Mattel was nice enough to answer some super-nerdy, nuts and bolts questions we had about the 23 inch tall 2012 Voltron Classic. Everything you could possibly want to know about this giant sized release is answered below. Enjoy!
Like this group shot? You can download a super-large version of this image here.
Question:Is this the finished piece or a prototype/mock-up? What can we expect to be different (if anything) on the finished piece as far as paint and sculpt detail.
Answer: It is still a prototype/mock-up that is pretty close to the final item. You may see some small difference in the deco regarding show authenticity, but other than that it is pretty much the final piece.
Question:Previous Voltron/Go Lion toys have had chromed legs on the lions and many collectors have come to expect that in a Voltron toy.Why have you folks opted to go with white limbs on your release?
Answer: The white / animation look was just one of the differentlooks that we could brought to Voltron. The past Voltron toys were awesome, but we didn't want to just make our version of the same thing. So we really wanted to find a way to set us apart, not only in scale, but also in how we approached the actual look of Voltron. We wanted to create a Voltron that was as true to the classic show as possible, while bringing something new and never before seen to the table.
Question:Will the "limb" Lion's rear feet fold forward on the finished toy? We do understand that in the cartoon we never actually see the lions legs on the formed Voltron (anime magic makes them disappear.) In all of the images of the assembled Voltron on display the rear feet on the arm lions are flipped back, sticking out from the shoulder ever so slightly. Upon close examination I can see this is the same on the Blue and Yellow Lions as well. Traditionally previous versions of the toy have opted to have these fold forward and resting parallel to the lower body of the Lions.
Answer: Some of the choices we made with the legs were purely from a functional standpoint. Like you said, you never see the legs folded up in the classic show, so its really up for discussion on what the correct configuration should be. I know you see them fold in the combining sequence, but we have other things to think about like support for these big lions. The legs of the Red and Green Lion do not flip forward, this is mainly because of the way the auto transformation releases the legs, but also because it adds support for the legs so it can hold the weight of the lion in different poses.
The Blue and Yellow lions legs can be folded closer to the previous toy versions, but they actually serve as an even greater support function. Their front/bottom legs/ feet are folded back to act as a heel/ balance point to keep this giant guy standing tall and stable. Something else you don't see that we added, is a panel that flips down on the stomachs of the Blue and Yellow Lions, which completes that heel and adds even more support.
Question: What kind of joints are being used on the Black Lions back legs?Ratchet joints, also known by the highly technical term "clicky joints" ;) are the preferred joint mechanism by toy fans everywhere as they tend to hold poses on large items better than tension/friction joints as well as hold up better over time. With a piece this large when assembled tight ratchet joints are the only way to keep it from looking like a floppy mess.
Answer: That's a great observation, and YES every joint in the lions is a ratchet joint. Lions and a Voltron this scale have to be able to securely hold many different poses, and to support the weight of all of these combined. We had to make sure that all of the articulation points were secure. So every point of articulation uses a ratcheted "clicky joint".
Question:Will the Voltrons upper legs/Black Lions rear legs feature the ability to push the legs out at an angle at the hips? Most collectors call this an A stance and it helps create a much more dramatic pose. Again, a ratchet joint here would be best.
Answer: Yes they will. If you wanted to you could make him do a complete split, as well as sit flat on the ground with his legs forward, like he was trying to touch his toes. The level of articulation of this Voltron fully assembled is incredible considering the size. He has about as much articulation as the recent Toynami Masterpiece Voltron, minus a couple points we had to take out due to stability issues.
Question:Will the Voltrons upper legs/Black Lions rear legs feature the ability to rotate either below the hip or just below the knee?
Answer: They will rotate below the hip, so right below the black square section of his hip/leg. This is pretty standard in most other Voltron figures.
Question: Will the arms dock in further into the body? Currently the arms look like there just kind of hanging there leaving a bit to much room between the main body and the arms.
Answer: The arms may dock a bit more than what was seen in the prototype model, but not by much. We have a bit more space there so that you can actually rotate and pivot the arms more at the shoulders, to really give him more dynamic poseability.
Question: Why spread out the release with a subscription program?Is this to create a "collector mentality" or is this a limitation of factory production lines available for a smaller collector's line?
Answer: The subscription program is really more for the benefit of the fans - so that you're able to collect all lions to assemble into Voltron, and the 5 pilots with all the pieces to create the Collect-and-Connect Ultra Blazing Sword. You can't have Voltron if you're missing a lion! Spreading out the release is also beneficial to the fans... not everyone is able to buy the entire line all at once. Pacing it out over the year makes collecting the Voltron figures more accessible to the true fans and collectors who want it.
Question: Why the one-touch transformation? It seems a very kid-like feature but with it's cost and subscription model you folks are clearly aiming this line squarely at adult collectors. For the time and cost of engineering those features in Mattel could of added more adult collector friendly features like firing heads or missile launchers. Weapon packs could be a nice add-on in 2013...
Answer: We knew we were taking a risk with the one touch transformation features, but we thought it was a cool thing to bring to Voltron. We see this aimed at collectors, but also hope that it could bring new fans into the world of Voltron as well. I know many collectors will have this guarding their shelves and display cases, but we also want them to be comfortable sharing this with their kids. We really wanted to offer a lot of things that hadn't been done before, and add some new life to Voltron. Trust me you will not get tired of pushing the center crest and being able to instantly form the head! We did think about missile launchers, and that may be something you might see in the future....weapons packs would be awesome!
Question: What materials will be used in the Lions construction? I know many collector's expected die-cast metal, I however did not as I understand how that drives the price up very quickly.
Answer: We would have loved to use die-cast metal....but at the scale that we wanted to hit, the weight would have been way too much. This Voltron already feels like a small child in size. One of our co-workers said it best: "It feels like holding that heavy metal Voltron you had as a kid, but now that you're an adult, it's THAT BIG!"
Well, I'm sold and I am now 100% officially excited for this bad boy!
I am so very glad I subscribed to the 2012 Voltron® Club Lion Force Subscription when I did. It is too late for you to subscribe but all hope is not lost! All of the lions and their corresponding pilot figures EXCEPT the club exclusive figure Sven will be available at MattyCollector.com around the 15th of the on-sale month. The red lion with Lance is expected in January 2012 with the rest of the lions being released every 2nd or 3rd month of the year.
We of course we will keep you up to date on all of Mattel's Voltron Classics (as well as the newer Voltron Force lines) as things develop so check back often or better yet you should follow us on Twitterhere.
I will be doing an multi-part series documenting and reviewing these releases as I get them from begining to end but previous history has shown that the Matty Collector releases sell out real quick. Like days and hours quick so save your pennies and be ready if this set interests you. I suspect this will end up being a real quick seller.
Want to keep up on my personal reviews and non-toy related antics? You should follow me on Twitter here.
Comments
18 comments posted"We wanted to create a Voltron that was as true to the classic show as possible, while bringing something new and never before seen to the table."
So... going by the way the toy's head and chest look, I guess they based it on the moments when Voltron was most badly drawn? Good lord, they've made a toy that's poorly animated.
Do the people at Mattel purposefully give Matty that snarky ballbuster attitude? "Beneficial to the fans" in what way?
Again,I say to those of you on the fence about this,do your research,maybe buy a 6 inch DC or MOTU figure,THEN decide.
BTW Atom I just followed you on twitter,I'm rxchrisg.
I like how they're using the key for everything like that Key Force Van I reviewed.
You didn't have to use the key for most of the stuff on the Key Force Van either. Clearly this is a thinly veiled attempt at a Key Force revival.
I'd be in on that.
Well,yeah,it would be dumb not to cover it,but let's not pretend there won't be a few backwards shoulders,because there absolutely will be. Will these pilot figures be any better than the DC Crisis 3 3/4 figures? Of course not,.
This post, helped educate me on the figure, design, and attributes...which is what a CDX is made for. I may not want the thing (no die-cast...yeah saves me $$) but was very interesting and informative.
Nice job!
Thanks for the interview and thanks for that huge picture :) Again, I'm glad I got the subscription.
One of the questions I would have liked to have answered is why there were not small pilots scaled to Voltron made to fit in the lion heads while still giving us these cool 3 3/4 pilots.
I would have loved to have a correctly scaled pilots with a detailed cockpits in each lion head and regular ratchet joints on the lions over "one touch" transformation.
If it was for the fans, I don't remember anyone asking me about design choices. Actually up until Comic Con no one had any idea what Voltron would look like.
This year Matty's complaining about how many subs they sold ad nauseum.
I would have bought this sub hands-down if I had this info...
...when I could have bought one.
Instead of blaming the customers for not buying, why not just *tell them exactly* what they're in for?
This looks really great, and the last few Infinite Heroes figures (which the figures here are based on) were pretty good toys. I didn't feel good about giving them a sub without knowing what I'm getting though. (Matty is good at using marketing to con people into panicking and the attitude of "give me a blank check or you'll miss out" sell, and I won't be fooled.)
So yeah, I guess I'm gonna be fighting for these on sale day every month :(
CLICKY JOINTS.
I kind of like that idea of the smaller scale pilots and detailed cockpit that sdfcommander mentioned while STILL offering the 3 3/4" figures. i dont need to have these figures fit into lions if they are out of scale, that would be more suited for a 6 year old. I cringe when they show them sitting in the lions body with a huge flap door showing. Collector-wise that was a bad choice. Smaller pilots would have made this PERFECT. That whole one-touch thing is corny...I'm sure I WILL get tired hitting the chest emblem. Other than that it is a 23" Voltron with pilot figures. awesome. I gave up on getting the perfect piloted Voltron. At least in this lifetime, but one never knows, Voltron has managed to keep going all these years.
great work on keeping us updated Atom, cant wait for more of your updates!
On the one hand you have "toy" features like the auto-transform and the cockpits sized for the 3-3/4" figures. On the other hand, you have "enthusiast collector" features like the poseability and, well, the fact that this exists at all. It seems like they're confused about who they actually want this to be *for*. What's the use of putting in features that will just annoy the target market? The big spenders will be satisfying their nostalgia just by purchasing this thing; there's no need for toy fanservice.
I do sense a bit of pravda in the response to the "why a broken-up club-only release plan" question. Like the guy was reading directly off a list of talking points.
What's weird about it is they do the exact opposite for MOTU. For example,Syclone. The original figure had a spinning gimmick and they left it out on the new toy,yet actually sculpted in the dial you used to activate the feature on the original toy. Similarly,on the He-Man and Skeletor "battle damage" armor figures,the old toys have like an inner barrel that spins when another figure's sword (or your finger) hits it,revealing a "dented" chestplate. (BTW this feature was included on a free Starscream I got at Burger King) On the new figures,you snap off the mint chestplate and swap it with a seperate piece to get the battle worn look. Supposedly this is to keep the gimmick from infringing on the look/posability of the toy,and since they're "adult collectibles" it's not like you're going to be playing with the gimmicks anyway,right?
Well now here's Voltron and the lions have huge compartments to hold out of scale pilots,and "one touch transformations" that require you to touch the lion 3 or 4 times then stick a key up it's ass,and a sword that comes in several pieces,and god knows what else. I just don't get it.
I am excited to see what they do for the new Voltron Force toys. I wonder if they'll attempt to make every lion able to become the head like on the show.
This by no means supporting or discounting Mattel, but working at a huge manufacture in the USA, different teams are formed to put out a product with usually includes Marketing, Research and Development and manufacturing. If 5 teams are formed to introduce 5 new products, the 5 different teams are unaware what each other is doing and accordingly produce different types of projects with different criteria.
I do have a good friend that works for Mattel, I could bring it up and see what he has to say about it but of what I have already can surmise they have a compartmentalized development teams that work independent from each other. They are also extremely private company, even from other employees and especially the public. That's their business model and that is what works for them for 50+ years. So be it!
LF
It doesnt look like the red and green lions can swirvel the forearms. If that is the case then Voltron will be prevented from doing these 3 poses.
I really hope mattel can make as much improvements as possible as I signed up for the subscribtion at the last minute. I could care less about the 1 touch transformations or even the pilots(even though they are nice), i just hope it has a good amount of poseability as well as very durable and sturdy.
I bought the subscription for this thing with very little info to go on other than some photos and the hilarious anal-probing video, so this Q&A really gives me a lot more confidence in what I just committed to. The backwards feet don't bother me as much knowing why they're like that. Knowing that every joint will be clicky, and that Voltron can sit and do the splits (I like my robots to be able to sit do the splits, so sue me) really makes me happy.