Howdy folks, and welcome to this week’s developer’s diary! This week’s post is a bit of a change of pace.  So far, I’ve really been showing off the depth of the mod, doing deep dives with a wide range of characters for one setting, but I’ve been wanting to show off the breadth of the mod as well and create a teaser trailer of sorts as something of a proof of concept.  To that end, I’ve spent the last week and change working on designing and building a selection of main characters from each of my starting settings/shows, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, G. I. Joe, He-Man, Thundercats, and Silverhawks. 

This obviously required a lot of work on a meta-level that I had already done for TMNT, as I had to figure out the scale and approach I was going to use for each of these settings. I did my usual design work and research for each set of characters, but because I wanted to use all of them for a trailer, I went all-out, building a lot of custom FX, hunting down sound clips from the shows, and more. For today’s developer’s diary, I’ll provide some background on the newly minted characters and my design process for them, as usual, but I’ll also talk a bit about each of the shows, their history, and the basic approach I’ll be using for them in the mod. And at the bottom of this post I’ll include my new teaser trailer.

Cartoon and Character Backgrounds

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Thundercats: Thundercats, Ho! This tremendously imaginative fantastical series, set in a mysterious and wondrous world known as Third Earth, followed the adventures of a noble and heroic band of anthropomorphic cat-people. The team consisted of Lion-O, their young king and leader; Panthro, technician, inventor, and martial arts master; Tygra, architect and leve-headed scientist; Cheetara, super speedy psychic (and one of the most competent and courageous female characters in the boys’ cartoons of the era); and the young Thunderkittens, Wilykat and Wilykit, who were mischievous and full of spunk. Together, they were (apparently) the last survivors of the destroyed world of Thundera, marooned on a strange and often hostile new world where magic, mysticism, advanced technology, and ancient ruins all contributed to both the dangers and wonders of the setting.

The Thundercats were pursued to Third Earth by an evil race called the Mutants, who coveted their most prized possession, The Eye of Thundera, an incredibly powerful magical artifact. Once stranded on the planet, the noble band of Thunderians ran afoul of an ancient and mighty sorcerer named Mumm-Ra, who also wanted to possess the Eye and who was destined to become their greatest foe, though the world proved to be full of many strange and often dangerous beings.

The adventures of the Thundercats were full of excitement, but they were also wholesome and full of good moral instruction, like many of the classic cartoons of the era, despite the fact that the show (also like many of its contemporaries) was created as a vehicle to sell toys. I went back and started watching through it again for research as I was working on this week’s update, and I was struck by how well it still holds up. I love all of these shows, some of them despite themselves, but Thundercats is probably objectively the best them, or close to it.

It’s got a delightfully creative setting, bursting with the fantastic, and unlike some shows, which could get stale with the heroes fighting the same villains every week, Thundercats introduced a wide and diverse cast of characters, villains, allies, and innocents, that inhabited its well-imagined world. It also had more continuity than many Saturday morning cartoons, as well as some solid character development, as the young Lion-O, truly a boy in a man’s body, thanks to a malfunction with the cryopods on the way to Third Earth, learned what it meant to be a man and a leader. It’s still a product of its time, but the end result is a good show that had a lot of heart and personality, one that still maintains its magic today.

Lion-O: The young lord of the Thundercats is an interesting and somewhat unusual character for the Saturday morning cartoons of the era. He is both a powerful and capable hero in his own right and a young, inexperienced perspective character at the same time, essentially combining two archetypes like Captain Marvel, both the hero and the hero’s kid sidekick rolled into one. Lion-O is a young boy at the beginning of the show, and while his body grows up in the first episode, he is still immature and has quite a lot to learn at the start of his adventures.

One of the pleasures of the show is watching him grow up, learning from his fellow Thundercats and from the friends and allies they encounter through their escapades. The show is something of a fantastical bildungsroman, or story of growing up, detailing Lion-O’s hero’s journey. With that being the case, in the beginning, Lion-O, though strong and agile, physically powerful, is often headstrong and impulsive, and it takes him some time to learn how to be a hero and a leader.

He carries the powerful Sword of Omens, with The Eye of Thundera embedded in its hilt. The Sword and Eye are a potent combination, capable of a wide array of feats and possessed of mighty magic. At times, these artifacts seem to have the power of plot, but there was generally at least some logic to their uses. Together, they made Lion-O the strongest of the Thundercats, as was befitting for a warrior-king, a furry King Arthur with his feline fellowship of Round Table knights.

Mumm-Ra: Every hero needs his villain, and Mumm-Ra was one of the best of the Saturday morning set. He was creepy and intimidating, an ancient sorcerer, with strong Egyptian mythological flavor, down to his mummified appearance and name. I imagine many fans still remember the incantation that preceded his dramatic transformation from a shriveled husk to the hulking and powerful “Everliving” form in which he would battle the heroes. Mumm-Ra was a mysterious and intriguing villain whose enigmatic origins stretched back into the history of Third Earth itself. He served equally mysterious “Ancient Spirits of Evil,” whose arcane aid he would often invoke. A powerful sorcerer with nearly unlimited magical abilities, Mumm-Ra was a memorable and worthy nemesis for the heroic Thundercats, feeling more competent and dangerous than many of his Saturday morning contemporaries.

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The Silverhawks: “Wings of Silver, nerves of steel!” With those exciting and dramatic words, one of the lesser-known lights of 80s cartoons would begin, launching a stirring and super cool opening that promised break-neck adventure and wonder a-plenty. This sister show to the Thundercats is not as well-remembered as its more famous predecessor, and while the show itself is honestly not quite as good, it is still a fun and powerfully imaginative series that had a unique (if somewhat irrational) setting that was chock-full of the fantastic.

Set in the Galaxy of Limbo (the writers apparently had no idea what a “galaxy” was, but that was just the tip of the scientifically inaccurate iceberg) in a futuristic science fictional universe, the series followed the adventures of the titular Silverhawks, a team of bionic law officers with the somewhat confusing tagline, “partly metal, partly real,” as if metal isn’t actually real but merely a very hard and persistent figment of our collective imaginations. The Silverhawks are armed (literally) with experimental technology, allowing them to fly and providing them with many weapons and useful devices. The team comes to the aid of Commander Stargazer, a veteran space cop, when his old nemesis, the interplanetary mob boss, Mon*Star, escapes from prison and gets the old gang back together (literally, again).

The Silverhawks consist of Quicksilver, their hard-charging leader; Steelwill and Steelheart, a pair of super-strong twins and, interestingly, both the muscle and the brains of the group; Bluegrass, the country-singer turned pilot; and the young Copper Kid, a native of the “The Planet of the Mimes,” a rather strange and disturbing concept, if you think about it. Mimes are creepy enough when wandering the streets solitarily. What must an entire planet of their strange breed be like?

Nonetheless, the Kid was my favorite when I was a kid myself (I told you I was a sucker for such characters), and when I came back to the show as an adult, I was pleased to discover that he was not insufferable like many of the perspective characters of the era (he’s no Scott Tracker from M.A.S.K., thankfully; how many of us wished an unpleasant fate on that little punk, even way back when?). In general, the team isn’t as interesting or as well developed as the Thundercats, but they are still a good group of characters that are strongly archetypal, which has an appeal of its own.

The show itself is a fun romp, with lots of creativity and originality in its setting and characters, though it suffers from the 65-episode season syndrome of the rush for syndication that so many shows of the era endured. It shades into cartoony silliness more than some of its fellows, and the setting is rather strange in some of its trappings, like how everyone can apparently breathe in space…and can fall, subject to the gravity that is totally operative out in the void. Nonetheless, Silverhawks is still warmly remembered by many members of my generation, and it is well worth remembering. I loved it when I was a boy, and as an adult I have realized that it is something something of a hidden gem, forgotten by many but treasured for its uniqueness and energy by those who remembered it.

Quicksilver: Lieutenant Jonathan Quick, the straight-laced leader of the Silverhawks, has been compared to Cyclops of the X-Men, but I think that comparison is a little unfair to the man of metal. While in some (but not all!) incarnations, Cyclops is perceived to be so rigid and flat that he is painfully boring, Quicksilver actually has a bit of style and panache that make him more entertaining than his myopic forebearer. In terms of his abilities, he’s one of the most agile and, as the name suggests, fastest of the Silverhawks, and he is a natural leader. He also becomes the master of the team’s cybernetic hawk/weapons platform/scout, Tallyhawk, which is pretty cool by itself. In many ways, Quicksilver is the quintessential noble hero archetype. Like the rest of the Silverhawks, he doesn’t receive a lot of development (from what I remember, which is by no means comprehensive). I’d love to see this show revisited in a faithful and excellent update like the 2002 He-Man, which would give us a chance to see the cast fleshed-out and the promising possibilities of their personalities and backgrounds explored a bit more. This is actually one of the things I want to do in my mod, eventually.

Mon*Star: Rankin and Bass, the company behind Thundercats, Silverhawks, and the almost completely forgotten Tigersharks (and you thought Silverhawks was obscure–and yes, before you ask, they are on the list too), clearly had a formula that they were following. Take a team of heroes with an animal theme, a unique sci-fi setting, a cast of monstrous villains, and a nemesis with a growling, cackling voice who underwent an awesome transformation into a more powerful form, and there’s your show. Fulfilling that last role in Silverhawks is Mon*Star, who definitely shares a lot in common with Mumm-Ra (they are even voiced by the same fellow, the super-talented Earl Hammond).

Like his predecessor, Mon*Star is a powerful and mysterious figure with a dark and foreboding seat of power. He can transform into an uber-powerful monster in an even more startling and creepy sequence than the Thundercats foe, as his armored form literally rips out of his skin. It’s pretty darn striking. Yet, Mon*Star isn’t quite as competent and intimidating as Mumm-Ra, proving a bit more cowardly and rather less powerful, despite his awesome design. Nonetheless, he’s still a pretty cool villain, and the sight of this hulking, armored giant flying a sinister-looking space-squid and wielding a laser lance is the kind of pure awesome that only the 80s could deliver.

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He-Man: I have the POW-ER! It’s hard to find a more primal and archetypal show that more successfully taps into the minds and emotions of young boys than the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (except perhaps Dino-Riders, which captures the dual primal loves of dinosaurs and lasers). This show channeled the nearly universal desire of boys for power, for meaning, and for an important purpose. It’s the classic hero’s journey splashed across the small screen and filling children’s toyboxes, all in vibrant colors and packed with the fantastic.

It’s a classic power fantasy, wearing its identity on its lack of sleeves, and revealing it in its catchphrase. “Power fantasy” is a phrase often used dismissively and derisively, but such fantasies are an ancient and noble part of our storytelling traditions. Just as boys admired and emulated He-Man, their ancestors admired and emulated Hercules, or King Arthur, or Gilgamesh. And He-Man was self-consciously the best kind of power fantasy, the moral power fantasy, teaching boys one of the most important lessons about being men: that merely possessing strength is not enough; you have to use it responsibly, which means using it to protect, to defend, and create justice.

The show’s message is ultimately a very necessary one: power exists to be used for others, not for yourself, and not for its own sake. They even baked these moral lessons into the show itself, with He-Man dropping by after each adventure to explain the lessons (sometimes rather stretched) that kids could learn from the episode in classic PSAs. Yes, these were cynically designed to offset fears about the commercialism and violence of the cartoon, but the lessons they taught were still valuable, and the kids who watched them could still be improved by them.

No wonder it came on like Gang Busters. The show itself can be pretty silly, and it definitely suffers from the era’s concerns about violence on cartoons. Nevertheless, it left a profound impact on an entire generation with its vibrant and unique character designs, its fantastical setting that combined fantasy and science fiction with wild abandon, and the wonder that packed each and every episode. Yet, for my part, though I loved the original when I was a boy, I’ve come to be a much bigger fan of the 2002 reboot, which was a loving and faithful update, preserving and deepening the mythos, while also improving the storytelling and characterization, and most of all, the action. To my mind, the 2002 version is to the original He-Man what Batman: The Animated Series is to all other versions of Batman, pretty much the ideal form. The reboot has come to supplant the original in my mind and imagination, so I’ll actually be basing much of my treatment of the setting and characters on that version.

He-Man: The quintessential 80s cartoon hero, this muscle-bound barbarian who is anything but barbarous (except for the early, pre-show comics), is a mighty warrior, possessed of an incredible power, but he is also a thoughtful and clever man. Combining brains and brawn, he defeats his foes by outwitting them as often as by overpowering them. He gets his power from magic within Castle Grayskull, where an enigmatic woman known as the Sorceress acts as his guide. The nature of the power and its origins varies a bit between incarnations, but it is always ancient and vast.

He-Man has many of the classic trappings of the superhero, including a milquetoast secret identity, Prince Adam, the heir to the crown of Eternia. The tension between poor Adam and his parents, as the heir apparent seemed more interested in goofing off than in learning to rule or protecting the kingdom, was one of the common sources of character conflict in pretty much all of the adaptations. He-Man is very much the Superman archetype, upright and noble, possessed of a strong and clear moral code, and wielding amazing power, but using it serve others rather than himself. He’s very much a wish-fulfillment character, yet, like Superman himself, a popular and worthwhile one despite (and sometimes because) of this.

Skeletor: If He-Man is the quintessential hero of 80s cartoons, Skeletor is unquestionably the quintessential villain. From his incredible skull-headed design, sinister and instantly recognizable, to his iconic cackling voice, provided originally by the incomparable Alan Oppenheimer (undoubtedly one of the best things about the original series), Skeletor is unforgettable and at once archetypal and utterly individual. Entertainingly, he has also become something of a meme in the modern day, embodying a spirit of snarkiness and absurdity. Even for the version from the original show, this current incarnation doesn’t feel like all that much of a stretch. He always seemed to be a step ahead of everyone around him, at least in terms of zingers, if not in terms of his plots. He had a contempt for his enemies and allies alike that still make him entertaining today. The same gleeful and superior evil-ness is a hallmark of every good version of the character.

In all of his incarnations, Skeletor is a powerful sorcerer, with incredible magical might and deep mystical knowledge. In the original show, he is an extradimensional demon, a former servant of Hordak who now attempts to conquer Eternia and capture the power of Grayskull. The 2002 version add some compelling depth to these mysterious origins, giving him an original identity as Keldor, as well as a reason for his rivalry with the Eternians and a special hatred for King Randor, He-Man’s father, as he defeated the former Keldor in the duel that led to his being horrifically disfigured, turning him into Skeletor. I like that added context and motivation.

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G.I. Joe: Yo Joe! This classic military-themed cartoon introduced 80s kids to the perennial battle between the terrorist organization known as Cobra and G.I. Joe, “America’s daring, highly-trained special mission force,” whose purpose was “to defend human freedom.” Along with Transformers, G.I. JOE was perhaps the most shameless and transparent of the ’30 minute animated toy commercials’ of the 80s, routinely introducing new characters and vehicles, just to push new toys. And yet, it somehow rose above its origins, with an excellent voice cast and strong, colorful, well-realized, and instantly memorable characters. Part of the success of the Joes is owed to Larry Hama, the writer who authored the file cards and generated the basic personalities and identities of the incredible stable of characters. Another big helping of the credit goes to Ron Rudat, the fellow who designed the figures and the general look of the toyline and thus the cartoon.

The show itself was defined by those great designs, and by the amazing and iconic voice actors who brought them to life. Any child of the 80s can probably already hear the unforgettably weasely, snake-ish voice of Chris Latta’s Cobra Commander at the first mention of the cartoon, and he is far from the only one. In addition to great voice acting, the show was packed with exciting (though ultimately surprisingly safe) action, with lots of lasers and explosions, and an A-Team-esq lack of casualties. And, of course, like many of these cartoons, there was a classic moral or social message that accompanied the adventures in the now legendary PSAs. I remember learning several safety lessons that stick with me to this day from these. I still can’t reach for a light switch with wet fingers without being stopped short by the memory of a particular G.I. Joe PSA on that subject. After all, “knowing is half the battle.”

While I loved the cartoon as a kid, and I still enjoy it, especially the earliest and best episodes, I now think of the classic comics first when I think of the Joes. I discovered this Marvel-published series when I was in college and seeking to recover the loves of my childhood. To my astonishment and joy, this long-running comic, which went for 155 issues (and has even been revived and continued in the modern day), was amazing, telling surprisingly grounded, mature, but still exciting and heroic stories about soldiers doing hard but important work. It wasn’t all red and blue lasers and pilots bailing out of downed aircraft. Characters were wounded and even died, missions failed, and the troops found themselves betrayed by the powers that be from time to time.

The series was written by Larry Hama, who had served in Vietnam, and his experience and inside knowledge of the soldier’s life came through in the pages of the comic. Yet, despite that realism and maturity, the series avoided cynicism and the ugly grimness that might easily have overtaken it, which is something of a remarkable balancing act on Hama’s part. To me, this is the definitive version of G.I. Joe, though I will always have a soft spot for some of the more delightfully absurd elements of the cartoon, and some of the more endearing and bombastic personality traits of the main characters, especially those who didn’t feature heavily in the comics, like Shipwreck. My mod version will be something of a mix of both versions, with some of the visual and audio trappings of the cartoon but some of the sensibilities of the comic, and I’ll likely draw on the comic for the campaign.

Duke: Easily one of the most recognizable characters from G. I. Joe, Conrad S. Hauser, better known as Duke, is the tough-as-nails first sergeant of the Joe team. In the cartoon, he’s essentially the field commander, with Hawk being largely behind the scenes (and actually absent for the short first season). The Joe team’s classic man of action , Duke was brought to life by Michael Bell in the show, who gave him a strong, strident, and confident voice that captured his leadership and charisma. In many ways, he’s the main character of the cartoon, the all-American hero of the all-American team, the standard or default for the Joes, brave, capable, and dedicated. Interestingly, he and Scarlett, arguably the female lead, shared a certain romantic tension on the show, while any fan of the comics knows that Scarlett and Snake Eyes are each others’ one and only.

Snake Eyes: The ultimate man of mystery, silent, enigmatic, and unutterably awesome in pretty much every incarnation, Snake Eyes is just plain cool. Interestingly, the man in black started his existence as a cost-cutting measure in the toyline. Hasbro could afford to paint all of the figures somewhat or paint all but one of them with detail, leaving the last all black. The powers that be decided this was the lesser evil, and the silent saboteur was born, instantly becoming popular because he was so markedly different than all of the other uniform-looking characters. Out of that accidental awesomeness, Larry Hama spun an incredible character, weaving Snake Eyes throughout the G. I. Joe lore and turning him into one of the coolest characters of the 80s, or of any other decade.

Almost everything about Snake Eyes was a mystery, from his real name to his origin, and since he never spoke, the man himself was wrapped in a cloak of obscurity. It was eventually revealed that his silence was not just a ploy to appear cool. In the comics we learned that early on in his time with the Joe team, a mission went bad and left him horribly disfigured and unable to speak, thus the mask and his more-than-laconic nature. Eventually, an intriguing and compelling background was revealed in the comic. Now, what follows is the character’s history from that original series, so beware, here there be spoilers!

The comics eventually revealed that he was a Vietnam veteran whose family was killed by a drunk driver on the day he came home from his deployment. Lost and grieving, he was invited by his former comrade, Tommy Arashikage, better known as Storm Shadow, to join the family business, which was, of course, ninja-ing. Snake Eyes took to the rigorous training as if he was born to it, and when a Cobra assassin (later revealed to be Zartan) framed Storm Shadow for the murder of the ninja clan’s leader, a wedge was driven between the two friends, one that would set them at odds for years.

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow went from brothers to nemeses, representing the coolest members of their respective teams and crystallizing the clash between G. I. Joe and Cobra in microcosm. There’s a lot more to the story, including Storm Shadow switching sides and being brainwashed so many times it almost became a running gag, but through it all, Snake Eyes remained a fascinating cypher, defined by his actions and by the reactions of those around him. The other North Star of his existence was his love for Scarlett, his teammate, which was sparked almost from their first meeting. They were often star-crossed, as he kept his distance because of his injuries and disfigurement, but she loved him for the man behind the cool mask. All of this made Snake Eyes one of the most compelling, as well as one of the coolest, characters in the comic series.

In the cartoon, Snake Eyes is even more of a cypher, as he receives none of the development of his comic counterpart and, in general, receives rather less screen time as well. He’s still a really interesting character, owing to the mystery of his portrayal, though the series doesn’t play up his ninja nature to the degree of the comics and, rather strangely, transfers his rivalry with Storm Shadow to Spirit for some reason. Nonetheless, he managed to make a big impact on many young imaginations through the cartoon, and I know I wasn’t the only one running around with goggles on, pretending I was Snake Eyes back in the 80s.

Cobra Commander: The hooded head honcho of Cobra is another incredibly iconic villain of the era. He might be the archetypal villain of Saturday morning cartoons: megalomaniacal, cowardly, possessing a funny and distinctive voice, intelligent but hubristic, and prone to causing his own defeat, all while blaming everyone else around him. Despite the fact that he tended to suffer from “villain decay” over the course of the show, he’s still an impressive and threatening figure at the start of the series, and many of his plans are actually quite clever and effective. And we can’t forget the fact that he just looks so cool and mysterious in his hood or helmet, where we never see his face.

Interestingly, the cartoon version, though exaggerated, is really not wildly dissimilar from his comic version. In the comics, his cowardice is less pronounced, but we see many of the same tendencies, though he is generally more competent and dangerous. Interestingly, we never learn much about his origins in the show (beyond the better-forgotten G. I. Joe movie). In the comics, we discover that he started some type of pyramid scheme, and when the government shut it down, he became a revolutionary, looking to create some type of libertarian paradise where “a man can work as hard as he wants and earn as much as he wants.” Out of that, grew Cobra, which, fittingly enough, seems to be largely about money and power in both incarnations.

Destro: James McCullen Destro XXIV is actually a Scottish lord, with an ancestral castle and everything. He’s also an arms dealer and inventor, in addition to being a brilliant military commander. He’s the whole villainous package, all wrapped up in a shiny steel mask. Destro is definitely one of the most interesting members of Cobra, with a cool and bizarre look that can’t help but make you ask questions (the mask is a family heirloom and the symbol of his house…just go with it). In the cartoon, in addition to having an amazing voice, provided by Maurice LaMarche, he was also interesting because, although he worked with Cobra, he was his own man, often pursuing his own agenda and operating on his own terms.

There was a competence and a cool to Destro that few of the other Cobras could match. This was actually similar to the comics, where these traits were even more pronounced. In fact, Destro would part ways with Cobra several times, operating on his own as an intriguing third party in the conflict. To make him even more of a fascinating character, the Destro of the comics had a strong sense of honor that complicated his interactions with the various factions, meaning he would sometimes aid the Joes and eventually became something of an anti-villain over the course of the series. He’s always been my favorite of the Cobras, even before I read the comics and discovered just how great of a character he is.

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Transformers: They’re more than meets the eye! The original (for Americans, anyway) Robots in Disguise were a force of nature in the 80s, taking the toy, comic, and cartoon worlds by storm. There was (and apparently still is) just something about the anthropomorphic machines that resonated with audiences, especially kids, and a fascinating and compelling mythology and cast of characters grew out of the initial marketing blitz. Transformers became another show that transcended its cynical and pragmatic beginnings, though market-driven machinations would haunt the series throughout its run, including the ill-conceived treatment of the original G1 characters in the movie, which callously killed off almost every character in which kids had become invested. Nonetheless, the popularity of those characters, and of the cartoon that popularized them, continues to this day because the show managed to capture magic in these sentient machines.

Like G. I. Joe, Transformers had a large, colorful, diverse, and memorable cast of characters, all brought to life by a talented voice cast (in fact, largely the same cast as G. I. Joe, interestingly enough). This had a lot to do with the cartoon’s success, as the show combined archetypal power with strong personalities and designs that were so impactful that they codified their own tropes. In addition, the rich mythology born through the comics and the classic cartoon still influences the franchise today.

The basic story is usually the same, no matter what the incarnation, with a civil war breaking out among the sentient transforming robots of the planet Cybertron, a conflict between the heroic Autobots, who sought to protect the innocent and preserve freedom, and the vicious Decepticons, who were bent on conquest. That war spilled over onto Earth, when the two exhausted, energy-hungry groups crashed on our planet, eventually disguising themselves as terrestrial machines and continuing their conflict in more or less clandestine fashions. I loved the show and the toys as a kid, and the cartoon is one that still holds up pretty well, despite the usual decline in animation quality as it goes. The comic has its ardent adherents, and it definitely has its strengths. Still, I find that the cartoon will always be the definitive version for me. Interestingly, the comic, like many of its era, has both an American and British version, which diverge in continuity. I’ve read the American series, but I haven’t explored the British one yet, and I hear that it is the best of the two.

Optimus Prime: How could we talk about Transformers without talking about the greatest Autobot of all time, and one of the most iconic and beloved heroes of all 80s cartoons. Optimus was an amazing character, played with such depth and texture by Peter Cullen that his performance unquestionably became the definitive version of the character, something as perfect as that of Kevin Conroy on Batman: The Animated Series. With Cullen’s contributions, Optimus became an impressive combination of leader and mentor. He seemed to combine a number of excellent qualities in an unusual combination, like the wisdom of Yoda, the courage of Beowulf, the warmth of Mr. Rogers, and the leadership of Captain Kirk.

The origin of the voice that defined the character and came to embody so much nobility is fascinating. Cullen has told the story of how his older brother, Larry, gave him the advice that led to him creating this particular voice. Larry, who had been a marine and knew what it was like to serve and sacrifice, told him, “If you’re going to play a hero, be a real hero, not a Hollywood hero, trying to be tough […] Be strong enough to be gentle.” You can really hear the impact of that advice in his portrayal of the character, who does have a gentleness and a kindness that is unusual for the heroes of the era, and especially for a character literally made of metal.

Optimus himself is a powerful warrior, one of the strongest of the Autobots, and one of the few Transformers who can go toe-to-toe with Megatron, but his most definitive qualities aren’t his strength or his power. Instead, they are those softer qualities, like the selflessness and kindness that Cullen captured in his performance. Originally a mere archivist, essentially a librarian, Orion Pax, the Autobot who would become Optimus Prime, was a gentle soul, and like Prince Caspian from the Chronicles of Narnia, he did not covet power, which is one of the qualities that made him worthy when it was thrust upon him.

Megatron: If Optimus is the ideal heroic leader, Megatron is his villainous opposite, ruthless, cruel, cunning, and tremendously powerful. As silly as his alternate mode from G1 was in some ways, transforming into a literal gun was a pretty perfect metaphor for his nature, a dangerous and destructive device, without the humanity that defined Optimus. Megatron is one of the most intimidating and impressive villains of the era, and he is an effective and even inspiring leader, though a brutal one, often leading through fear as well as through more noble motivation. Megatron is the ultimate warrior, defined by his destructive crusade for domination.

In pretty much all of his incarnations, he is out to forge an empire, believing it is the destiny of the Transformers, as superior beings, to dominate the universe. The cartoon gives him a bit of background, but the comics and later versions expanded it, deepening the character in interesting ways. My favorite version of this was that of Dreamwave’s comics, which told us that Megatron was once a gladiator in underground blood (oil?) sports organized by the ruling elite of Cybertron. It was among the other gladiators, those with a hunger for conflict, for violence, and for conquest, that he began recruiting for his revolution. Those qualities went on to define the Decepticon cause.

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Design Process

This was a very challenging set of characters to create, despite the fact that they are so familiar and well-known. In fact, their very fame was part of the challenge, as they will obviously be integral to the mod and, to some degree, the standard by which it will be judged. Most importantly, however, as I mentioned in the intro, creating this group of characters also meant creating the framework for each of these shows and their respective casts, thinking through what scale each setting should operate in and what types of powers and abilities would best represent the inhabitants of each universe.

I also discovered that, while I knew each of these characters better than the average bear, actually quantifying them into a Herofile required a deeper knowledge than I had off the top of my head. I found myself watching back through various shows, searching for write-ups and overview videos, and generally doing a surprising amount of research in order to ensure that I actually understood who they were and what they could do. (Note, many of the power names in the screenshots to follow are abbreviations, designed to avoid issues with FFEdit when I build them in.)

That was certainly true of Lion-O, whose design perhaps gave me the most trouble of this entire set. I knew the basics about him, and I understood the character himself. He bears the Sword of Omens, a powerful magical sword, and it allows him to summon and rally the other Thundercats. All well and good, clearly he needs a Rally power, and he should have strong melee skills…but what else, exactly, can this powerful artifact do? That was a difficult question to answer. I vaguely remembered the Thundercats symbol it summoned being able to affect foes in some fashion, but as I researched, I discovered it might actually be easier to list what the Sword and Eye can’t do.

So, I started rewatching the show and reading up on the artifacts. Eventually, I settled on a build of Lion-O that aims to capture his speed and agility in combat, giving him attributes like Acrobatic, and his role as the leader of the Thundercats with Field Commander. In terms of his powers, I gave him the usual range of melee attacks, powerful ones because of the Sword, and a whole host of other abilities. Of course there was the expected Rally, for which I created a custom FX, complete with a clip of Lion-O giving the classic “Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats, Ho!”

But I also gave him a fairly powerful beam attack with good knockback, though it is relatively expensive to use, since he doesn’t employ this ability very often. He also got a strong but expensive cone attack, representing that ability of the Eye of Thundera to strike enemies. I gave him various other abilities, making him pretty flexible, but the clairvoyant abilities of the Sword gave me trouble on how to represent them. I gave Lion-O Danger Sense to reflect his ability to be warned about threats, but I also gave him a Genetic Damage ability, allowing him to “spot weaknesses” in foes, which seems about as close as I can get to this power of his artifact. In the end, I’m pretty happy with him, and I think he’s actually going to be a fun character to play given his diverse range of powers.

That brought me to Mumm-Ra. I focused on his “Everliving” form, his powered-up version, as that’s what will get the most attention in terms of gameplay, though I plan on adding his normal form as well. I knew I wanted him to be a real beast, a terror that it might take an entire team of Thundercats to take down, as he was a really powerful threat in the show. I ended up developing an approach for the sorcerers of the mod, trying to capture the vast array of abilities they’ve evinced in their respective shows, one that I’ve applied to both ‘ol mummy-puss and Skeletor.

The first part of this is, of course, the Spellcaster attribute, which allows players to create a wide range of effects without having to have powers built in for each and every type of ability the character might use. I also created a custom attribute, Master Sorcerer, which combined a ton of powerful attributes: Fire Control, Enhanced Senses, Guardian Physical, Summoner 2, Super Telekinetic, Puppet Master (both Urban and Natural), Group Teleporter, and a 50 FF Active defense. This set of attributes makes the sorcerers extremely dangerous in combat, and allows them to trouble a group of heroes, even if they can’t match them all physically.

In terms of his powers, I made Mumm-Ra a threat in melee with a range of strong melee attacks, as well as giving him several energy attacks to represent his spells. I gave him an Alteration and a Hex to represent his more utilitarian magic, in addition to the attributes. The end result is a really dangerous foe that is hard to pin down and is a threat to the entire hero team.

The Silverhawks proved a bit of a challenge as well. Although I have the series on DVD and watched through a piece of it a few years ago, I really couldn’t remember the specifics of the characters’ capabilities very well, so I popped the DVDs in again and started doing some enjoyable and diverting research (a really nice change of pace from grading papers during the semester!). I knew basically what the Silverhawks could do, fly, shoot lasers, and hold their own with cybernetic super strength, I found that my design of Quicksilver was pretty underdeveloped.

Fortunately, I got a few good ideas from the show (though I expect I’ll continue to tweak these guys as I re-watch more of the cartoon). As his name implies, Quicksilver is one of the fastest and most agile of the team. The end result is a fast, agile flier who has a range of strong energy attacks, as well as some quick melee strikes, including a powerful flying attack. He’s also got a smoke screen, allowing him to blind enemies around him, and a flying sprint. I also gave him a homing, chained attack to represent Tallyhawk, but I’m thinking I might experiment with making Tallyhawk an independent Sidekick character rather than a part of Quicksilver’s HF.

His nemesis, Mon*Star gave me trouble as well. I knew he was a big, strong tank of a guy (just look at him!), but what could he actually do? Fortunately, my research paid off again, and I discovered that his main ability, his “Light Star,” the weird, glowing eye that allowed him to project glowing stars of energy, had a variety of uses, from straight damage to mind control, to stasis. It’s definitely a bit of ‘power of plot,’ but this allowed me to build him as a juggernaut (not THAT Juggernaut) of destruction, who still had a variety toolbox with which to harras the heroes. His Light Star attacks are homing, meaning that the heroes will need all of their agility to avoid them. And, of course, with that massive armored frame, he is hard to hurt and hits like a freight train.

He-Man is up next, and in many ways he was the easiest character to create. The only real challenges involved tweaking his keyframes to give me the options I needed, creating custom FX, and trying to figure out just how strong and tough he should be. After all, this is a character that, according to some, is on par with Superman. I’m actually still afraid that my version is a little too weak, and I go back and forth on giving him some invulnerability, or at least Physical resistance, because he is darn hard to put down.

As it is, I’ve given him a build that is a real powerhouse, with great strength and durability, as well as the Superleaper attribute, allowing him to jump around like The Hulk. His powers are a whole range of melee abilities, giving him lots of options up close. After dithering quite a bit, I gave him an area attack representing calling down extra power from Grayskul. I was torn on this because it’s not really something we saw in either of the cartoons, though it makes a certain amount of sense in terms of the mythos and has shown up in the comics. I think it adds a useful extra dimension to what would otherwise be a very one dimensional HF. Of course, I also gave He-Man a 300 percenter to represent him supercharging, with an appropriate custom FX, complete with an “I HAVE THE POW-ER!” I’m pretty happy with the results.

Skeletor presented challenges similar to Mumm-Ra, of course, so his build ended up being quite similar. However, drawing on the 2002 series, I made most of his powers damage-focused, giving him less utility magic than Mumm-Ra, allowing his attributes to bear that burden. He’s got strong stats but he is outpowered physically by He-Man, who is much stronger. Yet, Skeletor has a shield he can rely on, and he can teleport away, staying out of reach. He’s range-focused, capturing that classic dichotomy. The end result is a powerful and challenging villain that, if his AI is up to the task, should prove a tough fight, even for He-Man.

Next up were the Joes and Cobras, who operated on a very different, much more mundane scale than all of these titans of power we’ve been exploring. Fortunately, I had actually done a ton of work on G. I. Joe in Freedom Force, years and years ago. In fact, most folks probably don’t know this, but the Joes were actually the subject of my first, rather disappointing, attempt at modding, way back in the day when I was still new to the community. I had a big, involved campaign planned (I’m still pretty happy with the plot I worked out, building on the classic comic), but this was in the days before EZScript, and I just couldn’t get a grasp on Python scripting. The project fizzled, but not before I had run around the community, getting requests from several creators and telling everyone I was going to make a mod. It wasn’t a great beginning to my time at FR, but I like to think that I’ve made up for that abortive start, a half dozen mods later.

Anyway, I eventually decided that FF was really not the best venue for the Joes, as they’d be much better served by a game like Jagged Alliance. After all, adapting them and differentiating them in FF is indeed a challenge, but I couldn’t make SMA and NOT include the Joes. Fortunately, while my efforts to script my ambitious story met with failure way back when, I had built HFs for a pretty massive collection of the Joes and Cobras, and I still had those on hand to give me a start on my designs for this mod. Of course, those HFs were built for FF1, and they were products of my earlier design philosophy, which was much less comprehensive. Nonetheless, at least I had a starting point.

Many of these characters are going to end up looking similar, and the challenge is going to be to give each of them something distinctive to represent both their personality and their armaments, where possible. For Duke, I focused on his leadership, giving him Field Commander for his inspirational impact on the Joes, as well as a Rally power (for which I still have to find a “Yo Joe!” sound clip). He’s got a submachine gun, so he has a range of projectile attacks with medium accuracy.

Snake Eyes, on the other hand, is a ninja, so he’s extremely agile and mobile, and he’s very dangerous in melee, getting both Blitzkrieg and Combat Skill (Master). He’s got a set of melee attacks with his sword, including several area attack options, and he’s got some projectile attacks with his Uzi. He’s also got an ability that was used several times in the comics, the “Arashikage Mind Set,” a mystical ability that allows him to clear the mind and the spirit of an ally, removing negative effects.

Cobra Commander is an interesting case, as he’s not particularly fierce in combat himself, but he’s all about boosting his forces and hamstringing the Joes. He’s got a rally, of course, but he also has a few direct abilities to represent his tactical and strategic genius. These give him the ability to Power Null a foe and to spot openings and weaknesses (Genetic Damage). He is naturally inspiring to his men, so he gets Coordinator, and he is never without a bodyguard, so he gets Private Army (of course). To make him effective and interesting, I’ve had to get a bit more abstract than I like, but I think it should still make for a good experience in the game.

Destro, on the other hand, was pretty easy to build as an interesting HF. The man is basically a walking arsenal. He himself is well armored, especially his head, thanks to his head gear, but he’s also generally a tough guy. He’s hard to stop and is made of material almost as stern as the steel of his mask. In addition to a powerful customized pistol, he carries powerful “gauntlet rockets,” miniature missiles that make him a one-man weapons platform. To capture all this, I gave him Grim Resolve, Armored, Disciplined, and Tough Guy, as well as Coordinator to represent his own leadership skills. He’s got some solid projectile attacks with his pistol, as well as a range of rocket attacks, allowing him to put out a lot of firepower. He should be a real danger to the Joes in a fight.

And that brings us to our last set of characters, the Transformers. Just like with the Joes, I actually had actually done some work on everyone’s favorite sentient automatons before I conceived of this project. I had long thought about creating a Transformers mod, and I actually laid a lot of the groundwork for it a few years back. I ran into difficult really capturing my vision for the setting, and I eventually gave up on it. I think the release of the Cybertron games made this feel less necessary as well, as they finally gave us a really great Transformers game, and one with a fair amount of G1 flavor. I never quite let go of the idea, nor the resources I had created, fortunately. I was delighted to discover that I already had the materials gathered, and most of the characters I’ll need built into the mod that I hadn’t ever finished. I just combined those files with my SMA mod, and bingo, instant starting point for the Transformers. So, much of the concept work I needed to do for the other settings, I had actually already done for these guys, which was a nice boost.

Optimus Prime, Megatron, and most of the G1 cast were already built, with powers and attributes already worked out for the most part. My initial plan was to have all of the Transformers have the Battery Powered attribute, since the search for energy was such an integral part of the mythos, but I’ve decided to nix that idea because having multiple characters with this attribute in a mission doesn’t seem to work well. I also went back and forth on whether or not to make all of the TF metal material, which would seem like a no-brainier. Unfortunately, metal in FF2 has a lot of weaknesses, including to energy and electricity, which isn’t really tenable, seeing as most of the TF’s weapons are energy. I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to settle on, though I’m leaning toward concrete or stone and using an AI subtype to clarify them as metal for gameplay effects. I still need to do a bit more testing to see what’s going to work best.

In terms of the two Transformers I worked on in this batch, I intentionally designed Prime and Megatron as parallels to one another, asymmetrical, but balanced. Prime is tougher and stronger in melee, but Megatron has more energy and has one of the most powerful ranged attacks in the game (which makes perfect sense). They should be roughly evenly matched, though Megatron’s ability to fly gives him a bit of an advantage unless Prime can ground him. I’ve also given Prime’s vehicle mode heavier armor (as he’s more compacted) and the Inner Being attribute, allowing it to spawn an independently operating vehicle to capture “Rover” from the cartoon and toy. I’ve still got to find the right resources for Rover, but this allows Prime to rush to a position and put down a weapons platform of sorts. Of course, Prime will also have a Rally ability, though I haven’t got the FX for it yet. The end result should be fitting for the two characters and their respective rolls. Megatron is a pure powerhouse, a mobile weapon that can hit harder than almost anyone else. Prime will be more well-rounded, with the ability to inspire and buff his teammates, and hard to put down.

Aside from questions about materials, the main challenge I ran into with these two was actually the same issue that stopped my original attempt at a Transformers mod, and that was the limits of the keyframes. Valander did an amazing job creating the Transformers, producing a huge swath of the TF universe in wonderful detail and with loving accuracy, and he built them all with his own custom animations. However, those animations only have a couple of options for melee and ranged attacks, which don’t give you a lot of variety or specificity if you’re designing an entire universe of characters. And, because they’re all a unique class of mesh, it’s not like I can simply import new animations from male_basic or something. Detroune_me, who has made some really cool TF skopes already, is working on giving me some more options to play with, so here’s hoping that will work out.

Alright folks, that will do it for this dev diary! I hope y’all enjoyed this post, and as always, I’d love to hear from y’all with any feedback or ideas. As promised, my teaser trailer is below, showing off characters from all six shows in action together in a unprecedented 80s cartoon crossover!