1. At the moment, I am mildly fascinated by the 1985 toyline Wheeled Warriors, as well as the lore presented in its associated cartoon (which was profoundly disconnected from the toys themselves), Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. (Looking for a Jayce figure? Save the effort...there wasn't one!)
2. The alliteration in "Wheeled Warriors" is pleasing to the ear. Both words start with W.
3. Wednesday, which occurs in the middle of every week, also starts with W.
4. That's just too good of an opportunity to pass up.
 |
| Image from the Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors Wiki |
So, as I work through this temporary obsession, I shall share thoughts related to the IP that I think are worth talking about. On Wednesdays. (Those are the Wheeled Wednesdays.) In general, I really do believe this is a bit of nostalgia worth talking about. And while there's a wiki, the toys and cartoon don't even have a permanent home on Reddit as far as I can tell. Criminal.
When I was a kid, I cycled through these phases of intense interest in one topic or another, much as I still do as someone well into adulthood. The focus was often a specific toyline, maybe with an accompanying cartoon, and I may or may not have even maintained the interest long enough to acquire any merchandise connected to it (so much depended upon the timing of my obsessions relative to my birthday or Christmas, y'know?).
Wheeled Warriors was one that lasted for a while, though. I even "created" my own knockoff IP, "Wheeled Battlers," and wrote a little book about them for a third grade assignment. And then in fourth grade...maybe for another school assignment(?)...I remember drawing a cereal box that had a Wheeled Battlers tie-in. Crossing over school years is pretty big for one of my toy obsessions that wasn't among the pillars of my childhood (G.I. Joe, Star Wars, superheroes, Masters of the Universe, maybe MASK...?). I even had three of the vehicles, although I'm not 100% certain which ones I had. (Other than Saw Boss. I'm pretty sure I had Saw Boss.) BUT...I ended up trading all three of them to my cousin Leighton for a MASK Switchblade. No regrets.
But I have to admit, it'd be pretty cool to still have those.
 |
| Image from the identification guide at Wheeljack's Lab |
I'll keep things simple today. If you look around for modern takes on the Wheeled Warriors, one constant reaction you'll find is that the cartoon's theme song absolutely rocks...literally and metaphorically. It is, as the kids have said for probably decades at this point, a certified banger. You'd better prepare yourself for this...
----------
Obviously I'm going to do my best to take these nostalgic (and quasi-nostalgic) reflections to the next level of nerddom by wrapping them up into gaming. I'm not sure exactly what form that will all take, but I'm pretty sure it means I need to figure out how to make a character sheet for the guy the arrow's pointing at...
 |
| Image from eBay |
We did get the cartoon, but it didn't get shown in all regions until a year later. I'm not sure if the toys ever made it here.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the evil alien plants and the mix with technology. I remember there was a shoot-em-up game with a similar premise; I thought it was Aleste/Power Strike, but I must be thinking of something else.
Interesting to hear the perspective from across the pond...even here, which would presumably be the market they were really trying capture, the toy/cartoon combo was an interesting failure in timing and thematic alignment.
DeleteI'm with you on the biopunk styling! The Monster Minds remind me a bit of the Cobra-La. And I think the toys handled it even better, as the villainous "drivers" were just these rubber plant-brains. The cartoon tried to do...a lot with them, having them humanoid and capable of transforming into vehicles...😅
(I'm gonna look through shmups of the era to see if I can find what you're thinking of. You've kind of convinced me that I remember something like that too...)
Ah! It was Power Strike:
Delete"In Space Year 6180, the planet Rimar entrusts its environmental maintenance to the supercomputer DIA51. One day, while DIA51 is genetically engineering a new plant for oxygen synthesis, a massive earthquake occurs that causes DIA51 to malfunction and alter the DNA sequence of the plant.
A month later, DIA51 begins to go haywire, severing communication with the military base in which it is located, and the temperature of the planet begins to rise. The planetary defense forces learn that DIA51 is creating intelligent plant life to infect human brains, and they dispatch the advanced Aleste fighter to eliminate the DIA51."
Hell yeah, I KNEW you'd come through for me KG!🤣 (I also hope you don't hate the appellation KG for some reason.😐) Gonna check that out now cuz it sounds absolutely beautiful...!
Delete