The LEGO galaxy is about to get its very own official version of Voltron.
When len_d69’s custom Voltron set hit LEGO Ideas a year ago, you just knew that the project would get the 10,000 votes needed for official consideration and that LEGO would give it a green light. How could they not? For one thing, the timing was right. Nostalgia for the ’80s is on the rise and the Voltron: Legendary Defender anime series is doing well on Netflix. Most importantly, the set design is absolutely fantastic.
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It appears that LEGO knows a good thing when they see it as the Voltron set has been approved for production!
The original LEGO Ideas design called for a set of five separate lions, each with their own articulation. Like the fictional robot, the lions could then be combined to transform into a 16-inch tall Voltron that weighs in at around two pounds.
Whenever an Ideas set is approved for production, it gets streamlined by LEGO to make it more practical for commercial release. Usually, this means making adjustments to the number of pieces in the set and/or adjusting the design to make it more functional and structurally sound. At this point, no information has been released regarding changes, but I have to imagine that the final product will look much like the prototype. I certainly hope that they don’t make it any smaller. Voltron toys are best when they’re big.
That said, the LEGO Voltron set will probably contain more pieces and be on the pricier side of the company’s offerings. Then again, I was pleasantly surprised with the recent release of the NASA Apollo Saturn V Rocket set, which was also a graduate of the LEGO Ideas program. That set measured over three feet in height and clocked in at 1,969 pieces for a fairly reasonably price of $120. The downside is that the set flew off the shelves at that price into the hands of collectors and resellers. Currently, you would have a hard time finding the set for under $200. I would expect the Voltron set to have a similar fate when it’s released next year. Check out the gallery below for more pics of the prototype set.
[via io9]