Generation 1 Transformers and Voltron Lion Force

Cliffjumper, commence countdown! Five, four,

three, two, one! Thank you Megatron for that

awesome introduction as always. This is TFG1Mike

and before Toycast 84 starts, just want to say

you guys are going to hear a couple of themes

before the actual episode starts. One is the

TFG1 theme from 1984, the Season 1 theme, and

also the Voltron theme, seeing as how this episode

is Transformation Voltron Nation. So you're going

to hear those next and then we'll get into the

episode. The Transformers. More than meets the

eye. The Transformers. From days of long ago,

from uncharted regions of the universe comes

a legend. The legend of Voltron. As Voltron's

legend grew, peace settled across the galaxy.

On planet Earth, a galaxy alliance was formed.

Together with the good planets of the solar system,

they maintained peace throughout the universe.

Until a new horrible menace threatened the galaxy.

Voltron was needed once more. This is the story.

of the super force of space explorers. Specially

trained and sent by the Alliance to bring back

Voltron, Defender of the Universe. Oh yeah, she

wasn't wearing a blue dress. Yeah, you weren't

even wearing a dress in that picture. I should

have never asked. I'm too tired for this. Actually,

I think that in the blue dress, that might have

been my sister. Okay. Oh, wait a minute. You're

talking about my niece. Oh, okay. That's creepy.

Yeah. They think I'm 12? I don't know. I saw

it in passing. He just saw it in passing. Oh

sure. Hello and welcome to episode 84 of Toycast.

I am your host D .O .G. and Mike and joining

me is Abdebatimus. Hello sir. Hi, how are ya?

I'm Spada. Tired. So this is episode 84. Episode

84 is going to entail the three of us talking

about Transformers, and then later on in the

episode, Spada and I are going to talk about

Voltron toys. Yes, so Spada, how have you been,

sir? I'm tired. Besides that... I think he's

asleep. I'm doing well. Besides being exhausted,

I am doing well. That's very good. And how is

everybody's Christmas and New Year? It is now

2011, all that good stuff. God, I feel so old.

Just imagine, you'll be 31 later this year. Fuck

you. Hey, I'll be 31 in February. Fuck you, buddy.

32 in November. 33 in November. You old fart.

No kidding. Hey, but you're getting married this

year, so that's something to look forward to.

Yeah. okay he says that while his fiance smacks

him upside the head no she can't hear you guys

they love you you're fantastic you are a wonderful

co -host okay then uh so yes Yeah, my fiance

is 12 years old apparently Yeah, let's not let's

not go there in this if only ultra Magnus were

still doing unsolved mysteries That would be

rather All right, so we are here to talk about

me do what I'm saying then yes Yes, we can hear

you. Yes. You will be on the internet with this.

This isn't the first time she's gotten into the

recording, so... I believe it. I believe it.

So yes, episode 84 is going to be a combination

of Transformers and Voltron. In the Transformers

segment, we are going to be specifically talking

about the 1984 -85 Generation 1 lines. Pretty

much... giving overall impressions, what we were

like when we were kids, begging our parents to

buy us these overly expensive toys. Of course,

nowadays they're four times that much. So, I

guess I'll start with, my mom maintains the fact

that I had an Optimus Prime when I was a kid,

the G1 Optimus Prime. I do not remember having

Optimus Prime. I don't ever remember having Optimus

Prime. I remember having Blaster and all his

cassettes. I remember having, uh... Oh, God.

I had Astro Train. I had Blitzwing. For some

strange reason, I had Laserbeak without Soundwave.

I don't know how the hell that happened. And

I had a lot of, like, weird characters that nobody

really knows. I don't know. Think I had a I don't

know if this was ever made, but I seem to remember

having a green tank resembling warpath, but I

don't know That could be another toy line. I'm

not sure so in tank yeah, yeah, I Remember having

a green tank that turned into a robot, but I

Like I said it might not have been transformers

ball Could have been yeah brawl was a green tank

That's the only green tank that I can think of.

Yeah, that probably was it. I had a buddy of

mine who had Soundwave in all his cassettes,

and my buddy had Soundwave in all his cassettes.

I had some of the Autobots, and he had almost

all the Decepticons. And I so wanted Soundwave,

I tried stealing it from him a couple of times.

Always wanted a I always wanted shockwave and

I never got I can never get a hold of them Never

get shockwave, but I had all the mini cars from

the original series and Prime I never had any

of the bigger car. I know I take that back. I

had wheel jack And he was the only one of the

cars that I ever got a hold of but I had a Skywarp

and Megatron from the original toy line. I didn't

have a lot of them, but I don't know how I ended

up with all the mini cars except for Bumblebee.

Actually, no, I did not have Bumblebee and Cliffjumper.

I had all of them, but those two. I had Bumblebee,

Cliffjumper. I missed out on a lot of them. I

didn't have Jazz. I didn't have Mirage. I had

multiple versions of Gold Bug. Well, he's not

from the original line. He's from true true.

He's from later, but I did have mirage. I do

remember mirage And that's it I never had sound

like I always wanted the sound wave but no one

could ever find him Sound wave or shockwave both.

Oh You could not find them in my in my area at

the time I can honestly say That I don't remember

my parents ever Buying me a transformer. I don't

remember ever being given one that was Still

in its package all the transformers that I ever

got Were from this I grew up in a small town

in Michigan and in the town next to us every

Saturday and Sunday They had this huge flea market

that it was outdoors It was just, I mean just

a massive amount of junk. And I can remember

getting every Transformer that I've ever owned

from that place. So I never had like a complete,

I mean I had Optimus Prime, he didn't have a

trailer, it was just Optimus Prime. I had several

of the Minibots, several of the Cassettes. Figures

the very small ones. I remember having what are

you sure made up for it? My girlfriend is now

teasing me There was there was never a real transformer

that I can honestly say that I remember Being

given I mean everything that I got was some kind

of a hand -me -down I Don't remember how I got

him, but I had Megatron I never transformed him,

though. You just kept him as a gun? Yeah. You're

psychotic. No. I looked at the instructions.

We tried a couple of times. Things would not

go where they were supposed to go. And I just

said, screw it. I'll just leave it like a gun,

because it had that really, really awesome Decepticon

symbol on the barrel on the butt of the gun.

I'm a stock, yeah. You know, it's funny you mentioned,

you mentioned can't, couldn't transform something.

One of my coworkers actually, uh, his nephew

likes transformers and he was talking to me after

the Christmas break and he's like, yeah, he got

a couple of these things and he can't transform

them at all. He's like six. He can't do it. He

turned to me, he's like, can you transform? He's

like, I had to pull up one of your videos and

figure out how to transform it. That's good.

At least you're getting viewership from that.

I am fulfilling a public service. Transformers

nowadays are vastly different than... I mean,

I remember as a kid having these things in my

hands, and I could transform them with no problem.

It was always, you know, my parents would always

marvel at the fact that I would never have to

need any kind of instruction, and not even necessarily

transformers. But I remember getting, like for

example, the technodrome. I got that given to

me for a Christmas present when I was a kid.

And I put that thing together without looking

at any instructions. And my parents were just

marveled. They're like, you know, like, if my

sister got something, they would hand it to me

and say, here, put it together for your sister.

Because I could do it. It was amazing. Nowadays,

I mean, I get comments on some of my videos,

like the Revenge of the Fallen Leader Optimus

Prime, where recently, you know, parents have

gotten this for their kids, and they're young

kids. I mean, they're less than 10 years old.

And they're like, thank you so much for this

video. We couldn't figure out how to do it at

all. I've had that quite a bit. It's really scary,

especially with some of the more, I mean, especially

with the Revenge of the Fallen line, especially

with that one. Some of those figures are just,

they're ridiculous. I mean, you look at Mixmaster.

I still refuse to review him because I can't

transform him. I have the directions that I can't

transform him correctly. Yeah. I look at the

instructions and I'm like, I can't figure this

out. I've watched countless videos on it, and

I'm not comfortable enough transforming him enough

to do a review of the thing. I think he is harder

than Leader Prime. Oh, I would definitely agree

with that. Yeah. Well, back in 84, 85, I mean,

the majority of them... They hadn't come up with

ball joints yet. No, yeah, exactly mention of

a bulger. I mean when you think about it every

transformer, you know from eighty four to God

eighty eighty six eighty seven. I mean for free

be stores. Yeah, every everything was Pulled,

you know, I mean here's the transformation process.

It would either pull rotate Swivel or swivel

or just slide out? I mean, that was the transformation

for every Transformer up until Beast Wars. Or

Disassemble. Like Omega Supreme. Or the Action

Masters. Yeah. So the invention of the ball joint

has really fucked everything up. And then I think

you had a lot of craziness with Beast Wars. And

let's face it, there was some origami going on,

and then Robots in Disguise came out. And then

it's like, you look at Sideburn and Red Alert

and Wild Rider, and it's like, oh dear god, his

arm is turning inside out and going up his butt

pipe? What? Yeah. I mean, it's amazing. When

you look at these toys in the early part of the

80s, and like I said, it's not even necessarily

just Transformers. A lot of the toys back then

were very simplistic, and it's hilarious. You

also have to realize that all of these figures

from the first two waves of a... But for the

most part for the first two waves of transformers

were all from series in the late 70s and early

80s So you're talking about figures that had

already been in other markets, right? The entirety

of the first wave of Autobots and Decepticons

were from Diaclone And then in 85, you've got

some Microman, there was a Whirl and Roadbuster

from a series that I can't pronounce. The Jumpstarters

were from another series. uh... as jackie i specifically

remember having the jump starters and i think

that the market fire it was from robo tech right

you've got bandai figures in here of the insecticons

were from diet cloning break the original box

but i don't know i don't know what's were from

diet cloned anything that door that can fit some

money but it's tiny little figure was from diet

cloned uh... megatron was from microman so shockwave

and and just It's like, OK, these are all from

other series. And then in 86, they started using

other, more original molds. But you're right.

The ball joint is really what changed everything.

Yeah. I mean, 86, yeah, because 86 was when all

the... The hot rod and the cyclonus and I mean

all those figures started coming out where they

had to get a little bit more creative But they

were they were still fairly simplistic in their

transformations. I mean, you know, I mean one

of the most Ingenious things I thought was done

on on cup where you could take his arms and you

can fold them and they go up underneath this

chest I'm like wow that you mean I don't have

to just slide his arms out from some from some

spot there there they actually tuck up and do

something if you think about it that was that

that design was way back in the first line with

jazz blue streak and prowl that's true that's

true yep that's where i forgot about those fellas

yeah and then wheel jack also had the unique

uh the unique thing where his arms would fold

up and form the entire back of the vehicle same

with uh sunstreaker yeah i mean these toys were

And everybody always asks, you know, me why I

liked them. And, you know, I mean, obviously

they're robots, boys like robots. And, you know,

boys like cars. And I really think it's a testament

to the whole franchise that it still maintains

one of the... It intrigues people because it's

not only a toy, but it's a puzzle. That you have

to somehow... Get from point A to point B. Right,

exactly. And I think, I mean, that's something

that I still think endears a lot of young boys

in, you know, with Transformers, that they're

able to have some kind of a challenge. And it's

a toy, but it's also, it's a Rubik's Cube. Yep.

And not only that, but you've effectively got

more than one toy. You've got your cool car or

vehicle or truck or rope or beast and then you've

got the equivalent of a GI Joe action figure

Now that's that's kind of disingenuous to say

because a lot of figures do have There are figures

out there that have some real problems with them

Yeah But I mean just overall the 84 85 line,

you know the whole Generation line on a whole

from 85 to 84 to was 87 88 when it finally ended

You know just the whole line, you know back then

like we said well, I would say ended as we knew

it Right. Yeah. Well, I mean generation one is

what I said as far as far as the toy line. So

yeah What no, I was agreeing You know, I mean

back then what like we said earlier, you know,

it was fairly simplistic You had two toys in

one where you know nowadays sometimes I mean

hell if you count the construct icons and Devastator

you've got close to Eight nine toys well all

at once Okay, well If you wanna get technical,

again, if you're bringing math to me at 10 o

'clock at night, I don't think so. Math can go

to hell and die. But I mean, it's one of those

things where it was just amazing that you could,

you know, for however. I remember when I bought

Blaster, he was maybe $14, or when my mom bought

Blaster for me, he was like $14. And she bought

she also bought all the cassettes which at that

time those were like what five four or five dollars

apiece five or six bucks per pack Right and for

blaster there was only two two packs. There was

a steel jaw and ram horn and eject and rewind

So come with anything did he? He came with his

gun, but he didn't come with any cassettes. Cassettes

came later. As opposed to Soundwave, who came

with Buzzsaw, and then you could get a... Frenzy

and Ravage and Rumble and Laser. Well, yeah,

because you got to remember that the cassettes

for Blaster didn't debut until the... Until the

movie. No, I thought they... I thought... No.

Blaster was... Blaster... At least Eject and

Rewind, they didn't come out to the movie. Okay.

Right, yeah, but Ram Hone and Steel John were

in season two of G1. Yeah, I apologize. It's

too much stuff to remember. Yes, we know. But

I mean, my mom bought me Blaster and those two

cassette packs. So you're looking, say, $5 a

piece for the cassette packs and $14 for Blaster.

You're looking at $24 for four toys that transform

into robots from other things. And one of the

things I love about Blaster and Soundwave is

just the fact of such simplistic transformations.

Whereas nowadays, some people like the complex

transformations because it's more of a puzzle

nowadays than it ever was back then. Now, let's

also remember this is $24 in 1986 money. True.

Which should easily be $50 by today's standards.

Right. Yeah. I mean in terms of cost and things,

it's relative when you're comparing it. But you

also have to take a look at some of the quality

that was put into these figures. I mean nowadays

to create a transformer with die cast in it,

that's going to cost you a lot of money. You're

looking at like a deluxe class figure would easily

be $50, $60. Oh yeah. Without a doubt. I mean

so it's it's You know, I mean it the quality

I mean the whole thing they don't make them like

they used to you know, it really applies So to

quote optimist prime die cast construction. It's

a lost art it very much is You know, but it's

you know in terms of those old toys though, I

think that Typically they did a fantastic job

on them. I mean The ones that I think I honestly

think are the worst ones are probably the iron

hide and ratchet figures Well, they don't have

anything I swear it I still look at them today

and it doesn't look like anything Hold on. Let

me look at my reissue My reissue ratchet that

I just got fact for BB that I got from BBTS.

No, they don't have jack shit It looks like an

exploded Volkswagen van thing. I mean, those

are probably the worst ones that I can think

of from the generation one toys. I mean, those

are... I mean, it's not... I mean, I can't fault

them because they just copied it, but it's...

Like those are atrocious you know I have found

is I have gotten older and We have and technology

has moved on It is really hard to go back to

G want to the g1 and some g2 stuff. I love them

They'll always have a place in my heart But I've

just been finding it very very difficult to go

back with the same love that I had when I was,

I mean, even 10 years younger, even when I was

like 20, I've been finding it very difficult

to go back. You know, I... Oh, go ahead, I'm

sorry. I was gonna say for me, I can go back

with, you know, my nostalgia glasses and look

at them like, oh, those were awesome back then.

Yeah. But for today's standards, absolutely not.

I will say, however, the one G1 toy that I absolutely

love the most, I've got them here in my hand,

the one that I can transform with my eyes shut

is Astro Train. I always loved Astro Train as

a kid. I don't know why, but I just, I love this

transformation. There's another one where, you

know, not, I mean, normally we have two toys.

And then you have a puzzle involved. Now you

have three toys in a puzzle. You know, so I mean,

I think, I think that's part of the, you know,

the, the fun factor. And I think triple changers

in general, a lot of people tend to like those.

I don't, I mean, I don't necessarily know why,

but the early ones, I didn't think looked nearly

as bad. I mean, like when you get to like a blitz

wing from animated where You know, to me, like,

one mode is good, one mode is crap, and then

you got his robot mode. And I think with a lot

of triple -changing Transformers now, there's

always, and even, I'm thinking, I'm thinking

of, what the hell is, oh, Octane. You know? Decent

looking airplane mode, his tanker truck mode

looks like a reject. But it's like, you know,

I mean back back in the early toys you got Astro

Train which had a decent looking mode for all

three and Yeah, you know blitzwing back in G1

had a decent looking alt mode for all three and

then it just got retarded Yeah, and especially

with Springer. Springer was very stupid. I hated

that triple changer. I Never liked Springer,

but I always wanted him I never liked Broadside.

No. No. I liked the idea of Sandstorm. Wilbur,

you're big. What? Random Octobonimus House stuff,

what the hell? I liked the idea of Sandstorm,

but I don't think the execution was on that great.

Are you laughing at me again? Why? Well, I'm

sorry, I can't shut up 24 -7. We can put a muzzle

on you, that might help. Oh, you... That's not

going to go over well. Nothing. Nothing. For

my own safety. Anyways, getting back to the topic.

Just to reiterate a point. So guys, I have the

re -release of a re -release of ratchet here

in my hand. G1 ratchet. Give our listeners an

idea of just how weird I'm feeling right now.

The last time I felt I got a hold of this figure,

I was six. That was the last time I ever saw

this figure. That thing back then to me was huge.

I am holding him in my hands now. His robot mode

is no bigger, it's actually smaller. than a Revenge

of the Fallen Scout class figure. You know, it's

funny that you mention that, because that's one

thing that I was going to touch on right before

we got into this whole thing, was that as an

adult, I mean, many people have heard this story

that I haven't collected Transformers for many

years, not since the, and I can't even remember

what they are, or what line they're in. The Optimus

Prime that transformed into a fire truck and

could combine with Ultra Magnus? That would have

been Robots in Disguise. Okay. That I saw. So,

I mean, you're talking about from the time I

was a kid to the time when that came out. That's

when I stopped with the whole Transformers. I

saw those two in the store and I'm like, oh,

those are kind of neat. And I bought them. And

that was my first re -entry back into Transformers.

I, you know, so G1, I never started getting G1

stuff again until two, three years ago. And once

I got these things in my hand and I'm looking

at them, I was like, you know what? I remember

these things being so much bigger. Uh huh. Yeah.

And that's, that's the amazing thing. I mean,

just, just recently I got a three issue jazz

figure. And I'm looking at this thing, and it's

like a skull. It's so small. I mean, it's tiny.

And it's hilarious looking at these through,

you know, the eyes of nostalgia and all that

fantastic stuff. You look at these things and

it's like, really? This is how big? You know

what? I mean, it was really, because I'm looking

at these, I'm like, they had to have shrunk it

or something. That's the size that they were.

It's amazing to look at them now. I'm still trying

to get a hold of a Metroplex reissue. I really

want to get a hold of one of those because that

was one of the only CityBots I had as a kid.

That and Scorponok. And hey, Takara, for the

love of God, start re -releasing some bigger

G1 stuff. Maybe, I don't know... I was just thinking

that exact same one. When I was a kid, again,

it was completely incomplete, but you could put

him into a dinosaur. He didn't have his battery

cover, he didn't have any accessories, nothing.

I want my giant transforming Mechagodzilla, thank

you. What I was going to say is those bigger

ones are the only ones that don't feel small

to me. I know that sounds really weird, but like

the bigger figures like Optimus Prime, Ultra

Magnus, Blaster, Metroplex, which I've gotten

a whole, I don't own one, but I know someone

who does. Omega Supreme, they don't feel tiny.

All of the other G1 figures I've gotten a hold

of just feel so ridiculously small. It's almost

the exact opposite with how they feel. I don't

remember where I got it from, but I got the Encore

Metroplex, I got the Encore Skylinks, I got the

Encore Omega Supreme, and those ones, when I

got them, I was like, wow, these things are big.

I mean, it's the exact opposite. When I got jazz,

I'm like, this thing is tiny. When I got all

the other ones, I'm like, wow, I forgot how big

this actually was. So it's really strange how

that completely flips. I'd be curious because

the one I can really remember having and playing

with a lot when I was a kid was Tripticon. And

I absolutely refused to pay the prices that a

complete Tripticon will go for on eBay. which

says a lot seeing how I'm retarded with my money

when it comes to buying transforms at times.

I mean, it's amazing. It's amazing that I actually

do have some kind of, you know, like I am not

paying $200 for a Tripticon. I mean, I mean,

you know, yet I'll pay $50 for a deluxe. transformer

that's released early. I mean, it's really stupid.

There's some weird logic in my brain that I can't

figure out. My fiance's been trying to figure

out for the past four years and she's still,

unfortunately, unable to figure it out. Good

luck with that. Yeah, it's never going to happen.

I would love, though, to get my hands on a Tripticon

just for the sheer nostalgia of the whole thing.

It's one of those things where it's like I want

to remember whether or not the thing was big

or if it was small. So why don't you let your

fiance buy it for you for your birthday? I don't

want to wait till November. For Valentine's Day?

There you go. For Valentine's Day, you can buy

me a Tripticon. Alright, you gotta give me the

information. She's going to buy you a chocolate

Tripticon. We have created a monster here. It

is. It is recorded on here. You heard it. For

Valentine's Day, she's getting me a trypticon.

Are they, like, $600? I don't know. Trypticon!

Did you guys catch that? Yes. Let me see. Are

they, like, $600? I'm heading over to eBay. Are

they making a big deal out of it because I'm

sweet, or are they making a big deal out of it

because it costs a fortune? No, they're just...

I'm making a big deal out of it because it has

to be the... Geekiest Valentine's Day present

I've ever heard someone give another person Yeah,

they're laughing because it's a very geeky Valentine's

Day present We've moved past geek oh Wow, okay.

Yeah, I don't think my girlfriend wants to get

me this To on here one of the one is three hundred

and forty nine dollars and the other one with

the box is $525. Yeah, I'm only a teacher. Yeah,

she... I mean, I'll keep my eyes open, though.

She can sell some of her students. She can sell

a couple of your students. They'd pay them pretty

well. You could job them out. Why would I want

to sell anything of mine? Okay, we're getting

so off track here. So, what were we talking about?

Did anyone see the Pawn Stars episode where they

were gonna buy that room of transformers? There's

one problem I have with that episode. That was

a good episode. It was a good episode There's

one problem. I have with that clip that guy had

multiples of everything. Yeah, I I seriously

doubt I mean, if you just had one of each of

those, it would probably be closer to $10 ,000.

But he had like four, five, six Power Master

Primes. He had four, five, six Cryptocons. He

had like four, five, or six Fort Maxes, dude.

He had like two Overloads. I don't know. I saw

that. When he said $20 ,000 and then he just

started showing the stuff, I'm like... He's undercutting.

Big times. Yeah. And then he was like, oh, well,

that big two -foot tall one over there would

get you a grand easily, and the box would easily

just get you, you know, $500. Oh, yeah, the guy

who walked in and was looking at it, he walks

in, he's like, yeah, whoa. Oh, yeah, expert.

Yeah. Yeah. What was I you know, I saw when it

first aired, you know a couple months back What

was the reasoning that the guy gave for having

to sell all this? He was his wife was pregnant

and they were having a baby You need that much

money for a baby? No, he needed the room So we

had this in the room. He needed the space. Yeah,

that was baby's room We need you know what we

need to do. We need all three of us We need to

take a trip down to Las Vegas find this dude's

house He just beat him up Beat him up, you know,

leave the baby, obviously, but we'll beat him

up and we'll steal all of his transformers. I

mean, come on. Well, I'm a cruel, heartless bastard.

Why don't we just sell the baby? Oh, you can

pack and steal, I think. Yeah, no, I'm not being

into any kind of human trafficking. Oh, thank

you. I don't mind Transformers trafficking, but

there's no way in hell I'm selling Spike. Oh,

you could, you could. Daniel wouldn't even register

an amount. Probably not. Anyways, what else do

we want to say about the 80 -45 line? Anything,

guys? For the time, they were something truly

unique and something that honestly to this day

is still unique. I mean, there aren't any other

robot toys here in America. That's true. I mean,

I mean, I mean, there are and there aren't. I

mean, this is the I mean, you can get some random

robot toys, but these things here are the definitive,

you know, long lasting Transformers. And with

the movies coming out, it just brings in a new

generation of people that are hopefully going

to appreciate these except for the fact that

Most of these kids that are coming in here now

probably don't even know that some of these things

exist. That's why they have their parents to

teach them. That's why the internet exists. Most

of the parents nowadays aren't even old enough

to know what these are. You get parents that

are 19, 20, 21 years old, they don't know these

original Transformers. Where you get parents

who are future parents who are 33 and live in

California who can teach their kids? Well, that

could happen. Yeah, see exactly, but see I mean

I'm also different Let's not go there So we're

gonna take a quick break and then we will get

into the Voltron section of this episode Do you

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Welcome to part 2 of episode 84 of Toycast. Octobotomus

had to leave us. He had to go... Feed his fish.

Well, I was going to say hunt some ghosts, seeing

as how he got one of the Scaleri brothers recently,

but okay. Play hockey. Yeah, play hockey. There

you go, play hockey. He had to play hooky on

the podcast to go play hockey. Uh, so Spada is

still with me. Um, and this time, I had this

weird idea for a lot of the numbered episodes

in the 80s of Toycast that they would be the

year that Toyline started. So episode 84 is Transformers

and Voltron. What we're gonna focus on specifically

here is Voltron Lion Force. Uh, Spada will speak

a little bit about the vehicle force Voltron,

but let's face it, everyone remembers Lion Force

Voltron. Oh yeah. At least anybody that grew

up in the 80s will remember Lion Force Voltron.

And let us not forget Gladiator Voltron. Anybody

know what that is? No? Oh, okay. No, sorry. I

would absolutely... I remember having some of

the lions, but like the original toy that combined,

I don't remember having all of them at all. I

did not have... There were... there were two

versions of the toy there was the really really

freaking big version that was like 14 inches

tall i didn't have that one i had like an eight

inch tall one yeah that had all the lions and

i had that one and it came with i mean that guy

came with a bunch of accessories for each lion

as well yeah it did It's so good and it was these

toys were awesome these the Voltron toys were

awesome. Just as transformers are awesome Voltron

I think that is it the big one that was the diecast

one or is it the little one that was the diecast

one? They both had some diecast in it the bigger

one had more died more. Yeah, I Don't remember

having it. I don't well I I might have had like

one or two of those lions but as far as having

the whole like all five lions I remember having

the smaller version but I do remember having

a couple of the bigger lions and they were just

awesome yeah a couple of those bigger ones now

I always thought that they all came in sets but

that might not be right always thought that they

came in full sets but after doing some digging

I found that sometimes they were sold into each

line was sold separately which makes no sense

whatsoever you know it doesn't so that one that

was a little weird for me but growing up I had

I had the Lions and it wasn't until I got older

that I got a hold of the vehicle force set. Yeah.

And as much as I love the Lions, I'm, you know,

being a Transformers fan, I kind of dug the vehicle

force because you had 15 different vehicles and

each of those vehicles were split into three

teams of five and each one of those teams could

form Could merge together into a crazy -ass vehicle

you had the sea team the air team and the land

team And the land team was pretty much nothing

more than two Land Rovers with two flying fists

stuck on top all held together by a brick in

the back I always found that to be absolutely

hysterical Yeah, that's that's just so weird

I actually do not remember, like the Lion Force

stuff, I remember the Voltron toys of the lions

and the merging and all that, but I do not remember

the actual individual figures of like Pidge and

Hunk and Keith and Lance and all that, but they

had original figures to them as well. They had

original figures and I never knew anyone that

had them. Yeah. Everyone had the actual Voltron

toy, or the Robeasts. Each of the Robeasts, or

not each of them, but there were a ton of little

Robeast figures, and you could buy an extra coffin

for all the Robeasts as well, which I always

thought was cool. Yeah, that was really, really

cool having, you know, that they made these accessories

Based off of what was on the show and I mean

Voltron You know don't no disrespect to transformers,

but Voltron in 1984 it was everywhere I Mean

they had live stage shows. They had oh my god.

It was just everywhere and just the toys were

just so amazing I think Think I like the black

line the best not just because Keith is the leader

But just because I don't know I like the black

line the best maybe because it forms the head.

I don't know I I think the reason a lot of people

like the black line was it wasn't it didn't just

form the head It was also the biggest you know

by far, and it will always seem to be the most

useful Yeah Because whenever the black lion showed

up it could always just kick the crap out of

anything and then they would form Voltron. Yep

And I mean just going off the cartoon Like oh

like on the cartoon of lion force all of the

different lions had their different powers and

everything else But I don't think those were

very well represented in the toy. No, no, not

at all I mean, they all had different weapons.

Yeah, but You never got a sense that each lion

had a specialty. Right. You never really got

that sense. I think at one point, it was mentioned

that the green lion could fly the fastest. Yeah.

It's like, okay? And if you ever noticed, I might

be missing, this might be wrong, but I could

have sworn in the original show, In the very

first, when the lions first showed up, you had

Sven, Keith, um... Lance. Lance, thank you. Lance,

Hunk and Pidge. Right. And they were all... Keith,

in his red suit, was in the red lion. Lance,

in his blue suit, was in the blue lion. And then

Sven was in his black suit, in the black lion,

and then, you know, Pidge and Honk were... they

never moved. Yeah, no, you're kind of wrong there.

Okay, okay, I am wrong on that one. What the

order is, is Keith had the red suit, but he was

in the black lion. No, Sven was originally in

the black lion. No, he wasn't. Sven was originally

in the blue lion. Was he? Yep. Trust me, I watched

the car - Ah, okay. Keith was in the red lion

because Keith was in the black lion because Keith

was the leader. Sven had the black suit in the

blue lion. Okay, considering that this was originally

a Japanese show called Go Lion, it makes sense

that the leader was red. Okay. Right, yeah. When

I was a kid, I never understood, you're in the

black lion, why are you wearing red? You're you're

in the blue lion. Why are you wearing pink? Well,

okay when when spin went away or when he went

missing cuz we can't say We can't say he died

because in the US cartoons he couldn't die. The

original Go Lion, he died. Right, yes. But in

the US version, he got injured and was taken

back to Earth. I love that. It was so silly.

I know. And the problem with Allura being in

the Blue Lion was they needed someone for the

Blue Lion, but because they also wanted to cater

to girls, they had to have her in a pink uniform.

No, that was a Japanese thing. They were trying

to go off Sentai. And at that point, I believe

just, that was what? GoLion was around, was when?

80? Yeah, I think so. So that would have been...

I'm probably wrong, and I can easily check that

while I'm talking here. but I believe most Super

Sentai, or what would become Power Rangers, at

that point, most of the women were only pink.

There was a few... And let's see, okay, I've

got pictures of all of them up, and I am correct.

From 1975 to 19... Let's see, 1980... 83 -84.

Women were only in pink in Super Sentai. The

end of the 84 -85 series was the first time a

woman was not pink. Keith was wearing a red suit

in the Black Lion. Lance was... wearing the blue

suit and the red lion and then Sven was the black

suit in the blue lion and then Pidge and Hunk

were yellow and green in the yellow and green

lions. Which is kind of funny because Hunk's

uniform is orange. Well, it depends on which

animation studio was doing it because it was

either orange or yellow if you I have the first

two season DVDs and Some episodes it's orange.

Yes some episodes. It's yellow. You know But

I mean these along with a lot of other great

great toy lines that were out in the eighties.

It was just another thing to, like, back then

when I played with toys, I had multiple, like,

I had multiple toys from everything. I remember,

I had a picture that I had taken or that my mom

took or something in 1990. I had one of the villain

cars from Mask, James Bond Jr., Dick Tracy, Captain

Planet, Wheeler, Six different kinds of transformers

standing in front of Castle Grayskull for Christ's

sake Just to just to Follow up on something hunk

was in fact orange, but most of his toys were

yellow. Yep But in the show his lion was yellow

because they specifically said the yellow lion

But his uniform was orange if you look at a pic

if you look at any picture of them in their quote

-unquote Civilian clothes he's always wearing

orange and brown Yeah, orange for the color of

his uniform brown for the color of the sand or

the lion is yeah Yeah But you know these toys

were just amazing for the time that they came

out. They were just awesome Yeah for the time

that they came out they were amazing Now I have

to ask you have you seen the picture of the little

girl cosplaying as Voltron? No Okay, I Just sent

you the Google image link. Oh god Am I gonna

be am I gonna be like so scared? I'm never gonna

do an episode of this podcast again. What possibly

Oh God My god I have to put this in the episode

post. Yes, yes you do. Oh my god. It is several

levels of absolute awesome. Oh my god. That is

so cool. Wow. I mean... If I was a little kid

and my folks said, Hey, we built you a Voltron

costume. I probably would have said, Well, I

wanted it to be Optimus Prime, but this is cool.

Oh my God. That is... Are those plastic lion

arms? Yes. They are plastic. Oh, wow. So it's

not just a cloth. Oh my like like For the people

that can't see this that haven't looked at the

episode post It looks like the the actual body

of where her stomach and her chest is and all

it looks like part of that is cloth But the rest

of it is plastic. Yes, there's cloth in there

for her to move, right? Oh my god that Wow You're

welcome Wow, that's that's awesome when Sony

levels damn They make that suit in 350 pound

size No, no, no, it's defender of the universe

Mike not fat ass Yeah, let's yeah, I'm not gonna

go there but anyway, um But wow, that's that

is awesome. Oh my god. Her parents actually made

her that I think I'm not totally sure but Whoever

made it they deserve like a standing ovation.

Yeah And you're rocking awesome Voltron armored

Yeah, I don't have any clue that is so awesome

Wow, oh man, okay so back to the toys How many

lines did you have as a kid, or do you still

have any of them nowadays? No, because they all

just fell apart. Yeah, that was the problem with

the Voltron stuff. After a while, after a few

years of aging, regardless if the diecast was

done good originally, especially after use, after

playing with them, they would fall apart fairly

easily. Well, the big problem that they had,

the diecast had... What today is called Gold

Plastic Syndrome. Yep. A lot of it had Gold Plastic

Syndrome. I mean, this stuff would just fall

apart. And let's face it, when you're five, six,

you don't exactly take care of your toys all

that well. Yeah, no. Exactly. That's so hilarious.

Oh, man. But yeah, I loved Voltron. I loved the

cartoon for what it was. I mainly loved like

the first 10 episodes of the cartoon of Lion

Force because it gives you that whole backstory

of them. We actually already covered Voltron

over on Tooncast. I believe it was episode four.

Of tune cast or recovered that so Yeah, overall.

I mean if you I don't know I don't think does

would Voltron have a transformers like Market

on eBay today like going for no thousands and

thousands of dollars That's how you know that

I don't think so, but that's not to say that

it doesn't like premium Premium anything. Yeah,

like if it's mint in sealed box, you know, right?

Yeah, it's gonna get it's gonna get some money,

but just checking out Well, let's see the limited

-edition Chogokin diecast Loach low law lion

-bot Voltron masterpiece, which was released

a few years ago Like two or three years ago was

going for $400 right now on eBay But you're looking

at a hundred a hundred fifty for a complete set

Yeah, I just found a listing on eBay for the

1984 Voltron with weapons complete says great

shape I don't know which which one it is for

$189 .99 or best offer And then there's a complete

set for I mean the complete sets are going for

something, but the loose sets aren't really going

for much Yeah, and I have to say this because

I just have to I know it isn't a ripoff but When

I first saw Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and

I first saw the Megazord complete, I was like,

wait, that's just Voltron, live action. I said

the same thing. And I'm not giving any disrespect

to Voltron or anything else, Gold Lion or Sentai

or whatever, or Power Rangers. Like, I love Power

Rangers, but, you know, it was the first thing

that popped in my head was, oh my god, a live

-action Voltron! That's... You're not alone.

Mean because it's specifically the chest the

head and the two legs of the original Megazord

the two legs the original Megazord I mean outside

the fact that they're not lions same colors.

It's yellow and blue now yellow and green for

a bulge Oh, yeah, you're right yellow and blue

with legs green green and red were the arms But

yeah, overall, Voltron toys kicked ass back in

the day. You know, if you're on a nostalgia kick

and you remember, you know, having Voltron toys,

try to seek some of them out. Like I said, I

seek the toys out. The show doesn't exactly age

all that well. Well, it's not bad. It's still

fun, but it's it's definitely. It was let's put

it this way. I think it was done in the same

style as speed racer. Oh No, it's much better

than speed racer. Oh, I would say it's better

It the animation still has the same look to it

Yeah, I guess and again they were kind of going

off of the goal lion footage I mean they did

create some new footage for for Voltron Lion

Force, but I mean, for 1984 standards of animation,

the show's pretty good. One of the reasons why

I love the show so much is the fact that, hello,

it's Peter Cullen doing the, we'll be back after

these messages. I was so shocked. The intro.

Yep. Yep. Which, if that does not appear in this

episode... Oh, believe me. Okay, believe me I

have plans I have to figure out how I'm going

to work in the transformer stuff and the Voltron

stuff to mesh Well, I think what I'm probably

going to do is right after the intro of the show

Which people would have already heard I'm gonna

have the transformers thing saying we'll be back

to transformers after this and I'm gonna have

a bunch of transformers commercials Like maybe

one or two transformer toy commercials and then

the Now back to Tre - Yeah, believe me, I have

a plan. Okay, good. I have a plan. Alright, so

I think we're gonna go to the outro unless you

have anything else you wanna bring up. Nope,

I am good, sir. Alright, we're gonna go to the

outro for episode 84. Voltron will be back after

these messages. Connected! Infracell up! Megathrusters

are... I'm older than you. He said Grandpa Spada.

What the hell? Well, you know. What's up, Billy?

Quick, Mike. Yes. So thank you for joining us

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name five oh two five two six five eight two

one We hope you enjoyed this episode of toy cast

I wish you'll join us next time when up to bottom

us will be returning with me and Joining us will

be optimus solo From behind the voice actors

comm telecast and tune cast when we're talking

about mask thundercats and silver hawks For now,

I am TF2 and Mike with the Sleepy Spada and Optibotamus.

Thank you for listening. Until next time. Sleepy

Spada the Bolt Matrix, dammit. Whatever, same

thing. You know what I meant. Yes, I know. Why

is her head so big? It just looks weird because

it was covering her body. She looked like a big

giant bobblehead.