Visser Three

Visser Three is a Yeerk from the Animorphs continuity.

"Why are we walking like this?"

The boastful Visser Three, spearheading the Yeerk Empire's invasion of the Earth, is the only Yeerk in history to ever have infested an Andalite's body. This powerful form has granted him access to the Andalite's elusive morphing technology. As such, he has the capability of shapeshifting into any creature he touches, native to Earth or otherwise.

Before his arrival to Earth, Visser Three traveled the stars, scouring the universe for powerful morphs. Amongst the forms he acquired are the monstrous Hork-Bajir and the fire-breathing Inferno Beast. With access to the genetic material of monsters unlike anything on Earth, and the Yeerk army following his orders, this twisted, terrifying creature hiding behind the noble visage of an Andalite is determined to enslave all those who call Earth home.

Visser Three is also known to dabble in the technology created by his host's kind. While attempting to reverse-engineer the Andalites' morphing technology, Visser Three has discovered an unpredictable DNA mutating process. This process endows the Taxxons serving under him with a morphing ability similar to his own.

Visser Three dreams to amass enough power to bring the entire universe under his control.

Toys

Animorphs

Transmetal 2 Megatron's very distant cousin.

• Visser Three/Inferno Creature (Mega, 1999)
  • Accessories: Missile

Released in the initial wave of Animorphs toys, Visser Three's first toy transforms from an Andalite (sort of an alien centaur-thing) into an "Inferno Creature" (a somewhat humanoid alien monster). The Inferno Creature's left hand, which becomes the Andalite's left hind leg, launches a spring-loaded "Fire Fangs" missile. The Creature's right hand can be closed by pressing a lever which sticks out from the back of the right forearm. The lever also creates symmetry by mimicking the look of the missile sticking out from the back of the left arm.

Unlike most toys in the line, he has no "transitional" third mode.

• More information on Visser Three (mega) at TFU.info

It was Friday afternoon at Hasbro when they cranked out this mold...

• Visser Three (Ultra, 1999)
  • Accessories: 2 missiles/claws

The sole Ultra figure released in the Animorphs toyline, Visser Three's second toy, now a triple changer of sorts, retains the two alien modes of his Mega toy (albeit new versions of them) and even adds a third mode, a Hork-Bajir (sort of an alien quadrupedal-dinosaur-thing). His largest set of legs feature three-clawed feet with the center red talons being spring-loaded projectiles. His two beast mode heads feature opening mouths and he has a fully posable tail with 6 ball jointed segments.

• More information on Visser Three (ultra) at TFU.info

Notes

• Visser Three's packaging art for his Mega class toy portrays him as firing a projectile from his left palm while in his Andalite form... something impossible to do with the toy, seeing as the limb that fires a missile becomes the Andalite's rear leg. This is especially notable seeing as how painstakingly toy-accurate the artist tried to render the packaging art otherwise.
• A pre-production version of the Mega class Visser Three toy is used in the stock photography found on the toy's packaging. The "gaunlets" that cover the Andalite mode's arms in Inferno Creature mode are either separate pieces or (less likely) hinged to a different part of the toy. Either way, it appears they had tabs that plugged into holes that are visible on the Andalite forearms.

It was late Friday afternoon when they cranked out this deco.

• The deco of the Ultra class Visser Three toy used for stock photography sports some differences from the final toy. The claw missiles, leg "fins", and parts of the tail are yellow or yellow with red tips in the stock photos instead of being solid red. Also, the wings have some green paint spray on them that the final toy does not. The stock photography on Visser Three's packaging shows a slightly different pre-production deco with less green paint spray than the image to the right.
• Children's storybook artist Tim Bradley is credited with concept design for the Visser Three toys, but whether that means the Mega Class figure, the Ultra, or both is unknown.<ref>*Interview with concept artist Tim Bradley at Transformers at the Moon</ref>

Foreign names

• Dutch: Visser Drie
• French: Vysserk Trois (France)
• German: Visser Drei
• Italian: "Visser III (Mega figure), Visser Tre (Ultra figure)
• Spanish: Visser Tres (Spain)

References

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