Line #44 WesternAnimation/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors


1	[[quoteright:360:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Jayce_and_the_Wheeled_Warriors_9795.jpg]]
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3	->''"The ''Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors'' show was [[RuleOfCool so awesome that logic gave it a free pass to do whatever the hell it wanted.]]"''
4	-->-- '''Creator/{{Seanbaby}}''', ''10 Toys from the 80s That Just Didn't Care''
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6	''Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors'' is a French/North American animated TV show which first aired on September 16, 1985. It was produced by Creator/DICEntertainment (originally distributed for syndication by SFM Entertainment), and animated by Japanese animation studios Creator/KKCAndDAsia, Creator/{{Sunrise}}, Creator/StudioShaft, Creator/StudioGiants, Creator/StudioLook and Swan Production. The show was a SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon, created to support Creator/{{Mattel}}'s toy line (which was called simply ''Wheeled Warriors'', and which had no particular story or characters of its own). The show features an ongoing plot; however, like many shows made at the time, it does not have a series finale, and thus the plot was left unresolved. Although a movie was intended to close out the plotlines, it never came to be. Story editor Creator/JMichaelStraczynski has claimed that his script for the film, completely written, remains with him.
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8	As usual for an 80s show, there are two dueling forces-- the human-composed ''Lightning League'', who pilot heavily-armed white and silver vehicles, and are led by Jayce. The other faction are the ''Monster Minds'', organic green vegetable-based creatures who tend to take the shape of black and green vehicles. They travel via large green organic vines which can grow in and across interstellar space, that sprout seeds that rapidly grow into further Monster Minds, and are led by Saw Boss.
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10	Before the start of the show, Audric, a galactically famous scientist, began a project to produce a miracle crop and end hunger. Unfortunately for him, a solar flare released radiation that mutated his plant (and several others around his lab) into evil sentient creatures called the Monster Minds. Audric created a magic root that could destroy the Monster Minds, but was forced to flee before he could join the two halves. He gave one to his servant, a living suit of armor named Oon, to give to his son, Jayce. Jayce and his friends reform a legendary band of heroes called the Lightning League. Jayce travels the galaxy battling the Monster Minds and searching for Audric to unite the magic root and lead his Lightning League to victory over the changing form of Saw Boss.
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12	----
13	!!"There's a trope and it comes from deep inside of you":
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15	* AdaptationExpansion: The toy line had no real plot or characters to speak of beyond the "Monster Minds" going crazy and the "Lightning League" mobilizing to stop them. The show had to spin an entire universe around a couple of vehicle designs.
16	* AlienKudzu: The Monster Mind's vines, which grow big enough to entangle spaceships, or even to make highways for the Monster Mind vehicles to drive between celestial bodies!
17	* AmazonBrigade: Morganna and her all-female crew of space pirates.
18	* ArtifactOfDoom: The magical root that can destroy Saw Boss and the Monster Minds. In a subversion, the artifact is a threat to the villains instead of the heroes. There is also the [[spoiler: Helmet of Valroth which eventually [[DemonicPossession possesses Jayce.]]]]
19	* ArtisticLicenseSpace:
20	** The plants... grow vines... from planet... to planet... evidently the planets in that universe don't orbit anything or they'd get REALLY tangled up. And [[ConvenientlyClosePlanet the planets are all much closer]], too.
21	** Let's not forget the whole "Plants turning to vehicles" thing.
22	** To answer both of those issues: [[AWizardDidIt the evil plants are specifically magical]].
23	* AttackPatternAlpha: Every single time Jayce had the vehicles fight on autopilot.
24	%%* BigBad: Saw Boss.
25	* BornFromPlants: The Monster Minds sprout from green organic vines.
26	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Technically Jayce in "Steel Against Shadow" as a result of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Helmet of Valroth compelling him]] before the DemonicPossession trope takes full effect.
27	* CompellingVoice: The [[ArtifactOfDoom Helmet of Valroth]] uses this on Jayce in "Steel Against Shadow".
28	%%* CoolOldGuy: Gillian.
29	* CutShort: An interesting case. The series managed to achieve 65 episodes, and Creator/JMichaelStraczynski, among others, even managed to create a final movie-length 66th episode... but Creator/DICEntertainment effectively declared the series would have NoEnding due to ''poor toy sales''.
30	%%* DarkLord: Saw Boss.
31	* DeadpanSnarker: Herc, on occasion. When Flora [[NotNowKiddo shushes him]] in "Steel Against Shadow", he responds: "Pardon me. I think I'll just go out back and stick my face in the starboard engine."
32	* DemonicPossession: Along with an ArtifactOfDoom it happens to Jayce in "Steel Against Shadow".
33	* DisappearedDad: Audric, Jayce's father. Jayce and the Lightning League spend much of the series searching for him, but are [[StatusQuoIsGod always just a little too late to meet up with him]].
34	* EvilIsBigger: While it never actually comes up outside a brief moment in the first episode, the Monster Minds ''tower'' over humans in their humanoid forms. Suffice to say, no apparent mass shifting takes place between their humanoid and vehicle transformations.
35	* {{Expy}}: Herc Stormsailor is pretty much [[Franchise/StarWars Han Solo]] with the serial numbers (and apparently a few brain cells) filed off. Other members of the Lightning League also have clear ''Star Wars'' parallels (see FollowTheLeader on [[Trivia/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors the Trivia page]]), but Herc is without competition the most blatant one.
36	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Like in any episodic story where the heroes are trying to find some elusive thing that would automatically defeat their enemies. In most episodes the Lightning League are a hair's breadth from catching up to Audric, but get distracted by Saw Boss's latest EvilPlan. They save the day, but Audric has had to move on again, starting the chase all over.
37	* FireForgedFriends: Herc with the rest of the Lightning League. Like [[Franchise/StarWars Han Solo]] he starts out purely motivated by money and isn't completely sure he likes these people he's been hired to ferry around in his ship. Over the course of the series, many adventure and several life-threatening danges, he does come to care for them.
38	* HeroismWontPayTheBills: The Lightning League regularly save entire planets, but Herc never makes a dime chauffeuring them around the universe.
39	* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Jayce in "Steel Against Shadow".
40	* InfiniteSupplies: Despite the humorous subplot of Herc never collecting his payment for hauling the Lightning League around, they never have any problems keeping all their vehicles and the ship in working order or gassed up.
41	* InformedAbility: Oon's (allegedly) magic lance. In this case, however, Oon is the only one who believes it's magic.
42	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Herc.
43	* LargeAndInCharge: Subverted with Saw Boss; he's pretty big, but there are bigger Minds.
44	* LeftHanging: We never got to see Saw Boss' defeat.
45	* LightDarknessJuxtaposition: Flora, a girl with telepathic powers created from a plant by Audric. Compassionate, dedicated, inquisitive, if sometimes a little snarky, and an example of the positive aspects of Audric's research. Counterpart to the evil conquerors who are the Monster Minds, who also mutated into humanoid form from plants around Audric's lab, but now want to take over the universe.
46	* LovableCoward: Oon, though with more than a few traces of CowardlyLion.
47	* LovableRogue: Again, Herc.
48	* MacGuffin: The Root, which when the two pieces are joined will exterminate the Monster Minds at once.
49	* MagicalCounterfeiting: Gillian hired Herc with lead he temporarily transmuted into gold, and after it changed back he insisted on sticking with the Lightning League until he paid up.
50	* MarketBasedTitle: A number of dubbed versions are known by some name that isn't "Wheeled Warriors". Examples include "Jayce et les Conquerants de la Lumière" ("...and the Warriors of Light"; French), and "...e os Guerreiros do Espaço" (...and the Warriors of Space; Brazil), although the Spanish dub was called "...y los Guerreros Rodantes", which is similar to the English name.
51	* MerchandiseDriven: Early on, this results in a few weird, out-of-place bits of dialogue, such as Gillian announcing he's installed "stack and attack mode" in the vehicles- and even then, that's not what that's supposed to mean (in the toyline, it referred to how the smaller Lightning League vehicles could detach from their wheels and attach on top of Armed Force; in the show, it referred to the ability to swap weapons between vehicles- which doesn't make much sense name-wise). The toy line didn't do very well when it debuted, and the writers didn't work around those constraints.
52	* NatureVersusTechnology: We have the conflict between technology and nature. This show managed to flip the script, however, with the heroes piloting powerful mechanical vehicles while the villains were a group of mutant plant creatures.
53	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Oh boy... the Monster Minds are takes a deep breath magically and biomechanically engineered alien plants mutated by solar radiation into evil giant humanoid plant people that can morph into cars.
54	* OpeningNarration: As provided by the former Ghoulardi, the voice of ''Series/TheLoveBoat'', the syndicated run of ''Series/BreakTheBank1976'' and Creator/{{ABC}}, Creator/ErnieAnderson: "Thundering across the stars to save the universe from the Monster Minds..."
55	** However, the French dub (''Jayce et Les Conquerants de la Lumiere''; lit., ''Jayce and Warriors of Light'') has its own version.
56	* PlantAliens: Perhaps the only series with plant alien CYBORG VEHICLES.
57	* PlantPerson: Flora. Looks human, but she's botanical in origin.
58	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld:
59	** Gillian is a perfect example of WizardsLiveLonger and is well over a thousand years old, without this having slowed him down any.
60	** Oon is possibly even older than Gillian; it's established that he's been around for at least two thousand years, and he's had a lot of different masters in that time.
61	* RingOfPower: Jayce's Ring of Light, which manifests [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands whatever power Jayce needs in the current situation]]. However, he can't simply command it to OneHitKill Saw Boss and save everyone a lot of running around; it's implied the ring only works in situations where there's no other way out. In one episode ("Bloodstone") you can see a face in the ring's light, further implying the ring is alive and decides when its help is and isn't necessary.
62	* RobotBuddy: Oon. He's not actually a robot, but an "Eternal Squire," essentially a magically-animated suit of armor.
63	* RunningTheBlockade: In [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Blockade Runners"]], the Lightning League does this when the Monster Minds' vines cut off planet Baz from the rest of the galaxy.
64	* RunningGag: Herc's continuing frustration at actually getting paid for hauling Jayce all over the universe. Something seems to happen every other episode for him to add to Jayce's tab.
65	* ScienceFantasy: A SpaceOpera that also has prominent mystical elements, like Jayce's magic ring and his mentor character being a centuries-old wizard.
66	* SignatureMove: Whenever Armed Force (Jayce's preferred vehicle of choice) comes across a plant vehicle with a wrecking ball, it merely grabs the ball and tosses the vehicle over his head.
67	* SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon: Typical of syndicated cartoons of its era.
68	* SpacePirates: An [[AmazonBrigade all-female]] crew appear in one episode.
69	* TitlePlease: As usual with [=DiC=] productions of the era, the episode titles aren't shown onscreen.
70	* ToylessToylineCharacter: An unusual example. The vehicles featured in the cartoon were in the toy line, but the toys had no specific characters as drivers, so some were invented for the show. Mattel planned to make action figures of the Lightning League and Saw Boss, but they were never released.
71	* TwoHalvesMakeAPlot: Jayce has one half of the magic root, and his father has another. SternChase ensues.
72	* UnrealisticBlackHole: The heroes are able to ''create'' one in an episode to destroy a large colony of Monster Minds, and it is suggested the place had "almost enough density" to collapse into one already.
73	* VillainTeleportation: Saw Boss uses "the power of the black light" to teleport his headquarters from place to place.
74	* WizardsLiveLonger: Gillian combines this with ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. He casually mentions visiting places 600 years ago, and says at one point that a thousand years isn't all ''that'' long a time to wait for something.
75	* WizardsFromOuterSpace: Gillian, Jayce's mentor.

Context WesternAnimation / JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors