In 1987, Hasbro created the most incredible, yet overlooked, science fiction fantasy toyline of the decade. Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Lights features awesome magical superhero characters with unique backstories and detailed designs. These magical characters live in an alternate universe of no technology and electronics. The characters rely solely on their magic to use their powers and abilities for good or evil, creating action-packed battles between the two sides. Spectral Knights, the heroic magicians use their magical powers for the good of the world. However, the Darkling Lords use their magic to fiercely harm and tyrannize anything surrounding them. These characters appear in a tie-in animated series and comic book series to promote the overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline.
Join Us in Seeing the Overlooked Sci-Fi Fantasy Toyline, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light
Follow along in our blog with us as we dive into the mystical world of Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light toys. We will mention the incredible toyline and all that factors into it. Along with this, we will mention the animated series and comic books that released at the same time to promote the toyline. These give more background to the toys to understand the fullness of the overlooked toyline. Lastly, we will mention just why it stands as the most overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline of the decade.
Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light Toyline
The striking and incredibly creative toyline that released by Hasbro in 1985 not only showed children a magical new world to toys but it also still remains as one of the most unique toylines of the 80s. Hasbro’s creativity in their figures, as well as their vehicles, still holds value among collectors today. Although this toyline only lasted long enough for one initial wave, it’s magic remains in the memories of fans. A total of 12 figures released for the short-lived toyline. Continue following along in our blog as we dive into the figures, vehicles, rare toys for collectors today, and unreleased items all included in the overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline.
Action Figures
First up, to see the overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline, we will mention the action figures. Each figure came packaged in a plastic bubble with a carded back. Like a G1 Transformer Tech Spec or G.I Joe packaging, these figures also included a biographic card of the figure on the cardback. These cut out cards were meant to stay with the figure since they described each character’s powers and items.
Holograms stood as the striking main focus of these figures, displaying their magical powers. Each figure included two hologram decals, one on the chest along with one on the top of their staff. The hologram image on the figure’s chest showed a spirit animal while the image on the staff showed a magical spell of the character’s power. Eight of the figures released as individual figures with their accessories while the other four figures released as vehicle exclusives. Each figure comes with their staff, helmet, and special weapon.
Figure Descriptions
A total of six heroic Special Knights characters released as well as six Darkling Lords characters. Beginning with the Special Knights characters, Leoric’s lion spirit animal and wise owl holograms give him guidance as he leads the team along with his own personal whip as the choice of weapon. Witterquick’s lion spirit animal and superspeed powers help him in battle along with his boomerang. Then, Arzon’s eagle spirit animal gives him knowledge. He comes with a dagger, ready to stab when needed in battle. Cyrotek comes with a triple-head mace and takes on the bear spirit animal, giving him great strength. Ectar and Feryl take places as vehicle exclusives with their double bladed hook weapon and knife. Ectar’s fox spirit animal and Feryl’s wolf spirit animal give them each unique abilities as they take control of their vehicles to assist in battle.
Then, for the Darkling Lords, the character Darkstorm includes an axe with his mollusk spirit animal. This gives him the evil power to cause rapid aging and decay to any enemy lurking around. Cravex’s phylot bat-spider hybrid animal gives power to give people terror. Along with his axe, enemies stay far away from Cravex’s harsh abilities. The Lexor character’s animal is the armadillo which causes a temporary force field. This character also comes with a claw weapon. Next, Cindarr comes with a mace. His staff, with the gorilla animal, releases disastrous energy. The last two figures, Reekon and Mortdredd, come with the two vehicles for this evil magical team. Reekon’s spirit animal, the lizard, and Mortdredd’s animal, the beetle give them each devastating powers as they cause destruction on things around them. Reekon comes with a sword while Mortdreadd comes with a pole weapon.
Vehicle and Driving Sets
Next up, for the overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, we will mention the vehicles released. Four vehicle sets released for the toyline. One large vehicle and one smaller vehicle for each side, evil and good, came out. Each of these came with their own character as well. The vehicles all feature holographic stickers and include moving parts when rolled on the ground or spring-loaded attacks. These all add to the magical experience of the entire toyline. To save production costs, all vehicles and stickers included were user-applied, similar to other toylines such as G.I. Joe vehicles. Going along with the correct technological theme shown in the comics and television show, each vehicle included weapons such as guns and cannons.
The Spectral Knights vehicles include the Capture Chariot and the Lancer Cycle. The Capture Chariot comes with the Feryl character. This unique vehicle splits into three parts and includes launching pods for the figure to utilize in battle. Then, the Lancer Cycle vehicle appears smaller than the Capture Chariot and features a spring-loaded lance. Lancer Cycle comes with the Ectar figure. Both the Capture Chariot and Lancer Cycle appear in this bright red and black to give off the heroic appearance, matching the characters.
Then, the Darkling Lords vehicles include the Dagger Assault and Sky Claw. The Dagger Assault vehicle comes with Reekon as the pilot. It also features a launching jet and holding cell. This rolling fortress appears much larger than the other vehicle, the Sky Claw. This vehicle for the evil Mortdredd character comes with cannons, a battering claw, and dragon holograms. Both of these come with red, blue, and gold accents which each match the evil appearance of the characters.
Rare figures and Playsets
Some of these action figures and playsets released by Hasbro appear hard to find and rare among the vintage toy market. These add to our overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline blog with the toyline only lasting a short time. Because of this, many of these items didn’t see the same mass production as many other toylines, so a limited amount of toys still remain around the world. With this toyline’s popularity among toy collectors, especially those who remember the toys and series at their initial release, the hard to find items become highly sought out.
One of those rare items includes a complete Capture Chariot as the pod covers often go missing or harmed. Also, the Mortdredd and Dagger Assault toys remain difficult to find with pieces often missing as well. The rarest figure, Reekon, becomes hard to find complete with both his sword and helmet. Lastly, any second series prototypes and Greek “Zzoids” variants remain very difficult to find with only a small number in existence.
Unreleased Items
We will now mention wave 2 of the magical toyline that unfortunately never released. Although a planned second wave released in a Hasbro Toy Fair Catalog in 1988, it never went into production. The toyline discontinued after the first wave due to rising production costs. This second wave of Visionaries: Knights of the Magic Light toys intended to include 16 action figures, 6 vehicles, and a playset. Eight Darkling Lords and eight Spectral Knights figures were planned to release. The Darlking Lords figures include Aquwarrior, Braxe, Croil, Cyclor, Draculan, Kabor, Lizar, and Pyrok. Then, the Spectral Knights figures include Cerator, Craggor, Hydron, Lazorlash, Malitor, Ramak, Ramazon, and Slywire.
Three vehicles for each side also were planned to released. This includes the Air Blade, Joust, and Sky Bucket vehicles for the Spectral Knights. The Battle Axxer, Crossbow, and Grappler vehicles then released for the Darkling Lords. Lastly, a Holodrome Iron Mountain playset came into design. The never released playset featured a tall mountain top with a holographic dome on the very top. This dome, designed to reveal the moving, 3-D image of the character Merklynn. This image projected from the top of the dome would have allowed children to put their hands through the image and move the figures up the mountain to see the ghostly wizard hologram. Hasbro designed this playset to plug in with a synthesized microphone, allowing kids to be the voice of Merklynn. Hover pods also appeared on the sides of the mountain to allow the figures to fly while fighting battles.
Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light Animated Series
Now, when continuing in our blog through the overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline of Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, we will mention the animated series of the same name. This short-lived animated series promoted the toyline and gave the characters action-packed, in-depth backgrounds. Produced by Sunbow, Visionaries stood as the only Hasbro series released without Marvel as well. TMS Entertainment in Japan did the animation work for the show and took on the role of portraying these awesome, powerful characters well. It only lasted for one season, consisting of 13 total episodes. Flint Dille, Douglas Booth, and Buzz Dixon wrote these episodes. Two female characters also appeared in this series which never appeared in the released toyline.
The storyline of the animated series includes the characters on the planet Prysmos. On this planet, people rely solely on magic since the electronics and machines no longer work. This leaves two options for the people on Prysmos, to use their power for good or for evil. Spectral Knights decided to use their powers for good, while the Darkling Lords use their power to cause crimes and destruction. All those originally wishing to gain magic powers took place in a competition by the wizard, Merklynn.
After surviving the many obstacles and trials by Merklynn, survivors on both sides then gain magical powers based on their abilities and personalities shown during the competition. The magical animal power appears on the front of their armor and the knights needed to dip their staffs into an energy well which gave them more powers. These magical characters endeavored many rough battles, using their power to defend.
Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light Comic Books
The comic books released by Star Comics with Marvel also showed a great impact on the incredible toyline. Even through a short-lived release with 6 issues and a cancellation through a four-part storyline, these comics still showed popularity within the franchise. Similar to the animated series, the comic books also helped promote the toyline and gave more of a background to the characters. The comics showed a few differences to the cartoon but followed the storyline otherwise almost entirely, with the first comic taking after the first episode of the series. The first comic released in November of 1987 and the last comic released almost a year later in September of 1988. The comics released were titled in order of The End…, The Balance of Power, The Star Stone, Dream Maker, Quest of the Four Talismans, and Wings.
Why Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light is the Most Overlooked Sci-Fi Fantasy Toyline of the ’80s
After looking at all the cool aspects to the toyline and overall franchise, the Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light remains the most overlooked sci-fi fantasy toyline of the 80s. From this, the toyline remained unique due to the holographic features, magic focus, and animal totems. Although many toylines also released with a cartoon to promote the toyline during the 80s, this one stands out from the rest even though it only released for a short time. Because of it’s short run, many people often look over it if they don’t remember it or didn’t get to experience the mystical world of Visionaries.
The good vs. evil storyline through this series also shows uniqueness with the different spirit animals and separate uses for magic. Especially for Hasbro, this toy company never before released anything like this toyline with the holographic stickers, awesome vehicle features, and unique power designs on the chest and staff.
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About the Author
Chris Ingledue is the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. His vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day he works in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year; scouring the internet – like we did the Sears Catalog of yesteryear – for the next great treasure, awaiting the arrival of the postman as if he was Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. For Chris, every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!