Tag Archives: Voltron

#1553: Keith

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

KEITH

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER (PLAYMATES)

“An orphan, Keith is driven by an insatiable curiosity of where he came from – which sometimes conflicts with the goals of the team.  The most talented pilot of his generation, Keith refuses to live by other people’s rules and instead carves out his own path.”

Remember waaaaaaay back, like four months ago, when I took a look at two of the Paladin’s from the new Voltron line?  And remember how there was a third that I just never got around to? No?  That’s fair.  I remembered, though.  I always remember.  It was eating at me.  So, today, I’m finally finishing out the set.  Admittedly, it’s an incomplete set to begin with, but I’m completing that incomplete set nonetheless.  What I’m really trying to say here is let’s check out the Keith figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Keith is part of the second series of basic Voltron: Legendary Defender figures from Playmates.  This figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has  19 points of articulation.  I’ve actually looked at most of this figure before; from the neck down, Keith is the exact same figure as Lance.  Given how close the two of them are in build, and the fact that the uniforms are meant to be the same, it’s pretty reasonable.  Mattel did the same thing for their Paladins, so there’s precedent.  I liked the sculpt when it was used for Lance, and I still like it here.  I still think the articulation could be implemented a little bit better, but it’s far from terrible.  Keith does get a new head sculpt, which is reasonable enough.  I think it falls in-between the other two in terms of quality.  It’s stronger than Shiro’s, but not quite as on the mark as Lance’s.  I will admit, the paint on this one makes it rather difficult to rate the quality of the sculpt.  Speaking of paint, it does feel like a slight downgrade on this figure.  The overall application is fine, but there are a lot of fuzzy edges and his face in particular suffers from quite a bit of bleed over, masking what is a passable sculpt.  I think if the eyes were better placed at the very least, it would look a fair bit better.  Most frustratingly, the red from his wrist guards has ended up staining the white plastic of the forearms.  It looks rather sloppy, and hurts the overall appearance of the figure.  Like the other two figures, Keith is packed with a removable helmet and a shield, as well as his bayard in sword form.  The helmet’s still really bulky, but it works for what it is.  The shield is exactly the same as the other two.  Nothing new there.  The bayard is nice; he has a little trouble holding it, but once you get it secure it stays put alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I stumbled across this series at my local Walmart four months back, they only had one of each Paladin, and the Keith figure’s face looked like someone had stepped on it repeatedly, so he got left behind until I could find another one.  The problem was, I didn’t see anymore of this assortment for four months.  Somehow, this one Walmart was the only store to get these guys in stock, and just the one set at that.  Every so often, I stop by that Walmart, and I’d spot a Keith, and get all excited, only to discover it was that same messed up figure, every time.  It was discouraging to say the least, and I eventually just sort of gave up.  Just a week and a half ago, I was at Target looking for something completely unrelated, when I spotted this Keith…and no one else from the assortment.  It was weird, but I certainly wasn’t passing him up.  This figure certainly has its flaws, but I do enjoy him overall.  I eagerly await the release of the other two Paladins.

Incidentally, the messed up Keith figure was still there as of the day before this review was published.  I’m starting to feel a little sorry for the poor guy…

#1446: Shiro

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

SHIRO

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER (PLAYMATES)

“Captured by the Galra, Shiro was experimented upon before he was able to escape to Earth.  He returned with vital information to lead Team Voltron against his former captors.  Calm, thoughtful and wise beyond his 25 years, it takes more than a fleet of Galra cruisers to get a rise out of Shiro.”

Hey, more Voltron!  Alrighty then!  So, in the original Voltron and most off-shoots, the main five pilots are Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura.  Allura, of course, is actually a replacement for the Blue Lion’s original pilot, Sven.  For the reboot, they’ve decided to mix things up a bit, changing Sven’s name back to Shiro (as it was in the original Go-Lion) and placing him as the team’s leader….at least at the start.  It’s complicated.  As Sven, he’s only had one figure before, and I missed that one, so this one’s actually a pretty big deal.  So, let’s have a look at the latest figure of Shiro, the Black Paladin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shiro is another figure from the second series of basic Voltron: Legendary Defender figures, as Paladin two of three.  The figure stands a little taller than Lance at 4 3/4 inches tall and he’s got 20 points of articulation.  Shiro is sporting an all-new sculpt.  It’s totally unique from Lance, but definitely shares a common ancestry.  It looks about the same, just at a larger scale.  He’s got a totally different head, of course.  It’s okay, but I don’t think I like it quite as much as Lance’s.  It’s not entirely Playmates’ fault, though; Shiro’s design is more subtle and less exaggerated than Lance’s, which means it takes less flaws to throw off the whole look.  It’s also not helped by the really thin neck on the torso, which just sort of throws things off.  Still, it’s not an awful attempt.  Shiro’s paintwork isn’t that much different from Lance’s, just swapping in black for the blue.  This makes it a little less vibrant than Lance, and by extension a little less exciting.  He’s got a touch more slop, with an especially notable blob of flesh tone on the back of his hair.  I’m also not 100% sold on how the eyes and eyebrows have been placed; they don’t quite look like they line up with the sculpt.  Shiro includes his helmet and shield, which are the same as the ones included with Lance.  The shield is fine, but the helmet doesn’t sit quite as well as it does on Lance’s head, so it’s not getting much use from me.  Since the Black Paladin Bayard wasn’t available to Shiro, he instead gets a swappable right hand, showcasing his bionic hand’s energy ability.  I would have liked the hand to be transparent, but it’s still cool enough.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Shiro came from the same trip to Walmart that got me Lance.  I had high hopes for this figure, since I missed out on the Mattel Sven figure.  He was the first figure I opened, and I will admit, I was a tad disappointed with him.  He just wasn’t quite what I was expecting.  That being said, after messing around with him and Lance for a week or so, my opinion of both figures definitely improved.  Sure, they could be a bit better, but I’m still very happy with these figures.

#1448: Lance

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

LANCE

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER (PLAYMATES)

“Lance is all about having fun, even a million miles away from Earth’s comforts and distractions.  Full of confidence and even more full of himself, Lance thinks he’s everyone’s best friend, especially if they’re cute and female.  And while his cockiness often gets the better of him, he always comes through a fire fight.”

Netflix’s Voltron: Legendary Defender has steadily become one of my favorite shows to watch.  Its third season dropped a month or so back, and was rather brief, but contained some of my favorite moments from the show to date.  Season 4 is supposed to hit at the end of this month, and I’m pretty excited to sit down and watch it.  Playmates picked up the license to Voltron back at the beginning of the year, and they’re finally get around to releasing the show’s five main Paladin heroes…well, some of them anyway.  Today, I’m taking a look at Lance, the Blue Paladin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lance is part of the second series of basic Voltron: Legendary Defender figures.  He’s the first of the three Paladins offered this time around.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 19 points of articulation.  As far as scaling, these guys certainly won’t be fitting in with any of the prior Voltron lines, but I can’t say I mind the size.  They should look okay with stuff like Playmates’ TMNT line and similarly scaled items.  The sculpt is all-new to this figure, and it’s a fairly decent one.  The articulation could perhaps stand to be worked in a little bit better, but it’s far from the most archaic configuration I’ve seen on a modern day figure.  Lance’s design has been tweaked ever so slightly to make it work a little bit better in three dimensions.  The head maintains the most accuracy, and does a fairly respectable job of capturing Lance’s likeness.  The body is decent enough. The major details are all there and pretty accurate.  It’s mostly the proportions that are different; they’re a little on the clunkier side than in the show.  Still, it’s a solid piece of work, and definitely shows improvement over the Series 1 figures.  In terms of paint, Lance is overall pretty decent.  There’s some slight slop here and there, and the whites of his eyes in particular seem to be a lot bigger than they really should be going by the sculpt.  That being said, all of the colors are rather vibrant, and he looks quite spiffy.  Lance is packed with his bayard in blaster form, his energy shield, and his helmet.  Both the blaster and shield are nice pieces, and he hand hold them well enough.  The helmet sits alright, but is definitely too bulky; I feel an alternate head might have been the better way of handling it.  Still, it’s better than I’d expected.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been patiently waiting for the Paladins ever since Series 1 hit back in January.  They’ve sure taken their sweet time getting here.  I ended up coming across Lance, Shiro, and Keith almost entirely by accident at my local Walmart.  They only had one of each, and Keith’s face was all messed up, so only Lance and Shiro got brought home.  I’m quite happy with this figure.  Sure, there are a few things they could probably change, but for $10, this is a solid toy.

#1355: Captain Keith

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CAPTAIN KEITH – STEALTH VOLTRON FORCE

VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION (TRENDMASTERS)

“Strength, lion-like reflexes, the cool confidence of a leader.  These are the qualities that propelled Keith to the helm of the Voltron Force – the most ferocious fighting force in the universe.  Sitting within the head of Voltron, Keith boldly dispatches commands to his team – commands that shred Robeasts, blast space pirates, and light up the universe with firepower!”

Today, I’m reviewing this here Voltron figure.  This here Voltron figure was very hard to prove the existence of, by the way.  Apparently, I’m the only person on the planet who owns this figure.  Or, at the very least one of the only two people who have both this figure *and* an internet connection.  Maybe we were all supposed to chose one or the other and I just showed up late that day?  I don’t know.  Anyway, without further ado, here’s Captain Keith!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Keith was released as part of Trendmasters’ tie-in line for Voltron: The Third Dimension, the CGI relaunch of Voltron from the ’90s.  This particular figure was part of the “Stealth Voltron Force” sub-set of the line, from around 1999 or so.  The figure was available both with the Black Stealth Cycle and on his own.  Going by what I’ve seen on line, the single release is a lot rarer, but that’s the one I have.  So there.  The figure stands about 4 1/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt was largely unique to him, though he shares his head with the regular Keith, which is fair enough.  The sculpt doesn’t really look much like the character from the show, but that’s okay.  The show designs were…less than stellar.  Not that this figure’s anything amazing himself.  This guy’s sculpt feels rather on the clunky side for something of this vintage.  The proportions are really odd: he’s, like, 93% legs, his head’s super small, and his hands are only vaguely hand-like.  He’s also rather on the stiff side in terms of stance, but also has this weird, partial squat thing going on.  And, to top it off, most of the articulation isn’t worked into the sculpt at all, which definitely looks wonky.  On the plus side, there’s some nice work on the head, especially on the face, which looks nice and determined.  One of the cooler things about this particular set of figures was the paint; the armored sections are all vac-metallized.  Why the “stealth” variants were made extra shiny is beyond me, but the end result certainly looks cool.  The only downside is that the process makes his paint more prone to chipping, but it’s far from the worst case of this I’ve run into.  Keith is packed with a giant missile-launching cannon and a removable helmet, which are both pretty fun extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never seen an actual episode of Voltron: The Third Dimension, but I did catch the original show while it was still in syndication, which meant I was very much familiar with the characters.  Of course, the only toys around were these ones from Third Dimension, so this was the best I was gonna do.  I’m not 100% why I got Keith (since I never got any of the others), but I recall really wanting him and being very excited when I finally got him.  He’s not the greatest figure out there, and is in fact quite deeply flawed, but he’s entertaining enough, I suppose.

#1219: Myzax

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

MYZAX

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER (PLAYMATES)

myzax1

A giant fighting robot is only as good as the giant foes he giant fights.  Giantly.  As much as Voltron is defined by its title character and the five Paladins who pilot him, it’s also very much defined by the Robeasts with which the Defender of the Universe did battle in just about every episode.  The Robeasts are just as much a part of the new series as they were the old.   Playmates line of figures based on the new show includes the Robeasts, starting things off with the show’s premiere RoBeast

THE FIGURE ITSELF

myzax2Myzax is part of the first series of Voltron: Legendary Defender figures.  He’s the only non-Voltron in the lot, and from the looks of things, he’s not as heavily packed as the others.  The figure is just under 5 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  He’s a lot more posable than the Lion Attack Voltron, which is definitely a point in his favor.  He’s still missing the elbow articulation on one arm, but he’s got bicep and thigh swivels, which makes for a lot more posing options than we saw with yesterday’s figure.  Myzax was one of my favorite designs from the new show, and the figure does a pretty respectable job of translating that design into three dimensions.  The arms and legs should probably be a little longer, and his right arm’s a little too thick, but aside from that, most of the details are pretty accurate.  The level of detail could probably be sharper, but he’s about on par with the work seen on Voltron, which is certainly reasonable.   Even the action feature is better worked in than it was on Voltron.  He’s still got the missile launching gimmick, but the actual missile isn’t an integral part of the figure’s design (meaning it’s totally fine to display him without it), and the feature actually half-way replicates his special attack from the show.  Plus, it’s button activated, so it’s less likely to break over time.  The paintwork on the figure is passable, but it could definitely be a bit better.  All there really is to it is the most basic colors.  The application is clean, but he’s missing a lot of the smaller details from the show.  As it stands, he looks alright, but I can’t help but feel he’d look even cooler with a top-notch paint job.  As far as accessories, his only real extra is the missile for the launcher gimmick.  It replicates the energy ball weapon that’s built into his arm in the show.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found Myzax at the same time as Voltron.  He’s really the figure that sold me on the whole line.  I’d picked up the Voltron and wasn’t sure I wanted him, but I spotted this guy on the back of the card, and he happened to be hidden back behind several Voltrons.  Myzax is my favorite of the Robeasts from the new show so far, so I’m pretty psyched about his inclusion so early in the line.  On top of that, he’s actually a pretty fun figure, and a good indicator of how good this line can be if Playmates puts in the effort.

myzax3

#1218: Lion Attack Voltron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

LION ATTACK VOLTRON

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER (PLAYMATES)

voltronld1

Back in late January, Netflix dropped the second season of their reboot of Voltron, which proved to be just as good as, if not better than, the show’s first season.  The first season’s release was woefully devoid of accompanying toys, but between the first and second season, Playmates picked up the license and released a selection of action figures about a week before the second season’s premier.  There are a couple of different options for those that want a basic Voltron.  I opted for one of the two smaller versions, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

voltronld2Lion Attack Voltron is part of the first series of Playmates’ Voltron: Legendary Defender line.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  Hardly the most posable figure ever. At the very least, I would have liked some bicep swivels and elbow movement for *both* arms, but I guess what this guy’s got is workable.  There’s certainly worse out there.  This Voltron figure is based on the modern Voltron design, which is really just a sleeker, more rounded out version of the classic design.  The sculpt does a reasonable job of recreating the show look.  He’s a bit stiffer, and some elements (the neck in particular) are rather on the boxy side.  All the details are pretty well defined; some of them are a little on the soft side, but it’s generally pretty solid work.  The wings are removable pieces, but don’t combine into the shield like on the show.  It might be nice to have gotten some alternate extended wings, but maybe those will show up on another figure down the line.  The biggest deviation from his established look is in order to facilitate the action feature.  The head of the Green Lion is actually mounted to a projectile, which juts out of the back of the elbow about an inch.   The actual sculpt has some tweaks to allow the missile to go through more smoothly, which means there’s some odd extra plastic in a few spots.  Fortunately, it’s not too hard to hide these inaccuracies with some careful posing, but it’s still a bit annoying.  Even more annoying is the way the missile launcher works; there’s no actual lock and release button, it’s a more simple tension hold.  The problem with this design when dealing with softer materials like plastic is that it will eventually warp, and eventually the notch that holds the missile in place isn’t strong enough to resist the tension of the spring.  How do I know this will happen?  Because it *already* happened to my figure; after a few days, the hand simply wouldn’t stay in place.  I had to deepen the notch to keep it from firing, and I’ll likely have to keep doing it every so often.  Not something I want to have to do to a mass-produced figure.  Voltron’s paintwork is decent enough.  It’s fairly basic color work, but everything is nice and clean, and colors are bold.  Voltron includes no accessories, but with the missile feature and removable wings, the box doesn’t feel too empty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The new Voltron toys were actually an in-store surprise for me.  I had heard Playmates had the license, but hadn’t seen any prototypes.  I stumbled upon them while running some errands at Target.  There are two different smaller Voltrons available, and I went with this one because he looked to be the more articulated of the two.  He’s nothing amazing, and I really would have preferred they’d dropped the missile launcher feature in favor of just properly articulating that arm (since mine’s already broken).  Still, he’s not awful, and he’s certainly got some promise.  If Playmates is willing to try and learn from their mistakes, this like could be really fun.

#0994: Motorized Voltron Lion Force

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

MOTORIZED LION FORCE VOLTRON

VOLTRON (LJN)

Voltron7

Voltron, Defender of the universe!

Just last month, Netflix launched their reboot of the Voltron franchise, which was actually really quite good. As of yet, there’s been no news about toys from this particular incarnation, so I guess the best I can do is something based on the original series. Towards the beginning of this site’s reviews, I took a look at Mattel’s most recent set of Voltron figures. Today, I’ll be going all vintage, and looking at one of the Voltrons from the time of the original show.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Voltron2The five lions that make up Voltron were released by LJN in 1984, under the “Motorized Lion Force Voltron” name. The lions were available in two different ways: they could be purchased in pairs (Red/Blue and Green/Yellow, with Black being packed on its own), or as a complete set. The actual lions were identical; only the packaging differed. The Red and Green lions are about 3 inches long and each have 16 points of articulation. The Blue and Yellow Lions are each 4 inches long, and have 15 points of articulation. Finally, the Black lion is also about 4 inches long, but is also about 3 inches wide, and it has 18 points of movement. All five of the lions also have a set of wheels at their base, which when pulled back will launch the lion forward. I don’t know why, since they didn’t do anything like this on the show, but this is where the “motorized” part of their name comes from. The four smaller lions are all pretty decent matches for their cartoon counterparts, and feature decent sculpts for the time. The Black lion is a little less accurate to the show, in order to better facilitate the Voltron combination. It’s not horribly far off, but it’s definitely a lot boxier than the show design. When the five lions are combined into Voltron, the figure stands about 8 inches tall and has 20 points of functioning articulation (there are a few other spots of movement, but they don’t really benefit the Voltron form). This version of Voltron is a lot stockier and squared off than his cartoon incarnation, but such is the sacrifice of making a Voltron that can be both Voltron and the separate lions. Some compromises need to be made. This is a figure that does, admittedly, show his age a fair bit, as later Voltron’s have managed to be a bit closer. That being said, this one isn’t bad for the scale or the time, so good on LJN for that! The various details on Voltron are handled through a combination of decals and a small bit of paint. The decals are a little aged, but they’ve held up pretty well, and add some fun details to the figure. The paint work is all pretty basic, and there’s some slop here and there, but the overall effect is pretty great.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mattel’s more recent Voltron was my first proper Voltron, and as much as I love that one, its size makes it a little hard to manage, and also far from portable. So, I was in the market for something a little smaller that could be part of my travelling collection. I ended up finding this particular Voltron being sold as all of its individual parts at an antique store I was visiting with my family. The whole figure was about $20, which seemed reasonable enough. This is definitely a goofier Voltron than I’m used to, but he’s still pretty nifty to have, and I’m certainly happy to have a Voltron that I don’t need a crate to move around.

Voltron3

#0175: Keith & Black Lion (Plus Voltron!)

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

KEITH & BLACK LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS We’re nearing the end of Voltron Week, with Part 5! Today’s review is a look at the final Lion and its pilot Keith from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. Keith is the team’s leader and the Black Lion is the most important of the set, connecting the other four to form Voltron.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Keith and the Black Lion were the final release in the line. They went up for sale on Matty Collector in October of 2012. Keith stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features the same 18 points of articulation as everyone else in the line. Keith shares a body with Lance. It’s not a perfect sculpt, but it works fine, and Lance and Keith should have similar builds, so it’s a sensible reuse. The head is a new piece and looks pretty spot on to the character’s look on the show. Paint-wise, Keith makes out the best of the pilots, with really clean lines and details, and by far the best detailing on the head. Like Allura, he uses a molded skin tone instead of a painted one, but unlike Allura, he isn’t plagued by messy paint. Keith includes an alternate helmeted head, the final piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Black Lion is the central Lion, and is definitely the biggest of the five. This isn’t quite accurate to the show, where the Lions were more or less the same size, but things were understandably fudged so that the final Voltron construction looked good. The Black Lion is about 7 inches tall, and features 29ish points of articulation. Like the rest of the Lions, this articulation is mostly limited by the various spring loaded features, though the back legs, tail, neck and wing thingies are all unfettered by the features. The sculpt isn’t terrible, but the proportions are noticeably off, obviously done to optimize the design of the fully assembled Voltron. Everything is sharp and symmetrical. The Black Lion features the most detailed paintwork of any of the Lions, which does bring him up a peg. All of the paint is cleanly applied with no bleed over or slop. The Black Lion included a fully assembled Voltron sword and shield, fully completing the five lions’ transformation into:

VOLTRON, DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE!

Voltron

Please do excuse the out of the ordinary background for Voltron. He’s too large for me to photograph in my usual set up, so here he is standing in my family room. Voltron stands 24 inches tall and features 25 points of articulation while in Voltron-mode. Voltron is of course made up of the five Lions, so most of the things said in those reviews apply here. He does have a sculpted face, which appears when the emblem on the Black Lion’s torso is pressed, popping the Lion’s jaw open. The face looks pretty spot on to what the character looked like on the show, and it’s painted with some nice detail work. Overall, Voltron was very definitely worth the wait to get all the Lions, and his size alone makes him quite the standout piece.

VoltronAccessories

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the rest of the figures from Voltron Classics, I had to pick up Keith and the Black Lion from Matty Collector on the day of release. It was quite the hectic day, as there were a number of other items I was attempting to get at the same time. I wound up being successful, only hitting a small handful of waiting screens, and completing my order in less than 10 minutes. Upon arrival, I noticed Keith’s extra helmeted head had been quite mangled in the package. I contacted customer service to get a replacement, but they seemed very reluctant to send out a new piece, and ultimately wanted me to ship Keith and the Lion back, and then they would send me another one once mine arrived. I wasn’t really keen on sending it back, so I ended up doing a bit of work to get the head into a less mangled state.

#0174: Princess Allura & Blue Lion

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

PRINCESS ALLURA & BLUE LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week continues with Part 4!

Today, I look at the fourth of the 5 lions that make up Voltron. Once again, this is a figure from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. This time around, the pilot is the group’s token female, Princess Allura, pilot of the Blue Lion!

THE FIGURE ITSELF


Allura was the fourth release in the Voltron Classics line. The set containing her and the Blue Lion went up for sale over at Matty Collector in August of 2012. Allura is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 18 points of articulation as all the other pilots in the line. Similarly to Pidge, Allura shows some improved articulation in the hips, as well as better movement in the knees, making her the best sitting of the pilots. Yay her. Allura’s sculpt is right in line with the rest of the figures, so it’s not bad, though she does have the same issue as Lance regarding the odd shape of her upper arms. The paint work on the figure is a bit of a mixed bag. She features some improved detail work compared to the others, and I do like the change to molded flesh tones in place of painted ones, but the paint on her hairline is pretty bad, with some pretty noticeable slop. It’s not as apparent in hand as it is in the photos, but it’s still there, and it’s pretty annoying to see this level of slop on a so-called “collector line.” Allura included an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Blue Lion is another “Foot Lion” like the Yellow Lion. As such, it’s bigger than the Green and Red lions, standing about 5 ½ inches tall and being roughly 10 inches long. It has 19 points of “articulation” that is mostly limited by the various spring loaded features. For a breakdown on said features, check out my review of the Yellow Lion, as they do the exact same thing. The Blue Lion shares most of its pieces with Yellow, but it does have a unique head and hatch cover, illustrating the Blue Lion’s more angular design. The Blue Lion has the best paint application we’ve seen so far on the lions, with more additional details, and pretty much no slop or bleed over. Maybe it’s just the color scheme, but the Blue Lion seems to be a sharper piece overall than the others.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve mentioned previously that I missed out on the subscription Mattel offered for the line, which meant I had to be on at noon for each release to guarantee I didn’t miss anyone. For some reason, Mattel decided to put the Blue Lion up for sale 15 minutes early, leading to some serious server issues and some overall widespread panic. I was able to place my order, but the site timed out on the very last page, leaving me uncertain as to whether the order had actually gone through. After about 20 semi-panic-filled minutes, I finally got my confirmation e-mail and all was well. I’m glad it worked out, because the Blue Lion ended up being my favorite Lion in the set!

#0173: Pidge & Green Lion

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

PIDGE & GREEN LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week is going strong with Part 3!

So far, I’ve looked at the Red and Yellow Lions and their pilots Lance and Hunk from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. I’m moving from the team’s largest member, Hunk, to the team’s smallest member and pilot of the Green Lion, Pidge. Let’s check this set out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pidge was released third in the Voltron Classics line. He and the Green Lion went up for sale on Matty Collector in June of 2012. Pidge is just shy of 3 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation. The articulation is mostly the same as that found on the other two pilots, buy Pidge does have a much better range of motion on his hips, meaning he can sit in the cockpit of his Lion a lot better than the other two. Pidge’s sculpt is in pretty much the same vein as the other pilots, just smaller this time around. His head is quite large, which is accurate to the cartoon. They even managed to nail his goofy looking hair! The paint is pretty much on par with Lance; no real slop or bleed over, but nothing spectacular. Pidge includes an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Green Lion is another “arm lion” like the Red Lion. This being the case, the two are fairly similar in design. The Green Lion has 21 points of articulation, once again hampered by the spring-loaded features, stands about 5 inches in height and is about 9 inches long. The Green Lion has a lot of common design elements with the Red Lion, but only the legs and tail are shared between the two. Green has a brand new set of pieces to reflect the Green Lion’s more rounded design. The paint work on the Green Lion is the best we’ve seen so far, with lots of clean line work and some pretty decent details. I’m still not a fan of the stickers in the cockpit, but at this point, at least it’s consistent.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Having missed out on the subscription for Voltron Classics, I had to be online on the day of release for each of these sets. Pidge wasn’t too difficult to acquire, but there was a significant wait time involved. Thanks Mattel!