50 Fun Facts About Voltron

In Voltron: Legendary Defender, which character is revealed to have been the Black Lion's original Paladin?

Zarkon flew the Black Lion ten thousand years before the series begins, as one of Voltron's first Paladins. That old bond lets him track the heroes' castle across space.

Which Paladin of Voltron: Legendary Defender enrols at a space academy under a false name to find a missing family?

Pidge is really Katie Holt, who posed as a boy called Pidge Gunderson to get into the academy. She is eventually reunited with both her brother and her father.

Which signature weapon does Voltron wield in every version of the franchise once the five lions have combined?

Blazing Sword is Voltron's weapon in every series, formed once the lions lock together. The 2011 sequel Voltron Force paired it with a second weapon, the Blazing Katana.

Which star of The Walking Dead voices Keith across all eight seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Steven Yeun, Glenn in The Walking Dead, voiced Keith from 2016 to 2018. His castmate Norman Reedus dropped in too, voicing the bounty hunter Rolo in the first season.

What kind of animal is Kaltenecker, the pet two Paladins bring home from a space mall in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

A cow is what Kaltenecker turns out to be: she was given away free with a video game system bought at the mall.

Which part of the combined robot does the Black Lion form in both 1984's Voltron and Legendary Defender?

Head and torso come from the Black Lion, flown by the team's commander. The other four lions each fold up into a single arm or leg.

Which streaming service released all eight seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender as an original animated series?

Netflix launched the reboot in June 2016 with a triple-length opening episode. The service had committed to 78 episodes, and the story ended in December 2018.

Which toy company released a buildable classic Voltron in 2018 after a fan's design won public backing?

Lego put fan Leandro Tayag's design into production as an Ideas set, released in August 2018 just as Legendary Defender reached its final seasons.

Which leader of Team Voltron returns from Galra captivity with a weaponised prosthetic arm in Legendary Defender?

Shiro spent a year as a Galra prisoner, forced to fight in the arena, before his escape pod crashed back home. He goes on to fly the Black Lion.

Which small animals share Princess Allura's sleep pod for 10,000 years in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Mice slept beside the princess and woke with a mental link to her. Her space mice go back to the 1984 cartoon, where they end up flying a tiny robot of their own.

Which original Blue Lion pilot dies in the source anime but is merely sent to a hospital planet in Voltron?

Sven is stabbed in episode six, and new dialogue sends him away to recover where the original gave him a hero's burial. Princess Allura takes over his lion.

Which villain takes over the Galra Empire in Voltron: Legendary Defender while his father lies in a coma?

Lotor steps in as acting emperor in season three, backed by his own team of half-Galra generals. Tim Curry voiced the same prince in the 1998 CGI sequel.

In the 1984 Voltron cartoon, which planet does Princess Allura rule and the five lion pilots defend?

Arus is Allura's world in the American cartoon. The Japanese original called it Altea, the name Legendary Defender later gave her lost homeworld.

What name does Voltron give the giant monsters that the witch Haggar creates to attack the heroes' planet?

Robeasts are Haggar's creations in the 1984 cartoon and Legendary Defender alike. The source anime knew them as Beast Fighters.

Which member of Team Voltron ends Legendary Defender by founding a culinary empire to bring worlds together?

Hunk was his academy team's engineer, a gentle giant with an appetite to match. He never changes lions in eight seasons.

Which of Voltron's five robots does Keith fly at the start of Legendary Defender, the one Lance piloted in 1984?

Red Lion is the fastest of the five and forms Voltron's right arm. In Legendary Defender it refuses to bond with Keith until he has proven himself.

Voltron: Legendary Defender's showrunners made their names on which Nickelodeon series and its sequel?

Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel, The Legend of Korra, trained much of the crew. The Korean studio that animated Korra drew Voltron's new adventures too.

Which secret Galra resistance group does Keith leave Team Voltron to work with in Legendary Defender?

Blade of Marmora agents spy on the empire from within, and a knife from his mother marks Keith as one of them. He ends the series turning the group into a relief organisation.

Which undercover Galra agent does Keith discover is his mother in season five of Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Krolia is working undercover as a warlord's second-in-command when Keith is sent to help her. Mother and son then spend two years together in the time-warped quantum abyss.

Which voice actor narrated the 1984 Voltron cartoon and also played Coran, the royal adviser?

Peter Cullen, the original voice of Optimus Prime, was Voltron's narrator and Coran. He returned for the franchise's 1986 television special, playing six roles.

Which Altean alchemist becomes Voltron: Legendary Defender's final villain, tearing realities apart to find her family?

Honerva is the true identity of the witch Haggar, her memory wiped by the same corruption that twisted her husband. The source anime used the name for its own witch.

Which Galra commander leads the invasion of the Paladins' home planet in season seven of Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Sendak is the first commander sent after the lions in episode one. He later splits from the empire to lead a faction called the Fire of Purification.

Which Altean king, Princess Allura's father, scatters the lions across the universe to keep Voltron from the Galra?

Alfor split Voltron apart as his planet fell, hiding four of the lions on distant worlds. He lives on in the castle as an artificial intelligence that advises his daughter.

Which energy drawn from living planets powers both ships and magic in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Quintessence is the life energy the Galra Empire drains from whole planets to fuel its fleets. Overexposure to it is what corrupted the emperor and his wife.

Which space academy, its name borrowed from the 1984 cartoon, expels Keith before Voltron: Legendary Defender begins?

Galaxy Garrison kicked Keith out despite his being the best pilot of his generation. In the 1984 cartoon the name belonged to the heroes' command headquarters, not a school.

Which New Zealand comedian voices the excitable royal adviser Coran in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Rhys Darby, the band manager Murray in Flight of the Conchords, voiced Coran. Younger versions of the adviser were played by Finn and Theo Darby.

Which Adventure Time voice actor, the voice of Finn, plays Lance in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Jeremy Shada is best known as Finn and as Lance. He has also performed with his brother Zack in the pop-punk band Make Out Monday, formed in 2014.

Which Hollywood company produced the reboot Voltron: Legendary Defender alongside World Events Productions?

DreamWorks Animation announced the reboot in January 2016, in the same batch of new series as Guillermo del Toro's Trollhunters. Its robot fights in CGI while the characters stay hand-drawn.

Which South Korean animation house, founded in Seoul in 2010, drew all eight seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Studio Mir takes its name from the Soviet space station, chosen by its founder for the collaborative spirit it stood for. It began with just 20 animators.

In the 1984 Voltron cartoon, the lion pilots are first captured and held prisoner on which villains' homeworld?

Planet Doom is where the heroes break out of captivity before they ever find the lions. The Japanese original called the same world Galra, a name Legendary Defender revived for its empire.

Which Japanese company shipped the wrong robot anime to American producers, a mix-up that gave Voltron its lions?

Toei Animation was asked for a different series with a lion robot and sent GoLion by mistake. The producers preferred it and adapted it instead.

Which unrelated Japanese anime supplied the footage for Vehicle Voltron, the second season of the 1984 series?

Armored Fleet Dairugger XV gave Voltron its fifteen-vehicle robot, but it never matched the lions' popularity. The producers then paid for 20 brand-new lion episodes.

Which producer created Voltron by cutting together two unrelated Japanese robot anime for American television?

Peter Keefe licensed the two shows in 1983 and toned down their violence for American children. His New York Times obituary credited Voltron with preparing the way for anime in the United States.

Which cable channel premiered Voltron Force, the 2011 sequel that added three young cadets to the team?

Nicktoons launched Voltron Force in June 2011, with cadets Daniel, Vince and Larmina training under the original pilots. It ended after one season, its planned second never made.

Which award did the 1998 CGI sequel Voltron: The Third Dimension win for its sound editing?

A Daytime Emmy for sound editing went to the series in 1999. The same year its sound team earned only a nomination at the Golden Reel Awards.

What name is given to the shape-shifting weapon each Paladin carries in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Bayard is the weapon Allura hands each Paladin, and it takes a different form for every owner, from a rifle to an energy cannon. Used inside a lion, it unlocks a weapon for Voltron too.

The Galra capture a human expedition at the start of Voltron: Legendary Defender on which distant moon?

Kerberos, a tiny moon of Pluto discovered only in 2011, is where the three explorers vanish. Back home they are presumed dead, which sets one determined cadet searching for them.

Which toy company imported the die-cast Voltron lion robots from Popy of Japan in 1984?

Matchbox brought over the Japanese die-cast toys, and also sold cheaper six-inch robots that could not split into separate lions.

In GoLion, the anime behind Voltron, the pilots come home to find Earth destroyed by what, a backstory the dub cut?

A nuclear war has wiped out humanity by 1999 in the original, and the returning pilots are enslaved soon after. Voltron swapped in a peaceful exploration mission to a distant planet.

In the 1984 cartoon, Vehicle Voltron's fifteen pilots are divided into three teams named after which trio?

Land, Sea and Air teams each merge five vehicles into a larger fighter, and all fifteen together form Voltron. This version could only fight for five minutes at a time.

Which name was given to the planned third Voltron, three humanoid robots that never aired but reached toy shops?

Gladiator Voltron would have adapted yet another unrelated anime as a third season. Viewers so preferred the lions that the producers scrapped it and ordered new lion episodes instead.

Which Galra homeworld in Voltron: Legendary Defender is named after the emperor of the original Japanese anime?

Daibazaal borrows the name of GoLion's tyrant, the character the American dub renamed. In Legendary Defender the planet is destroyed to seal a rift, the grievance that starts the war.

Which voice actress, also Ashley Williams in Mass Effect, plays Princess Allura in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Kimberly Brooks is also Luna of the Hex Girls in Scooby-Doo and Barbara Gordon in the Batman: Arkham games.

Which voice actor played commander Keith in the 1984 Voltron cartoon and again in the 1998 CGI sequel?

Neil Ross doubled up in the original, voicing the youngest pilot as well as the commander. In the CGI sequel he also played the computer intelligence Amalgamus.

World Events Productions, which brought Voltron to America, grew out of a television station in which Midwestern city?

KPLR-TV aired a current-events programme called World Events, which gave the company its name. The St. Louis station had been started by the father of the company's founder, Ted Koplar.

Which self-chosen nickname actually sticks to Lance among the Paladins in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Sharpshooter suits Lance because he is a skilled marksman whose weapon takes the form of a rifle. His other pick for himself never caught on.

Which human-built battleship turns into a giant robot and merges with Voltron late in Legendary Defender?

The Atlas was built on Earth with Altean data a rescued scientist brought home, and it is powered by a crystal formed from the heroes' lost castle.

What nickname is given to the teleporting wolf that Keith adopts in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

Kosmo is a blue space wolf that Keith and his mother find in the quantum abyss. His teleporting later whisks Keith out of a Druid's trap.

Which voice actress played both Princess Allura and the witch Haggar in the 1984 Voltron cartoon?

B.J. Ward voiced heroine and villain alike, and came back as both in the 1998 CGI sequel. In the franchise's 1986 television special she played five characters.

Which planet-sized creature, mined by the Galra for crystals, does Allura revive in Voltron: Legendary Defender?

A Balmera is a petrified living world whose crystals power Altean ships. Allura revives a dying one with an ancient Altean ritual, helped by the Balmerans who live inside it.