TRANSFORMERS VS VISIONARIES #4 (JAN180461)

 

@The Kup Who is the girl?

 

Her name is Galadria.

 

You can tell by the Dolphin on her chest.

 

Thanks guys. I just saw some episodes of Visionaries back in the day and the toys never got to Peru. These comics are like my real first approach to the franchise.

 

I kind of want figures of these visionaries already. They look fun and an interesting take on the franchise. Really digging Galadria's design here, and it looks like it could be done with some slight mold tweaks to some existing Hasbro GI Joe figures.

 

I have no idea who visionaries are but these 
\"vs\" concepts are getting dumber and dumber. First you had vs gi joe. I think they also did vs. X-men or avengers or some group of men in tights. Now this. Whats next? Transformers vs. Ninja Turtles? Transformers vs. Power Rangers? Does every dying action figure franchise need to exploit the success of Transformers? Obviously im not a comic book guy. But cmon now...

 

Well, Transformers vs. G.I. Joe has been a concept since 1986. And crossover titles have been common in comic books since forever. Also, Transformers meeting Visionaries isn't as much a crossover as it is the same as Spider-Man meeting the X-Men. And yes, there was a crossover with Avengers at some point in the IDW continuity. You never get to hear what happens to the Avengers who are living on the Earth of the IDW Transformers continuity though after their crossover.

Visionaries has been dead for thirty years. Killed and forgotten not by bad quality but by an expensive gimmick for the toys causing only thirteen episodes to be produced and a short lived comic book series in the 1980s. As good as any toy or cartoon is, very few series can survive after being cancelled with only thirteen episodes and six comic book issues produced. I do urge anyone who has become interested in the Visionaries to watch the original cartoon. I believe the quality still holds up well today. Or just watch these four clips to get a feel of the show. You will also recognise voices from Peter Cullen, Chris Latta, Susan Blu, Neil Ross and a few others who also voiced characters in Transformers.

 

Interesting concept. Basically midevil knights with armor that looks more like space gear. Almost like a he man rip off only less bulging muscles (thankfully) But that might have been what made it fail. As far as wizzards and knights, every cartoon will be compared to the 80s duengons and dragons cartoon which in my opinion was the best of the time.

 

Only that's not true. The toyline was cancelled due to sales not reaching the target Hasbro set for all new toylines much like Inhumanoids and that lead to the line being cancelled. The holograms had nothing to do with it. The cartoon being 13 episodes was also a mistake or decision by Hasbro and not the original plan from AGE which was a full strip series.

 

I would love Hasbro to make a Leoric Headmaster toy, using a repainted Lio Convoy head/body, possibly with paint over clear blue plastic.

 

What is with her facial expression?

 

Unless the target sales number was a flat unchanging number that was exactly the same number for all new lines at the time, that's not entirely accurate. The cost of the holograms would have factored into the target sales goal, meaning a cheaper gimmick could have resulted in a lower sales goal. So the hologram cost wouldn't have been the sole contributing factor to the line's short life, but it would have contributed.

 

I love the Visionaries series from back in the day. To make them with TF is cool. The only problem I have is I don't like the writing of Mags Vissagio. So, I'll pass on the books. Nice to see that 80s property back tho, in a limited run. Its a nice idea.

What I really want to see tho, is a Transformers cross over set on another planet...specifically the planet of the Dragon Lance! Armored riders on dragons and Transformers..that would be amazing!

Then a head masters return on that world. Transformers Dragons with their human pretender head masters. Energon lances and energon swords. Would be pretty cool.

 

It was a flat number for all new toylines, I've had it confirmed several times so it completely accurate and came from first hand sources. Hasbro had a hardset $100 million target for all new toylines at the time. If you reached that then the line would be extended into a 2nd year otherwise it would be dropped and they would move onto the next batch.

Visionaries grossed $52-$53 million, Inhumanoids grossed around $75 million. To give you a comparison, G.I.Joe was still grossing $300 million, Transformers $250 million and MOTU $300 million

The target audience for all the Hasbro lines were males aged 6-12.

 

Clean version and line art:

Brendan Cahill on Twitter



Brendan Cahill on Twitter

 

Wheeljack looks intrigued, to say the least.

 

Could this be the return of Transformer/organic romances?

 

Powerglide and Seaspray both have had organic love interests, though in the case of Wheeljack, he is a Bot of science so I'm thinking he'd be more interested in the power of the Visionaries and how it works than anything else.  

 

That is a weird pose for flexing your muscles. Is she looking into an invisible mirror while standing on Wheeljack's shoulders, or what?

For someone who actually read real D&D novels like me, the D&D cartoon was a dumbed down ridiculous thing...
As for Visionaries, it was a cool idea. See they have space-tech-like armor because the planet was highly advanced technologically, before an event made all technology obsolete (something people were worried about in that whole pre-Y2 era). Then a wizard came along and gave magical powers to the strongest knights and warlords, regardless of whether they were good or evil, and sent them on various quests. I liked the idea that the classic mysterious old sage in this case was rather morally grey and just cared about things getting done, not by whom or how.
That said, not really interested in yet another pointless crossover. What's next, Dino Riders? Inhumanoids? Why are they just piling every 80ies era obscure comic and cartoon into the transformers continuity? They can barely keep up with the TF continuity alone... And just because one is a Transformers fan, does not make them a fan of all other eighties franchises. I have been a fan of TFs since the eighties and I never, ever cared about GI Joe -still don't, to this day.