The Monster Minds are fictional evil races bent on conquest of the universe, and are the major antagonistic force in 1985 cartoon series and toyline Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. They are led by the very first of the Monster Minds, Saw Boss. They possess the ability to turn into armed vehicles.
Description[]
The Monster Minds are originally engineered by a botanical scientist called Audric, who had intended to use his expertise in botany to solve the problem of starvation across the universe. However, during one of Audric's experiments, a star went supernova and scattered radiation across the system. The plants in Audric's laboratory were affected by the radiation and mutated into cunningly intelligent and vicious humanoid creatures. Thus, the Monster Minds were born with the ability to transform into various armed combat vehicles.
After driving Audric from his laboratory, the Monster Minds set out on a mission to conquer the universe. Using ever-growing Expansion Vines, they extended their field of influence across multiple star systems. Audric went into hiding and was able to create a special magic root capable of destroying the Monster Minds. However, he knew that his creations would come after him and try to destroy the root, so Audric split the root in two, giving one half to his cowardly robotic squire named Oon to pass on to Jayce, who is Audric's daredevil son. Audric disappeared across the stars, but Jayce and his Lightning League vowed to find him and unite the magic root in order to put an end to the Monster Minds' reign of terror.
The Movie: Fate that Never Came[]
Due to less-than-successful rating and toy sales, the series' 65 episode runs were not extended, and the series ended inconclusive. However, a movie had been planned along with the series, following in the footsteps of other toy-based animated series such as Transformers and G.I. Joe; if the series had proven successful by increasing toy sales, production would have begun. But due to the failure of the toyline, preparation for the movie was shelved.
Had the movie been filmed, it would have provided a finale for the series, with Jayce and his Lightning League meeting the original Lightning League and being trained on the home world of the Guardians. Jayce would be reunited with his father Audric, but Audric would be killed by Saw Boss as the Monster Minds began a final assault on the galaxy, and in a climactic final battle, Jayce would unite the root and destroy Saw Boss and his legion of Monster Minds, ending the Monster Mind menace forever.
Members of Monster Mind[]
Generally, Monster Mind battles are carried out by clones of the main Monster Minds that are grown from vines. These clones are referred to as "troopers"; Saw Trooper, Terror Trooper, K.O. Trooper, etc. The true Monster Minds change from their humanoid forms into vehicles upon leaving their headquarters, although they are significantly larger and more powerful than their mass-produced clones. In addition to their laser arsenals, Monster Minds' primary weapons involving their extendable limb vine attached on top of them when in vehicle forms.
First Ground Legions[]
- Gun Grinner - A Monster Mind that resembles a Jeep. It has a set of laser guns sticking out of the mouth on its front and a vine on its back that ends in a barbed flail. Commands Gun Troopers.
- KO Kruiser - A truck-shaped Monster Mind with an angry face on its front. The vine on its back clutches a large green wrecking ball for crushing opponents. Commands K.O. Troopers.
- Terror Tank - A Monster Mind tank armed with a powerful cannon and a vine that ends in a serpentine snapping mouth with four large fangs. Commands Terror Troopers.
- Beast Walker - The largest variety of Monster Mind and the one that appears the least often throughout the show. On the battlefield, it appears as a huge four-legged robot armed with many laser weapons. Commands Beast Walker Clones.
- Saw Commander - The only one other than Saw Boss that can take a humanoid form. Smaller in stature than Saw Boss and notable by the stripes on his chest and the absence of a cape. This vehicle form is equipped with laser weapons and a giant circular saw attached to a long vine extending from the top of the vehicle. The saw is capable of cutting through almost anything. Commands Saw Troopers.
Second Ground Legions[]
- Flapjacks - A van-like vehicle with a catapult.
- Lurchers - A vehicle with a front ram.
- Snapdragons - A smaller four-legged walking vehicle with front-mounted "petals" that opened like a flower to expose a laser cannon.
- Battle Stations - The Monster Minds' battle base. It was used in only one episode as it took enormous amounts of energy to spawn.
Air and Space Legions[]
- Cruisers - A larger Monster Mind spacecraft.
- Scouts/Satellites - A smaller Monster Mind spacecraft.
- Drill Vines - A small rocket craft with a drill nose cone, containing a Monster Mind vine cluster, which was used to penetrate targets and release a growth of vines.
- Pods - A plant-like insertion craft launched by Cruisers or Scouts, when Drill Vines were not called for.
- Space Fighters - A small Monster Mind starfighter, used much less commonly than Scouts.
Network of Legions[]
- Expansion Vines - A large vine growth used to infest a planet and spawn Monster Mind Troopers, also sometimes used to connect planets through open space.
- Spore Vines - Not as large as Expansion Vines, used to deploy biological weapons in the form of gases.
- Recepticles - A block-like plant that is used to form a teleportation point for Saw Boss's headquarters (originally Audric's lab).
- Brains - A small plant mass with a single central eye, used for communication by Monster Mind agents of other races.
Ally[]
- Dr. Zorg – a scientist working with Saw Boss. A scientific rival of Audric's. He is brilliant in his own field, but overall he is not a very nice guy: he's selfish, and thinks only of his own self glorification. His quest to gain all the information in Audric's old computer (the one that's now in SB's headquarters) leads him to become an enemy of both Jayce and the LL.
- Noak - a spy of Saw Boss's. He has a calculating mind, and a way of getting people to believe what he's telling them. He is a short, stooped humanoid, with lots of fur and a snub nosed face, and is quite obsequious by nature.
- Vantu - a wanna-be sorcerer, in Gillian's words, a "second rate trickster". But he is no less dangerous for his lack of latent magical abilities. It is his desire for more power that makes him very dangerous. He is a bipedal humanoid with a long, wolf-like snout. To augment his weak magical abilities, Vantu must rely on magical artifacts, such as the Liberty Stone, or the Orb of Andarin etc. When it suits his purposes, Vantu works for Saw Boss but mainly it is to keep Saw Boss from interfering with any of his own plans.
- Parawan - the evil sorcerer who wished to rule Princess Kiandra's hidden planet. He placed an enchantment on the princess which made her fall into a deep, ubreakable sleep. He was probably posing as a member of Kiandra's court, and seemed to have kept the fact that he was a wizard secret from the other courtiers - as Kiandra's lady considered it as "impossible" for Parawan to be the one who had enchanted her princess. But once identified as the perpetrator of the malevolent magics by Gillian, and after being bested by Gillian in a magical duel, Parawan attempts to make a deal with Saw Boss in a last, desperate attempt to hold onto power. Parawan is eventually captured by Jayce, his spell over the princess is revealed and reversed by Gillian, and Parawan's pretense to the throne is ended.
Saw Boss: The Big Bad[]
Saw Boss is the leader of the Monster Minds, and the very first Monster Mind to be born. Commanding legions of cloned minions and Expansion Vines, Saw Boss is bent on conquering the entire universe, launching attacks on every known inhabited planet. The only opposition to his conquest are the Lightning League, a group of heroic space travellers led by Jayce, the daredevil son of Saw Boss' creator Audric. Before going into hiding, Audric left behind one half of a magical root supposedly capable of destroying the Monster Minds. Recognising the root as a threat, Saw Boss is determined to hunt down the Lightning League and destroy Jayce's root before he can find Audric and the root's other half.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Telepathy - Saw Boss can communicate with any of his Monster Mind troops across space regardless of distance.
- Teleportation - Saw Boss can teleport the Monster Minds' base of operations to different planets by commanding his occupying forces to build special receptacles.
- Vehicle Form - Saw Boss can transform into a vehicle similar to Saw Commander and Troopers, but even bigger. Saw Boss rarely goes into battle himself but his Saw Troopers all possess the same qualities as they are all clones of him.
Gallery[]
