Voltron Classics - PRINCESS ALLURA!

Voltron: Defender of the Universe - Voltron Classic Princess Allura - Mattel 2012

I have such powerful childhood memories related to Voltron.  Those colorful robotic cats had little 6-year-old me geeking out way before He-Man, ThunderCats, or G.I.Joe ever caught my eye.  At the same time, I was too young to get many of the original action figures.  When I finally got them all as an adult, my standards had elevated and the blobby, minimally-articulated figures were a little underwhelming.  Then the angels at Mattel revealed this wonderfully retro line to satisfy all my nostalgic impulses.  I was beyond ecstatic.  Then I suffered a major setback when they changed the release plan last minute and suddenly the figures weren't available separately from the cats.  I just couldn't afford the $300 set at the time and I was really let down.  It took me two years to finally get the pilots (sans cats) at a decent price.  Luckily I found a seller who just want the collect-n-connect "Blazing Sword."  Then of course I needed to resort to China eBay sellers to get extra bodies to display the alternate heads.  My first world problems are ridiculous I know, but it all pays off when I have my little beauties all lined up.  Let's check out Allura!

Voltron: The Third Dimension - HAGGAR THE WITCH!

Voltron: The Third Dimension - Haggar the Witch - Trendmasters 1999

Sometimes there's nothing worse than a bad reboot of a property that you love.  Voltron: The Third Dimension was a CGI continuation of the 1985 animated Voltron series done in the style of ReBoot and Transformers: Beastmasters.  Maybe it's just early CGI that I have an issue with, because in researching this review, I discovered that this show received a decent amount of awards during its brief tenure.  I just have trouble watching it.  One positive note though was really cool character designs and some fantastic toys.  Just the Stealth Voltron and Voltrex the dinosaur Voltron were enough to win me over, let alone the human characters.  I loved how all the pilots now had cat-shaped helmets, and that Allura was now wearing blue instead of pink.  But most of all, I loved this toy of Haggar.  Haggar's look in the show seemed to be almost identical to the original design, but I figure at some point in the series she transformed into this "Sorceress of Doom."  I love the look of this figure and her cool face-changing action feature.

Vintage Goodness: Voltron's HAGGAR THE WITCH!

Voltron: Defender of the Universe - Haggar the Witch - Panosh Place 1984

I can still remember my first reaction to Voltron like it was yesterday.  I grew up in the boonies with three staticy television channels.  One year we all spent the Summer with my Dad on an army base.  There we had an apartment with air-conditioning and cable (both were luxuries I didn't know existed).  I remember eating cereal on one of the first mornings there and my Mom turned on the TV in the middle of an episode of Voltron.  I was instantly intrigued.  Multi-Colored heroes who rode gigantic robot cats?!  A princess who is friends with a bunch of alien-looking mice?!  Blue-skinned bad guys in space?!  and.. wait.. what?  The lions are assembling?!  This can't be.  My 7-year-old mind was blown.  I became obsessed and was showered with Voltron toys that Christmas.  I won't even mention my reaction when I discovered Vehicle Voltron either.  Haggar was the typical cackling evil sorceress I had come to expect from my villainy.  Truly a classic 80s baddie.  Let's check her out below!