Congratulations to Lendy Tayag, whose amazing LEGO Ideas Voltron is on its way to becoming a licensed LEGO product!
Category: Toys
Let’s Voltron Podcast #105: Voltron at SDCC 2017: Panel, Interviews, & Prize Pack Winners
Episode #105 of Let’s Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast is online!
Marc Morrell and Greg Tyler are joined by guests Shamus Kelley, Shambhavi, and Dani, as they discuss the Voltron events and experience at San Diego Comic Con 2017.
Although Greg wasn’t at the con, he still flew the five-colored flag by reviewing the new Voltron Legendary Defender Metal Defender lion figures by Playmates Toys for the podcasts’s YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsbQhMdwCgc
Two lucky listeners also won Voltron San Diego Comic Con prize packs!
Listen to Let’s Voltron #105 here: http://letsvoltron.com/105
Voltron Legendary Defender Toy Sightings – Paladin Action Figures, Metal Defender Lions, Lion Box Sets
From around the Internet and social media…
Voltron collectors in the Action Figure Junkies Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/AFJunkies/) have recently spotted some of the second-wave Voltron Legendary Defender basic action figures at a Walmart store in California. Figures spotted include Shiro, Keith, and Lance. Thanks to fellow Voltron fan and collector Mark Oliver for the scoop!
Other collectors have reported that Metal Defender Lions of Voltron, a box set of all five Metal Defender lion figures, have been seen at Target stores, priced at $69.99, roughly $5 less expensive than when the Metal Defender Lions are purchased individually. (Each Metal Defender Lion has an MSRP of about $15.)
There have also been numerous sightings of Voltron Legendary Defender, an all-new box set of all five Legendary Lion figures, which had originally been released individually as part of the toy line’s first wave. The Voltron Legendary Defender box set is a Toys R Us exclusive, and it can also be purchased on Toys R Us’ website (https://www.toysrus.com/product?productId=131665686).
Happy hunting, collectors!
Get the Lead Out: Voltron Toy Recall of 1986 (NOT Modern Toys)
In the mid-1980s, Voltron: Defender of the Universe was a big thing. The TV series was popular, and so were the toys. The first Voltron toys to hit retail shelves were sold by Matchbox Toys.
It seemed that nothing could stop Voltron — either the robot in the television episodes, or the toys on toy store shelves. Unfortunately, the luster of some 1980s Voltron toys would face a foe that would prove to be more formidable than a Robeast: lead paint. On November 12, 1986, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning that some of the Matchbox Voltron toys made in 1985 and 1986 had paint which contained levels of lead that exceeded what was allowed by law.
Here is a link to the actual 1986 warning from the Consumer Product Safety Commission: 1986 Voltron Toy Recall Warning
This warning, issued in 1986, pertained only to some toys manufactured in 1985 and 1986. All other Voltron toys are fine… and fun!
The Consumer Product and Safety Commission used these images to describe which Voltron toys from 1985 and 1986 were included in the recall.
I’ll say it again: This warning, issued in 1986, pertained only to some toys manufactured in 1985 and 1986. All other Voltron toys are fine… and fun!
1980s Voltron Product Line Art Images by Kwikee
As described on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_layout), in the days before page layout software such as Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress, newspaper page layouts were created… by hand. In the 1980s, a page layout was created by physically pasting images and blocks of text onto a rigid sheet of paper. This “camera-ready” page was then shot on film, and through a process called offset lithography, the film would control ink placement on the printing press.
Newspaper ads often incorporated hand-drawn, black-on-white line art renditions of product photographs. Line art was often preferred over photographs because the images were often small on the black-and-white printed page, so high-contrast line art often represented products more effectively than grayscale photographs did.
Line art for newspaper ads was often created by specialized companies. One such company was Kwikee, then a division of Multi-Ad Services, Inc. Kwikee still exists today, and it still provides product images — although now mostly digital in nature.
What’s the Voltron connection? In the 1980s, there were Voltron toys — lots of Voltron toys. These toys were often advertised in newspapers, so line art was made of these toys, by companies such as Kwikee.
A few years ago, I purchased from a vintage toy seller a small collection of 1980s product image pages made by Kwikee. The pages in the collection included images of toys from several 1980s toy lines: MASK (by Kenner), Photon (by LJN), Thundercats (by LJN), Wrinkles (by LJN), Robotech (by Matchbox) — and Voltron, by Matchbox.
Below are the four Voltron Kwikee product image pages from my collection. No copyright infringement is intended in their display on this website. The pages are shared here to show to fellow Voltron fans these amazing newspaper advertising artifacts from days of long ago. Enjoy!
The first page, apparently page 118 of a 1985 Kwikee catalog of product images, depicts Matchbox’s Voltron I toys. As I mentioned in “It’s as “Easy” as I, II, III: Being a Voltron Fan in the 1980s,” Voltron I was the inital name of the super robot that would eventually become known as Vehicle Team Voltron. Note that each image is represented in three sizes, which offered newspaper layout artists more leeway in how they composed the ad, physically pasting an image of the desired size on what would become a camera-ready page layout sheet.
The second page, page 119 of the same catalog, depicts Matchbox’s Voltron II toys. This super robot was ultimately never featured in the Voltron: Defender of the Universe television program.
The third page, page 120, depicts Matchbox’s Voltron III toys. Voltron III would become known as Lion Force Voltron, the overwhelmingly most popular of the 1980s Voltron super robots.
The fourth and final Voltron page in my collection, page 100 of a 1986 Kwikee catalog of product images, depicts Matchbox’s Vehicle Team Voltron and Lion Force Voltron toys. The company’s Voltron I and Voltron III toys from 1985 were, for 1986, repackaged and renamed to Vehicle Team Voltron and Lion Force Voltron, respectively. Interestingly, each image on this page is rendered in a single size, rather than three sizes as in the 1985 catalog. Perhaps subsequent pages in the catalog, not in my collection, provide alternately sized images.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this blast from the newspaper advertising past!
Let’s Try Literally Building Voltron: The LEGO Ideas of Lendy Tayag
In the second episode of Voltron: Legendary Defender, “Some Assembly Required,” the paladins of Voltron struggle to figure out how to combine the Lions and form Voltron. At one point, Keith suggests, “I mean, let’s try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other.”
That episode was released on Netflix in June 2016. Two months prior, Lendy Tayag was already way ahead of Keith and the other paladins, because he had assembled his own Voltron… from LEGO!
On April 11, 2016, Lendy’s model, called “Voltron – Defender of the Universe,” was posted to the website of LEGO Ideas. LEGO Ideas allows anyone to submit an original LEGO creation, and if within a certain period of time, that creation gains 10,000 supporters — that is, people who register with the site, vote for the project, and answer a short questionnaire about the project — than a LEGO review board will consider making an actual LEGO building set from that creation. Exciting, huh?
Later in April, Lendy’s Voltron model caught the attention of Gizmodo and then Nerdist. Even better, in just 22 short days, Lendy Tayag’s Voltron model reached the 10,000 supporters that it needed for LEGO to consider producing that model as a licensed building set!
To celebrate this achievement, and to introduce Lendy to fellow Voltron fans, Marc Morrell and I welcomed Lendy as a guest on Let’s Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast. Marc and I enjoyed chatting with Lendy, learning more about him as a person, how he became interested in Voltron and other giant robots, when and how he began designing them in LEGO, and what the experience was like of submitting his Voltron model to LEGO Ideas, seeing it gain so much support so quickly, and ultimately seeing it reach 10,000 supporters in such a short time.
By February 28, 2017, LEGO had reviewed Lendy’s Voltron model, plus eleven other projects that had reached 10,000 supporters between May and September 2016. On February 28, LEGO announced its Second 2016 Review Results:
- Maia Weinstock’s Women of NASA project would move forward and become produced as an official LEGO building set
- Lendy Tayag’s Voltron – Defender of the Universe project is still under consideration. An update will be given during the announcement of the Third 2016 Review Results.
Would we all like to have heard that LEGO had decided to produce a Voltron building set? Absolutely! On the other hand, working with a licensed property — especially one that is new to LEGO — is not always a simple, straightforward activity, so the fact that LEGO announced that it is still reviewing Lendy’s Voltron model shows that they are very much interested in the possibility of producing a Voltron set. Congratulations again to Lendy Tayag for this astounding achievement!
Lendy has since submitted more Voltron-themed projects to LEGO Ideas. None of these has yet achieved 10,000 supporters, but perhaps they will. And even if they don’t, if LEGO ultimately obtains a license to produce Voltron models, then perhaps LEGO will still consider these other Voltron projects.
- Vehicle Voltron (Dairugger)
- Voltron (Legendary Defender)
- Voltron Bust (Legendary Defender)
- Voltron Castle of Lions
Lendy’s models are incredibly cool. As an enthusiast of all incarnations of Voltron, I like all of his Voltron robot designs. As a supporter of the underdog that is Vehicle Team Voltron, I give special kudos to Lendy for representing that robot in LEGO form. Lendy’s Vehicle Team Voltron robot even separates into all 15 vehicles!
Lendy’s Castle of Lions model, with a full interior, is effectively a play environment that rivals the amazing Panosh Place Voltron Castle of Lions playset from 1985. It certainly rivals any LEGO Star Wars play environment.
Lendy has also submitted some non-Voltron giant robots as LEGO Ideas: Voltes V and Grendizer.
Congratulations again, Lendy! Voltron fans across the universe salute your enthusiasm and your LEGO model designing and building skills.
For more information about Lendy Tayag’s LEGO creations, check out the Len_d69 Creations Facebook page.
Let’s all show our support for all of Lendy Tayag’s great LEGO Ideas!
It’s as “Easy” as I, II, III: Being a Voltron Fan in the 1980s
In 1984 Voltron: Defender of the Universe became a favorite TV program of countless children of that time. These days, between the Internet, Google, online discussion forums, and social networking, it’s often easy to forget that it was a bit challenging to be a Voltron fan in the mid-1980s’ days of long ago. But it’s not because kids didn’t have what we today call modern technology. It’s because, in many ways, Voltron was confusing.
Why? Hop into my imaginary time machine, and I’ll take you back in time to my childhood. Our destination: Monday, September 10, 1984.
TV
I’m a third-grader. Another day of school has come to an end, and I’m riding Bus 23 home. The bus is noisy, and the barely padded, seemingly ancient vinyl seats are uncomfortable. Although the ride seems eternal, the bus eventually stops in front of my house.
I step off of the bus and then race into the house. I run through the front door, I run into the living room, where the only color TV in the house is, I walk up to the TV, and I pull the power/volume knob until it clicks loudly. I turn the VHF dial, from detente to plodding detente, to U, and then I turn the less resistant UHF dial through ten or twenty clicks until it reaches 45 — the UHF station that airs all of my favorite afternoon cartoons. Finally I plop myself onto the garish sofa across the room.
What comes on, for the very first time, blows my mind. It’s Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend — the legend of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, a mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil. As Voltron’s legend grew…
A voice that I would soon associate with Optimus Prime narrates the intro to a show about a giant robot with mechanical lion heads for feet, hands, and helmet. The robot has twin red wings, and it wields the strangest-looking, non-glowing sword that I remember ever seeing. The robot’s limbs are asymmetrically colored, the robot is operated by heroic human beings, and the villains are scary-looking aliens, including a cackling witch with yellow, pupil-less eyes and charcoal skin. To top it all off, the show has the best opening theme music that I’ve ever heard.
The show is amazing — amazing enough that I overlook that the opening narration seems to treat universe, galaxy, and solar system as synonyms.
Over the course of that school week, each journey home is rewarded by the unfolding, epic tale of five brave, strangely dressed space explorers — Keith, Lance, Pidge, Sven, and Hunk — who in Monday’s episode are captured by minions of King Zarkon of Planet Doom. The space explorers escape, only to be shot down over Arus, a planet devastated by war against Zarkon.
In Tuesday’s episode, Keith and his team enter a mysterious castle, and once inside they meet Princess Allura and royal advisor Coran. The team learns that the legendary super robot Voltron still exists, albeit in five, independently operable components that resemble lions — lions that could still be activated and reassembled into the mighty robot.
In Wednesday’s episode, Coran reveals that the lions can’t be activated without special keys that were entombed with Princess Allura’s deceased father. The space explorers enter the king’s tomb, where the ghost of the king appears and tells them to take the lion keys from his coffin. They open the coffin, but find only four of the five keys. The team activates four of the lions and engages Zarkon’s attacking forces — but then an enormous coffin falls from the sky, smashes into the ground, and opens to reveal an enormous monster — a Robeast — that quickly incapacitates the lions and knocks our heroes unconscious.
In Thursday’s episode, the space explorers return to the castle, find the key to the fifth lion, combine the five lions into Voltron, and destroy the monster that had so easily defeated the four lions in the previous attack.
In Friday’s episode, Zarkon sends another attack fleet, and another Robeast, to Planet Arus. Zarkon’s ships destroy the castle, but a new, high-tech, heavily armed fortress emerges from the ruins of the old castle. Voltron and the new castle defeat Zarkon’s forces and win the day.
What a week! I almost look forward to going back to school on Monday, so that I can see what happens next with my favorite new heroes.
Week 2 Begins
It’s Monday. I’d had fun on the playground, and maybe even in class, but my mind is on what will reappear on my rabbit-eared TV after school: more Voltron! When I finally get home and the show comes on, Zarkon’s witch Haggar severely injures Voltron Force pilot Sven, forcing the team to take him (off-screen) to another planet in order to heal. In Tuesday’s episode, Princess Allura replaces Sven as the pilot of the blue lion. Allura brings new hope to the team — and to me. I can’t wait to find out what will happen tomorrow.
A Weird Wednesday
On Wednesday, after school, after I park my posterior once more in front of that tinny-speakered, faux wood-decoed box that magically projects slightly snowy, animated awesomeness, Voltron comes on. Or does it? What I begin to hear seems right, for the most part — the same music and Optimus Prime-voiced narration, albeit in a more subdued voice — but what I see is something altogether different.
Gone is the lion-handed, lion-footed, lion-helmeted super robot. Gone are the robot’s pilots and their friends, gone are the villains, and gone is the castle.
Instead there’s a completely different robot, with a pointy head, a red jet stuck on its chest, and mismatched car feet that give the robot the appearance of wearing roller skates. And this robot is called… Voltron.
Nowhere in this episode do I see or hear of the lion-based robot that I had grown to know and love over the course of the last week and half. This robot also has pilots — 15 of them, and this episode starts with all 15 sitting around, bored out of their minds, in a lounge on a spaceship.
The ship’s captain orders the 15 pilots to board a bunch of crazy-looking vehicles. Just before the pilots launch, the captain orders them to abort their mission. They return to the ship’s lounge, bored yet again, until they’re once again ordered to launch, for real this time. The pilots begin to explore a planet, but a fleet of non-Zarkon-like villains attacks. The lead pilot almost brushes off the invaders, as enemies that the pilots have battled and defeated many times before. Still, once the attackers dispatch a Robeast, the 15 pilots combine their 15 vehicles into the pointy-headed Voltron — a robot that can fight for only five minutes before it runs out of power. During its last minute of power, Voltron destroys the Robeast.
By the time this episode ends, I have no idea what I’ll see tomorrow. Will this 15-piece robot and its 15 hopefully-not-always-bored pilots be back, or will Keith, Lance, Pidge, Princess Allura, and Hunk return with the lion-based Voltron that had previously caught my attention and made me want to run to the local Kmart or Harts or Murphy’s Mart or G.C. Murphy & Co., and try to find toys?
The pointy-headed, jet-chested, roller skate-equipped Voltron would hang around for another week or so, and pop in again a time or two after that, but otherwise the robot lions and their pilots, friends, and foes would be back to stay…
…until November. Then demolition derby aftermath Voltron would return, and he would stay on TV for a loooooooong time. During the rerun period that wouldn’t end until the next fall, episodes with both Voltrons would air. In fall of 1985, new episodes featuring only the lion-based Voltron would appear on the magic box in my family’s living room.
Throughout all of this, at almost no point would a story featuring one Voltron acknowledge the existence of the other Voltron. The shows would have the same visual feel, the same sound effects, the same music, the same name for the giant robot, and seemingly also the same voices, but the setting, the heroes, the villains, and the Voltron robot would differ, making the TV series as a whole seem to have multiple personalities.
But I love it all the same.
Toys
Late in 1984, during a trip to the local Murphy’s Mart, I finally find them: Voltron toys! Unfortunately, like the TV show, the toys are also confusing.
The toys are made by Matchbox, the company that makes small toy cars. The Voltron toys look great in the photos on the boxes. The lions’ legs are shiny chrome, and the toys have metal parts.
But why do the lions come in boxes labeled Voltron III: Defender of the Universe? In the cartoon, the lion-based robot is just called Voltron. The vehicle-based robot is also just called Voltron, but its toy boxes are labeled Voltron I: Defender of the Universe. I eventually rationalize that it makes sense to try to give each of the three robots some kind of distinct name.
Three? Who said anything about three?
In addition to six larger-boxed toy sets associated with Voltron III and Voltron I, there are five separately sold, six-inch tall robots:
- Miniature Voltron III – The lion-based Voltron, but one that doesn’t seem to be able to separate into the five lions
- Miniature Voltron I – The vehicle-based Voltron, but again, one that might not be able to separate
- A red-colored Voltron II “miniature gladiator space robot” that I’ve never seen on TV, despite the fact that the box states that this robot is “FROM THE TV SERIES”
- A black-colored Voltron II “miniature gladiator space robot” that, again, I’ve never seen in the cartoon
- A blue-colored Voltron II “miniature gladiator space robot” that… you know the routine
What is Voltron II all about, and why are there three robots called Voltron II? The toy boxes are my only sources of information.
A flap sticking out of the sides of the mini-robots’ boxes describes each robot:
FROM THE TV SERIES
The VOLTRON Trilogy…Interstellar heroes…from the far reaches of space…three super robots who protect a group of daring young space pioneers.
Voltron I — the magnificent mechanical warrior who is guardian of the near universe.
Voltron II — the intrepid protector of justice in the middle universe.
Voltron III — the spectacular super robot who battles the forces of evil in the far universe.
The cartoon is a trilogy? Since when? What is the near universe near to — the local Speedway gas station? What is the far universe far from? What’s the middle universe? Didn’t the Charlie Brown ‘Cyclopedia state that the universe is… everything? How do you divide everything by three?
Most importantly, what the heck is going on in that Voltron II image, and… why haven’t I seen Voltron II on the TV show?!!
A large toy photograph on the back of the miniature robots’ boxes does little to explain the situation. It features:
- Voltron I Deluxe Warrior Set
- Voltron II Deluxe Gladiator Set — a six-armed monstrosity that looks like it’s an awkward combination of the small red, black, and blue mini-robots
- Voltron III Deluxe Lion Set
- Miniature Voltron I
- Miniature Voltron II — Again, three of them, distinctly colored
- Miniature Voltron III
As a kid I would never own any of the miniature robots, so I didn’t have much opportunity to study that photograph and try to figure it all out, or to read and commit to memory the illustrated descriptions of Voltron I, Voltron II, and Voltron III.
What I would own — eventually — were the lions that could be assembled into the Voltron III robot. I would love these toys lions a lot, even though Red and Green Lions look kind of like short-snouted Dachshunds, and Black Lion is built more like a black bear. I would reeeeeally love Yellow and Blue Lions, and I would love what the five lions combine into, even though I wouldn’t be able to do much with the robot but put it together, shoot its fists, take it apart, chip the paint, and wear off much of the silvery chrome.
The backs of the three Voltron III boxes, and the backs of same-sized boxes of the strangely named Voltron I Air Warrior, Land Warrior, and Space Warrior toys, all feature the same photo. I would stare at this photo for hours. The photo shows:
- Miniature Voltron I
- Miniature Voltron II (Black), Miniature Voltron II (Red), Miniature Voltron II (Blue) – At least in this photo the robots are given unique descriptions
- Red and Blue Mighty Lion Robots Set Voltron III
- Giant Black Lion Robot Voltron III
- Yellow and Green Mighty Lion Robots Set Voltron III
- Land Warrior Voltron I
- Air Warrior Voltron I
- Space Warrior Voltron I
It’s neat to see the three Voltron I warriors in this photo, although I’m far from certain that a large, weird-looking vehicle made up of five smaller weird-looking vehicles constitutes a warrior, and I still didn’t know what’s up with Voltron II. Why hadn’t I seen the Voltron II robots on TV yet?
Matchbox also sells all five lions in a single Voltron III Deluxe Lion Set, all three five-vehicle “warrriors” in a single Voltron I Deluxe Warrior Set, and all three “miniature” Voltron II gladiator robots in a single Voltron II Deluxe Gladiator Set. As a child, I would never own any of these sets, and I would very rarely have the opportunity even to glimpse at their boxes. The local Harts store would be the only store in town that would sell them, and these toy sets would be so expensive — $70 or so — that they would be stored under lock and key in the sporting goods section — with the handguns!
My confusion over the toys doesn’t stop here. About a year after the Matchbox toys appeared in stores, their packaging changes. No longer is the lion-based robot called Voltron III — now it’s “Lion Force Voltron.” The vehicle-based robot is no longer Voltron I — now it’s “Vehicle Team Voltron.” The gladiator-based Voltron II is no longer… anywhere in stores, except on the backs of the toy boxes, where it’s still called Voltron II. The Voltron logos on the toy boxes have also changed from all-yellow characters to characters with a rainbow-gradient fill. The change in logos is jarring, as the toys’ logo now bears even less resemblance to the TV show’s logo than it did before.
At about this time, Voltron toys from other companies begin to appear on store shelves. Fortunately these toys followed Matchbox’s lead in using the “Lion Force” and “Vehicle Team” descriptors. Voltron II isn’t part of any of the new toy releases.
Curiously the other toy companies seem to be making more merchandise for Lion Force Voltron than for Vehicle Team Voltron. One company in particular, Panosh Place, offers an impressive set of Voltron action figures, combining lions, enemy vehicles, and even a playset of the heroes’ castle — all mysteriously based on only the Lion Force episodes of the TV show, and the robot is simply called Voltron, not Lion Force Voltron or Voltron III.
Over the course of about a year, the Voltron toys have shifted from being an all-inclusive assortment based on three robots — one of which might not even be in the cartoon — to a larger assortment that spans only the two robots that I remember seeing on the show, with one of the robots getting more of the new toys than the other. Meanwhile, any given episode of the awesome TV series continues to highlight just one of the two robots, ignoring the other robot, and calling the robot of that episode Voltron, as if it’s the only robot named Voltron.
It’s confusing, but it’s cool. And I love it all the same.
Back to the Present
As I look back on my childhood in the mid-1980s, considering the schizophrenic television program and the incoherently and inconsistently named toys, it was sort of a mind bender to be a Voltron fan at that time. Eventually most of my childhood questions about the Voltron TV show and toys would be answered, but those answers would be years or even decades in coming.
Still, as it stands now, over 30 years after the broadcast television and retail store premieres of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, I love it all the same… and more.