Visionaries (franchise)

From IDW Hasbro Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
The name or term "Visionaries" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Visionaries (disambiguation).

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light is a Hasbro franchise created in 1987. Set on the alien world of Prysmos, the franchise focuses on the heroic Spectral Knights battling the evil Darkling Lords for control over the magic bestowed on the two factions by the morally grey Merklynn after an alignment of Prysmos's three suns caused a burst of radiation that disabled all technology on the planet.

After subtle foreshadowing in Revolutionaries, the Visionaries franchise officially joined the Hasbro Universe in 2017 in the finale of First Strike before receiving a crossover comic pitting them against the Transformers.

History[edit | edit source]

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light was a short lived Hasbro franchise that began in 1987. Like its contemporaries of G.I. Joe and The Transformers, it received a dual pronged marketing approach in the form of an ongoing comic published by Marvel Comics (though in this case under the Star Comics imprint) and an animated television series produced by Sunbow Entertainment. The television series only lasted for one thirteen episode season, while the comic's poor sales saw it end after six issues, halfway through a four part storyline. The UK branch of Marvel would reprint Visionaries as back-up strips of the UK Transformers comic to little success. A second wave of Visionaries figures was developed, but never saw the light of release. Though occasional references and easter eggs would pop up in other Hasbro franchises, Visionaries would remain dormant for over a decade.

Hope for a Visionaries revival began in 2015, when it was announced to be part of the planned Hasbro Cinematic Universe alongside G.I. Joe, Micronauts, M.A.S.K., and ROM. At San Diego Comic-Con 2016, a Leoric Mighty Mugg was available as an exclusive item. The following year, Leoric was included as part of the Revolution box set, using his classic design from the 80s cartoon since Leoric had yet to be introduced in the Hasbro Universe at the time.

IDW Publishing began planting the seeds for Visionaries in Revolutionaries, with the introduction of the magical MacGuffin known as the Talisman. Prior to the official announcement of a Visionaries comic, fans were able to deduce one was coming thanks to the First Strike #0 issue, which featured a checklist of First Strike tie-ins, as well as post-First Strike titles, one of which was covered by a large red CLASSIFIED. Taking various letters from the other titles, it was discovered that the new title was Visionaries. At HasCon 2017, IDW officially announced Visionaries was coming, following the First Strike event, with Magdalene Visaggio and Fico Ossio as the creative team.

IDW Visionaries series[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]