Ah, the packaging. It looks so good when it first arrives. As with the other lions the package consists of a cardboard base and backer and the rest is clear plastic. The box is color coded to coordinate with the Blue Lion theme and the back of the box shows off some pictures of the toy’s features as well as a little blurb about Princess Allura. You also get a tantalizing shot of Voltron showing where the Blue Lion fits in. The lion is posed inside with the help of a tray and heavy duty clear plastic straps and his weapon is rubber banded to the back. It takes some deft scissor work to get him out without tearing the hell out of the package. This whole ensemble is just collector friendly enough so that you can get the lion back inside, but it’s not very durable and once unstrapped, the lion just rattles around inside the package. I really would have preferred a straight up box with some artwork to store the lions in. I’ve saved all the packages so far, but chances are once I can build Voltron, I’ll be pitching these to reclaim some space in one of my toy closets.

When Yellow Lion arrived, I was blown away by his size and the same was true when I got Blue in hand. As expected, Yellow and Blue are both built on the same basic body, but there are plenty of resculpted parts to make Blue distinctive. He has a flat back, minus the grey half cylinder on Yellow. His head is also more squared off and less organic looking than Yellow’s. The legs are identical to Yellow’s, giving the toy the same nagging articulation limits. As with all the lions, I really wanted mid joints in the legs that could move both ways. Sure, there are still some good poses available here, but not as good as it could have been.

There have been a number of reported QC issues with the coloring on the lions. I know more than a few people have received lions composed of two shades of plastic. I’ve been really nervous since then about having a similar issue, but so far I’ve had no problems and I’m happy to say that the coloring on my Blue is spot on. In fact, the color here is pretty spectacular. I love the shade of blue used for the body and it contrasts beautifully with the white and yellow. All the paintwork on the head is bright and sharp. About the only flaw I can find is a little uneven application around the edges of the cockpit, but that’s only visible with the cockpit open and even still, I have to get pretty nitpicky to find anything to complain about.

As with Yellow Lion, Blue’s cockpit is hinged at the back and is opened by pressing the key (or key or any pointed object) into the button to release the catch. Once open you get a simple sculpted seat and stickers to add the details of the controls. It’s a roomy cockpit and little Allura has no trouble fitting inside.

Blue comes with a spikey dagger that he can hold in his teeth. There aren’t any little dimples in this one to match up with the teeth, but Blue’s jaws close up pretty tight so he can hold it very securely. I’m not a big fan of these weapons, but I suppose it’s nice to have them.

As it stands, I think Blue here is my favorite of all the lions. He’s beautifully colored and I love the sculpt. There are certainly some things that could have used more attention, particularly the featureless black plate on the top of his head. Either way, I really like this guy and I’m still digging the 80’s retro vibe I get from these toys. I’m also officially starting to get really excited about finishing off my BFV* and quite frankly having all the limbs and no Black Lion is driving me crazy. I’m still having trouble fathoming just how huge Black Lion is going to be, not to mention the Voltron figure itself. What I do know is that I’ll be lining all the lions up at least a week before Black Lion is shipping, just so I’m all ready to go when he gets here.

 *Big Fucking Voltron

…like the packaging! Allura comes in the same collector friendly box as all of the other pilots (minus Sven, of course!).  And like the others, Allura’s box is color coded to match her lion, so in this case it’s blue. The front of the box has a decent piece of artwork showing off the figure’s animated counterpart. There’s also a window to show the figure itself. The back of the box has a blurb about Allura and Blue Lion and some shots of the figure and her accessories. Take note, the photo on the back erroneously shows the key-stand being pink, while the one you actually get is appropriately blue.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it one more time in a few months, this package design is nearly perfect. The only thing I would have preferred is having the figure’s name printed on the side for when I store them on the shelves lined up like books. Oh well, at least they’re color coded.

Open up the box and slide out the tray, we get a great look at everything that comes inside. You get the figure with the swappable head, the key style figure stand, the piece of the Blazing Sword, in this case it’s the top of the hilt and the base of the blade, and you also get one of the two clear stands for the Blazing Sword. I’m still resisting the temptation to start assembling the sword until I get everything.

Some early pictures had me a little worried about Allura’s body sculpt. She looked a little too chunky, but with the figure in hand it looks like those were probably just from unflattering angles. The proportions and build of the final figure look really good. Once again, Mattel has done a decent job of using different builds for each of the figures making them look as diverse in size and shape as the characters were in the cartoon. I am, however, a little iffy on Allura’s heads. The sculpts seems ok, I like the shape of the face and the sculpting on the hair, the helmeted head looks great, but I think it’s the eyes that just seem a little weird or creepy to me. It may just be conveying the animation style, but there’s just something about those eyes that doesn’t gel right with me. Once again, the figure’s gun is sculpted into the holster and once again, I’ll point out that at $15 each, these figures should have had removable guns.

The paintwork on this figure is excellent. The aforementioned eyes are a style choice, and not caused by sloppy paint. I’m particularly impressed by the paint on her thin, silver tiara. The pink on her uniform is great, and while some of these figures have been prone to some smudging on the white uniform, Allura has none of that.

Articulation here is exactly what we got with all the other figures. In this case, that’s a bit of a relief because sometimes female figures get a few points of articulation cut out. That’s not the case here. Allura has ball joints in her neck, shoulders, elbows and knees, and universal movement at the hips.

As usual, the figure comes with the key that can be used to open the accompanying Lion’s cockpit and it doubles as a stand. It’s a good thing, too, because Allura’s tiny feet make it difficult for her to stand on her own. One of my running gripe’s with this line is that Matty couldn’t pony up for an extra sticker on both sides of the key and yes, that still irks me a bit.

So, there are no big surprises here. Overall, Allura is a solid figure. We deserved better at this price point, but by now we all know what to expect and we’re either comfortable with that or we’re not. I still haven’t decided whether I’m going to be displaying these figures in front of my completed Voltron, leaving them in the cockpits, or just keeping them in the boxes. I suppose that’ll be determined by how much space I have. Tomorrow, I’ll be back to check out Allura’s lion.

Of course, Matty can rarely do anything without eliciting buckets of controversy, and so they decided to package Sven on a retro-style card, rather than in the collector friendly boxes that the rest of the pilots came in. This act of treachery has pissed off many fans who will have to tear open the figure in order to display it with the rest of the pilots. And, of course since this figure is only available as an exclusive with the subscription, you can’t exactly buy an extra for openers. Not unless you were one of the ones that laid out $80 for him at Big Bad Toy Store before they sold out. Crazy! As a result of this madness, I’m only going to be looking at the packaged figure. Nope, I’m not opening mine. I have no desire to display Sven loose with the rest of my pilots, and I really dig this packaging, so mine will remain tucked away in the white mailer until I can find a Zolo-style clamshell to fit it and hang it on my wall.

And there’s that beautiful packaging. The design is obviously a delightful nod back to the cardbacks used for the vintage Panosh Place figures. It’s not a direct facsimile, but there are a lot of similarities, right down to the angled corners of the card, the animated character art and backdrop design. The key stand and helmet are positioned differently inside the bubble and Sven’s modern card has a snazzy reflective ink used for the Voltron logo. I even like the little “First Ever Sven Figure” medallion up in the left corner. The presentation here is first rate and the figure is displayed very nicely, with the helmetless head attached to the figure and the helmeted head beside it, just like the other pilots came in their boxes.

The back of the card is similar to the back of the other pilot’s boxes. It has a little blurb about Sven and it shows how he fits into the Blue Lion’s cockpit. There are also some nice shots of animation from the original cartoon.

Also included in the white mailer is a little double-sided mini-poster. One side has a great shot of Voltron wielding the Blazing Sword. The other side reads, “Let’s Go Voltron Force” and has a shot of each of the pilots, with Sven in place of Princess Allura. I have no clue what I’m going to do with it, but it was a cool little bonus nonetheless.

As for the figure itself, Sven shouldn’t present any surprises to anyone who has been getting these figures since the beginning. In fact, Sven appears to use the exact same body as Lance. If there are any differences in the sculpt, I can’t see them. Both of Sven’s head sculpts are quite good, and I still really like the use of the clear eye shield on the helmeted heads. Once again, I’ll take the opportunity to point out that the gun is sculpted into the holster, and that we should have gotten better on what is essentially billed as a $15 figure. The paintwork on my Sven looks excellent, although it’s hard to tell if there’s any major flubs on the back.

The articulation has been consistent throughout all the pilots and Sven is no different. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows and knees, and universal movement in the hips. The figure has solid poseability, but once again, should have been better considering the cost.

If you’re really pissed off about Matty’s choice of packaging here, you might consider that they could have really been dicks and put a piece of the Blazing Sword in with Sven so you had no choice but rip it open. As it is, Sven just comes with the extra head and an extra Blue Lion stand/key.

I’m very pleased with Sven, and I think most collectors will be happy with the figure. It’s the packaging that will fuel the drama over this release, but it is what it is. I’ll admit it would have made infinitely more sense to keep a uniform package style for all the pilots and most everyone would have been happy. I appreciate Matty trying to do something special for this sub exclusive figure, but if they were going to go this route they should have ponied up for a re-sealable clamshell package or something, especially since it’s just not feasible or affordable for most collectors to buy a second Sven for opening. Me? I’m happy to hang mine on the wall right behind wherever my Voltron is going to stand. And chances are the rest of the pilots will be in their packages too.

[And that’s it for me this week, folks, I will be back on Monday to start covering the rest of my Matty Collector stuff, including Voltron’s Princess Allura and the Blue Lion and my much anticipated Mirror Master figure from Club Infinite Earths. There will likely be some more bonus updates next week too as I continue to try to get all caught up. –FF]

Green Lion comes in the same half window, half box as the other lions. I loved this package the first time around, but the charm is starting to wear off on me. Don’t get me wrong, it looks great when the toy is MISB, but getting him out without damaging the package is a pain in the arse, and it’s virtually impossible to get him back in the proper way without him just knocking about in there. I’ve taken care to save all three lion packages, but I’m pretty sure once Voltron is complete, I’m going to wind up pitching them. Maybe I’ll just hang onto the white mailer boxes in case I ever want to put the Lion’s into storage.

Out of the box, The Green Lion is the same size as Red Lion, but these guys are certainly not identical twins. I’ve been avoiding pictures of these toys before their release so I was honestly expecting a lot of heavy parts sharing between Red and Green with just a little re-sculpting for good measure. I was pleasantly surprised to see that apart from the legs and tail, the bulk of this figure is either significantly re-worked or brand new. Green Lion has a sleeker, more rounded style than his boxy red brother, which is pronounced enough to make him distinctive but shouldn’t be distracting when he’s paired with Red to serve as Voltron’s arms.

The cockpit in the Lion’s back does open the same way as the Red Lion’s. It splits in half and separates in the middle. The hatch on this one, however, doesn’t lock as well as the Red Lion’s and you really don’t even need to push the button to open it. It does however stay closed and latched pretty well, so I’m not sure if this is a minor QC control issue or just a variation in the strength of the mechanism from the Red to the Green.

Articulation? The Green Lion shares all the good and the bad with the Red Lion. The legs are jointed at the top, middle and foot, but they are each only designed to bend one way and that means you can’t get all the great poses you can get out of some other Voltron sets (*cough* Toynami *cough*). On the other hand, the ratcheting joints are nice and strong and the auto transform feature from Voltron limb back to Lion is still present, like it or not. Limited leg movement aside, my biggest gripe with the articulation is the head. I would have liked a lot more neck movement. All that being said, I think I’ve said before that these lions feel more like 80’s vintage toys than highly poseable collector figures, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Green Lion also comes with his little three-pointed blade weapon. I’m not a big fan of these things, but I’ll give credit for Matty including them. It has two little dimples in the handle to match up with Green’s teeth and he can hold it in his jaw pretty well.

And that’s Green Lion for ya. As with the pilot figures, there are things Matty could have done better here, but overall I’m pretty pleased with him. By now we know what to expect and apart from being a little surprised with the amount of new sculpting, there’s no big differences here between Green and Red. The end the result is kind of a “been there, done that” attitude when I got him out of the package. I suspect the same will be true for the next release, as Blue Lion will have a similar feel to Yellow. Of course, Black Lion will be brand new and have a lot of wow factor because of his sheer bulk, not to mention being the final piece needed to assemble Voltron!

We’ve seen this packaging before, but let’s go through it anyway so I can pad out this feature a bit and pander to the people who weren’t here for the last two pilot figures. Pidge comes in a snazzy little box with a window that shows the figure. Each of the boxes are color coded to each pilot’s lion, so this one is green. The character artwork is pretty solid and the back shows off photos of the figure, the key stand, the C&C Blazing Sword piece, as well as an illustration of how the figure fits into his lion.

The package opens at the top or bottom and allows you to slide out the tray and get at all the goodies. No surprises here. You get the figure with his extra helmeted head mounted beside him. You get the C&C sword piece, in this case it’s part of the blade, and you get the key stand. The package is delightfully collector friendly, which is a big bonus, as I will likely be keeping the figures in these boxes even after I’ve completed assembling the Voltron.

Pidge is tiny! Yes, I expected him to be small, but man he’s small. That’s not a knock against the figure, mind you. Something I love about the way Matty is doing these figures is the way they’re all differently proportioned. Part of me was expecting the same body on all of them, including Pidge. Ok, not really, but the point is that while there are a few things I would do differently with these guys, the relative scaling is not one of them. It’s quite perfect. The head sculpts are very well executed and oozing with personality right down to his huge dorky glasses. If you want a great example of why Matty didn’t go with removable helmets on these figures, Pidge is it. There’s no way all that hair would have fit under one!

Matty managed to get the same level of articulation into Pidge’s tiny body. That means you get a ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, universal movement in the hips, and ball jointed knees. The joints don’t quite have the range of motion as the bigger pilots, but for a figure this size, I’m pleased.

Of course, there are a few things I’m not so pleased about, and these are mostly the same gripes I have with the Lance and Hunk figures. The fact that the gun is sculpted onto the belt and not removable still pisses me off. And yes, I’m going to mention it every time I look at one of these guys. The fact that the key stand doesn’t have a sticker on the reverse side really irks me a lot too. At $15 a figure, these things are not a lot to ask for, but obviously, Matty isn’t going to make any running changes halfway through the subscription.

And there you go. I think we all know what to expect from the pilot figures now. If anything, Pidge surprised me a little because of his excellent scale and the way the articulation wasn’t sacrificed too much for it. I like these figures well enough, but when you consider their cost, Matty should have put a little more into them. Collectors may find this sentiment to be especially the case with Pidge because he is indeed so small for a figure with a fifteen dollar pricetag. Either way, I’m happy to have the third member of Lion Force in my collection. Tomorrow, we’ll check out Pidge’s ride.

*Big Fucking Voltron!