The Visionaries cartoon is actually very good. Great voice acting and great script. Worth watching even in this day and age

I think the failure for me for visionaries was that, while the show was great, the figures never came with an animal form. I’m sure it was to keep the price down, but the lack of an animal form kept the full magic of the show from being realized during playtime.

"Whispered secrets of a shattered age, I summon you: renew this sage!" An excellent but underrated series. The first episode with Merklynn (the Merlin of this series) giving them tests to determine who gets what totem was seriously good.

I came for the holograms, but I stayed for the magical poems. "Three suns aligned, pour forth their light, And fill the Archer's bow with MIGHT!"

Back in the 80s, there was a toy convention in Toronto called "A Time For Children" which would showcase new toy lines. I remember Visionaries had a big display there, and my friend and I were blown away by the cool holograms (which were a relatively new thing, and while it was a gimmick for sure, we still thought it was cool). I never did have any, but i did watch the cartoon when it was out, and found, like many cartoons of the 80s, it very quickly fell into a formula of good guys getting themselves into trouble, running low on magical energy, and doing one last ditch effort to use their magical animal forms to get out of whatever ridiculous situation they got into.

Parents FYI; You name your kid Darkstorm, he's probably going to grow up to be a super villain. Just sayin'.

"Sheathe these feet in the driveing gale. Make swift these legs over land I sail." Sad. It's been 30 years, and I can still remember every incantation to release the totems of all Visionaries with staffs. Yet I don't remember the atomic weight of any element.. And I can't name more than 10 state capitals. It's funny the things that stick in your head. Thanks for the blast from the past. Now I'm off to find that Transformers /Visionaries comic.

Visionaries cartoons were awesome. The overall premise was a little out there, but they had remarkably solid episodes and relatable characters. This show surely deserved a longer run.

Damn, I loved Visionaries! Can't wait to see a proper return with 6 inch articulated figures with actual holograms and huge animal translucent plastic figurine accessories for the projections. Always wanted that. Edit: Oh yeah, great vid btw!

I actually I enjoyed the Visionaries as a kid. Those rhyming summoning verses were pretty cool to memorize.

Visionaries were badass. So cool to see them featured here!

I really enjoyed the Visionaries, great cartoon and good figures, and yes, I used to use them with other figure lines. The size difference didn’t matter to my imagination.

One of my all time favorite shows. The premise was so good too - post apocalyptic world ruled by magic with semi-tec knights fighting each other in a feudal society. Sounds badass. It blew my mind as a kid before I discovered D&D.

I love Visionaries. I've got a sweet Cryotech bear tattoo. :)

Totally dug that cartoon. Can't believe it only lasted 13 episodes though. Sidenote: I love how Dan holds his hands like he's moving an invisible ostich egg from left to right.

I loved these as a kid, had almost all of them. I was genuinely shocked when it didnt take off. I thought and still do think it was a really great IP. Great video thank you.

_"I would shut you down for a magic monkey"_ This has officially been the highlight of my entire day XD

This video is near and dear to my heart. I loved that toy line and still do. I had all the figures and vehicles. Someday I’d like to have them again.

Along with Transformers, Visionaries were my favourite toys by far. Especially those kickass vehicles you could get for them. I took those days for granted and unbeknownst to me they would remain the happiest days of my life.

Thank you for posting about Visionaries... amazing artwork for the opening title scene

Witterquick was my jam back in the day. Red? Gray? Boomerang? Cheetah? Sweet eye-slitted helmet? Winning mix of awesome.

It's painful to hear you talk so tough about visionaries. I always thought it was such a cool concept. And I really liked Merlkynn's morally neutral stance, even as a kid. Great show, great toys, great gimmick. My brother and I still have all the staff invocation poems memorized from the cards on the back of the figures. Notably,t brother and I had the whole line except for the females... who didn't exist. We would always check the stores and were baffled why we couldn't find them. Then I learned what sexism was.

Visionaries: Can I copy your work? The general idea of King Arthur: Yeah just change a little bit

Ah, the 80s. You guys grew up with the pioneers on toy shelves and television screens and you most likely had a hand at the success the toys have had. It wouldn’t have been possible for guys like me to appreciate or even acknowledge Transformers or TMNT had it not been for the love and passion of the original fans from the 80s. So, to all the first generation fans, thank you so much for loving and playing with the toys and appreciating everything else associated with them. Without you, there wouldn’t be kids enjoying them today.

Magical Dan is my favorite Dan. Visionaries was a toyline that I always wanted, but with GI Joe and TMNT, I just couldn't get my parents to buy me anymore toys, so I could only watch and play with my friends Visionaries toys. Dang those holograms were cool! edit - Loved the Pro Wrestling hint you put in the video... indeed "A winner is you!" (RIP Star Man)

Absolutely epic storyline! One of my absolute all-time faves

I remember how in some ways the comic books were different from the cartoon, like with the power staffs. In the comics when the bear guy used his strength spell he temporarily got stronger, but in the toon, an archer came out and shot a big arrow. With the cheetah guy, he ran fast in the comic while in the toon some guy came out of the staff and carried him where he wanted to go at light speed. And so forth. Also in the comics, they could use their staffs as much as they wanted, but in the toon, they could only use them once and had to recharge them.

i; REMEMBER THE VISIONARIES!! I had several of the figures. I do hope they bring them back.

Had a few Visionaries when I was a kid - they were pretty high quality action figures. If this line comes back, here’s a thought: in place of holograms there could be a sort of “interactive marker” that could be read by an AR app, so with AR goggles (or a phone app) you could see each character’s avatar and interact with it in meatspace. ...And that, my friends, is my vision[ary]. ✊✨🦁

You guys are crushing it with the "History of" vids lately, thanks for doing this one. Even though I only owned 2 to 4 figures from this line it still was one of my favorites from my youth. It's up there with Sectaurs. Keep up the awesome work!!!

The 3 suns align, pull forth the light & fill the archers bow with might!! 👍🏻 i remember memorising several of the spells when i used to watch this ! 🤩

Man I loved the visionaries. Had a fair few of the figures and vehicles. And remember being very disappointed when nothing more came of them. Thanks for the blast down memory lane man 🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻

Dunno what you guys are on about. Visionaries were cool. Meh to each their own.

I always really liked the idea of theVvisionaries and the Supernaturals because I thought the holograms were super cool back in the day. Sadly, I never owned any of the toys. Great work. Cheers.

It aired for a while here in Brazil and it made a huge impact on me. I was about 8 years old and I used to sit in front of the TV with lots of paper sheets trying to draw each character, piece by piece everytime they were on screen. Then later I took an animal encyclopedia I had and came up with my own new characters. Years later the suns aligned and we had internet, so I was able to find out there were only 13 episodes of the cartoon. I couldn't believe it. Eventually I got one of the figures loose on a GIJoe lot on Ebay and even purchased the full Marvel Comics set. Thanks for this, guys!

Dude, I loved this series and these toys. I literally never left the house without them

I would absolutely give up all my tech to be a member of the Visionary Knights who can metamorph into a damn Lion with other incomprehensible magical powers! I say HELL YES to all this!!!💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

This is the reason that I love this channel ,you guys helps me walk down memory lane with these videos bro .

That was a good show and the holograms on the toys were pure art.

I loved Visionaries as a kid and the cartoon and then it vanished. Same as the Ghost hologram toy line "Super Naturals" which were popular in the UK for a time.

Great episode but I'm surprised that there was no mention of the 2nd wave that made it as far as prototypes in Hasbro's 1988 toy fair catalog and the extremely convoluted origins of how Visionaries entered the IDW Hasbroverse. You'll want to read the Revolution crossover for that.

I loved this animated show and was so sad it didn't go very far. The animation was top notch.

That was actually a fun show. I remember one of them using a totem that summoned an owl that would give him knowledge on this or that. After giving him the information one time, he added "Also, look out behind you." just before a group attacked them. I thought it was pretty clever at the time. There were also some bad scenes too. At one point, one of the bad guys pulled a lever and a bunch of boulders poured out of a giant pipe blocking a path. I was just thinking " Someone had to load a giant pipe with boulders ... just because maybe something will happen and um, boulders I guess ..." Still, it was a fun show overall. Shame it didn't go further.

Sir, I was 5 in 1987. THANK YOU KNIGHTS OF THE MAGICAL LIGHT!

It does suck how they were handled by IDW, it was a rush job and the comic book series did neither of the titles involved any justice, hopefully the IDW Hasbro Universe reboot will remedy this. It is also too bad that the series did not fair well in the 80's, I knew of them but at the time I mostly concentrated on Transformers and sadly ignored them.

Visionaries didn't last long but they were my third favorite toy line as a kid. Only Transformers and G.I. Joe beat them out.

It was a great show...well I loved it as a kid and watched the few episodes I had over and over. The toy line was only the humans. I remember being disappointed that the Leoroc toy for example didnt come with a glowing blue lion. The visuals in the cartoon were very epic

I loved Visionaries! I got the series on bootleg DVD from a local comic book store. Being a Big Transformers fan, I loved hearing The Iconic Peter Cullen voice Cindaar. I really loved hearing him recite the Power of Destruction! "BY NATURE'S HAND, BY CRAFT, BY ART! WHAT ONCE WAS ONE, NOW FLY APART!"

Please please, if you're talking about hologram gimmicks please do a full review of Supernaturals. Not only were they my favorite toys, also always wanted to know the backstory of them.

One of my favorite 80's toy lines. I'm close to completing a loose set of figures and vehicles too :) Thanks for doing this one, Dan and Greg!

I'd love to be able to make big versions of the holograms. Would be fantastic for a Visionaries cosplay.

It sold to me. I loved The Visionaries as a kid. Had the toys, and the VHS tapes. Best cartoon of my childhood.

Nice recap -- I remember these comics back in the day!

“Sheathe these feet in the driving gale, make swift these legs over land I sail!” “Three suns align, pour forth their light and fill the archer’s bow with might!” Can’t believe I remember some of these 🤓

I memorized every rhyme and still know them all word for word 25 years. This cartoon redpilled me on everything epic I love today.

I have at least one Visionaries figure in one of my tubs, but I have no memory of it(or the show) from my youth. After watching this, it seems like a tough sell as a property. I appreciate the attempt at new toy lines, but it was a crowded market by 1987. Oddly enough, I vividly remember the other hologram toy of the period, Super Naturals, for some reason. I definitely learned something from this video.

Loved visionaries had most of the figures and a few vehicles.😍😍

It's still better than the crap they're putting out today. Anything 80's was totally awesome!

The Visionaries toys were one of my favorite lines as a kid. I loved the holograms, and rented the videos from Sun Coast every time I was allowed.

Anyone else remember the Super Naturals? They were a similar line but the whole torso and head was a hologram, with armour that clipped on over the chest. I had the main set of six as a kid.

The big missed opportunity is Hasbro never made action figures of spirit animals. With TMNT quickly eating their lunch, Thundercats never delivering on action figures and video games pumping out animated mascots left and right, if Hasbro created action figure animals to pair with the humans this might have worked out.

I really like this series .

Visionaries Looked so Cool in the Cartoons. I loved all the holograms and colour change stuff!!

I've been waiting for Visionaries! I loved this cartoon back in the day and had a few of the toys and the comics.

Some of my favourite Toys.

I was hoping you would hit the Visionaries, now on to Sky Commanders!!!

I had seven of the eight main figures. I could never find Leoric. At the end of my time playing with toys, my He-Man and Ninja Turtle figures were wrestlers along with my few WWF figures, and my GI Joes and Visionaries were the light heavyweight division.

I loved visionaries, they were very underrated.

Been wondering if/when you'd get around to these guys. Thanks!

May the light shine forever!

I watched practically every one of these Saturday morning cartoons back in the 80’s. Visionaries and Wheeled Warriors were my hands down favorite. Out of Visionaries, Whitterquick rocked.

Wow, once again I watch SG and my mind is wretched, forced to remember long ago forgotten crap LOL Thanks as always for the rememories!

oh man, this channel is treasure!!

For me, Visionaries is one of those toons that I WANTED to like. The idea was awesome, the characters fun and the powers super cool....something just didn't click though.

Memories! When I was just a little guy, at the mall with my parents, KB Toys was selling a load of these things on super-discount, so they bought me a bunch of these. I had no idea what they were, but I loved their holograms!

This channel is awesome!!!! I was born Halloween 76, so all these vids take me back to my childhood in a great way. Appreciate your channel!!!!

Thanks for making this video. Its so Great

Loved Visionairies had so many of the toys

Speaking of holograms: I never had any Visionaries but I did have some Super Naturals figures which had some similarities. Would absolutely love to see an episode on them someday. I had the Snake/Mummy figure but have never known much about the series.

I must have watched the video over and over and over. The animation was very good, very smooth in parts, and the story was fascinating as the Spectral Knights had a very rough time of it from the Darkling Lords. One of the better toy-to-cartoon adaptations.

Could Inhumaniods and Air Raiders be far behind......

Been waiting for this. Used to be my favorite. Such wasted potential IMO...

Wittwequick: ""Sheathe these feet in the driving gale, make swift these legs over land I sail!”. This toyline / cartoon is my #5 outside of the big 4 of He-Man, Gi Joe, Transformers, Thundercats.

loved Visionaries as a kid. in the 80s..would like to see it make it to the big screen just like their Hasbro counterparts....Transformers & GI Joe.

As a general rule I try not to be too negative in the comments section as it tends to descend into some bad stuff, but I think it's important to say this. If you're watching this thinking "That Transformers vs. Visionaries comic sounds cool, I might go check it out", don't. Just don't. What I say now, I say as a huge fan of IDW and their Hasbro-verse output: Transformers vs. Visionaries is one of the worst comic series I have ever read. Do not read it. Go read literally any other Transformers comic, or any other IDW Hasbro comic. Just don't read Transformers vs. Visionaries. Please. You have been warned.

Even as a kid, when I saw Visionaries on the shelf, all I could think of was a sweaty, bald man in a cheap suit saying, 'da kids love holograms, right? We stick a hologram on one'a dese stupid things and dey'll gobble it up'.

MY brother and I had all but one of the toys and the full comic run. A couple of years ago there was a cool Visionaries book on Kickstarter, highlighting the toys and also showing off over a year's worth of unreleased figures, vehicles, and playsets. It even came with a Merklynn hologram sticker!

One of my absolute favorite animated shows of my youth. Love it tk this day.

Awesome show, seriously needs a reboot and a dvd release of the episodes.

OMG, when i was younger i used too love this toy line and catoon which should of lasted longer and had the same fame as G.I.Joe - thanks you for this childhood memory flashback because i really forgotten about The Visionaries 💖.

Visionaries and Battle Beasts are some of my favorite largely forgotten toy properties from the 80's. If either or both enjoy a revival, whether in earnest or just to money-grab some nostalgia, I'm all for it.

I still remember some of the chants they used; (e.g) "Sheath these feet in a driving gale, make swift these legs over land I sail!" "A whim, a thought, and more is sought awake my mind thy will is wrought." "Whispered secrets of a shattered age, I call on you, renew this sage". I also note Jonathan Harris of Lost in space was one of the voice actors

Man! I loved Visionaries as a kid. Surprised it didn't do as well as I thought. The cartoon was ace, and the toys just as good. Hyped that it's coming back, hopefully, and it best have holograms - those were the best bits!!!

One of the very few that loved the Visionaries as a kid!

Omg I'd forgotten about this. I loved it as a kid. I saw it on a VHS in the very early 1990s and that was it.

I loved Visionaries, when I was younger, the opening intro stuck with me, let alone the spells for the totem staffs of the spectral knights. a reboot of the series would be interesting to see.

I just recently discovered your channel and I'm having a great time bingeing all your history videos. You have good production values and you're an entertaining and professional presenter. I would love to see more Secret Wars coverage. But, anyway, love the channel!

I wish they would revive this!! There's definitely a demand for it! Give us new cartoons, movies, toys, and video games!

My mates and I loved Visionaries! So much so that I have the full series on DVD. As a kid, what we loved about it was that they became animals. That hooked us. Then we got the figures that did NOT turn into the animal, you didn't even get an additional animal figure with the Toy. It was like having Prime in Robot mode only. The thing that sold the show was sold as the toy?!

I’m loving these History of vids. I think this is the most in depth vid I’ve seen on Visionaries, usually I just see folks bring them up and just dash them off to the side they explain the hologram gimmick. For a short lived brand it sure had a bunch going on behind the scenes, and hey agree with you completely on that they pretty much really did really try and experiment with things outside the usual formula even if some didn’t stick around. Bold move for anyone to do. Can’t wait for next History of and all the other content you guys dish out! Amazing work as always!