(In writing this post, I had never heard of the film Knightriders, but when searching for something to set as the featured image I couldn’t say no. The image comes straight from IMDB.com. Go check it out!)
In honor of William Joseph Roberts’ new trusty steed (see the pictures below), I wanted to dedicate this post to motorcycles in fantasy and science fiction. I was planning to do one on vehicles in general, but why not break it up a bit? There’s plenty of great bikes and cars blasting about the sci-fi and fantasy landscapes. They each deserve their own time in the limelight:
The Bikes of the Red Planet: Biker Mice From Mars
If you were a kid in the 90s, you grew up in a time of great American cartoons. X-Men, SWAT Kats, ExoSquad, and Darkwing Duck, to name a few. One of the shows I missed until the SNES game came out was Biker Mice From Mars. In it three mouse-like aliens—Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo—ride their bikes into battle against the evil Plutarkians through the mean streets of Chicago. They’ve lost their old home of the Red Planet, and they’ll be damned if they lose their new home! Together with their human friend and bike mechanic Charley Davidson (Not a pun. No…) and their three rides Martian Monster, Radical Rocket, and Mondo Chopper, they’ll do their best to keep the bad guys from winning while looking cool at the same time.
I wasn’t aware until I started writing this post that a new line of collector toys is coming out for them! From Nacelle Consumer Products via their Amazon store, next year you’ll be able to own all three of the bikes.
The Metal Steed of the Knight Sabers: Bubblegum Crisis
In Bubblegum Crisis, worker robots known as “Boomers” are going haywire, and the regular police can barely stay on top of it. Enter the Knight Sabers, a group of four women in high-tech (and high-heeled) armor battling them through the night, 80s vigilante style. The leader of the group if Priscilla “Priss” Asagiri, and when she’s not fighting out-of-control boomers or acting as lead singer for her band “The Replicants” (No Bladerunner reference there…) she’s joyriding and outrunning the cops through the streets of Megatokyo on her trusty red ride.
There was a remake to this series back in the late 90s that changed up a fair amount of the storyline from the original OVA series, but the one thing that didn’t change was Priss’s love for red, both in her clothing and in her bike.
A Conversationalist: Hermes from Kino’s Journey
Since I mentioned fantasy earlier in the post, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Hermes, the talking motorcycle from the anime Kino’s Journey. This slice-of-life adventure follows the protagonist Kino as she travels across a reimagined Earth in order to experience as much of life as she possibly can. She’s mostly an observer of the strange traditions and goings-on of the different towns, cities, and nations that she and Hermes travel through, but she will often get roped into some kind of adventure in the process, all the while dragging her sentient bike with her. He complains a lot to the annoyance of Kino, but they make for a great team. As he says, “I provide the speed, but you provide the direction and balance.”
If Hermes can’t get Kino through a rough spot, then her skills with her “persuaders” (the world’s word for firearms, which I kind of like) will carry the day and keep her and Hermes safe. She’s a revolver gal, something I can always support.
Biker Troopers From Endor: Return of the Jedi
In what had to be an attempt to make Stormtroopers cool again, Return of the Jedi saw two new things added to Star Wars lore in one package: the scout trooper, and his faithful speeder bike. Nothing says daring quite like flying your Imperial 74-Z at insane speeds through the deeply forested landscape of Endor, after all!
And you can’t beat those helmets. Look at the horse blinders on that guy. He doesn’t need peripheral vision. He just has to keep his eyes on the road ahead. Safety first!
Maverick’s Road Rocket: Top Gun
Since we’re heading into more “real world” stuff with the live action Star Wars reference above, we can’t forget about one of the most iconic films of the 1980s and one of the most iconic motorcycles that was showcased in it: the Kawasaki GPZ900r Ninja. I’d talk about it, but why not just include a video that discusses it in better detail than I ever could? Here we go!
Hillbilly’s New Pair of Wheels: Meet Josie
As mentioned earlier in the post, there’s a new member of the Three Ravens stable! No, not a writer, but something to carry a writer and publisher into battle. Or at least down to the local pizza place. Whichever comes first. Those of you coming to LibertyCon this year, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet Josie the Road King firsthand! 1800cc is more than enough to carry William and his scurry of brain squirrels, at least for the moment. If any more of them latch onto him, he’ll need to get a side car.
Heroes & Heathens Coming Out This Week!
The brave men and women in the Heroes & Heathens anthology may not ride motorcycles, but they certainly would if they could. Instead, they’ll have to battle against the various foes and monstrous enemies on horseback or on foot.
Available for pre-order on Amazon, look for this fine batch of sword-and-sorcery tales to charge out the sally port on June 14th!
Welcome to “Heathens & Heroes,” where the bravest souls find their destiny amidst the chaos of battle, and ancient swords gleam with untold power while dark magic crackles like lightning across the battlefield. Embark on an epic journey through the realms of imagination with this spellbinding anthology of sword and sorcery tales.
From the shadowed corridors of forgotten castles to the savage wilderness where mythical beasts roam, immerse yourself in a tapestry of adventure, honor, and mystic intrigue.
Where legendary warriors clash with dark sorcerers, and valiant heroes rise from the ashes of despair to defy fate itself.
Each story is a portal to a world of perilous quests, where the fate of kingdoms hangs in the balance and the line between heroism and villainy blurs in the heat of battle.
Will you answer the call to adventure?
