SDCC '11: And Mattel Will Form Voltron's Head

Mattel had something big for Voltron at their SDCC booth this year, and that was Voltron itself. Their upcoming Voltron lions are larger than any previous set and when assembled, Mattel's Voltron will stand 23" tall. That's huge. There will also be 3&3/4" figures of all the pilots which can be placed inside each Lion. All the Lions and the pilots will be sold on MattyCollector.com next year. If you opt in for the Club Lion Force you'll receive all five lions, all five pilots, and the original blue lion pilot, Sven, as the club exclusive figure. If you don't join the club or don't want the pilots you can just buy the lions every 2 -3 months. Personally, I'm still on the fence about Mattel's new Voltron. It's certainly cool and all, but it almost looks too simplified for the size. It seems like there was more detail packed into the original die-cast version and Toynami's Masterpiece edition. Plus, I don't know where I'd put something that big. I already don't have enough space for everything.  One thing that seems weird to me is that you'll basically have to wait a year before you can complete Voltron. I think Mattel should just sell a box set all at once. I also wonder what will happen when Mattel decides to make Robeasts. Will they be 23" tall and cost $200 for one figure?

Mattel also had the ordinal Voltron in a smaller form with their  exclusive, the super-articulated Blazing Sword Voltron figure. The figure can't separate into the Lions, but it has a ton of poseability, something that no Voltron figure has had before. There was a display case with the figure posed many heroic stance, so you can really see the kind of poseability this figure has. The box has a sound chip that plays the opening of the original show. Maybe when Mattel decides to make Robeasts they'll be in-scale with this Voltron. That would be much more affordable.

Mattel didn't have any toys for the updated Voltron from the new Voltron Force cartoon. All that was on display were mock-up figurines of something the new lions and Voltron might look like if there were toys made of them. The more I look at Voltron's updated design, the less I like it. When the first images of the Lions and the new Voltron were being shown off, I really liked it, but watching Voltron Force has changed my mind. I wanted to like the show because of my love for Voltron, but it's just terrible. One thing that happens in the show, is that any lion can become the center lion now, but when that happens, the lion somehow changes in size to be big enough to be the body. This is like the old animation problem in the original Transformers when characters would drastically change size when they transformed. Since the black lion is so much bigger than the others, Voltron should really be lop-sided when any other lion becomes the center. I know it's a kids show, but this annoys me to no end. I appreciate the shout-outs to the original series, but the show is just awful, with animation to match. Anyways, when the new Voltron lions do come out, I wonder if they'll be able to have any lion in any position when they form Voltron. To do this, Mattel would need to make the lions all the same size, which they're all different sizes in the cartoon. So it's either have an accurate new Voltron with no switching, or very inaccurate lions with more playability.

Voltron is bigger than ever.	The real question, though, is Voltron too big?

Black Lion is big and blocky like he should be.	By collecting the pilots you'll get parts for the Blazing Sword.
The pilots can sit inside the bodies of the lions.	The pilots are not to scale to the lions, in case you were wondering.
The pilots each include helmeted and un-helmeted heads.	It doesn't look like these lions will have the cool pop-out weapons of the originals.
The smaller 7" Voltron can save the day in so many ways.	Voltron is so poseable!

Somehow I don't think the actual toys will be this poseable when they come out.

The Red Lion has some fins these days.	Green Lion has a cannon on his back.
These figurines are essentially the original reveal art in three dimensions, which is neat.	They still haven't explained how the Yellow Lion developed an unfortunate under bite.

It wasn't that long ago when I actually liked the new Voltron design. Thanks, Voltron Force.	Voltron, defender of Mattel!