Kids who grew up in the eighties will undoubtedly have fond memories of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, one of several Japanese 'super robot' animated series adopted for American television in the eighties. Airing from 1984-85, the series revolved around teams of pilots who flew spaceships that could be combined into the mighty robot Voltron. The two incarnations of the Voltron series consisting of vehicles (series 1) and lion robots (series 2) were adapted from the Japanese anime series respectively entitled Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV and Beast King Go Lion. The most popular version featured robotic lions piloted by the team called Voltron Force who combined their lions into a super robot warrior.
Although the original adapted series lasted only two seasons in America, it gained a huge fan following like it did in Japan. This immense popularity of Voltron in the US and Go Lion in Japan inspired toy makers to create toys based the cartoon. Although the American version of Voltron was never shown in Japan, a Japanese toymaker still capitalized on the international popularity of the series to release a line of die-cast metal toys featuring vehicles and lions from the show; these were later distributed in the US by Matchbox. The rights to produce Voltron toys were then acquired by Panosh Place, which released 3-3/4" versions of the vehicles and characters featured in the show, as well as a playset featuring the Castle of Lions.
The license then briefly passed to a company called LJN which released a couple of Voltron Vehicle models as well as some versions of the Voltron III robot. In the '90s the license passed to Trendmasters, which released new versions of the die-cast Lion Force toys as well as Stealth Voltron and Voltrex (a dinosaur version of the Voltron robot) figures. These toys are among the most popular with collectors because of their playability and the overall high quality of their construction.
At present, American toy company Toynami holds the Voltron license and has produced several Voltron sets, including the Masterpiece Collection (where the figures were made of die-cast metal) and the Collector's Gift Set (with figures made of plastic), as well as I-Men sets, which are miniatures of characters from the show.
The Voltron property continues to be popular among fans old and new, and two new projects are planned: an animated series, Voltron Force, set to air on Nickelodeon in 2010, and a long-gestating live-action movie, whose development is currently delayed due to a legal battle between Voltron's American distributor, World Events Productions, and Toei Company, over alleged copyright infringement. If these projects take off, expect to see more new Voltron sets produced, as well as intensified demand among collectors for the classic toys.
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