In the 1980s Lion Force Voltron series, the original pilots’ suit colors and the colors of the lions were mostly the same, but each pilot did not operate the robot. This is because Voltron was originally a giant robot warrior piloted by soldiers who wore their colors as a united team. Voltron was later broken up into separate lion robots. In the original series, Keith and Lance were the only paladins that wore suits that didn’t match the color of their respective lions.
The original plan was for Keith to have teeth that looked like fangs and white hair dyed different colors, but the producers were afraid it would be too much violence. The robot Lions come in five colors – black, red, blue, yellow, and green. The Black Lion forms the main body of Voltron, while the other four pilots had their own colors.
Initially, the plan was for Keith to have teeth that looked like fangs and white hair that he dyed different colors. However, the producers were afraid it would be too much violence. The robot Lions come in five colors – black, red, blue, yellow, and green. The Black Lion forms the main body of Voltron, while the other four pilots had their own colors.
The mixed up color schemes bug the viewer, as they think Lance should have just got the red uniform and Allura the blue. The limited color scheme of greys and blacks left them with a very limited color scheme, which Lance thought was distasteful.
At least four of the five main characters are men of color, and two have skin tones darker than the others. The aesthetic basics — the color scheme of the lions (black, red, green, blue, and yellow) and the Paladins’ suits — will bring back memories of the original show.
📹 Pop Culture’s Greatest Mistake? The Story of Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Voltron: Defender of the Universe was an animated series that aired in syndication in the US from September 10, 1984, …
What were the colors of the Voltron pilots?
Lance, Keith, and Sven were pilots of disparate lions, with Lance attired in a blue uniform, Keith in a black uniform, and Sven in a blue uniform. Hunk and Pidge were the only two pilots who correctly identified their lions.
What does the Green Lion in Voltron represent?
The Green Lion, originally piloted by Trigel, is a highly adaptable and high-armored Lion found in a jungle temple on the Jungle Planet. It is known for its ability to create technology on the fly, saving the team from critical threats. The Green Lion is highly agile and adaptable to Pidge’s new technology, whether it’s temporary or permanent. Both the Green Lion and Red Lion have the lowest damage rating out of all the Lions. Their standard arsenal includes claws that can damage armor of a Galra warship. The Green Lion and Red Lion are highly adaptable and highly skilled in creating new technologies.
What does the yellow lion represent in Voltron?
The pilot of the Yellow Lion, Hunk, is a benevolent and compassionate individual who places the needs of others above his own, exemplifying a profound sense of empathy and altruism. In his role as the leg of Voltron, he will serve to elevate the team and foster a sense of unity.
What does the blue lion mean in Voltron?
The Blue Lion, originally piloted by Blaytz, is the friendliest of the Lions and the most accepting of new pilots. Its confidence comes in handy in tough battles against bigger and better opponents, using its powerful FREEZE RAY and SONIC BOOM. The Blue Paladin was Lance until Zarkon’s defeat and Shiro’s disappearance. The Lion is well-balanced and confident in damage, armor, and speed, with no specific expertise in normal combat.
It possesses higher damage ratings than the Red Lion or Green Lion but average to low stats overall until submerged in water. The Lion is said to be the friendliest Lion and the most accepting of new pilots. Its standard arsenal includes claws, which are tough enough to damage armor of a Galra warship.
Why is Shiro’s hair GREY?
The showrunners claim that the real Shiro has merged with his clone, creating a gray-haired Shiro with the memories and knowledge of both. Shiro, known as Champion, is a skilled pilot and leader of the five Paladins of Voltron. He has a Herculean physique with a broad face, strong jaw, dark gray eyes, and a long, straight nose. Shiro has pale skin and dark hair styled in an undercut due to his Japanese heritage. Due to the stress of Galra captivity, he has a fluffy white streak above his hairline.
He has two types of prosthetic arms: one Galra creation with grey plating and a rubbery black layer covering his fingers and elbow, and the other a fusion of Altean and Earth technology with a white forearm and a grey bracket around the tricep. As a prisoner of the Galra and a gladiator, Shiro wears a generic grey bodysuit underneath a shredded purple shirt.
Is there a white Voltron Lion?
The White Lion, the heart and soul of Voltron, is one of the smallest and fastest lions, capable of maneuvering through tight spaces and crowded combat zones. It is the fastest lion in terms of speed, second only to the Red Lion. The White Lion’s standard arsenal includes claws, tail laser, mouth cannon, jaw blade, force field, speeder, and thrusters.
The claws are tough enough to damage armor of a Galra warship, while the tail laser moderately damages targets at long range. The mouth cannon, summoned at the jaws, is used for cutting targets at close range. The force field activates an impassible energy sphere when stationary, encasing and protecting itself. The speeder is a unique transportation vehicle designed for its Paladin to traverse environments, dropping from the Lion’s chest and stored in the Castle of Lions. Thrusters are mounted on each of the Lion’s back legs and all four paws, used for initiating flight, increasing speed, or slowing descent.
Why did the red lion choose Keith?
The Red Lion, originally piloted by Alfor, forms the right arm of Voltron and is found on Sendak’s warship. It is the fastest and most agile Lion on the team, skilled at maneuvering through tight spaces and crowded combat zones. However, it is also the most unstable Lion, requiring potential Paladins to earn their respect before accepting them. Both the Red Lion and Green Lion have the lowest damage rating out of all the Lions, and the Red Lion has the weakest armor rating. The Lion’s standard arsenal includes claws at each of its paws, tough enough to damage armor of a Galra warship. The Lion’s agility and instincts make it a formidable opponent in the battle.
What is Pidge’s gender?
Pidge, a girl with Italian heritage, is a highly intelligent and versatile mathematician, hacker, and inventor, and the Paladin of the Green Lion. She is the slimmest and shortest Paladin, with brown eyes and fair skin. Her hair is light brown, short, and disheveled, with spikes at the back and unruly bangs. Outside her Paladin armor, she wears thin, wire-framed, circle glasses, which appear half-moon but are actually round. These glasses were gifted by her brother and have almost no effect. Pidge’s Paladin armor is the same as her teammates’, but with green accents to match her Lion.
What is Shiro’s disease?
In the first two seasons of the series, Shiro, the first Black Paladin, struggles with amnesia and PTSD after being imprisoned by the Galra Empire for a year. His flashbacks sometimes remind him of critical information or cause him to freeze up, allowing him to exist as a mentally ill person without a greater purpose. Shiro is also physically disabled, using a Galra prosthetic arm instead of a bayard, the traditional weapon of the paladins. Despite his condition, Shiro leads Voltron and supports his friends in their personal issues, such as Pidge’s search for her father and brother or Keith’s struggle to be a team player.
In season 2, Shiro states that he wants Keith to take over as leader if anything happens to him. However, in season 7, Shiro is revealed to be suffering from a degenerative muscle disease and is gay. His boyfriend Adam breaks up with him over his decision to go on the mission to Kerberos despite the risk posed by his illness.
Why did Shiro’s hair turn white in Voltron?
Following the events of the third season, Hagar’s hair begins to turn white. This change in appearance may be attributed to her prolonged exposure to Quintessence, as evidenced by her role in the torture of Shiro at the hands of the Druids.
What race is Shiro?
Shiro, a character in the popular animated series Voltron, is revealed during Pidge’s flashback to a television news broadcast about the Kerberos crew missing and presumed dead. He is described as a “senior officer” to the cadets and refers to Samuel Holt with the title “Commander”. Shiro is of Japanese origin, as confirmed by Lauren Montgomery in The Paladin’s Handbook.
Shiro’s Galra prisoner designation is “Fugitive Prisoner 117-9875”. His idea of how laser guns sound is “BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!” Lauren Montgomery approves that Shiro is ranked tallest at “Number One”. Shiro does not have a video log like other Paladins because the one narrating the video log is his clone, “Shiro”, before their fusion.
Shiro is based on the character Sven from previous Voltron franchises and shares the name of the character Sven was based on, Takashi Shirogane of Beast King GoLion. The show has undergone significant changes over time, with some models appearing different than what was initially described. As a result, the writing adapts to the character’s appearance and changes in the early production of the show.
In summary, Shiro is a character in the popular animated series Voltron, known for his unique personality and abilities. His appearance and abilities have evolved over time, and the show continues to evolve with new characters and developments.
📹 Lotor Ruins the Crayon Song
I found some cut footage from season 5. Wonder why they didn’t use it :/// Find it on Tumblr: …
We grew up in a cul-de-sac in the 1980s and had this massive weeping willow tree in our backyard with five very large, sturdy main branches, and there were 5 of us neighborhood kids, so we used to play Voltron in our tree, each branch being one of the lions. We would ‘borrow’ my dad’s new home article camera (where you had to strap the entire VCR unit over your shoulder and hold up the 20 lb camera AND a crappy boom mic that only seemed to pick up wind noise), and we spent hours scripting, acting, and filming our own Voltron shorts. This show was great fuel for the imagination. 🙂
Voltron was one of the biggest things in my childhood. Three Christmas in a row, my parents tried to get me the toy. It broke twice in two separate years and in the middle they got vehicle Voltron by accident instead. Luckily this cemented Voltron in my heart, and greatly informed me how awesome Power Rangers was when it came over
I personally LOVED Voltron, specifically the Lionbot Voltron. I liked Vehicle Voltron too but let’s be honest, when someone says “Voltron” we see Lionbot Voltron in our minds, not Vehicle Voltron. I think I watched too much anime as a kid because I saw that “Tranzor Z” ad and immediately recognised it as Mazinger Z. LOL
I don’t think any of us would mind a longer article encompassing the history and other versions of Voltron. It may be a year or more before you circle back to continue with this story. It wouldn’t be an issue if the very next article was a continuation of it, but with other histories popping in between… Its like perusal a single episode of your favorite show every 6 months. Yeah, I like the show, but with all that time in between, the story and drama is diluted with time.
Here in Green Bay, the 2 series alternated, first Lion 5, then Vehicles, but my dad never got a VCR or even Betamax. But he did have an G.E. audio cassette tape recorder with a small square microphone on a wire that plugged into the side. So I had to hold the mic up to the little black and white TV that was downstairs in the basement that was made into a Rec room with the pool table with a ping pong table, plus a separate board for my MARX “O-27” Model trains. With the cassette tape recorder I could play both the real trains from outside like the G.B.&W. RR. ALCO Diesels that were painted Red. And also the Audio Sounds of the 2nd Vehicle Force “VOLTRON-2” BUT Only the last 4 episodes when Voltron was fighting the other DRULL EMPIRE and one of those Episodes was when The Voltron Force was searching for another planet for food supplies, called Planet ALOHA with palm trees and 🥥 coconuts, which aired on September 15, 1987. (P.S., I just spent the past 2 hours listening to those audio tapes, because I still have my stereo tape deck, but the tapes are only mono sound that goes through only 1 speaker). So, did anybody else record only the audio of your favorite show back in the past????? Most of the voice actors had to play at least 5 roles, like the Voltron Force was also several pilots, and the Druul EMPIRE, and background characters. Well known actor Peter Cullen was Commander Hawkins of Voltron, and Druul General. Plus they used a lot of foreign accents for each character.
While not in the big three (GI Joe, Transformers, MOTU) in terms of popularity, Voltron holds an almost sacred places in 80s lore. Likely the first “anime” that got popular in the U.S., it was a show that we could tell back then was sort of chopped and pasted together at points, and was more “mature” than even it came across, but it just had this “magic” to it that we could not get enough from, perusal the lions go through that sequence of emerging from their individual hiding places after the Voltron team, in the most bad@ss way, hyperloops to them. Each sequence being identical (due to animation cost) in every episode, with that “Let’s F’ing do this!!!” soundtrack in the background. That stuff STILL pumps you up. A lot of the episodes were hard to follow, but honestly that recurring sequence is what you showed up for, and what 99% of us like to see when we look up article of it. And MF’ing Optimus PRIME narrates the opening!
Had every single Voltron product listed, to include erasers shaped like voltron and even the bootleg toys. I loved the huge plastic Voltron sword as a kid. I remember some bad kid once threw a brick at me and I chopped it in half with the sword and it (sword) didn’t break. That kid went running away at the power of the sword. 🙂
When I was 7 in 1989, my friend had the original metal version. He thought it was “boring”. I asked him if he was willing to trade. I can not even recall what I traded but it could not of been that memorable because I loved my cool toys with a passion. After “owning” Voltron for one day, his mom called my mom and said I had to give it back. That small speck of time still sticks in my head like it was yesterday. I at least got the Lego version as an adult the day it was released.
Voltron always has a special place in my memory. I grew up in a tiny rural town in the US, where we didn’t get to see any of the Voltron shows, nor did the comics make it to us. The toys, however, were available at the toy stores in the nearest largish town. We had a smattering of bizarre toys, that obviously had a lore and a backstory, but none of us knew more than we could glean from the toy packaging. I had a Panosh Place skull tank, and a Matchbox vehicle Voltron of some sort. How these thing went together we did not know, but we knew that they did. Sometimes, some kid’s cousin from another town would visit, and try to explain it to us, but that was like the world’s sketchiest game of “telephone”. In a way, I think this made us enjoy Voltron more, as our young minds were unfettered by the established stories, and we made up our own legendary stories, often featuring the characters from “Battle of the Planets” and Robotech.
There was also Voltron Force. It included the original characters plus the princess ‘s niece plus two cadets. They all wear a lion com that acts as a communicator as well as give them special weapons and give Voltron different configurations and weapons. It is on Amazon prime but was ended before the story was completed.
One of the cool things about GoLion was that Sven’s Japanese equivalent had a twin brother who would later appear in the show after his brother had died, which was a godsend to the creators of Voltron, as they could simply treat the twin as Sven who unlike his Japanese equivalent survived, so they were basically given a golden opportunity to bring Sven back.
I was born after Voltron came out, and was a huge power rangers fan. At some point I discovered a Voltron toy at a yard sale, I think. I was immediately perplexed. Here was a toy that was incredibly similar to the power rangers megazord. Five smaller animal robots combine into a bigger humanoid robot. They even both had horns on the head. It was like I had discovered a toy from a parallel universe or something! I had to wait until I was older to figure out the real reason why, which is that the Japanese love their giant robots lol
I remember seeing the gladiator/albegas robots on the back of a lion voltron toy box in a store as a kid. It was my first hint that a third voltron existed. It became my holy grail for a while; I scoured all sources available to me, did searches at the library for details but found nothing. Had to wait for the internet to learn more.
I obsessed over Voltron (both Lion and Vehicle). I never did see the 3rd version in my region. It was such a stellar show, and the stories were beyond epic. A number of years ago my girlfriend and I had the honor of interviewing Jack Angel (hail King Zarkon) for our radio show. To realize just how many voices he’d done and even his work with Disney is just as vast. I mean those of us in Gen X and Gen Y grew up with his iconic voices. Sadly Jack passed in October 19, 2021. Also Neil Ross also voiced Pidge.
The Voltron toy was the first thing that was ever given to me as a kid that I knew, just knew, I needed to keep pristine; that it was special. I was 6 so that still didn’t happen, but I came close. Ended up getting trashed by my concerned mother when she saw a story about lead paint being used on it or something. Rest in Pieces, Defender of the Universe, wherever you are. Also Princess Allura was my first crush. Even though I thought her name was Laura. No wonder she ignored me.
As someone from St Louis and a child of the 80s/90s this was a blast from the past. It was a huge thing for the show to have been made here, St Louis has never been known for tv much less cartoons. I always grew up thinking this was another stolen property from Japan, but in reality they recrafted the show and made it into the IP that we know today. Toei threatening legal action at every step sounds like the most Toei thing, they’re such jerks.
I always loved voltron. But growing up in germany, it didn‘t air until the early 90‘s, and had a pretty short run in general. Needless to say there were NO toys at all, leaving me thinking they simply didn‘t exist when i was seven or something. Now as an adult I managed to hunt down a SOC BeastKing GoLion, and couldn‘t be happier.
When you cover the other Voltron properties, can you visit Future Robot Daltanious. My understanding was that it was considered for inclusion into the Voltron franchise or mistaken as Voltron. I saw it in the early 80’s while living in northern Italy as a child. (It was a few anime series I watched during my three year stay.)
I was one of the few viewers who ::didn’t:: abandon ship when Vehicletron came around, and I had no idea they crossed over with Lion Force, so thanks for that bit of knowledge! Also, I can vouch for 80stees quality — I still have their Five Lions hoodie. Comes in real handy when the temperatures reach the 40s.
I remember when Voltron came on one afternoon, I wasn’t sure what it was all about, since I hadn’t watched the first five episodes. Needless to say, I was hooked, and so were my classmates in 3rd and 4th Grade. Vehicle Voltron was just fine in our eyes, and this article was my first look at Lion Voltron & Vehicle Voltron’s cooperation. I had never heard of such a thing, or perhaps we weren’t perusal the right website.
The interesting thing is that here in St. Louis on KPLR – supposedly the “origin” market for Voltron – the Vehicle Voltron show was only broadcast late at night (we’re talking 2am here) and not in the prime after-school slot occupied by the Lion Force Voltron. I don’t know if that occurred in all markets, but it was definitely a reason that it wasn’t getting watched here, as the show’s target audience was in bed at this time! Also something that I’ve always found funny: whoever wrote the script for the show’s opening evidently believed that “solar system”, “galaxy”, and “universe” were interchangeable terms.
I spent a summer in California in ’85 perusal and loving Voltron. When I went back to my home in Oregon in the fall, I tried perusal, but couldn’t get into it. What I was perusal in Cali was Vehicle Team, and that is what I was invested in, not the Lion Force stuff playing up here. Since it became ALL about the lions, I’ve spent decades feeling like the red headed stepchild of Voltron fandom…
I remember perusal the lion version of Voltron as a kid, but I don’t recall ever seeing the vehicle based show. Though I did own some of the toys and I liked both designs, it was hard to get them because each vehicle was sold individually, which meant you had to end up spending a lot of money to get the whole thing.
Voltron fan for life! I will never forget seeing this show for the first time on Cable when I lived in California. I immediately got psyched about this show. I’ve checked out a lot of the new projects but the original series is still my favorite! Legendary Defender was definitely also a fun series with a lot of cool ideas, although I was disappointed that Keith and Allura didn’t get back together! Voltron has been important to me for many years. Someday I still want my own toy model and a copy of the complete series dvd as well!
I was kind of late to Voltron, only discovering it through a gimmicky USB drive, but I enjoyed perusal it in all its cheesy 80s glory. Not so much the later spinoffs like Voltron Force. The Netflix reboot was surprisingly good… at least until it started falling apart later on. Still, I’ve got a full set of the combining lions from that show’s run.
I was born in 1974 and I pretty much grew up on Anime without knowing it. I used to watch Battle of The Planets, Speed Racer, and Johnny Sato and his flying Robot. It wasn’t until Robotech however that me and my friends realized what Anime really was. Unlike those other shows Robotech had a story that was continuing each episode rather than be one off episodes. During the time Robotech hit TV there was an explosion of anime which included Voltron amongst others. Of course we loved Voltron but it was the basic Robeast of the week episodes with Voltron vanquishing his enemies except for a few episodes. One of them is when The Haggar somehow tricked Voltron and the Voltron Force again by disguising herself as the Angel and the Voltron force dies, goes to heaven and I guess it’s God who gives them a choice to either stay in heaven or save the people of Ares which you know they did. Another series of episodes that stood out was when Sven “died” and the princess had to replace him. Later we find out Sven didn’t die and lived but stayed on that other planet to help the people fight lotars forces. Besides that going back perusal Voltron isnt as fun. Then of course you had the Car and vehicle Voltron but a lot of people don’t know about the 3rd Voltron which was these 3 robots that would combine to form Voltron. Instead of the other 2 Voltrons that’s the toy I got for Xmas the year Voltron was so popular you couldn’t find the toys. Anyway love the article and it brought back some memories.
Voltron was the first VHS we rent when we got a VHS player in the late 80s in my home in Greece. Played in our color TV URANIA. the sound and the animation stuck with me! unfortunately not all episodes were available in VHS. After Voltron we rent Shaber Rider, and then Transformers. OmG i love robots.-
Well, this clears up some confusion. I watched all but four episodes of Golion a few years back, and was puzzled as to why Queen Merla was nowhere to be seen, even though I was certain I’d seen that character on some Voltron episodes I had on tape when I was, like, five. Now I know she was only in Voltron and not Golion. By the way, Queen Merla was kind of hot, not gonna lie.
OH MY GOD! I remember Tranzor Z! I would love to see a article about that series. I remember loving that show for 2 reasons. First, the cool robots of course. B, the fact that the story had an end. Every other cartoon in my life at that time was never ending, but a story with a satisfying end was new to me, and really interesting. Great article. Looking forward to more articles of all the Voltron family.
Dreamworks Voltron was a very good show. I wish they made a sequel series focusing on Vehicle Voltron in that universe. The series introduced a lot of characters that were never really fleshed out (such as the four MFE pilots, Romelle, Lance’s older sister, Pidge’s older brother, Shiro’s spouse, Hunk’s girlfriend…or really dear friend…among others). I believe their stories could be covered in the sequel series.
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, peace settled across the galaxy. On Planet Earth, a Galaxy Alliance was formed. Together with the good planets of the solar system, they maintained peace throughout the universe, until a new horrible menace threatened the galaxy. Voltron was needed once more. This is the story of the super force of space explorers, specially trained and sent by the Alliance to bring back Voltron, Defender of the Universe!
Voltron, Robotech, and Tranzor Z stoked my love for anime as a child. The worst part of it all was when they were all moved to weekday mornings from afternoon so I could no longer watch (pre VCR days). I never had the chance to finish any until adulthood. Thank god for DVDs and shelves amiright? P.S. I was absolutely thrilled with and LOVED the Netflix version of Voltron. Made me feel like a kid all over again.
This is a surprisingly deep dive for a article under 25 minutes. A massive amount of information, but there’s no way that my tiny brains gonna remember all of that. I feel that if I were going to write an essay on the history of Voltron I’d have to read decades worth of books on the source material first but you’ve managed to provide such a comprehensive look in such a short space of time. Whoever compiled the research for this article give yourself a pat on the back 👍👌
Though I’m a 90s kid, I still owe a lot to Voltron as it was the first anime to air on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block. That of course would lead to me becoming a DBZ fan among other anime. I guess Voltron was easy to catch my interest due to its similarities with Power Rangers. I think the Dino Megazord from MMPR was even based on Lion Voltron’s design. Toonami never aired Vehicle Voltron though, which I don’t really mind. I’d probably would’ve been just as confused as I remember being when Toonami aired both the Macross Saga and Masters episodes of Robotech. Crazy how both Voltron and Robotech were made of multiple unrelated anime shows being merged together, yet the first entries of both franchises became the most popular. As TV Tropes puts it, First Installment Wins.
I bought a brand new Lionbot in February 1985. $85 was a lot of money for a 4th grader! I did play with it a ton, got my money’s worth, it never just sat on the shelf. It wasn’t built well, I repeatedly had to take the blue and yellow lions apart to screw the rear legs back on. Eventually I lost all the weapons And projectiles, and I think maybe the black lion survives in a box somewhere, but I’m not sure. I had checked out the matchbox Voltron, and there was no way I wasting my money on a neutered robot. Luckily, there was a toy store that imported all the hot Japanese robots, and I found the Lionbot there. Fun times!
Dude, you failed to mention the short lived nickelodeon attempt at a new cartoon. VOLTRON FORCE tried to be the next generation, with the original team grown older, I think like Lance podge and hunk were teachers at the earth flight academy, they end up recruiting 5 edgy snarky kids with the right stuff. It was pretty bad, I think only 3 episodes Aired.
I was and likely still am the odd man (or boy) out: I liked Go-Lion okay, but LOVED Dairugger 15. Everyone I knew of my age then (I was 10-11 and in fifth grade between fall of 84 to Spring of 85) thought I was insane. To this day, the only Vol-Tron toy I ever owed and still do is the 6″ die cast and plastic ‘figure’ of ‘Vehicle Vol-Tron’. Odd side story on that…… It was sold in a small box with a clear front. The store I found it at…something like Kmart or a Zayres had marked it down significantly (the voltron toys were pretty pricy I recall). Well, the front clear plastic had been torn open. I saw no problem. Fan that I was I missed what was missing…. First, the sword but also the red fighter that is his chest piece could be removed and removed it had been. Bizarrely enough, a couple of months later at the same or similar store, I saw yet another of the same ripped open and discarded on the toy aisle. My ‘vehicle Vol-Tron’ had his red ship and sword then and still now. I’m not saying I’m proud…..but I’m still glad. 😂
My friend had all the voltrons and figurines plus the castle! Not to mention all the transformers and every he-man… Always wanted to go play at his house, lol! The only two i had that he didn’t were galvatron and castle greyskull, I was super-proud of those… Oh yeah i had a battle-cat crimger too…
I WAS LONG SINCE GROWN BY THE TIME VOLTRON…..SHOWED UP….I WAS STILL INTERESTED…… BECAUSE VOLTRON REMINDED ME OF GIGANTOR A CARTOON FROM MY CHILDHOOD IN THE LATE 1960’s…….. FUNNY THING… GIGANTOR AND VOLTRON ARE FROM THE SAME COMPANY. THE SAME CO. THAT ALSO CAME UP WITH SPEED RACER…. KIMA THE WHITE LION….AND 8- MAN.
As kid perusal this I couldn’t get a enough. We didn’t have 24h websites or cartoons you can watch anytime. For me the more the better, as far as I was concerned they could have come up with 20 voltron versions and aired them back to back. Also you need to understand the mecha culture in Japan to see the whole picture
Great article, and a lot of great information on Voltron. I was only surprised that there was no mention of the attempted sequel Voltron Force, that in some ways had a little nod to Albegas with the new team’s combiner. Only other thing of interest would have been mentioning that Pidge and Chip are twins, and the attempted connection. Most of these episodes now are playing on STARZ.
god damn i totally forgot i had that play set. it was so dope, not gonna lie. one of my favorite toys before age 10. i was born in 84 but my brother was 2 years older than me, so i got all this stuff too. we had the castle, all the lions AND the rolling remote control voltron. (it never worked right from day 1 though, we were wicked sad)
Man listen. I was in high school when Voltron came on tv and being a fan of Godzilla movies I loved it. Slicing through the RoBeasts that damn witch made. I still remember when Voltron almost died; that RoBeast had an axe that cut through the sword was was embedded in Voltrons chest, going deeper! I was like oh shit! Then they got the sword together with that damn mouse and he won. It was only when I went to a comic convention did I find out that there were 3 Voltrons guarding parts of the universe. I think the vehicle Voltron came on tv and I was like wtf. I suppose they built one while looking for the original Lion version. Then it was off of tv
Voltron had a massive impact on me as a kid. I watched the reruns on USA network. My older siblings had Voltron too, so I was exposed to it even though it came on before I was born. I remember seeing the ads MMPR and seeing the zord and thinking “it’s Voltron but with dinosaurs and it’s live action! OH-EM-GEEEEEEEEE!” Voltron paved the way for MMPR.
I had always thought Vehicle Voltron was the first cartoon… Maybe because of the toy numbering? so this article was truly educational. I am growing continually more distressed that the reason my dreams of (even) more live action movies based on my favourite IP of the 80’s (before i ever used the term IP) are continually thwarted by the complications of “adults” not knowing who owns the rights to things.
For as much shit as Robotech got for altered storyline/scripts to tie three separate series together, I give them a lot of credit for keeping a vast majority of the Macross season intact, and keeping in actual meaningful deaths that left lasting impressions upon the kids (myself included) that watched them. It’s unfortunate seeing how many ridiculous hoops Voltron went through to avoid maintaining their stories’ deaths.
I loved Voltron, I wish they would release a toy that includes the pilots in the correct scale. I hated the toys where the pilots were huge they were so cheap. The original metal coloring was truly awesome but it was hard to find them including all their accessories which were were spring loaded rockets and blades they carried in their mouths. They said it was a choke hazard so we didn’t get complete versions here. Voltrons overall design was awesome and beautiful. I really liked his face with the dot on the forehead. I didn’t like the vehicle version too much toy wise. Those giant red fin stabalizers looked really cool and so did the sword. It was such a good idea.
so both Saber Rider and Voltron were japanese IPs rearranged and mixed and glued together for western audiences to fill gaps in the kid’s TV lineups? And yet these shows became great. One has to admire those behind the newborn franchises for their efforts and the quality entertainment they provided us by doing so.
From days of long ago, From unchartered 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, Peace settled across the galaxy. On Planet Earth, A Galaxy Alliance was formed. Together with the good planets Of the solar system, They maintained peace Throughout the universe, Until.. a new horrible menace threatened the galaxy. Voltron was needed once more. This is the story Of the Super Force..of space explorers. Specially trained, And sent by the Alliance, To bring back… Voltron: Defender of the Universe!
I’m glad to see the rest of Voltron’s history getting covered, tho while you got the 80’s Original Voltron (Go Lion) and you mentioned the 90’s Voltron in the 3rd Dimension, you skipped the 2011 Voltron Force on Nick, which was a continuation to the original 80’s Voltron like 3rd Dimension was, then came the 2016 Voltron Legendary Defender reboot on Netflix. Sadly Voltron Force was the only one that didn’t get toys/merchandise. Glad you mentioned the comics tho which added to the Voltron lore. Also there was a second Voltron article game for the PS VR however it was worse than the first one on PS3.
Nothing is better than the original 5 lions Voltron from 1984. Them killing Sven and bringing him and his new family back later was something l’I never forget. The fact that they didn’t talk down to us as a child audience and the long-term storytelling are things that I’ve always respected and they made a huge impact on the way I viewed animation, comic books, action figures, and anything else marketed to kids.
Height of Voltron craze, my mom and I went to the local Big Lots store. I…found…A VOLTRON TOY! It was a great price, and I was so stoked! Only then, when I get home, and really start looking at it and it was this weird 3-stacking robot. That’s not Voltron! Garbage knockoff like those crappy “General Solider” toys or something you’d find. It was YEARS later I found out there was a Voltron 3 that was out there. Shame though: I have no idea what happened to that toy.
I loved anime before i knew thats what it was. I usedvto watch gigantor. Astroboy,some anime about combining vehicles and the big robot was different depending on which vehicle was the the head, then voltron into macross/robotech space battleship yamato, capt harlock, galaxy express,Dragon ball, then came Akira and the world took real notice of japanese animation that us weebs had been perusal for years. And the rest is history. Akira is still on my top 3 anime movies list.
They don’t want to make any money. A Voltron movie would kill at the box office. I’m surprised they didn’t try harder and work together to get it done being Transformers already has 7 movies. The cgi on the lions would be perfection seeing how Transformers turned out. They need to really work something out to get it done.
I tried rewatching the original but as Go Lion series subtitled three decades later. Couldn’t do it. It’s been a while. But I just remember: “Ugh. It was fun when I was 9.” I did watch the original episode of Sven going to the “hospital planet”. Wink wink. I wish we would got the 3rd Voltron. I remember coming across the toys for the 3 robot Voltron at a department story and reading the back of the box. A 3rd Voltron?! Wow. Cool! I pronounce it Abel Gas
i adored this show. and i loved that princess aurora was such a prominent part of it because i could picture myself as her. i came up with so many adventures on my own and what would happen to them. i was so excited when i the metal lion dvds came out…. and then i watched them and realized how bad they actually were! luckily i still have my fond memories of playing.
It’s probably a bit late to leave a comment but you forgot to mention “Voltron Force”, a one season 26 episode (23 regular and a 90 minute opener) series from 2011 which screened on Nicktoons in the U.S.A. and, like the original, ABC in Australia. Cancelled after just one season, it ends on a cliffhanger in the sense that one of the story arcs in the final episode is not yet resolved. It was released on DVD in Australia – I never got to buy it but I found it at my local library – but I’m not sure if it was released nywhere else.
Something about Voltron toys that’s driven me nuts for years is I could never find the ones I had. My grandmother bought for me a Yellow and Green Lion that came in a single black box with a clear front so you could see the lions. It had all the spring loaded missile launchers, the green lion’s head shot off with the press of a button. All these history records say these were never sold in the US but I saw them on the shelf in a small chain in Central NJ in the late 80’s early 90’s called Laneco. Never did manage to get the full set either. They were sold in 3 seperate boxes. Black Lion, Yellow/Green Lions, and Red/Blue Lions. The black lion came with voltron’s sword and they were nice heavy die cast metal. Near as I can tell from research they were exactly the 81 Go Lion models I see on Ebay. REALLY wish I still had them 😀
The thing about Voltron and why it caught on so well here is us Westerners didn’t really have any combining super-robot shows. I’m not sure we had combining robots at all. Combiner Transformers like Devastator and Superion wouldn’t appear until about a year after Voltron ended, and Power Rangers was nearly a decade away. Incidentally, “hyaku juu ou” does, literally, mean “100 beast king”, but the expression is used the way we say a lion is “king of the beasts”. So the title should be translated as “King of the Beasts GoLion.”
We had some poormans cable box in the 80s that exposed me to voltron. I think the box was called “On TV”. It was a small box with a big three position knob. There was a bypass which played just regular antenna tv, a sports website called sportsvision and i think it was “channel 50” which played voltron, gumby, spectreman, rocky and bullwinkle and a few other classics.
Voltron (1984 – 1985 tv cartoon series, Lion Force Voltron version) is a child wonder action, adventure sensation (even though it depicted graphic and violence that was a bit much for viewers under 13 years of age which I have no complaint about.). I love the show, especially when Peter Cullen narrate the opening intro and you see the scene from the early beginning of time to the victory of Voltron, the Defender of the Universe, that always gave me goosebumps (In a very good way) or euphoria all over my body. Man, I love the Lion version of Voltron, how each one are like their own version of the elements of earth (Green Lion), wind (Yellow Lion), water (Blue Lion) and fire (Red Lion). I love the background music, instrumentals and sound effects which are fantastic. I wish the visual were much sharper polished like some of the 1980s cartoons (Example: Ducktales, He-Man, Mighty Max, etc., etc.). When the toys came out, I badly wanted to have it. Now, it’s the year 2024, I’m a middle age man (Now 50 years old), I still love the show (Voltron, 1984 – 1985, Lion Force Voltron) just when I was a kid back then. I don’t feel the same optimism about the latest Voltron version show (Voltron Force, 2011 – 2012) and it franchise like that of the 1980s but what I do like much is the newer action figure version of Voltron (Sold on ebay and the 3d printed version on some 3d print website.) which I found far more appealing than any tv decade version toys or figurine! Wow, the story to how all of this came to fruition is astounding that a little mistake or mix-up lead to one out of three Japanese cartoons being made into a American iconic children cartoon tv series and franchise success.
im 22, me and my younger siblings grew up on voltron. our young dad was (and still is!) a fan, and had somehow gotten his hands on a DVD set. complete with metal casings in the shape of the lion heads. so cool. we had toys and watched the show over and over and over and over again!! still one of my all-time favs, along with thundercats
To think that two trashy Japanese anime shows became classic pop icons that would live on forever in the minds of both parents and children alike. To World Entertainment Production, ARIGATO GOZAIMATSU for making my childhood Bliss. Beast King #GoLion and Armored Fleet #DairuggerXV, even though the excess editing might have soured my thoughts of you as I grew older, I will forever remember the robotic hero VOLTRON, DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE!
I didn’t know what Anime was as a kid, but I remember there was something different about shows like BATTLE OF THE PLANETS & VOLTRON, and later, ROBOTECH, that I liked. I was in my 30s by the time I saw the original GO LION shows. Wow… almost indistinguishable. Now, all that stuff that was edited out of the American version made sense.
Me & my brother had the Matchbox toys. They were Christmas presents that we found in my moms closet. My mom found out and we almost didn’t get them. She threatened to take them back (she was pissed, she takes Christmas pretty seriously). We finally did get them and it was glorious. Constructing Voltron for the first time was an awesome moment between me and my brother. My mom locked our presents in her trunk for the next couple of years…
Dairugger XV all day! I was waiting for a mention of the Go-lion US DVD(?) release that popped up in the mid 00s. It was the same timeframe as the metal boxed Voltron DVD releases that each feature a different lion faced box in relief. Because of W.E.P.’s rights ownership, it’s been impossible to find a -legit-, safe way to view Go-lion and Dairugger XV in their original form, uncut.
I was one of the (few?) kids who had ALL of the Voltron combining Bandai toys. I had the 5 lions, the 20 vehicles, and the 3 others from the 3rd series that never made it to the US. I remember how devestated I was when I realized that Voltron was just chopped-up rewrites of Japanese series. But that seems to have been the norm. (Robotech is made up of 3 UNRELATED Japanese series)
The Creator of Go Lion got his ideas for Voltron from Christianity… that is why Voltron is a Lion King (AKA Jesus) and why King Alfor is similar to Jesus Christ, and Why he has a Crucufix on his chest….Newer versions of Voltron (Almost all of them) tried to remove these Origins by making the Cross more of an X and making the Lions look more like cats…..and making the Pilots Gay….I despise when they do this…… They did that to other Chrisian influenced Cartoons…Even He-Man has had his crucifix removed or changed.
So…this is gonna be a long story but…I never had a Voltron toy as a kid, manage to get a piece of a knockoff plastic Voltron and when I say a piece I mean only the Green Lion 😂 Always wanted one but as I went to adulthood I had my chance when Toynami made the 20th Anniversary edition and I got it…but I never opened it…why?…I kinda feel if I open it then…that’s the end of my childhood 🤔…I know weird 😂 Great article Mr Larson, Producer Greg MP 👍🏽✌🏽
Wow, I never knew any of this. KPLR was the affiliate I watched Voltron, Robotec and lots of old movies on. Tranzor Z was on website 13 WCEE. I liked vehicle Voltron as well. I was hoping you were going to say your 5 cats combined to pilot a giant robot. That would be the best thing ever! Catron demands dinner! Now it is chasing the red dot! Now it is nap time.
Good info but listening to the pitch and tone of this voice for 20 min made me feel I am developing ADD. Just pause once in a while, change the speed of delivery, a bit faster here, a bit slower there. Don’t just try to pack limited time with as much info as you can. Hard to follow the whole thing and enjoy it. Thank you! Keep up the good work!
In Portugal Voltron was aired pretty late, and the first series was Dairugger. And it was pretty great! When the Go Lion derived show started I thought, “WTF is this kiddie sh*tshow?!”… Go Lion is pretty terrible to be honest, but Dairugger has a pretty interesting and compelling storyline. Much better than my personal favourite Bismarck.
I recall perusal some episodes as a kid in the 80’s. Voltron seemed to have the same issue as all the combining robots into one big robot: they would basically be getting their butts kicked individually until they combined to form the super robot. Then it was ass kicking time. I don’t recall them ever really showcasing the purpose of the individual robots/lions. “Why don’t they just always stay as the big combined robot?” Also, for any Voltron fans, Rick & Morty did a great tribute where they took 5 Voltrons to form an even bigger robot. 😅
5:03 they didn’t translate, they actually wrote scripts based off what they saw on the screen, and timed the actors speech to how long the character was speaking on the screen (also rewrote scripts if the words were too short or too long). Voltron is NOT, NOT, NOT a translation of GoLion, not by any means!
I like Vehicle Voltron/Dairugger more probably because I am a Trek fan. Using both Golion and Dairugger is a genius in combining the narrative. Golion was basically a rebellion forming a coalition of planets. Dairugger was part of a fleet of allied planets. What they did with the Drules is that the Drule Empire is like the Holy Roman Empire with vassal kingdoms. Planet Doom is one of those. Thus we have a Cold War analogy between the Galaxy Alliance and the Drule Empire with Planets Arus and Doom as proxies. It is fortunate that Golion and Dairugger had the same mechanical designer. The masked face and cross motif you can actually believe these robots are related. Not to mention similar character designs as well. Albegas is such a departure theme wise from Golion in terms of setting, character design and mechanical design. While Vehicle Voltron has not returned it had spiritual successors in reboots. In Voltron Force from 2011 the Voltron cadets had a combiner called Awesometron. Voltron Legendary Defender had the Macross homage IGF-Atlas.
I was a strange kid… I remember when I first saw the vehicle Voltron it literally pissed me off. Like the Jordan meme, I took it personally! Same with Transformers season 3. How dare they change things! Now that I’m slightly more mature man in his 40’s I’d actually like to give the show a re-watch, and actually watch all of it instead of just having a temper tantrum and turning off the TV whenever it was a vehicle Voltron episode.
Shows like Astro Boy and Speed Racer might be the first anime in the US. For me Voltron and Macross known as Robotech were the first anime I saw. I think was like six or seven in the 80s. Gatchaman aka G-Force and Sailor Moon showed up way later. Then there’s Cartoon Network which didn’t really show anime until the early two thousands.
I was 7 when the Original Voltron hit. I faked sick a bunch of times to stay home and watch it. I bought the black lion out of my allowance and got the rest from Santa. I was obsessed with it. When season 2 hit with all the vehicles instead of the Lions, I was absolutely DEVASTATED. I couldn’t understand why they would ruin such an amazing show so fast. I stopped perusal and never did finish the series.
Vehicle Voltron was great but like you said – it just didn’t make sense at the time. Too many loose-ends…what happened to the dark prince Lotor – who I thought would end up being revealed to be the brother of Princess, did Sven die? and was Pidge a girl or a boy cause in the Voltron:DOTU they called Pidge he – but left him with a high-pitched voice, wearing frilled clothing, and sporting a hairband and even 80’s “hair” “bands” didn’t do that at the time (see what I did there). I now know that they were going for a western wear type thing and Japanese anime did the gender blender thing all the time, but that was a lot for teenager to commit to mentally. The US version even paired him up with his brother from Vehicle Voltron – so if they were brothers…then one had very open fashion choices. It took the second time through the series where I was old enough to ‘get it’ about Vehicle Voltron. Lion Voltron was so beloved as a symbol and force of good, however it was impossible to recreate as part of Voltron was born of the soul of it’s creators. So since they couldn’t re-create him they made another version – a technological version with the advanced technology they possessed (Think more Science, less Soul). Now it was a perfect tool to use as explorers, to investigate, protect and defend. But the series ended by the time I felt the stories were making sense, and they went back to Lion. One thing I don’t remember mentioned was the epic soul stirring music composed by John Petersen.
Still holds up to this day (May 9th, 2022). I’m just happy, blessed, lucky enough I’ve been able to share the original as I have all the DVD from both the lion and vehicle force with my kids. Then being able to share with them a piece of my childhood,, to the present most recent sharing-moments perusal this iteration of the series ‘Netflix-Voltron’ It’s a great feeling. The Intro and legendary voice-actor Peter Cullen voice over, Still hits Everytime. 👏👏👏😊
I was expecting (at least) a mention Voltes V (five). Instead of five lions combining to one, Voltes 5 had 5 vehicles. But you can’t ignore the pilots are versions of each other. They way they get on their pods, “volt-in”, and their finishing move, Blazing sword / Laser sword. I loved both, but give the edge to Voltes V’s story line. That Voltron theme song with Peter Cullen’s narration is hella good tho.
LOL I remember saying form feet and legs, form arms and torso and I’ll form the head then putting my hands out for each growl. Yes, I would lift my feet for each growled as well. That Voltron intro is badass. Do you know why Voltron did so good? It’s because Optimus Prime was telling us how good these robots were. If Optimus Prime says its good………its good in my books.
Of course I cannot remember the name of this series. This was at around the same time as Voltron but didn’t last. Two giant humanoid mechs on the good side fighting against everyone on the evil side. The mechs were controlled by one human each, the hero with the male-form mecha that had a bunch of weapons while the heroine with the female-form mecha had only two missiles as weapons (give it a moment, you’ll figure it out). Like I said I can’t remember the title of that show. But that episode stuck out. Gee, I wonder why?🤭🤪 Edit: just realized something. What if the creators of the Transforming transformers toys crafted Voltron? All five lions(or vehicles) transforming into the lions then combining in Voltron!🤪
Awww, not even a passing mention of Voltron Force? I grew up perusal Lion Voltron and Gladiator Voltron dubbed in Arabic (though the shows were more closely adapted from their Japanese counterparts and weren’t related to each other) while simultaneously following Lion Voltron in English as well. I didn’t get to see Vehicle Voltron until I was much older and, out of the three, Gladiator is probably my favourite show as it felt a bit more…grounded I guess? The premise was three university students who study robotics having to upgrade their class projects to be combat ready to take on an invasionary force of aliens. It had a lot of drama and character development throughout the show and probably would’ve been neutered by the then American broadcasting standards. It’s also a shame Vehicle Voltron tanked, it’s a bit harder to appreciate as a hyperactive kid, but definitely something older kids and adults could connect with better.
Well like VOLTES V it was before Voltron and I got all the episodes and actually the commercials for the toy line from Japan off of Pirate Bay but when they form the robot and kill the bad guy they put the V right into the bad guy when they kill it you know with the sword but this show came out in 1978……
The Dreamworks team that did Legendary Defender said that they was doing a live action movie in a youtube article i watched back then around 2016-2018. They claimed to have already started making the movie. The most recent info i have found is from 2022 stating that the movie is going to Amazon after a bidding war and is only just being scripted in 2022. What happend to the DreamWorks movie and How far did they get? I could have misread but it doesn’t seem like this new movie is by DreamWorks.
People are so fickle. Instead of thinking “Oh wow! Another Voltron!”, they fold their arms are piss and moan for more of the same. I was always a Vehicle Voltron kid. I patiently waited through the run of the Lion Force Voltron series, so I could get to the good stuff (Vehicle Voltron). I still liked Lion Voltron. If kids were just a little more open minded and supported Vehicle Voltron we would have gotten a third cartoon.
Wow! How amazing it was in the old days huh! Might I take the risk of getting dislikes (that nobody can see anyways, hah) and say that people from the old days had to work a hell of a lot harder to accomplish so much less, were they more capable? Or was it just because they had no choice due to the lack of the internet? Along with the lack of other high tech gear even some households have now? This was actually quite the accomplishment despite the fact that they essentially “grabbed” something that already existed and changed it… Very interesting, thank you for teaching me something new, about my FAVORITE beloved childhood TV show!