Voltron: From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration (Voltron: Defender of the Universe) Hardcover – October 28, 2014

This review is for you technical manual fans out there. Volton was a cartoon that really inspired the imagination of many of us when it was released in the U.S. back in the 80's. When I first saw this book I was less interested in reading about the history of the show and how it came to be and more interested in learning about the nuts and bolts of the famed robots. Now this book isn't anywhere in the same caliber as one would expect from a technical guide or manual. However for this franchise this is the best source you can get to.So what do you get? For the first season of Voltron (the robot lions) you get some technical information on how the lions form together. More to the point an explanation of what dynatherms and interlock references mean that you keep hearing Keith sound off the checklist to form Voltron. It's a cool explanation and makes for a fascinating, if not concise and extensive, read. There is a little blurb on each lion that touches on a special quality that lion has as well as "upgrades" made (which is the book's way of explaining the differences between the original Voltron and the newer series). From there you get a list of weaponry from Voltron and the individual lions. This includes the array of missiles, energy projected weapons, and signature weapons. Another nice touch is the explanation of how the Blazing Sword is created (along with the lions' daggers) and why it's always the weapon of last resort.Next is a smaller excerpt for the second season of Voltron (the vehicles combining to Voltron, etc). There is an explanation of the differences between the first and second Volton in regards to origins and how the two manage systems like power and weaponry. You don't get the functions of each of the 15 vehicles, but you do get a list of weaponry similar to the previous Voltron. Only smaller. Yeah the information on this section is sparse, but when compared to the technical info given on the original Voltron it's not all that bad.Then you get technical details on the robot lions from the Voltron Force cartoon. Since the show features Voltron in different configurations (depending on which lion is used at the head) the section focuses briefly on the capabilities of each lion when it's the main part of Voltron, including special abilities exclusive to that lion. It's hard to say if there is more technical information here than for the vehicles. Feels more on par when all is said and done.Other details include a brief look at the various settings from the shows. There is also a long list of Robeasts that appeared in the shows that give a cursory list of specs. Nothing to slate your technical thirst, but then again these monsters were essentially a dime a dozen on the show... each getting killed off before a single episode is over. You also get character profiles for all the prominent characters from all three series (with more emphasis on the original first season). As far as artwork is concerned it's mostly illustrations gleaned from the cartoon with a couple of images that should have been more prominent in this section like a cross section view and a blueprint style schematic of the first season Voltron. The images are so small the amount of details on them are a waste. It's a shame the book editors didn't see these images for what they were and made them pull page spreads (or at least a good deal larger than what they are).The technical data maybe covers 1/4-1/3 of the book in spite of the fact it takes up something like five chapters (out of seven). While the rest of the book has other chapters of interest. The first section is on the history of the show. How it came to be and where the producers were going with it. There is another section on the toys. Now there have been complaints regarding the fact this section is incomplete. If you ask me how many pictures do you want of "different" toys that look almost identical to each other? If you ask me this section either could have used more historical info on merchandising or could have been thinned in it lieu of putting in more useful info. And finally there is a comic book at the end that seem to try and "modern up" the look of Voltron. I thumbed through it but it didn't catch my attention.While it's true this book focuses mostly on the first season of Voltron (the one with the lions) that's really where the show's greatest draw came from. I'm not in the same thinking that the other versions of Voltron are being crowded out. In fact my beef is how the information on hand was represented. Lots of pages were wasted in writing that could have been more concise, thus more information could be added (or at least bigger pictures). I feel like much of the writing is geared toward younger readers, which makes little sense since it's focus is on a cartoon that was popular almost 30 years ago. Also I don't see so much the attempt to retcon the first series with the newer series as a detriment, but at the same time I'm really not interested in the newer Voltron enough for it to make a difference. I think this writer could have used more help to refine this book, get more details (technical, historical, everything), improve the layout more and really bring this thing together.As a single source for Voltron fans it's not a home run. Although to be honest this is the only book in town, and all things considered it's pretty good. If you ask me this book was released before it was ready, and would have benefited from the staff taking more time to fine tune it. I mean did we have to put it out right on the 30th anniversary if it meant releasing a non-perfect product? If you are a fan of the original Voltron and really want to dig more into that universe there really is no reason not to get this book. As imperfect as it is it holds more information that you will ever glean elsewhere. Same goes for technical manual fans who wanted to learn more about these amazing robots. Just don't set your expectations too high. This is a light tech book.

Voltron: From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration is a fun book that's about 30 years past due. Whether you vaguely remember watching the Voltron animated series or playing with Voltron toys as a child, or whether you're a casual or hardcore fan, you'll find stuff to enjoy in this 152-page book.I like the look of this book. The cover is classy, the page layout and artwork are nice, and the book is well organized.The first part of the book describes the history of the Voltron franchise, including how the 1980s animated series was created. It also gives an overview of some of the Voltron toys of the last 30 years. At only about 30 pages, I'm generally impressed by the breadth and selective depth of material in this part of the book. I would have preferred far more toy photos than the book features; however, I'm sure that this is due to page count restrictions, imposed by the need to sell this book at a particular price point. I noticed a couple errors in the toy photo captions, plus the likely accidental omission of the most iconic Voltron toy -- the 12" metal Voltron III / Lion Force Voltron made by Matchbox -- however, this section still features a good sample of toys that have been produced during the last three decades.The second part of the book is an overview of the Voltron fictional universe. It reminds me a bit of the Star Trek Concordance of the 1970s, or the various DK "Visual Dictionary" books. The major characters, vehicles, and robot from the Lion Force episodes of the '80s show, plus Voltron Force (2011-2012), are covered, and there is some -- but not nearly enough -- coverage of elements from the Vehicle Team episodes of the '80s series. Strangely the 1980s show and Voltron Force are treated as sharing the same fictional continuity, but Voltron: The Third Dimension, the television series of the late 1990s, is ignored.The result of mixing '80s references, Voltron Force references, and some concepts seemingly invented for this book, is somewhat awkward. To a child of the 1980s who only knows of the 1980s show, references to Green Lion pilot Pidge as someone who practices "TechnoNinjitsu" -- and stands 5'5" tall -- might seem bizarre, as does discussion of the Voltron Lions being upgraded, so that any of them can form Voltron's head and torso.The epilogue of the book is a comic book-style follow-up to the cliffhanger ending of the Voltron Force animated television series from 2011-2012. As someone who watched and enjoyed Voltron Force, I got a kick out of reading this and imagining how the events might have played out in a second season that would never be. Having said that... the epilogue never overtly states that it's a follow-up to Voltron Force, so someone who is unfamiliar with that series might be a bit confused.Overall this book is a good read -- great in places. For $30 or less, it won't disappoint.

I only bought this to read the pseudo Canon epilogue comic to 2011's Voltron Force. I wanted closure to the cliffhanger S1 finale. And I got it ... but I also didn't. That ending ... ALSO A CLIFFHANGER ENDING WITH NO ACTUAL CLOSURE! And with the show never coming back, THIS was what we got instead!? Even more of a reason to write fanfiction to eleviate the heartache this epilogue gave me! I may fully read the other contents of this book for research purposes. But overall, fanon beats this pseudo Canon, because this show deserves a genuine happy ending!! For this show introduced me to Voltron overall, so the least you people can do is give us an ACTUAL ENDING!! Cliffhangers NOT ALLOWED! That being said, I've got fanon to write and comics to read. See yah!

Not a bad book, with lots to like. Only downside is it spends a lot of time on the more recent and widely disliked sequel tv series, not as much as you might like on the back end history of how the show came to be, or the original shows. A bit more info on the Voltron's that might have been would have been nice as well. Albegas is barely mentioned and almost no mention of Daltanius.I wish there was a bit more coverage of the toys (but thats my kink, your mileage may vary.) Particularly petty complaint for me is their toy pictures often showed incomplete or damaged specimens. Which I assume they worked with what they had, but for a book documenting the stuff? For example the Popy Matchbox Vehicle Voltron is missing the rubber treads in its picture. Little things like this will annoy a toy collector.

Il libro di per sè è carino.Ho dovuto prima farmelo sostituire e poi renderlo del tutto perchè entrambe le copie pervenutemi presentavano, oltre a diversi "acciacchi", una vistosa usura sulla scritta Voltron che è completamente cromata e quindi facilmente rovinabile.Probabilmente non sono conservati al meglio nei magazzini quindi se uno vuole un prodotto perfetto non consiglio di prenderlo quì.

Un peu decu je m attendais a plus de ce livre.