Red Lion’s packaging consists of a cardboard base and back with the rest in clear plastic. It reminds me of the packaging Hasbro used for their GI JOE 25th Anniversary vehicles. The overall presentation looks mighty good and it certainly shows off the toy extremely well, but I would have much preferred a more traditional window box, or even a straight box with artwork like Matty did with the MOTUC Wind Raider. Technically the box is collector friendly, you can return the lion to the package if you’re careful, but the clear plastic is fairly fragile and rubs and scratches easy. I had planned on displaying these in the package until I get the complete set, but I may have to rethink that now because I don’t think this packaging is going to survive in the long term.

Out of the package, first thoughts? Holy crap, this thing is huge. When combined, Red Lion will form one of Voltron’s arms and as such he is one of the smallest Lions in the set. And wow, he is still huge. I don’t think I fully comprehended how big this Voltron is going to be until holding the Red Lion in my hand. I think Mattel really nailed the sculpt. Anyone who knows Voltron knows that there’s some animation magic involved in the transformation between Lion and limb, so when designing the toys they had to make some compromises so that the toy will pass as both. The Toynami version opted to make the Red and Green Lions smaller and more rounded, whereas Matty went with a more boxy version, which should make the Lions look more uniform when displayed together. I think it was a good call, and if nothing else it gives me a little variety between this set and my Toynami Voltron.

Striving for the animated look, the Lion is not brimming with detail. You get some sculpted detail on the joints and feet, a few panel lines here and there, but not much else. There isn’t a lot of paintwork, as most of the toy is molded in the appropriate colors. Some collectors will no doubt take umbrage over the use of pale gray for the metallic/chrome of the legs and tail. It actually works ok for me and I’m just glad they didn’t go white to match the Lion face. All in all, I’m really thrilled with the way this toy looks displayed on the shelf, particularly with Lance standing beside him.

What I’m less thrilled about are the choices made over articulation. Matty opted to give the Lions a spring-loaded feature, so when you detach the Lions from their Voltron form, you can push buttons to automatically deploy the legs back to Lion mode. I actually like this gimmick, but I don’t like what we had to sacrifice to get it. The upper leg joints are fine and built on heavy ratcheting joints that give you a satisfying click when you move them and locks them into place wherever you want to position them. The middle joints, on the other hand, will only rotate in one direction. The front legs go forward, the back legs go back. While that may not sound like a big deal, it really does inhibit a lot of the poses you can get him in. When I started playing around with Red Lion, I immediately tried to put him in some of the poses I like doing with my Toynami Lions and quickly found out that it just isn’t possible. The hinge in the middle of the Lion is very hard to work and there’s no swivel there, which doesn’t bother me so much on the Lion, but will severely inhibit Voltron’s poseability. Lastly, the head has no up or down movement, only rotates side to side. Again, this really inhibits the poses you can get out of the Lion. The mouth does open and close, though, and you can get him to hold his blade pretty nicely.

Red Lion does open up to reveal a cockpit where you can put the Lance figure. The gimmick uses the Key that came with Lance to unlock the cockpit by using it to press a button on the yellow box on the Lion’s back. Originally, I thought this was going to be done with magnets, but all you are really doing is pushing the button, which you can do with a pen or your fingernail or anything else, it doesn’t have to be the Key. I like the way the the cockpit hatch swings open in two parts. The interior cockpit is detailed with sticker sheets on the sides and front and the Lance figure fits into it very nicely.

Overall, Red Lion is a great looking, sturdy toy that really oozes nostalgia. It really does feel like a vintage toy, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The ratcheting joints, the simple colors, and the way the figure fits into the body, it all takes me back to my youth when I was drooling over one of those huge Voltrons in the Sears Wishbook at Christmas time. Yes, the articulation is disappointing, but not so disappointing that I have anything resembling buyer’s remorse. The truth is, I already own a super-articulated Voltron set, so if I have to sacrifice some articulation to get a friggin huge Voltron with Lions that fit the pilot figures, I’m perfectly willing to do that. As for value… All together, with shipping, Red Lion and Lance was $60. That’s certainly a premium for what you’re getting here, but the payoff is going to be well worth it in the end.