Super7 Ultimates! Voltron – Defender of the Universe

My children are unknowingly a terrible influence on my spending habits. It was last summer they started watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers awakening within me a long lost desire to acquire Power Rangers toys from back in 93/94. Recently, it’s my son discovering the Netflix Voltron series. Voltron was a show I paid little attention to as a kid. It was on early in the morning on week days and that was just a terrible time for me. I was not a morning person so I slept as late as I could and moved slowly through my morning routine. There was no TV watching for me as a result, but when some of my friends started insisting I check out Voltron I did take a peek. Years later, the show would return on Cartoon Network on week day afternoons and at that point I did give it an extended look, though it wasn’t particularly good.

What was undeniably good about Voltron though were the toys. My friend had a vintage, combining, Voltron toy. It should have predated he and I by a few years so I don’t know if he got it secondhand or what, but it was undeniably cool to have five toys that combined into one, bigger, better, toy. It was my first experience with the concept as I wasn’t a Transformers kid and Power Rangers were years away. The concept was better than the reality to some degree as Voltron was rather cumbersome. He articulated rather poorly, but back then, five points of articulation were pretty standard still so he wasn’t that bad. He was just a bit bland with a sword in hand since he couldn’t hold it in a natural way, at least in a natural way for a being made up of five robot lions.

Over the years, I have resisted the temptation to go after a Voltron. When the Netflix series showed up, Voltron returned to toy stores and comic shops in classic and updated versions. The lions were available individually and I think there were deluxe versions that put everything in one box. There have also been mega expensive Soul of Chogokin versions of the character for those who really wanted to take Voltron to the next level. I resisted those calls though, and I was probably most tempted by the Lego Voltron of a few years ago because that just seemed really cool to me, though I wondered how durable a Lego Voltron would be and ultimately passed. Now, watching the show with my son, I found myself wanting a Voltron all over again, but now the options are severely limited. Those lions that once retailed for 20 bucks or so are near 100 on the secondary market as they’re no longer in production. Suddenly, the Toynami Ultimate EX Voltron is looking like a bargain at $400! I tossed around the idea of getting a Mini-Pla model kit Voltron since it was a combining Voltron, but like the Lego Voltron, I had durability concerns. Especially since that’s another figure that’s going to run close to $100 now since it’s no longer being manufactured. I was left thinking I’ve gone this long without a Voltron, so maybe it’s not something I need.

I found myself at a comic shop over the weekend and there on the shelf was a brand new Super7 Ultimates! Voltron staring me in the face. This edition of Voltron is a pure action figure, so there’s no breaking him down into five individual lions. Part of the appeal of Voltron is definitely the combing element, but there’s also the practical reality that I would never display the character in lion mode. I felt like I couldn’t pass it up, and maybe the shiny, chrome, packaging had something to do with that so I bought it and brought my little robot buddy home.

It’s important to note that this is actually the second version of Voltron Super7 has released. The first one was referred to as a deluxe release and I’m not entirely sure it was considered a true “Ultimates” release. This new one is largely the same as both present the classic interpretation of the character, but it has a different deco and a minor change to the articulation. The first release featured a matte finish aiming to approximate the cartoon aesthetic. This edition swaps the matte out for a glossy approach as this is a very shiny figure. The blue and green especially possess a pearl quality in the paint and the silver bits do a nice job of faking metal. And to emphasize this new approach, the figure comes in a shiny, chrome, box that basically has a mirror finish. This is a snazzy figure, and it’s almost a shame the packaging comes with a slipcase which hides much of the shininess.

Packaging is cool and all, but the real star is the figure inside. Voltron stands around 7″ in height and he’s one chunky boy. There’s a lot of plastic on this guy which gives him a nice, heavy, feel in the hand. He’s very similar to the Hasbro RED Transformers, only bigger. Part of my reasoning in buying this guy was just to get a sense of how Super7 is going to handle these robot characters as the company has already solicited Transformers Ultimates! and is about to do the same for Power Rangers. It’s potentially going to be a neat, unofficial, line from the company as they build out a fleet of robot figures. The glossy paint job is what stands out the most about this guy and it’s largely applied well. There are a few nicks and small amounts of paint overrun here and there, but overall it’s pretty clean. The only spot I’m not happy with is the nose of the yellow lion which is scratched. I’m tempted to fill it in with a black marker. This Voltron is at the old price point of $45, so he’s in that odd space where he’s more expensive than your average retail figure, but not quite at premium figure pricing. And for what he is, the paint job is fair as they did a very good job with the finer details like the face and the shield logo on the chest.

The sculpt, on the other hand, is done quite well. This definitely resembles a transformed Voltron so the lion “feet” are a bit stretched and rectangular as that is how they looked on TV. There’s a lot of layers to the sculpt in the chest which is nice to see and really adds depth and character to the figure. The lion head hands look great and remain one of the coolest aspects of the character design. The wings on the back of the figure are a softer plastic so there’s little chance of them breaking. And I can’t stress enough just how good this figure feels in the hand. There’s a lot of different textures to the sculpt and the heaviness is perfect.

Such a chunky and oddly designed character is going to be a challenge when it comes to articulation. Since this is a non-combining Voltron though, it’s pretty important that Super7 do a great job on that part as we’re giving up an important play feature in order to improve the sculpt and articulation. And with this figure, there’s some good, and there’s some not-so-good. For starters, the head is on a ball hinge, but the boxy nature of the upper torso means he can’t do much more than turn his head. You get a little up and down, but it’s minimal. At the shoulders, Super7 did get a little creative as they used two, big, ball-hinges to increase his range at the joint. You can slide the arm up and down a great deal and even get him to reach across his body as a result. Beyond that, you also get the usual rotation. Below the should is a biceps swivel and single hinge, followed by a “wrist” swivel and horizontal hinge. Elbows remain a disappointment with Super7 as he can’t do 90 degrees. It’s also odd they didn’t give him vertical hinges at the hand given he’s a sword wielder, they’re usually really good about getting that part right. In the torso, we have a ball hinge in the diaphragm (I guess) that lets him rotate mostly, but there’s a tiny bit of tilt and crunch. There’s a waist twist below that as well. At the legs, he can kick forward to 90 degrees and kick back a bit. Below that is a thigh swivel, which is new for this edition of Voltron, followed by a single-jointed knee hinge that does achieve a 90 degree bend. At the ankle, we have a hinge and rocker, but both are fairly limited due to the blocky nature of the feet.

It’s an okay assortment of articulation, but there definitely is stuff missing. The lack of double elbows is to be expected of Super7, they have an aversion to them for aesthetic reasons, so I’m not that broken up about it. What is borderline unforgivable though of a modern collectible is for the legs to not be able to lift out to the sides. There’s a part of me that thinks it’s unacceptable for an action figure in this price range to lack such a basic point of articulation. Even the cheap, Hasbro Megazord is able to widen its stance, and that adds a lot to the figure’s posing. It speaks to a larger issue I have with Super7 where it seems that when they run into a part of a figure that gets a little tricky they just punt on the articulation. I like their emphasis on sculpting and not marring that with too much articulation, but sometimes they get too timid. I think they could have done a ball joint here without really harming the sculpt, but they opted to do something different. At any rate, it was something I was aware of before I bought the figure and I did really consider passing largely because it’s so disappointing a feature to not have. I’m glad I was aware of it though because I would have been pretty bummed if I found out about it when I opened the thing.

Articulation is useless without some fun accessories to pose Voltron with and Super7’s Ultimates! are known for including a fair assortment of those things. For starters, Super7 included an extra pair of “hands.” It was a bit weird to see that the jaws on the lion head hands were static, but that’s probably to make the grip tighter. The open hands basically replace a jaw hinge and also allow Voltron to act out his dramatic posing following the combining animation in the show, though the feet can’t roar (and I’m fine with that). In addition to the hands, Voltron also comes with not one, but two, swords! The default option is an all chrome, vac-metal, blade that really shines. It’s a throwback to the old toy and it looks especially great when the light hits it just right. He also has a matching shield that’s just as vibrant as the blade. The only downside to vac-metal accessories is the substance can be brittle. My shield has a little chip on it which is a bummer, because otherwise it looks rather glorious. If you think the sheen is overpowering though, there’s a second sword with a pearl blue hilt and glow-in-the-dark blade. The glow-in-the-dark plastic gives the sword a laser quality in natural light, and of course in the dark it glows with a greenish hue. It’s a fun accessory, though I suspect most will opt for the vac-metal blade. As for me, I might just go with a dual-wield display because I really like both. The accessories are also easy to work with. The gripping hand-heads have soft plastic teeth so it’s easy to pop the swords and shield in and out. Swapping hands is also pretty much effortless as they pop out with ease.

The end result is a pretty good Voltron action figure. Yes, it’s not without its problems, number one being articulation, but it makes up for those shortcomings with a good sculpt and truly eye-catching paint job. The weapons are fun, and there’s just enough articulation that I can find some decent poses. And what really works in the figure’s favor is availability and affordability. Super7’s Ultimates! is famously a made-to-order affair, but retailers typically order more than they pre-sell so he should be easy to find as long as you don’t wait too long. And at $45, he’s far cheaper than basically every other Voltron on the market right now. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.