Quake/Resaurus

When they were at their prime in the late 1990's, Resaurus did two toylines based on two video games that revolutionized the "first-person-shooter" genre. One of them was *Quake* and while both were effected by the debate of gun violence and mature entertainment, it never got to enjoy the longevity that the *Duke Nukem* series had in comparison as a cancelled Series 2 will show.

## **Summary**

Quake is a series of first-person shooter video games, developed by id Software and, as of 2010, published by Bethesda Softworks.  The first game was released by GT Interactive in 1996 and has the player find their way through various maze-like, medieval environments while battling a variety of monsters using an array of weaponry. The overall atmosphere is dark and gritty, with many stone textures and a rusty, capitalized font. The successor to id Software's *Doom* series, *Quake* also takes heavy inspiration from gothic fiction and the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Unlike the Doom engine before it, the Quake engine offered full real-time 3D rendering and had early support for 3D acceleration through OpenGL. After Doom helped to popularize multiplayer deathmatches in 1993, *Quake* added various multiplayer options. Online multiplayer became increasingly common, with the QuakeWorld update and software such as QuakeSpy making the process of finding and playing against others on the Internet easier and more reliable. *Quake* also featured music composed by Trent Reznor and his band, Nine Inch Nails. At least several expansion packs for the original game and direct sequels would be released in the years that followed.

In 1998, Resaurus put out a line of four action figures based on the 1997 game *Quake II* including Iron Maiden, a female Alien Strogg with a bionic arm; the Tank, a heavily armoured version of a male Strogg; Athena in her Jungle Marine armour with an accompanying Strogg Parasite, and Marine Major who came with a Barracuda Shark. The following year, Resaurus had plans on doing a second wave of *Quake* action figures that would've came with even more characters and would each be based off the first and third games. Planned for inclusion was the Quake Marine, known as "Ranger" in *Quake 3 Arena*; Iron Maiden II, the Death Knight, one of the most prominent enemies in the original *Quake*; the Tank Commander from *Quake 2*, which has the most health of any regular enemy in the game; the large yeti-like Shambler from the original *Quake*, the four-legged clawed Fiend, the humanoid Berserker from *Quake 4*, and Klesk, one of many playable characters from *Quake 3 Arena* and was sculpted by madnormigan; who also did the Sleeg prototype.

## **Final Verdict**

The figures were shown at the New York Toy Fair in February 1999, though development of Resaurus' second series of *Quake* action figures was greatly halted by the debate and mass hysteria surrounding violence in video games targeted towards children, especially in the case of mass shootings in public schools like the one that happened in Columbine when Resaurus was working on their toys. Former Resaurus toy designer Steve Miller dismissed it as nothing more than politicians using the issue as a milking cow for votes from conservatives and/or anti-gun liberals, though Kevin Havens, director of licensing at Resaurus, took the issue more seriously; telling *The Philadelphia Inquirer* that their products are not suitable for children, though its up to the parents to decide what their children do. Despite not receiving any complaints from parents, Resaurus began turning down any contracts for licenses that had "over-the-top violence" associated with it and this would affect the development of *Quake* Series 2. Miller and Chris Borman had no knowledge about the cancellation, and while the latter would also point out politicians using it as a blame game, he noted that the debate of "school shootings" also impacted the toy industry. Whether or not former employees still own the prototype molds or if they were destroyed is uncertain as the entirety of *Quake* Series 2 will remain: **LOST**.

## **External Link**

* A Resaurus retrospective on Nintendo Player
* *Quake II* action figures on Figure Realm

## **Sources**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake\_(series)
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake\_(video\_game)
3. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/madnormigan/art/Quake-Sleeg-758518475
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/SlappyCromwell/status/1357739433756397570/photo/1