[Gwi-jang] Zoid-Voltron Yellow Lion

 

Today, let's talk about the production history of Voltron. World Events Production (WEP) staff and their president, Ted Koplar, attended an international programming convention in Caan, France where they saw footage of some Japanese anime series. They thought that, if we translate and localize these, it's going to be a hit in North America. So they struck a deal for 3 series - Daltanius, Albegas, and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV. The Japanese production, however, mistakenly sent over Beast King GoLion instead of Daltanius. This might be because WEP asked for the one with the lion, so the Japanese thought it was GoLion that they requested. (Daltanius is a robot with a big a** lion head on its chest). Another rumor is that since the GoLion series is newer, the Japanese decided to send the newest show to the Americans. Ted Koplar viewed the GoLion series, liked it, and decided to proceed with the Voltron series with it. Now that is the definition of how a mistake becomes a blessing in disguise.

The original Japanese show is full of gore, sex, and violent scenes, which obviously are not suitable for American audiences. So the studio edited it all out and went an extra mile to remove anything related to the Japanese culture - Japanese texts, chopsticks, anime-style facial expressions, word balloons, etc. These efforts ensure that it is suitable for the audience, to satisfy the broadcasters, and in some way to convince the children that watched the show that it is indeed American-made.

The papercraft template is for the Yellow Lion, the final one for the Zoid-Voltron by Gwi-Jang, and the stand for the completed papercraft model, which you can download below.