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Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Fri Aug 27, 2010 12:31 pm
by ponycorn
Am I the only TF fan out there that can't stand Voltron?
I've tried to give it a chance but I can't stand any of the characters on either the good guys or the bad guys and the story isn't all that cool either.
What's worse? Any time I bring up Transformers in a conversation with people where I mention I'm a really big Transformers fan I get someone trying to "one up" me by mentioning how they liked Voltron, and how wasn't that the REALLY good show? I can imagine maybe bringing up M.A.S.K. or G.I.Joe, but trying to throw Voltron out on the table like it kicked all the other toons butts? I just can't see it. Powerrangers' various series even make for better shows than Voltron.
The only thing I can see Voltron has going for it is the big cat combiner. The cats and the gestalt they form look ok, but unless I'm unaware of later devlopments in the series, they don't seem to have much for minds of their own.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Fri Aug 27, 2010 12:45 pm
by Jelze Bunnycat
ponycorn wrote:Am I the only TF fan out there that can't stand Voltron?
I've tried to give it a chance but I can't stand any of the characters on either the good guys or the bad guys and the story isn't all that cool either.
What's worse? Any time I bring up Transformers in a conversation with people where I mention I'm a really big Transformers fan I get someone trying to "one up" me by mentioning how they liked Voltron, and how wasn't that the REALLY good show? I can imagine maybe bringing up M.A.S.K. or G.I.Joe, but trying to throw Voltron out on the table like it kicked all the other toons butts? I just can't see it. Powerrangers' various series even make for better shows than Voltron.
The only thing I can see Voltron has going for it is the big cat combiner. The cats and the gestalt they form look ok, but unless I'm unaware of later devlopments in the series, they don't seem to have much for minds of their own.
Well, I'll one up you on this: my wife grew up with the show and she's collecting the Lion Force DVD's. I even got her the all-plastic Masterpiece Voltron, and planning on getting her the metallic one as well as the original toy. She doesn't care one bit about the Vehicle Voltron.
You must understand that Voltron is not an original US show. Like Power Rangers, and other shows by Saban back then, it was adapted from a Japanese anime, in Lion Voltron's case it's
HyakujuuOh GoLion (King of all Beasts GoLion) and in Vehicle Voltron's case
Kikou Kantai DaiRugger XV (Armored Fleet DaiRugger XV). The stories were considerably altered, as the original were far darker. I'd say check the Japanese shows.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Fri Aug 27, 2010 1:24 pm
by ponycorn
If someone were to check out the Japanese shows which series? Maybe even which episode?
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:28 pm
by Pyrostrata
I loved Voltron back when it was first aired...but I watch it now, and I am like "What was I thinking??" Especially the lions-version....Just atrocious! The vehicles-version is a touch better, but it's almost negligible.
So, the answer is no...you are not alone.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:36 pm
by Burn
I've always liked Volton.
*waits for the next "Am I the only TF fan that hates..." thread*
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Fri Aug 27, 2010 5:10 pm
by Name_Violation
Burn wrote:I've always liked Volton.
*waits for the next "Am I the only TF fan that hates..." thread*
this
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Fri Aug 27, 2010 8:49 pm
by Skyfire77
ponycorn wrote:If someone were to check out the Japanese shows which series? Maybe even which episode?
Episodes of both series are up on YouTube if you want to check them out. I'm more partial to GoLion myself, but I never cared for "Vehicle Voltron" to begin with...
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:20 am
by NOBODY LOVES WHEELIE
Eh...it simply is a differant animal Lion Voltron was a decent show, but even as a kid I could never quite understand why they even bothered with the Lions. I mean it seemed like every RoBeast they encountered needed a united Voltron followed by a blazing sword enemia to be defeated.
You'd think the Voltron Force would just launch and combine I mean save some of the sweat guys.
But I still at least enjoyed the show.
Now the Vehicle Voltron...I just could not get into that one.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Sat Aug 28, 2010 5:55 am
by DreadwindsGhost
I tried to watch the show, I really did...I never saw it as a kid, and got the first season dvds a couple of years back. I got through three episodes when I decided I just couldn't stand the pain anymore. And yes, it was the quite frankly woeful voice acting that put me off.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Sat Aug 28, 2010 7:38 am
by Skyfire77
NOBODY LOVES WHEELIE wrote:Eh...it simply is a differant animal Lion Voltron was a decent show, but even as a kid I could never quite understand why they even bothered with the Lions. I mean it seemed like every RoBeast they encountered needed a united Voltron followed by a blazing sword enemia to be defeated.
You'd think the Voltron Force would just launch and combine I mean save some of the sweat guys.
But I still at least enjoyed the show.
Now the Vehicle Voltron...I just could not get into that one.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjMFYAdvHJc[/youtube]
Hnnn, are the YouTube embeds not working?
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Sat Aug 28, 2010 11:32 am
by Wheeljack35
I have allways loved the Lion force but could never stand the vehicle Voltron..There were too many characters to follow I cared nothing for them and their enemies the drool were never as good as Zarkon and Lotor
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Sat Aug 28, 2010 9:39 pm
by AshesOfPain
I don't remember much about the original animation, but the comics... they do have some nice art work.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:34 pm
by Overcracker
I preferred Vehicle Voltron. I can say the original Japanese version Dairugger XV is much better. At least with the proper subtitles.
The American translation seriously mucked with it.
Its much darker originally than what we saw over here, death and, planetcide got toned down to momentary set backs.
Lion Voltron I never liked that much. Never had the toy, and was really never that interested. For some reason the 15 vehicles always made more sense to me than 5 cats.
I'm still waiting for a re-issue Soul of Chogokin Dairugger XV to grace the online stores.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:17 am
by Nightscreech
cant say im a fan, but it has been a very long time since ive seen any of the cartoons. the toys as a kid remember being pretty impressive.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:12 pm
by Chupacabra Convoy
Hmmm.... I thought it was all right. The lion show, but I never went out of my way to watch it. If it was anything like the original TF show, I'm guessing it aged terribly. I only watch the original once a year, if that.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:26 pm
by Skywarp_86
Thank you for this. I HATE the lion version of Voltron. A friend of mine from Hong Kong had the 5 million piece Voltron that was made out of vehicles, and that was maybe the most awkward, useless toy I ever saw in my entire life. Cannot stand the Voltron! Getouttahere!
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:41 pm
by Elita One
I like Voltron.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Tue Aug 31, 2010 5:49 am
by Psycho Warrior
Well, its a love hate kinda thing. I loved lion voltron as a kid because I overlooked the horrible dubbing and the cut up plots because... giant robot has a sword sch-wing boom ugly monsters explode.
yeah, I own the series on DVD and I hate it. I can't stand to watch it because it seems to have gotten the 4kids treatment where there's only about 5 voice actors and they aren't good ones. The scripts were so obviously redone to make character deaths simpler for the kids cause who would die in a war?
Still there's the nostalgia factor. Which for me is pretty good. At least the robot fighting is still okay. The other two voltrons through I have no opinion on because I never saw their show.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:36 am
by LesserZ
Yeah I can if it's GoLion. My roommate has the US versions in her collection. One morning she was watching an episode with her daughter while they where getting her ready for school. I had just gotten done watching the same episode, and noticed how they had butchered it. I asked her if she wouldn't mind watching it again, but in the way it was originally intended, and the fact that she would have to read subtitles. She was like, I thought the bad guys troops were robots when she saw the blood squirting out of them. We both laughed when the princess got spanked by the nanny though. So in all it just depends on what you like I guess. I have the black lion, but no figure for it, and almost all the parts for the other Voltron, minus his red jet that forms his chest. I like robots in general.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Wed Sep 01, 2010 7:29 am
by RK_Striker_JK_5
Psycho Warrior wrote:Well, its a love hate kinda thing. I loved lion voltron as a kid because I overlooked the horrible dubbing and the cut up plots because... giant robot has a sword sch-wing boom ugly monsters explode.
yeah, I own the series on DVD and I hate it. I can't stand to watch it because it seems to have gotten the 4kids treatment where there's only about 5 voice actors and they aren't good ones. The scripts were so obviously redone to make character deaths simpler for the kids cause who would die in a war?
Still there's the nostalgia factor. Which for me is pretty good. At least the robot fighting is still okay. The other two voltrons through I have no opinion on because I never saw their show.
This.
I
loved it back in the day, but now? Nope.
Two sequences in particular stand out for me. The first one is from the pilot, where the five space explorers see the planet Arus being bombarded. Fires, massive explosions... and we get the general line, "At least everyone is in the underground shelters!"
...
Next one, Coran meets up with someone who may or may not be his long-lost son. Allura, suspicious, goes to the last known location of his son and wife. She meets up with some guy who explains that Coran's wife and son have been sent to another dimension with his psychic powers to protect them and shows her gravestones. Fake gravestones apparently.
The visuals, of course, are that Coran's wife and son were killed.

Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:24 am
by Psycho Warrior
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Psycho Warrior wrote:Well, its a love hate kinda thing. I loved lion voltron as a kid because I overlooked the horrible dubbing and the cut up plots because... giant robot has a sword sch-wing boom ugly monsters explode.
yeah, I own the series on DVD and I hate it. I can't stand to watch it because it seems to have gotten the 4kids treatment where there's only about 5 voice actors and they aren't good ones. The scripts were so obviously redone to make character deaths simpler for the kids cause who would die in a war?
Still there's the nostalgia factor. Which for me is pretty good. At least the robot fighting is still okay. The other two voltrons through I have no opinion on because I never saw their show.
This.
I
loved it back in the day, but now? Nope.
Two sequences in particular stand out for me. The first one is from the pilot, where the five space explorers see the planet Arus being bombarded. Fires, massive explosions... and we get the general line, "At least everyone is in the underground shelters!"
...
Next one, Coran meets up with someone who may or may not be his long-lost son. Allura, suspicious, goes to the last known location of his son and wife. She meets up with some guy who explains that Coran's wife and son have been sent to another dimension with his psychic powers to protect them and shows her gravestones. Fake gravestones apparently.
The visuals, of course, are that Coran's wife and son were killed.

Here's a fun game: rewatch those episodes pretending like everyone's in an advanced state of denial. Like when Sven 'dies' they all think he's wounded but he's a pile of bloody cutlets, they know this but pretend like everything's okay.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:36 pm
by RK_Striker_JK_5
Psycho Warrior wrote:RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Psycho Warrior wrote:Well, its a love hate kinda thing. I loved lion voltron as a kid because I overlooked the horrible dubbing and the cut up plots because... giant robot has a sword sch-wing boom ugly monsters explode.
yeah, I own the series on DVD and I hate it. I can't stand to watch it because it seems to have gotten the 4kids treatment where there's only about 5 voice actors and they aren't good ones. The scripts were so obviously redone to make character deaths simpler for the kids cause who would die in a war?
Still there's the nostalgia factor. Which for me is pretty good. At least the robot fighting is still okay. The other two voltrons through I have no opinion on because I never saw their show.
This.
I
loved it back in the day, but now? Nope.
Two sequences in particular stand out for me. The first one is from the pilot, where the five space explorers see the planet Arus being bombarded. Fires, massive explosions... and we get the general line, "At least everyone is in the underground shelters!"
...
Next one, Coran meets up with someone who may or may not be his long-lost son. Allura, suspicious, goes to the last known location of his son and wife. She meets up with some guy who explains that Coran's wife and son have been sent to another dimension with his psychic powers to protect them and shows her gravestones. Fake gravestones apparently.
The visuals, of course, are that Coran's wife and son were killed.

Here's a fun game: rewatch those episodes pretending like everyone's in an advanced state of denial. Like when Sven 'dies' they all think he's wounded but he's a pile of bloody cutlets, they know this but pretend like everything's okay.
Well, I do have to admit... I find Sven being merely injured and nursed back to health actually more tolerable than the twin brother they had in GoLion.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:40 pm
by Psycho Warrior
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Psycho Warrior wrote:RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Psycho Warrior wrote:Well, its a love hate kinda thing. I loved lion voltron as a kid because I overlooked the horrible dubbing and the cut up plots because... giant robot has a sword sch-wing boom ugly monsters explode.
yeah, I own the series on DVD and I hate it. I can't stand to watch it because it seems to have gotten the 4kids treatment where there's only about 5 voice actors and they aren't good ones. The scripts were so obviously redone to make character deaths simpler for the kids cause who would die in a war?
Still there's the nostalgia factor. Which for me is pretty good. At least the robot fighting is still okay. The other two voltrons through I have no opinion on because I never saw their show.
This.
I
loved it back in the day, but now? Nope.
Two sequences in particular stand out for me. The first one is from the pilot, where the five space explorers see the planet Arus being bombarded. Fires, massive explosions... and we get the general line, "At least everyone is in the underground shelters!"
...
Next one, Coran meets up with someone who may or may not be his long-lost son. Allura, suspicious, goes to the last known location of his son and wife. She meets up with some guy who explains that Coran's wife and son have been sent to another dimension with his psychic powers to protect them and shows her gravestones. Fake gravestones apparently.
The visuals, of course, are that Coran's wife and son were killed.

Here's a fun game: rewatch those episodes pretending like everyone's in an advanced state of denial. Like when Sven 'dies' they all think he's wounded but he's a pile of bloody cutlets, they know this but pretend like everything's okay.
Well, I do have to admit... I find Sven being merely injured and nursed back to health actually more tolerable than the twin brother they had in GoLion.
Yeah I really didn't understand that. But on the topic of the voice acting, I got nothing. whenever a nameless woman appears its one of the main cast doing her voice. often a male VA. not saying men can't do it, its just these guys do a piss poor job.
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Wed Sep 01, 2010 2:56 pm
by Sky-Quake
can't stand the cartoon but the toys were cool I had the reissue of the Lions in the giftpack of course they were no match for my G2 Devastator who pushed them down the stairs when I was playing with the toys power to the decepticons forever LOL
Re: Can you even stand Voltron?

Posted:
Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:46 pm
by Moonlight
When I was 10 and it was playing on tv I really liked that show, it was one of my favorites. Then a cartoon channel started playing it a few years ago so I thought cool I loved that show as a kid and turned it on. OY I cant believe I liked that show so much.