Voltron: Legendary Defender Trailer, My Thoughts

A while back, it was announced that Netflix was going to revive the 1980s series Voltron, which was created from the anime known as Beast King GoLion. I gave my thoughts on that announcement here. Long story short, I was excited. I discovered Voltron thanks to it playing on Toonami many years ago, and I have seen the Third Dimension series. I remember the lions being able to assume "stealth" forms for that series.

Anyway, the new series has itself a little trailer.

I could not wait to watch this thing. The first thing I noticed was how bright and colorful it was. That was a good sign. It felt like an updated take on the original, so that was nice. The people who did Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series The Legend of Korra, and that style is clearly seen here.

Watching the trailer, I noticed a bit of humor in the interactions between the lion pilots, and I thought that was another good sign. I had heard that this take was going to be a bit darker, which honestly did make me concerned a bit. To me, Voltron should be a fun series, it should not get excessively grim and gritty. This trailer, however, has alleviated a lot of my fears. It seems to be a mature take on the Voltron mythos, while also not being afraid to have some fun. Voltron should be a fun series.

We also got a brief glimpse of Witch Haggar and the main villain, King Zarkon. I couldn't really judge their looks as we don't seen them completely fully, but I do think they are going for a bit of a Thanos vibe with Zarkon. What I'm wondering is, will be see Prince Lotor? There was no mention of him in the cast so far, so I guess he won't be appearing in the series. That's a shame. I'd love to see how the series handled him and his obsession with Allura.

I also loved the appearance of the Blue Lion. I think the Lion is supposed to be CGI. Some may have some issues with the Lions being CGI with everything else being done with traditional 2D, but honestly, I did not see it as very jarring. The Lions and Voltron look great.

The Lion Pilots also encounter a woman who might possibly be this series' Allura. She looks really neat. I wonder who role she'll play, since I doubt she'll be piloting a Lion. Maybe she'll be the Mission Control for the Voltron Force.

We also get a brief glimpse of the Voltron Force's uniforms. I love their designs. It's a great update of the original Voltron Force suits, and I do like that the pilots' colors match the Lions they pilot. That was something that always drove me nuts about the original Voltron Force was their uniforms' colors not matching their Lions' colors. I also like the fact they appear to be armored. Does this mean we'll be seeing the Force do more hand-to-hand combat in the series a la Super Sentai/Power Rangers? Guess we'll see.

And in one final little freeze-frame bonus, the Blazing Sword lives up to it's name. It literally will bring the heat. Awesome. Nothing better than slashing a Robeast in half with a flaming sword.

All in all, this trailer has got me excited. I can't wait to watch this series next month!