Cub Club: Voltron TeamForce

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Greg Tyler

In the pre-Internet era, fan clubs were fun ways for kids to feel more connected to their favorite TV programs, radio programs, and even toy lines.

Little Orphan Annie, a children’s radio program that aired between 1931 and 1942, had a fan club known as the Little Orphan Annie Secret Society.
Star Wars, which premiered in movie theaters in 1977, was accompanied by The Official Star Wars Fan Club.
G.I. Joe, which premiered on television in 1983, had a fan club that became known as the G.I. Joe Fan Club.

When Voltron: Defender of the Universe was originally in syndication, from 1984 to 1986, its viewers could join an official Voltron fan club called Voltron TeamForce.

Yes, TeamForce. The term is sort of like “possegang” or “Sahara Desert.” In defense of the club’s name, “TeamForce” is probably an awkward portmanteau of “Team” from “Vehicle Team” and “Force” from “Lion Force.” Whatever the case, who cares? The Voltron TeamForce was a club for fans of Voltron!

In the interest of full disclosure, as a kid I was never a member of the Voltron TeamForce — or any other fan club. It cost money to join fan clubs, and I chose to spend my allowance money on toys. Still, as a kid I was fascinated by fan clubs, and I remember reading ads for them and wishing I were a member.

When the 2011 debut of Voltron Force re-ignited my enthusiasm for Voltron, I began to collect all sorts of Voltron memorabilia — including two Voltron TeamForce membership kits. Let’s take a look at these kits and see what a member of the Voltron TeamForce received in the mail.

Each Voltron TeamForce membership kit arrived in a large, colorful envelope.

Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit Envelope (#1, Front)

Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit Envelope (#1, Back)

Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit Envelope (#2, Front)

Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit Envelope (#2, Back)

I’ve blurred the text of the first envelope’s mailing label. The second envelope’s mailing label is long gone.

Here are the contents of both envelopes. The first envelope contained everything shown in this photo except for the large, bagged, gray sheet in the lower center of the photo.

Voltron TeamForce - Contents of Both Envelopes — Voltron TeamForce – Contents of Both Envelopes

I purchased both envelopes in a single lot. Collectively the two envelopes appear to contain one complete membership kit, plus most of a second membership kit, although most of the contents had been stored inside just one of the envelopes. I suspect the kits’ original owners were siblings.

Here is the welcome letter. It was shipped folded in half. The front panel reads “WELCOME VOLTRON TEAMFORCE MEMBERS,” and the illustration includes the five Lions, a spacey background, and a stylized “V.”

Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit - Welcome Letter (Folded, Front) — Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit – Welcome Letter (Folded, Front)

The back panel features the 1980s Voltron: Defender of the Universe logo, plus a copyright notice.

Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit - Welcome Letter (Folded, Back) — Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit – Welcome Letter (Folded, Back)

Here is the unfolded welcome letter. Most welcome letters would be printed on simple, rectangular sheets of paper, but simple rectangles aren’t good enough for the Voltron TeamForce!

Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit - Welcome Letter (Unfolded) — Voltron TeamForce Membership Kit – Welcome Letter (Unfolded)

The welcome letter reads:

We send you greetings from Galaxy Garrison, headquarters for all of us in the Galaxy Alliance! We are so glad that you have joined us. Being a TeamForce member is a very important job. We all have a TeamForce Mission. Your mission is to keep your home, family, friends and neighborhood happy and safe. This kit will tell you many secrets on how you can become a good defender of your universe. And…there are fun things to do, too!

Because you are now a member of the Voltron TeamForce, we will send you a very special letter just for TeamForce members. It’s called TeamForce Tales. It iwll tell you about the exciting things we and kids like you are doing to defend the universe. Maybe we’ll even write about you! Just let Voltron know how you are working to help him with the TeamForce mission at home. Write to:

Voltron TeamForce
P.O. Box 8719
Clinton, Iowa 52736

Now that you are a member of the Voltron TeamForce, be sure to join our adventures every day on your local TV station. We’ll be looking for all of our members!

LET’S GO VOLTRON TEAMFORCE!

WELCOME VOLTRON TEAMFORCE MEMBERS

Here is the most essential item in any fan club membership kit: the ID card! Here is the front of the card:

Voltron TeamForce - ID Card (Front) — Voltron TeamForce – ID Card (Front)

The card front reads:

Voltron: Defender of the Universe

I, COMMANDER KEITH,
DO HEREBY DECLARE
__________________
AS A MEMBER OF
THE VOLTRON TEAMFORCE

Presumably the name was left blank so that kids could invent a cool code name for themselves, like… uh… Pidge.

Here is the back of the card. Who doesn’t love this? It’s a full-color illustration of a Lion key! I wonder which Lion this key activates. The keys looked identical on TV, and yet each pilot seemed to know which Lion a given key would activate. Oh well.

Voltron TeamForce - ID Card (Back) — Voltron TeamForce – ID Card (Back)

The card back reads:

VOLTRON
TEAMFORCE

OFFICIAL MEMBER OF THE VOLTRON TEAMFORCE

The membership kit also contained this single-sided flyer, which announced the forthcoming new batch of Voltron: Defender of the Universe episodes that would feature the Lion Force.

The flyer reads:

Hey kids!!

Brand new Lion Force Voltron episodes are coming to your local TV station this fall…lots of new, exciting adventures that will begin the week of October 20.

* Don’t miss the return of Sven!…
* Haggar’s new Robeast…
* The magic of King Alfor…
* And Lotor’s revenge!

Watch us battle 4 Robeasts that assemble to form an evil Super-Robeast!

Meet Lotor’s new evil assistant Cossack! And from the darkest regions of the Doom Empire, Lotor’s cousin Merla!

This September watch your local TV station for details on how you could win big Voltron prizes.

Commander Keith and Princess Allura and Pidge are coming to meet you at toy stores in your city this fall. Stay tuned for all the details.

The text in the flyer dates the Voltron TeamForce membership kit to sometime in early to mid-1985. By this point, all 52 Lion Force episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe that had been adapted from Beast King Golion would have aired, as well as all 52 Vehicle Team episodes, which were adapted from Armored Fleet Dairugger XV. (At that time, we kids knew nothing about Golion or Dairugger.)

The final 21 episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe would begin to air on October 21, 1985. Twenty episodes featured only Lion Force Voltron, and the final, double-length episode, “Fleet of Doom,” would feature both Lion Force Voltron and Vehicle Team Voltron. The twenty, Lion Force-only episodes featured everything described on the flyer — everything, that is, except the “4 Robeasts that assemble to form an evil Super-Robeast.” These Robeasts were featured in “Fleet of Doom.”

It’s interesting that Vehicle Team Voltron is featured on the flyer, when it’s clear that the flyer is reasssuring kids that Lion Force Voltron will return in the fall. By this point World Events Productions almost certainly knew that Lion Force Voltron was more popular than Vehicle Team Voltron, because this is the only reference to Vehicle Team Voltron in the entire membership kit.

This flyer was also printed in many Voltron coloring and activity books of the time. The coloring and activity books were published by Modern Publishing, a division of Unisystems, Inc., so it’s likely that Modern Publishing also published the Voltron TeamForce kits. (Modern also published the three-issue comic book mini-series.)

The kit also included a fold-out poster of Lion Force Voltron. The art on the poster is really cool!

Another item in the kit is this… thing. It was packed flat in a plain, white envelope.

Voltron TeamForce - Rules for Good Defenders (Flat, Top) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules for Good Defenders (Flat, Top)

In any case, the… thing is best described by what’s printed on the top face:

Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Rules for Good Defenders

Here’s the bottom face.

Voltron TeamForce - Rules for Good Defenders (Flat, Bottom) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules for Good Defenders (Flat, Bottom)

The bottom face reads:

Let Voltron know you are a good Defender. Write to:

VOLTRON TEAMFORCE
P.O. Box 8719
Clinton, Iowa 52736

(c) W.E.P. 1984

The… thing pops up into a twelve-sided, three-dimensional shape. I don’t know what a shape of this kind might be called. Because it contains rules for Good Defenders, I’ll call it a gooddefenderhedron.

Voltron TeamForce - Rules — Voltron TeamForce – Rules

Let’s examine each of the gooddefenderhedron’s six illustrations and associated captions.

The first of the six images features Keith presenting flowers to Princess Allura. The caption reads: “A Good Defender Shares With Family And Friends”

Voltron TeamForce - Rules (Side #1) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules (Side #1)

Keith and Allura, with a caption about family and friends. Were Keith and Allura married in this photo? Were they just friends? Let the fan fiction commence!

The second of the six images features Pidge sitting near a recently planted tree. The caption reads: “A Good Defender Loves His/Her Planet”

Voltron TeamForce - Rules (Side #2) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules (Side #2)

It makes sense that the pilot of Green Lion would have a green thumb. As an aside, I love that this caption is inclusive of boys and girls. Then again, the writers of the caption might just be confused about Pidge’s gender.

The third of the images features Hunk helping a girl across the street at an intersection. The caption reads: “A Good Defender Looks After Others”

Voltron TeamForce - Rules (Side #3) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules (Side #3)

Where are Hunk and the girl? On Arus? Outside the Castle of Lions and the Lion Dens, is there even electricity to power traffic lights? In the TV series, much of Arus is shown to resemble ancient Greece.

The fourth image shows Pidge putting a garbage bag into a trash can outside of what appears to be a house. The caption reads: “A Good Defender Helps Around the House”

Voltron TeamForce - Rules (Side #4) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules (Side #4)

In all of these images, Pidge is missing his headband. In this image he’s breaking a sweat from carrying the garbage bag. What’s in that bag? Lead? Robot Lion litter box… stuff? Maybe it’s better that we don’t know.

The fifth image shows a girl — or a boy with a mullet — holding a flower while standing in front of Coran, who is sitting in a chair. The caption reads: “A Good Defender Makes People Smile”

Voltron TeamForce - Rules (Side #5) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules (Side #5)

What would make Coran smile? The flower? The mullet? The chair? Or simply having a few seconds away from Nanny?

The sixth image shows Pidge once again, this time throwing a paper cup into a waste basket. The caption reads: “A Good Defender Keeps Neighborhoods Clean”

Voltron TeamForce - Rules (Side #6) — Voltron TeamForce – Rules (Side #6)

I’m just glad that throwing a paper cup doesn’t make Pidge sweat.

I’ve been picking on Pidge an awful lot, but in all honesty, I’ve always liked him. Having said that, in his honor I’d like to propose a seventh image for the gooddefenderhedron — a picture of Pidge with a guilty look on his face. The caption would be: “A Good Defender Avoids Inhaling Helium”

The final item in the Voltron TeamForce membership kit is a game and a glossary! These elements are printed on a single, glossy sheet of paper with perforations around each piece.

The game consists of a game card, 25 tokens, and instructions. The game card resembles a 5×5 Bingo card.

The text in the game card reads:

Red Lion | Bendor | Lotor | Castle Doom | Yellow Lion
Zarkon | Lance | Castle of Lions | Sven | Coran
Allura | Blue Lion | Voltron | Keith | Black Lion
Alfor | Mice | Green Lion | Haggar | Romelle
Nanny | Yurak | Pidge | Blue Cat | Hunk

Each token is a circle that contains a small illustration of one of the items described on the game card.

Here are the instructions:

Instructions

1. Punch out all of the circles on this card to use as your game tokens.

2. As you watch an episode of Voltron, Defender of the Universe, listen for the words shown on your game card.

3. When you hear one of the words shown on the game card, place a game token over it.

4. You win when you have five game tokens placed in a straight line across the game board, straight up and down on the game card, or diagonally on the game card.

5. If you like, you can match the pictures on your game tokens to the words shown on the game cards, too!

So the game is basically Bingo — or a drinking game, minus the drinks.

Finally, let’s look at the Glossary. As a Voltron encyclopedist (Let’s do lunch, anyone in charge of Voltron licensing!), I like this sort of thing.

Let’s learn all that there is to learn from this glossary!

Alfor: The ghost of the good king and former ruler of Planet Arus.

Allura: The daughter of Alfor and pilot of the Blue Lion.

Bandor: Cousin to Allura and brother to Princess Romelle.

Black Lion: Piloted by Commander Keith and forms the head of Voltron.

Blue Cat: Haggar’s evil pet.

Blue Lion: Piloted by Allura. Forms Voltron’s right leg.

Castle Doom: The Black castle where the evil Zarkon lives.

Castle of Lions: Home of King Alfor and Princess Allura on Planet Arus.

Coran: The good counselor to King Alfor and protector of Princess Allura.

Green Lion: Piloted by Pidge and forms Voltron’s left arm.

Haggar: The witch who helps the evil Zarkon make robeasts.

Hunk: One of the Voltron Force and pilot of the Yellow Lion.

Keith: Commander of the Voltron Force and pilot of the Black Lion.

Lance: Member of the Voltron Force and pilot of the Red Lion.

Lotor: The evil Prince.

Mice: Allura’s furry friends.

Nanny: Allura’s nursemaid.

Pidge: Member of the Voltron Force and pilot of the Green Lion.

Red Lion: Piloted by Lance and forms Voltron’s right arm.

Romelle: Cousin of Princess Allura.

Sven: An original member of the Voltron Force before the defeat of Planet Arus.

Voltron: A might robot who defends the universe against the forces of evil.

Yellow Lion: The evil general on Planet Doom.

Zarkon: The evil monarch of the fearful Planet Doom.

I couldn’t help but notice some inaccuracies in the glossary. Maybe I should write to Voltron in Clinton, Iowa, and let him know. Maybe my corrections will be published in TeamForce Tales. I bet they would be if I took my letter to the post office in a garbage bag, while I broke a sweat and was dressed like Pidge.

On a serious note, this membership kit looks like a lot of fun. I imagine that, as a kid, I would have been thrilled to have received something like this as a gift. I don’t know what it cost to join Voltron TeamForce, but the full-color poster alone is really nice, the ID card is a must-have, and the rest of the goodies are fun, too!

Let’s go, Voltron TeamForce!

Encyclotron: Men in Black: Shiro, Sven, and the Shirogane Brothers

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Greg Tyler

“Encyclotron” articles are nuggets of information about Voltron lore. This is the first of those articles.

If you’re a fan of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, then you almost certainly remember Sven, the original pilot of Blue Lion.

If you’re a fan of Voltron: Legendary Defender, which you can now watch on Netflix streaming in many countries, then you can’t help but know Shiro, leader of the Voltron paladins, and pilot of Black Lion.

What do Sven and Shiro have in common? Some of the more obvious similarities are:

Both characters fly Voltron Lions
Both characters are quiet, level-headed, and pensive
Both characters wear black uniforms. (Each person is the “man in black” on his respective team.)

Most of our heroes from Voltron: Defender of the Universe were translated more or less directly to Voltron: Legendary Defender. Both shows have a Keith, a Lance, a Hunk, an Allura, a Pidge, a Coran, an Alfor, and even the mice. In contrast, Shiro’s origins in Voltron lore are less obvious to the casual fan.

Both Shiro in Voltron: Legendary Defender, and Sven in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, are based in part on Takashi Shirogane in Beast King Golion, the anime program from which many episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe were adapted. Eagle-eyed fans of Voltron: Legendary Defender probably noticed, in “Tears of the Balmera,” that Shiro’s full name is Takashi Shirogane.

Let’s examine each “man in black” from Voltron lore.

**Takashi Shirogane (Beast King Golion)**

In Beast King Golion, Shirogane is one of five astronauts from Earth of the year 1999. (Golion first aired in 1981-1982, so 1999 was… the future!) Returning from a space mission, the team discovers that, during their absence, Earth has been devastated by nuclear missiles in a third world war. The team also discovers a Galra slave ship capturing any surviving humans, including the astronauts.

The team soon finds itself imprisoned in Slave Castle on Planet Galra. While his teammates banter as they try to devise an escape plan, Shirogane says little, justifying his nickname: Quiet.

After the team escapes Galra, they land on Planet Altea, where they meet Princess Fala (Think: Allura) and learn of Golion (Think: Voltron). Royal advisor Raible (Think: Coran) tells them that they’ll reactivate the Lions that combine into Golion, and he gives them combat uniforms. For reasons never made clear, Shirogane’s uniform is trimmed with black.

When the team reactivates the robot Lions, Shirogane operates the Blue Lion — again, for reasons never made clear. Kogane (Think: Keith) flies Black Lion and continues to the lead the team, as he had during the astronauts’ original space mission.

In Golion‘s sixth episode, Shirogane rescues Kurogane (Think: Lance) from Galra witch Honerva (Think: Haggar). Shirogane fights Honerva alone, a task made more difficult when Honerva creates several duplicate images of herself, and she and her duplicates circle around him, laughing. (This moment was recreated with Shiro and Haggar in the Voltron: Legendary Defender episode “The Black Paladin.”)

Then Honerva blinds Shirogane with light from her staff, but the blinded pilot uses his mind’s eye to locate the true Honerva. Shirogane tries to attack, but the witch blocks his sword, Honerva’s cat bites his left ear, and then a Deathblack Beastman (Think: Robeast) strikes him multiple times. Shirogane dies in the arms of his friend, Kogane (Think: Keith).

Although Princess Fala (Think: Allura) begins to pilot Blue Lion in the next episode, Takashi Shirogane is not forgotten.

**Ryou Shirogane (Beast King Golion)**

In Golion‘s 41st episode, Princess Amue (adapted as Romelle in Voltron: Defender of the Universe), a slave on Planet Galra, is saved from a Galra firing squad by a mysterious Earthling. The princess’ savior is Ryou Shirogane, the younger brother of Takashi Shirogane. Ryou is aware that Takashi had become the pilot of Blue Lion, but Amue informs Ryou that Honerva subsequently killed Takashi.

Ryou Shirogane and the princess form an alliance to fight their common enemy: the Galra Empire, and over time they develop feelings for one another. In Golion‘s 52nd and final episode, Ryou Shirogane stabs the Galra Prince Imperial Sincline (Think: Lotor). Sincline slashes Ryou across the chest, and both fall to their deaths. Ryou Shirogane dies avenging his heroic older brother, and in so doing, he helps the Golion team to destroy the Galra Empire.

Technically, Ryou Shirogane isn’t a “man in black,” as it has been defined in this article, but Ryou’s role in Golion is directly tied to someone else who is.

**Sven (Voltron: Defender of the Universe)**

Long-time Voltron fans might recall the “Sven Lives” T-shirts that were first sold in the 2000s, as a reaction to Voltron fans’ recent discovery, through the just-released Beast King Golion DVD sets, that Sven’s Golion counterpart dies in that program. The “Sven Lives” shirts are fun, but there was never a need to assert that Sven lives, because in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, he does.

In Defender of the Universe, in an unspecified year of the distant future, Sven is one of five space explorers sent by the Galaxy Alliance to Planet Arus. As in Golion, the space explorers are captured and imprisoned, but in Voltron, they’re imprisoned in the Castle of Dungeons on Planet Doom.

The space explorers escape, meet Allura on Planet Arus, and become known as the Voltron Force. As in Golion, Sven dons a black-trimmed uniform and becomes the pilot of Blue Lion, for reasons that are never explained.

In Defender of the Universe‘s sixth Lion Force episode, Sven rescues Lance from Haggar. A battle unfolds between Sven and Haggar, Haggar’s cat bites his left ear, and a Robeast strikes Sven multiple times. Unlike in Golion, Sven survives the fight. Sven is seriously injured, to the point where he is taken, off-screen, to Planet Ebb for medical attention. Allura succeeds Sven as the pilot of Blue Lion.

Sven’s next significant appearance is in Defender of the Universe‘s 41st Lion Force episode. Sven, by now an escaped slave on Planet Doom, rescues Princess Romelle from Lotor’s firing squad. (The writers of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, noticing Ryou Shirogane’s strong resemblance to his older brother Takashi, cleverly chose to continue Sven’s story rather than introduce a new character.)

In the 52nd Lion Force episode, Sven and Lotor fight and fall from a great height, as Golion‘s Ryou and Sincline had, but in Voltron, both fall into water and survive. Sven’s bravery helps the Voltron Force defeat Zarkon’s forces — for the time being, anyway.

In Voltron: Defender of the Universe, the tales of the Lion Force would extend beyond the last episode of Beast King Golion, with 21 newly animated episodes. In these episodes, Sven has relocated to Princess Romelle’s kingdom on Planet Pollux, where he lives in a humble cabin from which he can watch over Romelle’s castle. Haggar soon destroys Sven’s cabin, but he remains on Pollux. Sven and Romelle admit their feelings for one another, but they don’t act on their feelings, since Sven is but a pilot. On the other hand, they do discuss pursuing a relationship once Zarkon is defeated.

In one of the later episodes, Sven temporarily returns to pilot Blue Lion in one desperate battle.

Since Voltron: Defender of the Universe never shows the Voltron Force definitively defeating Zarkon, it’s never revealed whether Sven and Romelle ever pursued a romantic relationship.

**Sven (Voltron Force)**

Voltron Force is a quasi-sequel to Voltron: Defender of the Universe. It takes place some years after the Voltron Force had defeated the forces of Planet Doom, but the story conflicts with several story points in the original Voltron show. One aspect of Defender of the Universe that does find its way to Voltron Force is the existence of Sven as the former pilot of Blue Lion.

In “Rogue Trip,” Voltron Force cadets Daniel and Vince meet Dudley, who describes himself as “Voltron’s biggest fan.” Because he “knows a guy who knows a guy,” Dudley has amassed a huge collection of Voltron artifacts. Daniel, himself a Voltron aficionado, identifies one of the artifacts as Sven’s uniform. Sven’s typical off-duty outfit is also shown to be in Dudley’s collection.

In “Ghost in the Lion,” Blue Lion is stolen and taken to the ice-cold planet Crydor. The Voltron Force discovers that Sven is the thief! Sven had made a deal with Lotor and Maahox, to give them Blue Lion in exchange for Lotor and Maahox curing Sven and his infant son of a haggarium infection, which Sven had contracted years ago from having been bitten by witch Haggar’s cat. Maahox alters the deal, planning to raise Sven’s son and train him to operate Blue Lion in the service of Lotor. Double-crossed, Sven briefly pilots Blue Lion as the team forms Voltron in order to rescue Allura and Sven’s son from Lotor. The Voltron Force offers to treat Sven’s haggarium infection back on Arus, but Sven declines the offer, saying his infection has progressed too far for it to be treatable. The Voltron Force has no choice but to leave Sven on Crydor, but they save Sven’s son, leaving him in the care of Allura’s childhood nanny.

The mother of Sven’s son is never identified.

**Shiro (Voltron: Legendary Defender)**

Shiro, full name Takashi Shirogane, is an experienced space explorer of the Galaxy Alliance. While on the first manned mission to Pluto’s moon, Kerberos, Shiro and his crewmates, Professor Holt and his son Matt, are abducted by aliens. The government of Earth covers up the Kerberos incident, claiming that the ship was lost due to pilot error.

One year later, Shiro returns, crashing on Earth in a small, alien spacecraft. He remembers very little about his time in captivity, and his escape, but he does remember that the Galra are a threat to Earth, and that the Galra are searching for a super weapon called Voltron.

Shiro has three visual reminders of his experience with the Galra — white hair in his bangs, a scar across his nose, and a cybernetic right arm.

Soon after crashing to Earth, Shiro is surrounded by Galaxy Garrison scientists and soldiers who want to quarantine him and render him unconscious before he can warn them about the Galra. Fortunately, three cadets from the space academy — Lance, Pidge and Hunk — and academy dropout Keith rescue Shiro. They discover a robot Blue Lion, which takes them to Planet Arus, where Shiro and the others discover Princess Allura. Allura tells them of the Galra threat, and she tasks them with reactivating all five Lions, combining them into Voltron, and stopping Galra emperor Zarkon.

Recognizing that Shiro is a natural leader, Allura tells him that he will lead this new team of Voltron paladins, and that he will fly Black Lion. And the adventure begins!

Over time Shiro learns more about what had happened to him when he was a Galra prisoner. His body had been altered by the Galra, and he became a champion gladiator for Zarkon’s amusement.

At the end of Voltron: Legendary Defender‘s first season, Shiro learns that Zarkon himself had been the previous paladin of Black Lion. During a battle against Zarkon’s witch Haggar — a battle reminiscent of Takashi Shirogane’s final fight in Beast King Golion — Shiro is injured.

In Voltron: Legendary Defender‘s second season, Shiro survives his wound, and he strengthens his bond with Black Lion. He learns that his escape from the Galra had been aided by Oolas, a rebel Galra, who noticed Shiro’s potential to one day help overthrow Zarkon.

Shiro also tells Keith that, should anything ever happen to Shiro, Keith should succeed him as the leader of the Voltron paladins.

In the final episode of the second season, during a climactic battle between Voltron and a heavily armored Zarkon, Shiro unlocks a new ability in Voltron, as Shiro flies Voltron through Zarkon as if Voltron were immaterial, and Shiro recovers the Black Bayard. The paladins use their bayards to unlock a new super weapon of Voltron: a blazing sword that impales and possibly kills the Galra emperor.

Although Voltron defeats Zarkon, the price is high. The paladins discover that Shiro has vanished from the cockpit of Black Lion. Only the Black Bayard remains.

As of this writing, Voltron: Legendary Defender‘s third season has not yet been announced. Many questions remain with respect to Shiro. Where is he? What happened to him? Will he ever return? Hopefully time will tell.

Men in Black

Voltron’s men in black — Takashi Shirogane from Beast King Golion, Sven from Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Sven from Voltron Force, and Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane from Voltron: Legendary Defender — are exciting and inspirational heroes who courageously defend their corners of the Voltron “multiverse.”

Addendum: Keith wore a black uniform in Voltron: The Third Dimension and Voltron Force, but Keith is better known for wearing red. A future article will cover the Voltron pilots who wear red.

It’s as “Easy” as I, II, III: Being a Voltron Fan in the 1980s

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Greg Tyler

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.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984)

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.