Mattycollector Exclusive 24″ Voltron
Fully Assembled, Voltron stands 23″ up to the tip of his head, 24″ if you count up to the tip of his wings.
A quick note about Black Lion, to get the legs to lock in properly, you should get them locked in this position first
Then rotate the shoulders. You know you did it right when the wings lock in like so.
Voltron comes with 2 Blazing Swords, one is the default one (comes with Black Lion, search the underside of the tray platform) the other one is the energized one that comes as a CNC item with the pilot figures. They are roughly the same size.
Be warned! Both swords require assembly. Once Assembled, they can no longer be disassembled! This was not mentioned in the manuals.
Display stand for the sword
Also Voltron’s shield requires assembly at the handles. Be warned! This part is also a one time assembly deal. No way can it be disassembled and returned into the box afterwards.
Form Blazing Sword!
Energized Blazing Sword
Next to the Toynami Voltron
Voltron’s combined weight is around 2640 Grams (2.6+ Kilos). I can see why Mattel opted to drop the diecast from this figure. The Toynami Voltron weighs about 1212 Grams.
Hooboy… where to start with this one. This was one of those ideas that had a good premise but somehow failed in the execution. The spring loaded gimmicks were just bad. They get in the way of posing Voltron a lot (damn lion legs just kept popping out everywhere).
The biggest issue for me actually was the fact that the Blazing Sword can’t be disassembled and returned to packaging. It would’ve been nice if they included a headsup in the manual but no (back in the day, Kenner and Hasbro warned folks if certain connections would become permanent). Very annoying. I don’t see any reason why they had to make the attachments a one time thing. It’s not like parents are going to let their children fool around with a $300+ toy.
The only thing that worked for me were the pilot figures and the overall size of Voltron. Even then there are vast rooms for improvement (weapon accessories for the pilots for one) and while the Voltron is big, it’s hard to pose due to a) no mid bicep rotation joint and b) awkward feet supports. Ah well, at least the pilots had decent articulation, sure beats the simple 5 points of articulation crap that Hasbro is releasing as their Gi Joe driver figures.
I didn’t encounter any problems with connections between the lions. Thankfully there are release buttons for the Blue and Yellow lions. But I just wish they had release buttons as well for the Red and Green lions, instead of those silly pop out leg gimmicks.
I think at the end of the day, the Toynami Voltron still wins my vote for the definitive Voltron toy. Even to this day, when I opened it up again for the this photoshoot, it impressed the hell out of me. Mattel should’ve just learned to improve on what was done before and worked well, instead of grasping at straws by adding useless play features that no one asked for and faired poorly.
Gold
