It has begun, the great quest to form Voltron! So I've decided to take my time with this one. I started with Blue because that was the lion that carytheweeone had. As a bonus it's also the first lion found in the new show.
So the question is: which one next?
Do I get an arm lion to have a different experience? Or do I follow the order they were found/activated in Legendary Defender? No matter what, I'm saving the black lion for last as a bday cherry on top
How bout some pics, man?
The number one thing I wanted from the individual lions was to be able to have a convincing sitting pose.
Nailed it! Hopefully the other molds will follow suite.
This isn't going to end well...
Swerve: just 8 seconds...
Me: I don't think that applies here!
The articulation is a little lacking, but some really fun poses and play can still be had.
Just like a cat to get bored as soon as it's
toy stops moving.
And of course the money shot
The first thing I noticed was just the sheer size of the individual lions. They're big, just weighty enough and the plastic feels nice. The ratchets are nice and clicky and give plenty of stopping points. As you see from the pics, articulation is good and allows for a lot of poses.
I do wish the neck had more side to side movement and the waist had some sort of movement, but I understand this kitty becomes a leg and has to support Voltron. It may be that I'm just spoiled from the ball joints in TFs, but I wish the legs had some type of outward movement. Could have worked something like the shoulder/hips of FoC Grimlock.
The paint job leaves me with mixed feelings. Where there is a good bit more paint apps than pretty much any domestic TF released in the last few years, the quality is a little hit and miss. The figure could stand to have a few touch-ups and additions. Reprolabels should get into the Voltron game, amiright?
The big gun that comes with the lions were off putting at first as being a gimmicky toy addition, but after watching the second season I've come to accept them. They are show accurate, but will stay disconnected and in the weapons drawer. Blue's weapon does shoot straight and far and could be used for some fun target practice.
Much like Combiner Wars, I'm in this game for the big pay off at the end. It's kinda unfair to compare Voltron to TF combiners, but I'm going do it anyway. Price and size wise this set falls somewhere between a standard CW combiner and Devastator but reminds me more of Devastator. The individual lions are good and in someways better than Devy's limbs, but they don't have 3 different modes either. I think the lions will look great as a team posed on a shelf, but they will spend the majority of their time combined.
Is the blue kitty perfect? No, and honestly for $20 I kinda expected a little bit more. It's just a fun figure to play with and pose and looks great just sitting there. Even with a few nitpicks I am overall impressed, satisfied and excited to complete Voltron. Just like CW Devastator, Voltron will be stronger than the sum of his parts and that's saying a lot considering how strong I feel the individual lion is.
