.

 

I did some research on the G1 Visionaries.

They used to be science guys, but then science broke and they had to become magic guys.

Based on the end of First Strike and this preview, it seems like that defining concept has been preserved.

 

I'm not sure how much of this concept was preserved exactly because of the review.

Virulina is comparing Cybertronians to a horse carriage or an abacus.

This is a very weird choice of words for a someone who started her life in a technology world and only then had to turn to use of magic.

It sounds as if she did not encounter any complex machinery before.


A toyline with expensive holograms thus figures being more expensive to make on top of a techo-fantasy theme making it very similar in look to already better known MOTU...
Plenty of reasons why it did not last, I'd say.

 

well wait...she could be comparing them to those things because the technology of cybertronians to us are super advanced but maybe to what these visionaries are used to it's just as archaic as a horse drawn carriage. she even questions them being sentient

we really don't know much here so they could have been so technologically advanced that cybertronians are just that outdated to them

 

They know Cybertronians are more advanced than horse drawn carriages, they're just insulting them, because all technology might as well be 19th century relics compared to magic.

 

so this version of the Visionaries has almost nothing whatsoever in common with the original property?

kinda like how the Army Ants are just generic baddies to be thrown at the Joes?

or how MASK is already off the concept of vehicles that transform?

or how Jem & the Holograms is unrecognizable to the cartoon?

i have liked the IDW TF books for the most part but they continue to disappoint me with everything else Hasbro-related. i am a huge ROM fan and generally love Christos Gage but even that book is boring.

hopefully if there are any other Hasbro properties brought into the Transformers movie-verse, they are treated a little better.

i dread the inevitable Inhumanoids return at this point  

 

Eh? MASK is cancelled now, but it never left the idea of transforming vehicles behind? And you can't be talking about Matt Trakker's role in Scarlett's Strike Force, because a transforming vehicle he built appears in the very first issue?

I also don't understand this? I mean, the modern-day characters don't dress like it's the '80s, I guess. And regardless, IDW are clearly doing something right with Jem, because it's easily the most successful of their recent Hasbro acquisitions, running for 26 issues in its original ongoing and still continuing to get followup series.

 

You're arguing with someone who clearly means "its not exactly JUST the 80s cartoon all over again"

Doesn't matter how good the comic is or how well it sells its not everything from 30 years ago....still.

Updates are scary remember? Living in the past is the way to go

 

Not gonna lie, I would play the hell out of that campaign setting (but then again, at this point I'm desperate for Wizards to publish 5e material for any campaign setting that isn't Forgettable Realms, but I digress).

Another reason why I think it would be an awesome D&D setting, but back to the topic at hand, I'll admit I'm still kind of iffy on part of Cybertron becoming a New Prysmos to reintroduce Visionaries to the world. Sure, on one hand, Visionaries always had a "magic vs. technology" theme as part of its backstory, so pitting them against a wholly mechanical society in their introductory crossover makes some thematic sense, but on the other hand, I wish IDW had found a better way to do this than cut and pasting Prysmos onto Cybertron.

In fact, from a pure narrative standpoint, I think Rom would have been a better choice for introducing Visionaries into the IDWverse, since magic is already part of his franchise's core mythology as the Dire Wraiths' source of power to contrast with the science based Space Knights. So maybe the Dire Wraiths, looking for a new source of magic to fuel their conquests, the Dire Wraiths find the planet of Prysmos and Rom pursues them to hopefully save this new world from Wraith contamination, thus introducing the Visionaries to the wider universe.

But in practice, Transformers is IDW's most successful Hasbro property in their shared universe, and with the Rom comic recently having to be merged with Micronauts to stay afloat, so like it or not, Transformers is a far more effective vehicle for relaunching this long-dormant franchise.

 

Yes, the new MASK was really popular and did extremely well. That's why it is still going strong right now and has sold loads of copies...

 

Was it popular? Did it sell well?

 

Er...I have some bad news...=)

 

Nope. Perhaps the one part of the Hasbroverse that was truly terrible.

So... ‘bleh’.

 

It was poorly written, and the changing of the central character, Matt Trakker, with little or no reason, didn't go down with fans and/or those who remembered the original MASK. Perhaps, with better writing, empathy shown to the original source material and/or competent ways of diversifying the ethnic roles (alternate universe, clone, different people adopting a persona, a-la James Bond and Ultra Magnus, having Matt be the underling to a non-white character, etc), then the series would have fared better.

 

you know that james bond thing isn't true right? debunked many many times...

perhaps best not to use far fetched overthought fan theories as your examples

 

I think whether one thinks those alternative ideas are good/bad is a bit of a side argument. I read the intent of primal’s overall reply to be “not everything that is new is automatically better than the old - here’s an example of an update that bombed that *might* not have had it actually been more reverential to the past it came from” (which has to do with the debate at hand) and not “let’s evaluate the quality of the various plot alternatives I’m spitballing on the fly” (which does not).

 

I know that, but it's a popular opinion with Bond (not OFFICIALLY debunked) and highlighted the idea for the comics well enough.

 

as truly terrible as Jem was truly outrageous.

 

What is the 'Previously' from?

 

First Strike #6, which unfortunately brushed aside the very good "Transformers vs. human supervillains" story that the event had been telling to pimp Visionaries instead.