Mattel Voltron Red Lion & Lance Video Review by Pixel Dan

[Ntumbuluku]

And for those asking about comparison pictures with MOTUC, Battle Cat, here you go! They are about the same size.

Wow. My wife is going to kill me!

[Marvelous0ne]

Well there has not been a Voltron to date that assembles that is 100% cartoon accurate. You would need to remove the legs completely as making them fold inside would make the lion bigger than it already is

But Dan did show the Lion swivels at the "elbow" and when Voltron is assembled the legs will fold up unless you activate the spring loaded feature like he did lol

I rewatched the video again and he doesn't show if the Red Lion swivels at the bicep as you will. It bends at the elbow, but nothing about a bicep joint. As for the Lion's legs. I am referring to the way they fold up in the toon before they then disappear, like the original Matchbox/Trendmasters Voltron does. It does kind of throw's off the look of it

[markatisu]

Scott posted more pics on Matty




It would be neat if we could somehow see the whole style guide, even if it was all digital

I rewatched the video again and he doesn't show if the Red Lion swivels at the bicep as you will. It bends at the elbow, but nothing about a bicep joint. As for the Lion's legs. I am referring to the way they fold up in the toon before they then disappear, like the original Matchbox/Trendmasters Voltron does. It does kind of throw's off the look of it

I see what you are saying now, yeah I never noticed it seems the legs go in a different direction. Wonder if that was done for the action feature?

[Marvelous0ne]

Scott posted more pics on Matty


It would be neat if we could somehow see the whole style guide, even if it was all digital



I see what you are saying now, yeah I never noticed it seems the legs go in a different direction. Wonder if that was done for the action feature?

What's funny is that The style guide for Voltron while shows the circles on it. Not all the characters actually point them out and say "white." Seriously, If your going to use the Style Guide for reference. You also need to use some common sense too! Gee, I wonder if Matty will fix the issue of the Wings on the Black Lion? They're have them folding in the wrong place. Also the hips on his are very small. I hope they fix these issues! What am I saying? It's Matty! OK I need to find someone who send questions into them and get this issue addressed.

[markatisu]

What's funny is that The style guide for Voltron while shows the circles on it. Not all the characters actually point them out and say "white." Seriously, If your going to use the Style Guide for reference. You also need to use some common sense too! Gee, I wonder if Matty will fix the issue of the Wings on the Black Lion? They're have them folding in the wrong place. Also the hips on his are very small. I hope they fix these issues! What am I saying? It's Matty! OK I need to find someone who send questions into them and get this issue addressed.

Stepping on your soapbox now for Voltron as well as MOTUC huh

[Pixel Dan]

Glad to see Scott was able to post those Style Guide images. Those are the ones he sent me the other day. He wasn't sure he'd be able t post those publicly.

I'm uploading my follow-up video now, and will post it here when it's done.

Here's the follow-up video!

[Dr Kain]

Ha, "Clcik Here for Review."

lol

Anyway, thanks for the follow up Dan. The lack of a bicep swivel is unacceptable in my eyes. First off, it means there is no way to turn Red Lion's mid section to get him into a more cat-like pose, but secondly, as you said, that means there is no way to do good poses with Voltron. This deal is getting worse all of the time. If I am not happy with my lion and Lance when I get them in hand, I am going to demand my sub be cancelled.

[Marvelous0ne]

Stepping on your soapbox now for Voltron as well as MOTUC huh

Not stepping on it. But just a observation. If your say your going to do it a certain way. Then do so and do it right.If your going to follow the Style Guide. The illustrations in it show way they're to look. Why do some one way and not follow with others? The Lions look nice. But they still have some issues that makes them less from perfect. And it issues that should be fixed. At least addressed.

[Patreek]

No bicep cut/elbow swivel kinda stinks. :-(

[byinfernoslight]

Now I'm beginning to worry about how how well Voltron's legs are going to be articulated. I was hoping to be able to get some great display poses out of this (something along the lines of TFC's Hercules - aka 'Not Devastator') but it's looking like that isn't going to happen. I guess all the articulation got used up on SDCC Voltron.

[FAKER II]

Even before Dan’s review, this new Voltron and figure set was out of my price range. But having seen the review, I’m really glad I didn’t commit to it.

Personally, I’m fine with my 20” tall Trendmasters Voltron. It only set me back $50 and it is closer in feel to the vintage toy. I just need to pick up a few more Panosh Place figures to pilot the lions.

[Heli88]

It's interesting to me that TG always seems to put a ton of time and effort into addressing one particular issue from a group while ignoring the others. I personally don't care at all about the white circles, but I'd love to hear about the thought process behind the autotransform and articulation in the lions. The minor issue gets a ton of attention, but nothing for the lion engineering/design.

Incidentally, if we're all about the style guide, the holsters should be light blue and not gray.

[The.Idea.of.Evil]

Man, this release is pretty bad for the price point. Sad thing is I did buy a sub, maybe even two. I wonder if there's a way to have my CC block the sale since Mattel won't let me cancel it.

[Dr Kain]

Man, this release is pretty bad for the price point. Sad thing is I did buy a sub, maybe even two. I wonder if there's a way to have my CC block the sale since Mattel won't let me cancel it.

I don't care what Mattel says, if their products are not up to par and you want to cancel your sub, they have to let you cancel it because they are not providing what you are paying for.

[Pixel Dan]

Don't get me wrong...I still like this toy. I'm happy about a Voltron return, and for the most part, I'm perfectly happy with the Lance pilot figure.

But, some of the negative glares from the Lion is really starting to make me feel like the best thing this new Voltronw ill have going for it is it's size.

The inability to articulate the legs correctly and the un-needed spring loaded action feature are worrysome.
The lack of articulation for Voltron himself is upsetting.

I'm still in for this series. I have the subscription, and of course will be reviweing them all as they come out. So we'll see how the final Voltron measures up. But right now, I'm a bit dissapointed already.

[markatisu]

I wonder why they omitted the swivel, I mean it does not seem like it would take any extra tooling or mess with the design of the lion to have the first peace that Lance sits in being able to rotate.

Overall it does not bother me because my Voltron was either going to be displayed as just the Lions in front of the Panosh Place castle or as a Static Voltron standing behind the Castle. But it does seem like a missed opportunity for a line that should have a large enough budget given Classic Media's desire to ***** out Voltron and the currently running Voltron Force show on Nick

[Southzen]

I wonder why they omitted the swivel, I mean it does not seem like it would take any extra tooling or mess with the design of the lion to have the first peace that Lance sits in being able to rotate.

Overall it does not bother me because my Voltron was either going to be displayed as just the Lions in front of the Panosh Place castle or as a Static Voltron standing behind the Castle. But it does seem like a missed opportunity for a line that should have a large enough budget given Classic Media's desire to ***** out Voltron and the currently running Voltron Force show on Nick

Are they not doing a large Voltron for the new toon too? (Not as large as this I assume) Also, not a fan of the new toon, I get that it is for kids, maybe it is just me.

[markatisu]

Are they not doing a large Voltron for the new toon too? (Not as large as this I assume) Also, not a fan of the new toon, I get that it is for kids, maybe it is just me.

They showed off prototypes for Voltron Force last year at SDCC but have not officially announced a new line yet. I think the one interview Dan did with Mattel the rep hinted that if there was a new line it would not be at least till Summer of Fall of this year (if not later)



I also found this , its for the much smaller Voltron from last year. But a lot of its articulation I think still could have been in this big line

[Patreek]

Hey dan, You probably already tired this... but is it possible that it swivels at the lower end of that middle section... so instead of bicep its on the upper forarm attachment. Still not great, but would be something

[Pixel Dan]

Hey dan, You probably already tired this... but is it possible that it swivels at the lower end of that middle section... so instead of bicep its on the upper forarm attachment. Still not great, but would be something

Yep, I tried. No cuts there at all. Sorry man!

Since it was brought up, here's my interview with Brandon Sopinsky from Mattel at SDCC last year. Brandon works on the Voltron design team.


And here's my footage of Mattel's Voltron display at SDCC

[Patreek]

I know this would be weird maybe... but do you think there is a possibility they could add these things in to the rest of the lions since they are further out? It would be odd to have one arm able to do more than the other but at the same time better than nothing... or maybe at least if the legs have the proper articulation.

[Bonehead]

But, some of the negative glares from the Lion is really starting to make me feel like the best thing this new Voltronw ill have going for it is it's size.

The inability to articulate the legs correctly and the un-needed spring loaded action feature are worrysome.
The lack of articulation for Voltron himself is upsetting.

I said the same thing earlier in this thread.

[Marvelous0ne]

I wonder how they will have the Blue and Yellow as the legs attach on to Black Lion? I hope they don't mess that up!

[markatisu]

I wonder how they will have the Blue and Yellow as the legs attach on to Black Lion? I hope they don't mess that up!

I don't know, from the picture of Voltron assembled it looks as if his knee can at least bend

[Heli88]

Since it was brought up, here's my interview with Brandon Sopinsky from Mattel at SDCC last year. Brandon works on the Voltron design team.

He apparently didn't know how the articulation on the Matchbox version worked; it had shiny gold circles where the lions attached that were ratcheting swivel joints. You did not have to break the red crest on his chest to move his arms. Similar articulation has been available on many other combining Voltrons. Maybe not the Panosh Place one, but that was definitely designed as more "kid friendly" and rugged, so it did things differently.

Incidentally, his mentioning that Voltron's head will automatically transform at the push of a button makes me wonder how articulated the big figure's neck will be.