Greg Tyler's Unofficial Voltron Website
VOLTRON FORCE (2011-2012) was a fun show. Unfortunately, the show had little tie-in merchandise. One of the show’s licensed merchandisers was costume-making company Rubie’s. The company produced a child-size costume of the Voltron robot, and a separately sold Blazing Sword costume accessory.
For several years I have had the costume and sword accessory. Recently I decided to open the package and photograph it. Here are the photos. Enjoy!
At VoltCon 2019, I had the privilege of photographing physical models of the Lions from Voltron Force, the enjoyable but short-lived television program that premiered on NickToons in 2011-2012. The models were the property of World Events Productions (WEP), the company that owns the Voltron intellectual property.
The Voltron Force Lion models were seemingly 3D-printed. They were constructed of hard, gray plastic, except for their tails, which were made from a flexible plastic.
Perhaps uncoincidentally, the Lion models bore a strong resemblence to the neutrally posed Lion models that Mattel had displayed in its booth at San Diego Comic Con 2011. Click here for photos from the SDCC 2011 Mattel booth.
Nearly two years after VoltCon 2019, I’m finally presenting the photos that I took of WEP’s Voltron Force Lion models. Enjoy!
The Voltron Store has opened pre-orders for an exclusive “Go Together” T-shirt. Proceeds from sales of the shirt will benefit Heart to Heart International, a 501(c)3 organization founded in 1992.
Here is Heart to Heart International’s mission statement, from the group’s website:
Heart to Heart International strengthens communities through improving health access, providing humanitarian development and administering crisis relief worldwide. We engage volunteers, collaborate with partners and deploy resources to achieve this mission.
Only 2% of the organization’s funding is spent on fundraising and general administration. 92% goes to international health initiatives, and 6% goes to projects in the United States.
Click here to pre-order the “Go Together” T-shirt.
Neil Ross, best known to Voltron fans as the voices of Keith and Pidge in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, has written a new book called Vocal Recall: A Life in Radio and Voiceovers. As described on Neil’s website, NeilBook.com:
How does a kid who survives the rain of V-2 rockets on London in the waning years of World War II, end up in Hollywood announcing the Diamond Jubilee of Oscar? Veteran Hollywood voice actor Neil Ross tells the amazing story of his life, and fifty-plus year career, in two exciting, highly competitive professions in his autobiography: Vocal Recall A Life in Radio and Voiceovers.
Check out NeilBook.com for a full description of the book, plus sample pages. The book can be ordered as a paperback, a downloadable audio book read by Neil Ross himself, a downloadable eBook in Kindle format, and as a downloadable e-Book in PDF format. You can also order a custom autographed bookplate to personalize your book.
Ross’ many other Voltron voices include but aren’t limited to Jeff, Chip, Bandor, and Commander Steele from Voltron: Defender of the Universe, and Keith and Amalgamus from Voltron: The Third Dimension.
Updated October 25, 2018, to include information from Volume 3 of the comics.
Because Voltron Legendary Defender is serialized, it’s interesting to try to figure out when different works of tie-in fiction take place. As of this writing, there have been three works of tie-in fiction that aren’t short story adaptations of episodes of the show:
Let’s look at each of these and try to figure out when its story takes place relative to episodes of the Voltron Legendary Defender TV series.
Issue 1 establishes that Princess Allura is resting from her having saved the life of the Balmera. This places all of Volume 1 between the first-season episodes “Rebirth” and “Crystal Venom.”
Issue 1 states that “the Paladins of Voltron have just learned of the existence of ‘The Blade of Marmora.'” The Paladins learn of the Blade of Marmora in the second-season episode “Shiro’s Escape,” so all of Volume 2 occurs between “Shiro’s Escape” and “Greening the Cube.”
Each issue’s credits page states that “this series’ story takes place in the Voltron universe between seasons 4 & 5.”
This story focuses on Lance, who is still Paladin of Blue Lion. The Paladins form Voltron without effort, Lance is already familiar with Blue Lion’s Sonic Cannon, the teludav of the Castle of Lions is operational, and Shiro is still Paladin of Black Lion. This places the story sometime after “The Depths,” when Lance discovers the Sonic Cannon, and before “Blackout,” when Shiro vanishes. The story features Commander Morvok, who was first seen in “The Ark of Taujeer,” but there is no solid evidence to indicate whether “The Ark of Taujeer” takes place before or after DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles.
We know it can’t take place between…
By process of elimination, DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles can take place only between “Shiro’s Escape” and “Greening the Cube.” This means that, chronologically, Morvok’s appearance in DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles predates his appearance in “The Ark of Taujeer.”
DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles and Voltron Legendary Defender Volume 2: Pilgrimage both take place during the gap between “Shiro’s Escape” and “Greening the Cube.” Since Voltron Legendary Defender Volume 2: Pilgrimage, Issue #1, states that “the Paladins of Voltron have just learned of the existence of ‘The Blade of Marmora,'” it’s reasonable to assume that Voltron Legendary Defender Volume 2: Pilgrimage takes place just after “Shiro’s Escape,” and before DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles.
With more tie-in fiction being published in the coming months, such as some Simon Spotlight short stories, it will be interesting to try to figure out when they take place. For now, we’re out of time.
In the 1980s, and still today, toy makers try to entice retailers to purchase current and possible future toy offerings at an annual trade show called New York Toy Fair. In the pre-Internet era of the 1980s, a toy maker would give printed catalogs to retailers, so that they would be aware of the toys that the company made, how to order them, and other information.
In the mid-1980s, Voltron: Defender of the Universe was a hot toy property, and Matchbox was Voltron’s first licensed toy maker. All of Matchbox’s Voltron toy offerings were modified re-releases of toys that had originally been produced by Popy, later Bandai, for the anime programs that were adapted to make Voltron.
Here are some photos of Matchbox’s 1985 and 1986 Toy Fair catalogs!
What’s that on the cover? Is that Voltron? Yes — it’s Voltron I! There’s not a lion to be found… yet. Given Matchbox’s history with small toy cars, this Voltron does seem to be the most appropriate robot to feature on the cover of the catalog.
It’s Voltron I! This mighty robot had five toy offerings:
If I were a nitpicker, I would point out that the forearm vehicles are swapped in the photo of The Deluxe Warrior Set — and in the photo of the Land Warrior Set. I’d also point out that the Air Warrior Set, Space Warrior Set, and Land Warrior Set did not have die-cast parts. It’s good that I’m not a nitpicker.
Note the “NEW! TV” markings on each page. Having a television program as a promotional outlet for toys was and still is hugely important to a retailer.
It’s Voltron II! This mighty robot had four toy offerings:
These toys are also “NEW! TV” — but Voltron II never appeared on TV, at least not in the Voltron: Defender of the Universe program. To my knowledge, Matchbox never even televised ads for this poor guy, who incidentally is horribly mis-transformed on page 51. As shown in the catalog, the Blue Gladiator Robot’s head seems to be stuck in the ro-butt of the Black Gladiator Robot, whose head seems to be stuck in the ro-butt of the Red Gladiator Robot. It’s a good thing that robots don’t feel pain.
It’s Voltron III — or what most people today simply call Voltron. This mighty robot had five toy offerings:
Again, it’s good that I’m not a nitpicker, because if I were, I’d point out that, in the photo of The Deluxe Lion Set:
Voltron III’s “NEW! TV” markings are the most apropos of the three robots, because after the first run of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, “Voltron I” all but disappeared from television, and as I already mentioned, “Voltron II” never made it to TV.
What the heck are those toys? They aren’t Voltron toys, and more strangely, they aren’t the tiny, die-cast toy cars for which Matchbox was best known. Read on, fearless reader!
Voltron scored two fewer pages in 1986 than it enjoyed in 1985. Then… there’s this thing called Robotech, which spanned 36 pages — whereas Matchbox’s traditional die-cast cars had only 22 pages. What gives?
If you’re thinking that these toys look like 1985’s “Voltron I” toys, then you’re thinking correctly. At some point, Matchbox must have gotten a memo from World Events Productions that the Roman numerals became passe sometime between when the TV program’s pilot episodes were made and when the “real” episodes were made. The renamed offerings were:
Why was the “Aqua-Fighter” previously called the “Space Warrior?” I have no idea.
By 1986, poor “Voltron II” had disappeared even from Matchbox’s toy offerings. Fortunately “Voltron III” was still around, albeit renamed. The 1986 offerings for this Voltron robot were:
The new-to-1986 items, 700401 and 700402, probably came along because someone at Matchbox realized that Voltron had become kind of well known for using a sword.
The Lion Force Voltron toy is once again mis-transformed:
These pages have nothing to do with Voltron, but they have everything to do with the catalog’s cover, as well as the most prominently featured licensed property in the catalog: Robotech, another animated program made by adapting multiple anime programs. Matchbox put a huge investment into Robotech. The company launched an enormous product line targeted at boys and girls, and it was co-financing the production of a 65-episode sequel to Robotech, called Robotech II: The Sentinels. Unfortunately retailer interest at 1986 New York Toy Fair was well below expectations. This and other factors led to Matchbox abandoning Robotech II: The Sentinels mid-production. But that’s a story for a different website.
And there you have it — Voltron as it appeared in Matchbox’s 1985 and 1986 Toy Fair retailer catalogs.
Now until March 5, Han Cholo is offering 20% off their upcoming Voltron Legendary Defender Stainless Steel Lucky Yellow Lion Paw Pendant — and all other Voltron merchandise — if you use promo code LETSVOLTRON at checkout on their website.
On TeePublic, you can win a $100 swag bag of merchandise from the Let’s Voltron store! Here’s how to enter. The promotion ends March 5!
(Neither Han Cholo nor Let’s Voltron are sponsors of or are sponsored by this website or its author.)
ToyWiz.com has released official product photography of the upcoming Voltron 84 Classic Legendary Lions. ToyWiz has opened pre-orders for the toys, which have estimated shipping dates of January 2018.
The toys look amazing. I will be all over these when they are released!
All Classic Legendary Lions in Packages
Product photography of the assembled Voltron robot has not yet been seen online.
These toys will be mine. Oh yes. They will be mine.
Now you can rest like a lion with Voltron Legendary Defender bedding items, which have recently been listed on Target’s website.
Target listing: https://www.target.com/p/voltron-bedding-collection-universal-174/-/A-52707598#lnk=newtab
Just posted to the Let’s Voltron podcast’s YouTube channel (link) is a video review of four new Voltron Legendary Defender basic action figures: Shiro, Keith, Lance, and Cannon Fire Voltron! I had fun making this video, and I hope you enjoy watching it! And happy hunting for these new action figures!
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zacy5t4pVu0
