Mattel Voltron Red Lion & Lance Video Review by Pixel Dan

[The.Idea.of.Evil]

You're the man, Dan!

[Pixel Dan]

Alright, I've got some more info to share! This one is concerning the white dots on the figure's shoulders I brought up in the video.

Scott just shared with me images of the 1984 WEP Voltron Style Guide, whcih is what they used for these new figures. The style guide shows and lists the white dots on the shoulders as part of the costume! In the cartoon series, these white dots weren't always present, and were usually only represented as glares on the armor. But this style guide does show it as part of the armor.

So, there is the reason these new figures have the white dots. They are following what the 1984 style guide shows. Crazy!

Scott said that they are going to be putting something up about this on MattyCollector soon!

[markatisu]

Alright, I've got some more info to share! This one is concerning the white dots on the figure's shoulders I brought up in the video.

Scott just shared with me images of the 1984 WEP Voltron Style Guide, whcih is what they used for these new figures. The style guide shows and lists the white dots on the shoulders as part of the costume! In the cartoon series, these white dots weren't always present, and were usually only represented as glares on the armor. But this style guide does show it as part of the armor.

So, there is the reason these new figures have the white dots. They are following what the 1984 style guide shows. Crazy!

Scott said that they are going to be putting something up about this on MattyCollector soon!

That is awesome, I wonder what else the style guide shows?

[Pixel Dan]

The few pages he showed me only showed the designs for Keith and Hunk. They were black and white drawings of the two characters, with a color key showing what colors each of the outfits were to be, and outlining specific points ont he costumes. The dots are drawn on the uniform, plane as day, with the color key noting they are to be the same color white as the circles on the sides of the helmets and the majority of the costume.

He told me I couldn't share the images publicly, otherwise I'd definitly have posted them. But maybe they are planning to show them when the plan to address this in their Matty update?

He also pointed to the old Panosh Place packaging artwork, which also has the white circles included on the shoulders. I assume the artwork for the packages used that same Style Guide.

[Chaz-Man]

I never minded that Keith, Lance, Sven, and Alura wore uniforms that didn't color code with their lions. It gave the characters a little more "personality", as though they chose their uniforms based on personal preference, rather than just to match their lions.

Plus as often as we saw some characters pilot other lions (Keith piloting the Green and Blue Lions, Alura piloting the Black Lion, etc) it wouldnt have made sense to change their uniform to match each time.

[Bonehead]

Great review Dan.


Hate to say it but I'm actually glad I didn't get the sub. The set "looks" great but the action feature IMO totally ruins the Lion. It was so unnecessary. This isn't a children's toy line that needs these kind of gimmicks.

If the Lance figure had a removable pistol plus a few more articulation points, especially in the wrists and ankles, I'd say it would be almost perfect. What a shame. It looks very toon accurate.

I think the one thing that ultimately will save this line is the scale of Voltron. The combined Lions will be HUGE.

I was all set to just pick up the pilots but since Mattel isn't selling them separately I'm probably going to pass on the whole line. I still think my old Matchbox set is just as good. If Mattel branches out and starts to do figures of Lotar and Zarkon I might go back and pick up the Lions. Right now I can barely afford my MOTU and Dc subs.

[Marvelous0ne]

Dan, I got a question or two about the Red Lion. Don't remember if it's shown or not in the video but does the Red Lion swivel at the "elbow" joint? Also are the legs on the Red Lion able to fold up correctly? Like in this picture?



Cause if not I it kind of strange how Toyguru and Mattel were focusing on how to make it "Toon Accurate" and they messed up on this. Despite that the legs themselves are not toon accurate either!

[dorrmann]

How much are these? I looked on Matty, and the pilots are still listed separately from the lions. It shows $40 for the lion and $15 for the figure. That figure is not worth $15 in my mind. I'm hoping these are less than that, as I won't pay $55 for each set.

[markatisu]

Dan, I got a question or two about the Red Lion. Don't remember if it's shown or not in the video but does the Red Lion swivel at the "elbow" joint? Also are the legs on the Red Lion able to fold up correctly? Like in this picture?

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...73/voltron.jpg

Cause if not I it kind of strange how Toyguru and Mattel were focusing on how to make it "Toon Accurate" and they messed up on this. Despite that the legs themselves are not toon accurate either!

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

How much are these? I looked on Matty, and the pilots are still listed separately from the lions. It shows $40 for the lion and $15 for the figure. That figure is not worth $15 in my mind. I'm hoping these are less than that, as I won't pay $55 for each set.

Its $50-60, the figures are that price because of the really low production run so its not a issue of "worth" as its either that price or no figures

It is a really steep investment, I can only hope that maybe Voltron Force is successful at retail and they decide to release a variant of this line to mass market which would bring the costs down.

Then again you are talking about a company that was charging at some points $9 for a single carded JLU figure which had less articulation and no accessories

[dorrmann]

Damn. I might have to pass at that price. I figured if that was offered as a whole for $260, I probably wouldn't buy it.

[Dr Kain]

Dan, can you find out from Scott if they are going to fix the hair colors on Keith, Hunk, and Sven? They are supposed to be black, but the toys at SDCC had them as brown.

BTW, the white dots were on their shoulders in almost every episode of Golion.

[Minion]

Great review, Dan.

Loking forward to completing the set. The individual lions don't interest me as much, as they could have been so much more awesome - updated paint apps, better articulation, etc - but the prospect of the giant combined mode is amazing. It's goinmg to be a long year, but at the end of it I think i'm going to be one happy Voltron fan!

[Heli88]

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 think MarvelousOne meant that Voltron didn't have a "bicep swivel" type joint. If that was shown, I missed it. I'd hope that joint would be included, since it'll make it much harder to get good sword-wielding poses if it's not.

Its $50-60, the figures are that price because of the really low production run so its not a issue of "worth" as its either that price or no figures

Then again you are talking about a company that was charging at some points $9 for a single carded JLU figure which had less articulation and no accessories

This is my thought. "Limited collector line" or not, if Mattel put out a toy as big as the lions at retail, I have no doubt they'd be at least $25-30 each. I'd hope the figures would be cheaper, but given the prices they put on JLA and the movie Green Lantern figures, I wouldn't necessarily bet on it.

[Pixel Dan]

Dan, can you find out from Scott if they are going to fix the hair colors on Keith, Hunk, and Sven? They are supposed to be black, but the toys at SDCC had them as brown.

BTW, the white dots were on their shoulders in almost every episode of Golion.

Yeah, MattyCollector.com shows them with brown hair too. And you're right, definitely should be black. I'll ask.

Did GoLion use different animation than the regular US Voltron cartoon? Or are there differencese between the two, maybe? I've been watching lots of it lately, and they never have straight-up white dots on their armor. It's always presented as glares, when it's even there. There are lots of scenes where the glares aren't there at all, and there are no white dots.

As for the bicep swivel for Voltron himself, I'm going to double check this. I meant to do it last night, but got wrapped up in working on other reviews. I think I'm going to do a follow-up video tonight to address a lot of the questions that have been asked.

[markatisu]

Did GoLion use different animation than the regular US Voltron cartoon? Or are there differencese between the two, maybe? I've been watching lots of it lately, and they never have straight-up white dots on their armor. It's always presented as glares, when it's even there. There are lots of scenes where the glares aren't there at all, and there are no white dots.

GoLion was edited down to make Voltron (similar to Robotech being edited down from Macross/Southern Cross/Mospeada) so it has the same animation, the 2nd season of Voltron was the only thing that had completely new animation since GoLion ends at Episode 52. I just watched an episode of GoLion this morning and did not see any white dots outside of the few times they were using them to appear as glare.

[Pixel Dan]

GoLion was edited down to make Voltron (similar to Robotech being edited down from Macross/Southern Cross/Mospeada) so it has the same animation, the 2nd season of Voltron was the only thing that had completely new animation since GoLion ends at Episode 52. I just watched an episode of GoLion this morning and did not see any white dots outside of the few times they were using them to appear as glare.

Ok, that's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure. Thanks!

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Good review!

This makes me wish that I still had my Castle of Lionsto use with the new figures! My mom made me get rid of a good chunk of toys when we moved at one point and I was at that age of "growing out" of them. Many playsets were a victim to this, including my Castle of Lions (luckily I still have the figures and Voltron Robots), and most of the Real Ghostbusters collection including the Fire House and figures (I managed to hang onto my Ecto-1 and Ecto-1A vehicles). I do still have my gold key from the Castle of Lions, though.


I am looking forward to getting these, but like you, I could do without the action feature and I do wish they had more of a chrome look instead of the white, with additional details like the numbers, etc, on them.

I actually have both the Panosh Place Voltron and the Matchbox diecast metal Voltron (it's seen better days... but I still have it). Part of what strikes me about this new figure is that they seem to have taken a few queues from other toys like the diecast Voltron (the way that the legs fold up on these new ones if very remnicent of that). It seems to me that they were trying to merge these concepts together... I just wish that they had errored more on the side of the look of the diecast one, with the sole exception of having the figures fit inside of it.

I really don't understand what this obsession suddenly is with Mattel trying to make a more "cartoon accurate" Voltron anyway with using white instead of Chrome, etc. I don't frequent any kind of Voltron forums, so maybe there has been a demand of some kind or another, but to me it seems that they are limiting this line by leaving off details like the numbers (yet still having an indentation where they would go... at least on the red lion), making it white instead of a metal color (which was probably more the way that the animation interpreted what should be a metal look), etc. It's one thing if we were talking about 2 drastically different designs (like the difference between Filmation She-Ra and vintage toy She-Ra.... or even Filmation Clawful and vintage toy Clawful), but the cartoon Voltron was just a simplified version of the design that the toys use. They aren't two drastically different designs with one being more iconic than the other. Plus Mattel already had that cartoon accurate Voltron figure at SDCC and then on Matty last year. This new subscription Voltron still isn't going to be cartoon accurate since the legs on the lions don't "disappear," etc. So IMO rather than having this pointless comprimise between the better toys (i.e. diecast metal matchbox Voltron) and the cartoon looks, it would make sense to call all out in the direction of the toys.

And yeah, the action feature isn't doing much for me. I don't even get why they felt the need to put it in there. It's not like it's replicating an action feature that a major vintage toy of Voltron had (at least none that I am aware of), and it just seems like something that could to easily be activated and even loosen over time to the point where the legs on the lions might not even stay folded up. I would just rather they let us fold them up ourselves. It's not like it's a challenge.

That being said, I'm still looking forward to this line. My gripes are minor in the grand scheme of things, but I do think some aspects could have been handled better. Maybe I'll change my mind upon receiving these.



--Interesting little side notes from my childhood. I got the diecast Voltron set for Christmas one year when I had asked for the "Voltron that the people could fit in"... and when I opened it time I was like, "huh?" because the people wouldn't fit inside of the diecast one. Even though in all other respects it was the better Voltron (which I went on to appreciate as such). I did eventually get the Panosh Place one as well. Also, due to a lack of any kind of Robeat figures that were actually the size of either of these Voltron toys, mine most often fought Godzilla (I think it's called Imperial Godzilla... it's the same one in the background of almost every episode of Roseanne) and the Rancor from Return of the Jedi. I don't think I'm going to have anything big enough to battle this new Voltron though once it's fully assembled!

[Dr Kain]

Yeah, MattyCollector.com shows them with brown hair too. And you're right, definitely should be black. I'll ask.

Did GoLion use different animation than the regular US Voltron cartoon? Or are there differencese between the two, maybe? I've been watching lots of it lately, and they never have straight-up white dots on their armor. It's always presented as glares, when it's even there. There are lots of scenes where the glares aren't there at all, and there are no white dots.

http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p08/cap066.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p08/cap048.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p20/cap083.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p23/cap117.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p30/cap176.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p38/cap072.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p29/cap164.htm

You get the point.

I think it is meant to be the light reflecting off the suits, but it is there half of the time in the show, so it is hard to tell, but you gotta love the incosistencies of anime. :-)

[Pixel Dan]

http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p08/cap066.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p08/cap048.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p20/cap083.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p23/cap117.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p30/cap176.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p38/cap072.htm
http://voltarchive.animation-web.com...p29/cap164.htm

You get the point.

I think it is meant to be the light reflecting off the suits, but it is there half of the time in the show, so it is hard to tell, but you gotta love the incosistencies of anime. :-)

Well, how about that! In all of those shots, it definitely looks like the white dots are more a part of the actual costume, and not just glares. Crazy. So some episodes look like that, others look like glares, and others lack it entirely. Ha! Amazing!

[Heli88]

They do look like just white dots on the costume, but they also move around a lot. I'd think that if they were intended as a decoration on the shoulder pads, their position would be more consistent.

I don't really have a horse in the race; just pointing out that you could make an argument for either interpretation.

[The.Idea.of.Evil]

Well, how about that! In all of those shots, it definitely looks like the white dots are more a part of the actual costume, and not just glares. Crazy. So some episodes look like that, others look like glares, and others lack it entirely. Ha! Amazing!

If you look at all of those shots, the white dot is moving around on the shoulders depending on what angle you look at them. This was mass produced animation from 1982, so the white dots were meant to be glares in Japan, but America misinterpreted them as costume decals and created the second season with those as dots on the costumes.

So it's kind of a flub from all sides. This new toy is representing Voltron, the American edit of Golion, where the white dots were mistakenly considered decals. But because of limited Japanese broadcast television budgets, the glares were kinda cheaply drawn on and nobody from their advertising staff really made a big enough deal to confirm that fact. If you actually watch the Voltron intro, there's a detailed shot of the team (with Sven) that shows how metallic their costume pieces were. This was the original promo shot used for the animation key for the animators to base their drawings off of, and those dots are reflective glares that highlight the shoulders the same way the boots, helmet, and belt are highlighted.

Hey Dan, on your follow up video can you highlight the pistol a bit more? Is it simply glued on, can it be removed, is it pegged into a hole, is it soft plastic, can it move around a little (etc etc)? I'm mostly wondering if you can kinda rip it off the figure and file it down to be a holdable weapon. Speaking of which, can you get the hand to grasp the blaster handle at all? Does it look like the handle can fit in the figures hand?

Thanks again!

[Southzen]

I regretted the subscription about a month or so after the hype wore off. Unfortunately, for me the hype hasn't fully returned; I am receiving them like it or not. I had a friend who do an early review of Lance (cardedheroes.com); being a G I Joe collector first and foremost, I hold them as the benchmark for US toys, the lack of articulation really killed it for me. Now seeing the action features, personally, had the lions been cheaper without, I'd prefer without. Who knows, maybe my daughter will become a fan of them, I may swing to being more excited, and in the end, there is always ebay. Thanks for the review btw.

[krosfyah]

I love the size of these and the sculpt looks nice, I just can't get past the paint jobs. I'm sure it won't be hard to repaint them with more metallic paints but I'm not the biggst fan of voltron..now if this line were more shogun warriors/(esp grandizer and Gai King, i'd be in in a heart beat, esp at the scale it's in)

[markatisu]

Its like a Voltron history lesson in here

Scott posted some additional pics online, apparently everything has the white circles

[Bonehead]

Also, due to a lack of any kind of Robeat figures that were actually the size of either of these Voltron toys, mine most often fought Godzilla (I think it's called Imperial Godzilla... it's the same one in the background of almost every episode of Roseanne) and the Rancor from Return of the Jedi.

My Matchbox Voltrons, 1 and 3, used to battle my Shogun Warriors Godzilla, Rodan, 12" Boba Fett, IG-88, and my Spectreman.