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…
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…
Visionaries Toy Adverts
By Steve Mapes | In Advertising | 4 Jan 2015, 5:45 p.m.
Much like other Hasbro Inc brand of the 1980s the Visionaries action figures had a series of TV Adverts, or TV Spots, created to promote the toyline. The spots were produced by global advertising agency Griffin-Bacal who were as subsidiary of Sunbow Productions until they merged with Moss Dragoti in 2001.
Griffin-Bacal Advertising
Hasbro Inc. were one of Griffin-Bacal's first clients and are best known for producing the toy adverts for the Hasbro franchises G.I. Joe: Real American Hero and Transformers. As Hasbro Inc's client, Griffin-Bacal also shot the spots for most of their other brands, and worked closely with Hasbro Inc and Sunbow Productions on the supporting TV series to go with which ever line they would be shooting spots for. Griffin-Bacal mainly show from studios based in Amsterdam and Arizona, though some of their latter TV spots were shot in studios in Vancouver. The Amsterdam studio was used as the primary location for the more successful brands, whilst those with …
Visionaries Reborn
By Steve Mapes | In General , Visionaries Reborn | 28 Dec 2014, 6:45 p.m.
Visionaries Reborn, what is it?
Visionaries Reborn is the name of the pitch that was created by Abrams Gentile Entertainment Incorporated around 2009 - 2010 and sent out various companies as they looked to relaunch the Visionaries brand.
The Pitch
Visionaries Reborn pitched a new Visionaries property aimed at a 3D Movie release or a TV / Web series. AGE Inc.’s hope would be a live action movie franchise along the lines of Transformers, G.I.Joe and Lord Of The Rings. In fact the company has been pushing for a return of Visionaries since the days of the X-Men and Lord of the Rings trilogies, around 2001. The pitch outlines a base setting of the Visionaries universe as well as talking about how the property is ready made for a new generation of fans using the latest in technology.
Out of respect for both AGE Inc., and Hasbro Inc., as the project is still in development, we have decided not to publish specific details from the pitch at this time, though we will update this article…
Hasbro Marketing Book
By Steve Mapes | In Concept Artwork , Marketing Guides | 27 Nov 2013, 4:38 p.m.
An official piece of Hasbro marketing material, not intended for public viewing, the Hasbro Visionaries Marketing book was given out to licencees to ensure that any and all Visionaries products were made to exact specifications to insure brand recognition.
The pages included box art imagery, line art, colour images, bios / information and colour charts. These would then be taken and use on official merchandise such as watches, lunch boxes, stickers etc.
The guide includes instructions to all licence holders on what they had to do to in order to comply with Hasbro's specifications, in order to get their products signed off before production took place.
Here are some of the interesting facts contained in the book
- A Visionaries logo should appear on all panels of the packaging
- The typesetting is Benguiat for all product names and logos
- Exact PMS colours for all characters along with the gold and silver for the Spectral Knights and Darkling Lords, as well as the black are specified …