Voltron Action Pose!
Just last week I received this fun addition to my collection of junk I could have lived without. It’s a Voltron toy, much like the one of way-back-when, but slightly updated to be slightly more poseable. It works pretty well on that, since the elbows and knees are now jointed. It transforms, like the old one. Same five lions are basically as show-accurate as I remember them. Take in mind, it’s been a long time since I’ve watched the cartoon, so it might not be 100% show accurate.
As far as the pose-ability goes, it’s nice to have the option to move it around and ATTEMPT to put it in some awesome poses. However, it’s really not meant for any of that. For the price range, I suppose it makes sense that it would be limited on this. And I’m glad it has as much mobility as it does considering it transforms. But the jointed knees are a tease. The action pose I have pictured on the left is very unstable. I feel as if it’s about to fall over at any moment. And, as fun as this toy is, it doesn’t feel like it would survive a fall in the least. I’m also a bit wary of any fall it might take due to the metallic paint. I feel like it could chip off at any moment. I’d never display this anywhere that it might fall. To have it out at all, I put it on the top shelf over my PC–and put it into a more boring/heroic pose.
The pose-ability of each of the lions separate is pretty good, too. There’s some slight horizontal give in the joints so the legs can take a wider stance and they look more ‘natural’ (as far as giant robot lions are concerned…) Each leg has three basic joints. One at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. You’re still pretty limited on how much they move, but the horizontal movement helps a little.
It comes with the sword and shield, which are painted metallic silver. I seem to remember the sword being more of a golden color, but upon further googling, every image I see has a silver sword. It’s nice that it came with the shield, but I don’t remember them ever using a shield. Makes sense, though, since that’s a pretty freakin’ big sword. How could this imaginary robot made of robotic lions use such a huge sword that forms from nowhere AND use a shield at the same time?!?
I was a bit disappointed by the fact this is just purely plastic,though. There is a die-cast version, but it’s much more expensive. For some reason, I read “Metallic” as “die-cast”. Metallic means… metallic paint, obviously. It still looks great, and is very well done, but… it’s plastic. It would certainly explain why it was only $50. Honestly, for what it is, I probably had my hopes a bit too high. I was expecting more of a ‘modern toy’. Which is to say, I wanted it to be super-pose-able, be super-accurate, and for some reason, made of metal (which isn’t very much like modern stuff at all… but anyway). Time for the breakdown.
Pros:
- Affordable option for Voltron fans.
- More pose-able than the old toy.
- Nicely painted.
- Very show accurate.
Cons:
- No metal… at all.
- Not as pose-able as I’d like.
- Not really as impressive as I’d had hoped.
Thanks for the in-depth review with pictures. I decided to go ahead and buy one of these too, just for nostalgia. Your review was very useful, I feel better about the purchase. I honestly didn’t know what to expect at this price point, and am just glad it transforms. The plastic is a bit of a surprise to me too (I misunderstood “metallic”). However, like you, I won’t really care. Plastic will be fine. I just want my kids to be able to see the toy I loved as a kid, and I’m going to order the DVDs too so we can watch them together.