Crew's thoughts on Transformers vs Visionaries issue 5
By Adam May | In IDW Visionaries | 6 May 2018, 10:21 a.m.
This article will cover the personal opinions of the crew behind The Visionaries.net on IDW Publishing's Transformers Vs Visionaries Issue 5 which concluded the mini-series.
WARNING: - This article may contain spoilers.
Adam May - @inhumanoids
So here we are at (what hopefully what won’t be) the end of Transformers vs Visionaries.
The story in this issue felt a little rushed. It almost reads as if the number of pages for the final issue was reduced, or the story has been heavily edited by someone at IDW or Hasbro. If the later is true and it was edited to pieces, then it is a shame the original vision couldn't be printed on paper.
Merklynn's loss of ambiguity in his good/evil nature, Arzon’s surprise heel (and then face turn), various armour colour changes, the Transformers part of the "vs" hook simply reduced to background dressing... There is a lot to wonder about in this issue and unfortunately it isn’t the good kind of water cooler talk.
I was happy to see both Galadria a…
Crew's thoughts on Transformers vs Visionaries issue 4
By Adam May | In IDW Visionaries | 30 Mar 2018, 1:59 p.m.
This article will cover the personal opinions of the crew behind The Visionaries.net on IDW Publishing's Transformers Vs Visionaries Issue 4.
WARNING: - This article may contain spoilers.
David Mapes - @visionariesinfo
Good Men is the fourth issue in the Transformers vs Visionaries series by IDW Publishing. The series has split opinions, as all reboots do, and this issue continues the trend. For me this was probably one of the weaker stories so far, though the writer is constrained by a limited run and having to tie in to the Transformers lore. I really liked Merklynn's explanation on the history of the Visionaries in this universe, and the basis of their religion. It's kind of a shame to use the name Heskador, who was a witch in the 80s show, but at the same time I thought it was also a nice nod to that series. There are various people with the names Jesus or Muhammad, so it isn't beyond reason that someone would be named after this deity.
The story clarifies Mortdredd's situatio…
Crew's thoughts on Transformers vs Visionaries issue 3
By Steve Mapes | In IDW Visionaries | 1 Mar 2018, 8:19 p.m.
This article will cover the personal opinions of the crew behind The Visionaries.net on IDW Publishing's Transformers Vs Visionaries Issue 3.
WARNING: - This article may contain spoilers.
David Mapes - @visionariesinfo
So, we’re at the half-way stage of Transformers Vs Visionaries and this issue is full of action and drama. We get the debut of some more original characters; did you spot them all? We have Feryl and Cryotek (both of whom add more to the ethnic diversity of the brand). Feryl is also the first character to change gender (before information on the series was confirmed, we had speculated there may well be several characters change to get more of a balance). Mortdredd also makes his debut, though I will admit confusing him with Lexor for several pages. I found their designs to be very similar, although the writing for his character was spot on (with the continual usage of the phrase “lord”).
Reekon also made his appearance, although not named, along w…
Crew's thoughts on Transformers vs Visionaries issue 2
By Steve Mapes | In IDW Visionaries | 7 Feb 2018, 7:41 p.m.
This article will cover the personal opinions of the crew behind The Visionaries.net on IDW Publishing's Transformers Vs Visionaries Issue 2.
WARNING: - This article may contain spoilers.
Adam May - @inhumanoids
Four. Eyed. Space. Shark.
That's it. That alone should win comic of the week.
In all seriousness though, seeing the Visionaries' animal forms in at least this different incarnation was super cool. The small art changes to make them not the same as Earth animals was nice too.
What did leap out and smack me in the face were the questions raised by these animal totems and staffs. Firstly where did the staffs manifest from? In the case of Leoric I guess his shield turns into the staff, but what about Cindarr and Galadria? Also are the Visionaries turning into the magical animals coming from the staffs? At first I thought not, but then the sequence with Leoric wasn’t clear to me as he feels the pain of the shark bite, and then the lion goes into the st…
Crew's thoughts on Transformers vs Visionaries issue 1
By Dave Mapes | In IDW Visionaries | 3 Jan 2018, 9 p.m.
This article will cover the personal opinions of the crew behind The Visionaries.net on IDW Publishing's Transformers Vs Visionaries Issue 1.
WARNING: - This article may contain spoilers.
David Mapes - @visionariesinfo
Having not read any IDW comics since 2015, other than Revolutions in 2016, I came into Transformers vs Visionaries without any of the baggage of regular Transformers comics readers who were starting to get upset that their title was being used to try to launch various other brands under the IDW Combined Universe. This allowed me to have more of an open mind for the return of my beloved Visionaries franchise, something I had been waiting to see for thirty years.
Having openly accepted that this would not be the Visionaries from my childhood, I was looking forward to seeing the creative team of Magdalene and Fico would do with the brand. The new look was, to some, controversial, but for me, it made more sense of a post-apocalyptic society than the origin…
Overview of IDW Publishing's Visionaries
By Steve Mapes | In IDW Visionaries | 10 Sep 2017, 12:57 p.m.
30 years after their initial release Visionaries would return to the public eye via comic book mini-series Transformers Vs Visionaries which would be released by IDW Publishing in December 2017. The release would mark the end to an almost 17 year run of attempts to relaunch the brand. As with any relaunch, the announcement would be met with a mixed reaction from new and old fans but, for us, simply having an official Visionaries product back on the shelves is an exciting development and one that we shall support as best we can.
The Announcement
IDW Publishing announced that they would be producing a Visionaries comic on the 20th July 2017 whilst at SDCC 2017 along with an accompanying Tweet sent via the IDWPublishing Twitter account. It was also announced that the creative team working on the project would be Magdalene Visaggio (writer) and Fico Ossio (artist) with Sarah Gaydos as Editor.
The Designs
On the 1st August 2017, Fico Ossio announced, via Twitter, that his Visionari…
Reekon's Staff
By Dave Mapes | In Concept Artwork | 12 Mar 2016, 4:27 p.m.
Reekon is the driver of the Dagger Assault, the largest vehicle in the Visionaries universe and a pretty large toy. As with the three other Visionaries figures whom were packaged with vehicles, Ectar, Feryl and Mortdredd, Reekon did not come with a staff. This was not always the plan however and we shall take a look back at what Reekon's staff may well have looked like.
Like many toy lines the promotional material used for Visionaries features images of prototype toys rather than finished items. This often meant that there were differences between the products shown and the item you could buy later in stores. Some of the images of the Dagger Assault feature different coloured items and more importantly to this article, prototype weapons and staffs.
This image of a prototype Dagger Assault features what we believe is the only image of the prototype staff meant for Reekon. The staff can be seen at the back-right of the image, the gold staff featuring a horse-shoe design. The reason …
History of the Lancer Cycle
By Dave Mapes | In Concept Artwork | 12 Nov 2015, 4:55 p.m.
The Lancer Cycle is one, of two, vehicles piloted by the Spectral Knights in the Visionaries cartoon and comic series. It is the smallest of the Visionaries vehicles which made it through the production run to final product release, and was my least favourite. That has changed, and you will soon see why.
The Lancer Cycle appeared in Episode three of the Visionaries Cartoon series, piloted by Ectar whilst Witterquick jumped on the back. In essence the Lancer Cycle is a high speed motorcycle which has a mechanically released lance on the starboard (right) side. It has two air breaks, one in either side, which contain a holographic knight with a lance. On the port (left) side is a gun and a hologram of Merklynn dons the top (on the toy at least). Its power of protection is activated by chanting the rhyme Shield this craft from one and all. Reflect, deflect, depose and fall!, although the magical rhyme is not used in either the cartoon or comic series.
In a previous version of …