Voltron Force

A Sequel Series to the original 1984 Defender of the Universe story, Voltron Force is Nicktoons Network's newest animated series. It debuted in June, 2011.

After defeating the evil King Lotor years prior, the Voltron Lions went berserk during a celebration, killing none but terrifying all, and leading to their decomissioning as part of the Galactic Military. But when an exiled occult scientist finds a way to revive Lotor, the Lions are needed once again.

The Voltron Force, including a trio of new cadets, will journey to new worlds, find new powers, and uncover ancient secrets in their newest battle to save the universe!

Take a look at the Character Sheet

Tropes in this series:
"Allura, Keith, and Lance in unison: Not now, Pidge!"
 * Eighties Hair: When Keith first appears, he's still sporting the mullet he wore in the original series. Lance mocks his sense of style. Keith has it cut before the next episode.
 * Actor Allusion: In a bit of a roundabout way. Hunk's original voice actor provided the voice for a young Fred Flintstone, and in "The Hunkyard", Hunk can be seen grilling up Fred's token Giant slab of ribs.
 * Adaptation Dye Job: Lance's originally brown hair now is more reddish, and Hunk, who originally had black hair, now has brown hair. Keith now has bluish-black hair and blue eyes, making him look oddly like Devil's Due comic version of Sven.
 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Pidge and Hunk
 * Air Vent Passageway: Used by Keith to sneak into an enemy building in the premier.
 * The Alcatraz: The Void, where the most dangerous criminals and Wade's enemies are held.
 * Animal Mecha: The Lions that form Voltron.
 * Also shades of Mechanical Lifeforms and Bond Creatures, as "Rogue Trip" shows them behaving with minds of their own, and Keith notes that they "bond with their pilots".
 * Ancient Grome: Pidge points out that Poseidon and Neptune aren't the same mythic god, they're similar, but one was of Greek and one was of Roman descent.

"King Lotor: Today is the day that I -
 * Applied Phlebotinum: Haggarium from the Haggarian Quasar.
 * As You Know: Daniel bothers explaining who Sven is and what originally happened to him to a team of people who knew him already.
 * Ascended Fanboy: Daniel was/is a huge fan of Voltron and the team. He even talks about owning a Lance action figure at one point.
 * In "Ghost in the Lion" he geeks out when.
 * The Atoner: Cloak, the creator of the Void Generator. He wanted to make cloaking tech for commercial use but Wade forced him to make it for the military. Wade then invaded Cloak's home-planet.
 * Back From the Dead: King Lotor (multiple times)
 * Badass: Some characters.
 * The Lion-Riders of planet Ariel.
 * Badass Abnormal: Sven, from his Haggarium infection. He fought Lotor one-on-one, giving the latter his third death.
 * Badass Beard: Sven now sports one.
 * Badass Princess: Allura and her niece Larmina. Though Larmina's royal title is actually "Lady".
 * Berserk Button: Want to seriously piss off Keith and Lance? Threaten Allura or put her in danger.
 * BFS: The Blazing Sword
 * Big Brother Mentor: The Voltron Force, especially Lance, are Big Brother/Big Sister mentors to the cadets.
 * Big Damn Heroes: The Lion Riders, in episode 13.
 * Big No: In "Dradin, Baby, Dradin", when Boss Dread's Drules blew-up the all-you-can-eat-buffet both Manset and Hunk cried out.
 * Black Best Friend: Odd case in where the Black guy is the best friend of an Asian guy.
 * Book Ends: The end of "Defenders of the Universe" has Daniel piloting the Black Lion and the seat changed then Daniel pulls ahead. "Black" ends similarly but extends it,.
 * Casting Gag: This isn't the first time an Optimus Prime was a member of the Galaxy Alliance.
 * Character Development:
 * Keith: Standardized Leader > Took a Level In Badass
 * Lance: Hot-Headed Rebel > Cool Teacher
 * Allura: Faux Action Girl > True Action Girl and Badass Princess
 * In-series happens to Hunk. In the first few episodes he was mostly silent (bordering Living Prop) except for a few one liners here and there. Then came the episode "The Hunkyard" and all of a sudden he becomes very talkative, develops a Dumb Muscle personality, (in a good way) and extreme over enthusiasm.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The hole in the center of the Black Lion.
 * Cliff Hanger: The end of "Black",.
 * Combining Mecha: The titular mecha, just like the original. But it acquires new transformations with other lions serving as the robot's centerpiece.
 * And by the Season Two episode "Rogue Trip", the cadets upgraded their junkyard mechs to form their own Combining Mecha, nicknamed "Awesometron".
 * Composite Character: Voltron Forces Voltron is a mix from the original series' Voltron and Voltron: The Third Dimensions Voltron and its "Stealth Mode". Voltron Force's Voltron is not as block-like as the original series' version but is more streamlined like the Voltron: The Third Dimension version's "Stealth Mode" yet retains its Chest Insignia and red wings.
 * This incarnation of Voltron is able to have different abilities depending on which Lion is the head. Thus it has the traits of the proposed but unproduced Voltron 3rd series, a.k.a. "Gladiator" Voltron, that would have been adapted from Albegas.
 * Continuity Cameo: Pidge's brother Chip, the pilot of the Advance Recon Helicopter (#4) that becomes the left upper arm of Vehicle Voltron, appears in the episode "Brains".
 * Allura's Nanny appears at the end of the episode "Ghost in the Lion".
 * Continuity Nod: The Voltcoms can materialize a flight suit over the wearer's clothes. This was a homage to the original lion series, where the Voltron lion pilots would somehow get into their flight suits after reaching the rail shuttles but before the shuttles take them to the lions.
 * The slots in the lions' cockpit where the keys go in from the original series are still there, they are just covered by the Voltcom remote start add-on.
 * Sven's Haggarium infection comes from the bite wound he received that took him out of action from the original series from Haggar's blue cat Cova.
 * In "Joyride to Doom" Lotor smashes a statue of his father, King Zarkon, the Big Bad of the original series.
 * The Castle of Lions' spaceship mode in "Black".
 * Conspicuous CGI: Similar in appearance to Speed Racer: The Next Generation, but it works almost as well as it did on Sym-Bionic Titan.
 * Cool Bike: Daniel's personal vehicle.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Wade, though only the Voltron Force seems to actually care.
 * Death Is Cheap: At least for Lotor.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Maahox
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Wade takes his "anti-Voltron" policy at the Academy very seriously -- Danny (and Vince) received latrine duty for a month just for asking about the subject, and Pidge joked that Danny could be expelled for possessing an old photo of the team members.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses
 * Evil Knockoff: Wade extensively studied the Black Lion so he could make his own copies of the technology, including a gigantic Grey Lion (large as Voltron itself) posessing More Dakka, and several other robot lions patrolling his moon base. He also created smaller human scale versions.
 * Maahox created 5 Robeasts that can combine into the Voltron-like "Predator Robeast."
 * Fandom Nod: This adorable cosplayer shows up in the background in "Dradin, Baby Dradin"
 * Fiery Redhead: Larmina, and actually, adorably so.
 * Fighter Launching Sequence: In contrast to the DoTU series, this is averted in almost all episodes.
 * First-Name Basis: The Voltron Force mostly call each other by them. Hunk lampshades that he forgets that they have last names in "Cross Signals".
 * Five-Man Band: The original five Lion Force Voltron pilots.
 * The Hero: Keith
 * The Lancer: Lance (appropriately named)
 * The Smart Guy: Pidge
 * The Big Guy: Hunk
 * The Chick: Allura
 * Follow the Leader: Possibly a coincidence, but there's quite a few similarities to Sym-Bionic Titan, such as the multiple sides, one being led by a General Ripper and another using crazy fauna as soldiers. But then you could argue that Sym-Bionic Titan took plenty of cues from the original Voltron...
 * Foreshadowing: Since "Dark Blue," Green Center has been constantly alluded to.
 * And it's seen the light of day on episode 14 basically as a sword-and-shield-totin', masked ninja Voltron.
 * Which, along with his Voltcom weapon, could be seen as foreshadowing towards the people of his home planet being tech ninjas.
 * Four-Star Badass: Wade is a villainous example.
 * Genre Savvy: Vince spends most "Brains" rattling off zombie movie tropes that relate to the team's current situation.
 * Green-Eyed Monster/The Resenter: The reason why Wade hates Voltron?
 * Gundamjack: Wade pulls this off in episode 13.
 * Hard Light: The weapons made by Voltcoms.
 * In "Inside the Music".
 * Hot-Blooded: Hunk.
 * Humongous Mecha: Voltron itself.
 * Hypocritical Humor: Keith asks a random guy, "What kind of creep brings a weapon to a concert for peace?" ...then assaults him with a Laser Blade.
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy
 * Important Haircut: Keith.
 * Instant Armor: The Voltcoms can create them.
 * Sven's Haggarium infection allows him to create some sort of "Black Ice Armor".
 * Invisibility Cloak: The appropriately named Cloak.
 * Allura's Voltcom gives her this.
 * Invocation: Besides the classic "form, feet and legs..." one, there's "Form [color] center!" for mode changes, and various commands for summoning weapons:
 * Keith: Form, Blazing Sword!
 * Lance: Draw, Magma Pistols!
 * Hunk: Rock Wrecking Maces!
 * Allura: Form, Titanic Trident!
 * Pidge: Form, Boomerang Shield!
 * The cadets yell "Let's Voltron!" when they form "Awsometron".
 * It's Personal: Both Keith and Lance agree that Wade crossed the line when he lured Allura into a trap under the guise of diplomacy.
 * Killed Mid-Sentence: Lotor by Red Voltron's "Blazing Guns" . He completed what he said after he was revived.
 * It's Personal: Both Keith and Lance agree that Wade crossed the line when he lured Allura into a trap under the guise of diplomacy.
 * Killed Mid-Sentence: Lotor by Red Voltron's "Blazing Guns" . He completed what he said after he was revived.

(Gets shot by Blazing Guns)(Lotor Screams)

(After getting revived by Maahox) King Lotor: Destroy Voltron! (hits face on the inside of the chamber)"

"Sky Marshal Wade: "Lotor is dead!"
 * King of Beasts: The Lions, of course.
 * Kryptonite Factor: Haggarium to Voltron.
 * Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Seriously. When malfunctioning robots and the Corrupt Corporate Executive can gain easy access to it but the heroes need to travel to the villains home world (and get captured and nearly killed) just to get a sample, you know something is wrong.
 * Lampshade Hanging: The entire episode with the Robeast fast enough to interrupt Voltron's combination. Daniel's comment about it taking 36 seconds to form Voltron... well, time out both the original transformation and the Voltron Force transformation (not taking the "Activate interlock!" part into consideration), and they're each that long.
 * Lantern Jaw of Justice: Hunk's yellow lion, as part of their more individualistic look compared to the original.
 * Leader Forms the Head: Played with; Voltron has different forms depending on which lion forms the torso and head.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Implied in Lance and Keith's conversation at the end of "Hungry for Voltron" where they decide to permanently end their fight with Wade after he "crosses a line," presumably by trapping and trying to kill Allura.
 * Leitmotif
 * Limited Wardrobe: The heroes seem to wear their pilot suits 24/7.
 * Except for a few times they wear other clothes like in the episodes "New School Defenders", "Dark Blue" , "Wanted and Unwanted" , "Rogue Trip" and "Ghost in the Lion."
 * Living a Double Life:  is the leader of the galaxies most popular band, StereoLactic.
 * Mad Scientist: Maahox
 * Magical Negro: Vince is even called "magic man" in light of his mech-empowering ability.
 * Mecha-Mooks: Wade proudly prefers machines over living soldiers.
 * And in one episode, a Mecha Mook disguised as  infiltrated the castle to blow it up.
 * More Hero Than Thou: Keith and Lance arguing who gets to rescue Coran from Wade's abandoned moon base.
 * Motion Capture Mecha: In the episode "The Hunkyard", noting how Larmina is marginally claustrophobic inside the Lions, Hunk builds her a junkyard rig with an open-air cockpit and cable system that drives in whichever direction she is leaning, and whose 'legs' she can steer with arm gestures. It is later upgraded with holographic motion trackers and other features as seen in "Rogue Trip".
 * Mythology Gag: In "The Hunkyard", the cadets get helmets identical to the ones from the original series.
 * The suits the Voltcoms form when the wearer is in unfriendly environments, like space or deep water, have helmets that look like a lion's head similar to the helmets the Voltron Force wore in Voltron The Third Dimension.
 * In "Ghost in the Lion," Daniel asks "Who's flying Blue Lion?" when he sees Blue running around without Allura. "Who's Flyin' Blue Lion?" was the title of an original series episode which, like "Ghost in the Lion," saw Blue's original pilot, Sven, returning to, well, fly Blue Lion.
 * The music video at the beginning of "Dradin, Baby, Dradin" is a revamped version of the original series' opening. Allura thinks the music is a bit much.
 * Multiform Balance: The different head switches.
 * Jack of All Stats: Black
 * Lightning Bruiser: Red
 * Mighty Glacier: Yellow
 * Glass Cannon: Blue
 * Stone Wall: Green
 * Never Say "Die": Averted twice in less than fifteen minutes.
 * Never Say "Die": Averted twice in less than fifteen minutes.

(later) Vince: "I like the simulators--all the fun of flying, none of the death.""

"Wade: "The lion becomes the tamer.""
 * MAJORLY averted when Wade said "suicidal". And to a lesser extent, "demise".
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Baltans of Balto, the home planet of Pidge and Chip, are Ninja Scientists.
 * Maahox drained their brains to get information on Voltron, the side-effects turned them into Ninja Scientist Zombies.
 * Being from planet Balto, it could even be stretched out to Human Alien Ninja Scientist Zombies.
 * Lotor's armor turns him into a Samurai Robeast.
 * Nobody Poops: While generally played straight, Daniel and Vince are put on the academy's "latrine duty" during the pilot, which Lance has them exploit to steal Sky Marshal Wade's badge, noting that Wade does everything on a schedule, including restroom breaks.
 * Non Standard Character Design: A couple of Voltron's alternate formations. Yellow Center has no decorative wings in standard mode, and Green Center has a faceplate.
 * Oddly, Black Center could count, as well; none of the other formations have the trademark horns formed from their ears.
 * The Not-Secret: The Hunkyard. Pidge even mentions how Hunk thinks nobody else knows about the area full of scrap metal he's collected.
 * Oh Crap There Are Fanfics of Us: One creepy fic about Allura, anyway.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The only reason the combined robeasts didn't finish off Voltron because Lotor wants the honor for himself.
 * Opening Shout-Out: The cadets yell "Let's Voltron!" when they form "Awsometron". "Let's Voltron!" comes from the opening theme done by Swizz Beatz.
 * Panthera Awesome: The Lions.
 * Papa Wolf: Sven.
 * Parental Abandonment: The cadet's parents are neither seen nor mentioned.
 * Sven's son suffers this at the end of "Ghost in the Lion". Sven becomes a Disappeared Dad forced to live on Crydor to slow the Haggarium infection with the planet's cold climate. The child's mother is neither seen nor mentioned in the episode.
 * Word of God says that Romelle is the mother but wasn't mentioned for time restraints.
 * Passing the Torch: Over the course of three episodes toward the end of the first season,
 * Pimped-Out Car: In "Dradin, Baby, Dradin", the Black Lion was stolen and was pimped out with spinners, a Hot Paint Job, stereo system, and fuzzy dice.
 * Planet of Hats: The entirety of Pidge's home planet, are tech genius ninjas.
 * Sven's world Crydor, an ice planet, was inhabited by descendants of vikings until they moved off-world when the climate became too harsh.
 * Plot Hole: Who are Larmina's parents? Voltron Force says that Larmina - a young teenager - is Allura's niece. BUT in the original, Allura was an only child. If this series takes place 5-7 years after the original, then not enough time has passed for Romelle (Allura's cousin) and Sven to have a teenage daughter. Possibly a Series Continuity Error as well--Voltron Force may be somewhat of a reboot, but there should still be an explanation.
 * Power Glows: Vince
 * Princesses Prefer Pink: Averted at first. While Allura was the full-on Pink Ranger in the original series, she wears blue in both her civilian wardrobe and Voltron uniform; the color of her Lion. She changes back to pink in "The Army of One."
 * Psychic Link: At the end of "I, Voltron,".
 * Later,
 * Purple Is the New Black: Daniel's eyes, and in the first six or so episodes his hair.
 * Race Against the Clock: During Episode 4, when the Voltron force has to rescue Coran from Wade's moon base. Even on their way out, Wade taunts that they're not going to escape in time.
 * Race Lift: Type two with Keith, whose skin is significantly darker than in the original series.
 * Reckless Sidekick: Larmina has her moments but Daniel fits this so well that when Vince did something extremely reckless Lance actually told him he was being "Daniel" instead of using the word reckless.
 * Robeast: But of course, and they're still Lotor's favored weapons of mass destruction.
 * Rocket Punch: Voltron's Lion Head attack..
 * Rule of Cool: When Danny and Vince meet Pidge and Hunk, Hunk is using a welding torch... and Pidge points out he isn't actually welding anything. Hunk acknowledges this, saying he just wanted to make a "cool introduction for the cadets".
 * Scars Are Forever: Even when Lotor comes back to life, the scars he received from the first time the Voltron Force killed him with the Blazing Sword are still there.
 * Send in the Clones: In "The Army of One", Maahox created a clone army of Lothors,.
 * Shapeshifter Baggage: While the five lions are all relatively the same size as each other, whichever lion forms the centerpiece of Voltron's robot mode becomes noticeably larger as a result and the Black Lion decreases size as well when it becomes a leg or arm.
 * Shout-Out: Larmina and Hunk's favorite band, Stereo-Lactic, is visually reminiscent of Daft Punk, with all the members wearing cyberpunk face-obscuring helmets.
 * One scene has Voltron averting a nasty fall by firing up rockets with all four limbs.
 * The Something Force
 * Spirit Advisor: The ghost of King Alfor, like in the original series, for Allura and now Vince.
 * Spiritual Successor: The Predator Robeast seems to be this to Lo-Tron, which appeared in the Fleet of Doom movie.
 * Stealth Pun: Wades Weapon of Choice when he takes control of Voltron. Complete with comment:
 * Stealth Pun: Wades Weapon of Choice when he takes control of Voltron. Complete with comment:


 * Straw Fan: Dudley.
 * Suspiciously Similar Song: One of the original Voltron theme shows up during the Black Lion's escape. Similarly, the original title theme to Voltron shows up in a hardcore heavy metal remix when Hunk becomes head of Voltron and uses giant maces against the scrapheap monster.
 * Subverted in Episode 13, where the original theme without any remixing is used during Voltron's formation.
 * Take That: A rather brutal one against fans of the classic series who dislike the cadets. Episode 15, "Dudley, Voltron's Biggest Fan" is about an obnoxiously voiced fanboy of Voltron's classic adventures (IE: The original series) who runs around wearing Keith's old outfit, complete with helmet, insults changes like the Voltcoms, writes creepy Princess Allura fan fiction, and . Word of God states this episode was conceived prior to the series debut anticipating a backlash against the cadets and Voltcoms.
 * That same episode also has a slightly lighter one against Transformers. When the cadets are trying to decide what to call their new robot, Daniel's suggestion of "Voltronimus Prime" is shot down by Larmina as only semi-cool.
 * Tank Goodness: Vince's personal vehicle.
 * Theme Tune Rap: Yes, it has one, done by professional rapper Swizz Beatz.
 * Thrown Out the Airlock: The "escape" Wade provides the prisoners of the Void.
 * Time Skip: Set seven years after the original series, during which the five Lions were mothballed (one confiscated) with the team forbidden from using them again, and any positive regard for the Voltron force driven fiercely underground.
 * Token Minority: Vince is Black. Daniel is Asian.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Allura in the fourth episode.
 * Mahox.
 * Transformation Is a Free Action: The episode "Flash Forms a Go!" involves them being unable to combine the Lions because the Monster of the Week keeps bashing them apart.
 * Actually discussed in the episode itself on how the enemies never attacked when Voltron was transforming before.
 * True Companions: Explicitly invoked by the adult members of the Voltron Force at least every second episode.
 * Two Guys and a Girl: The three cadets, Daniel, Vince, and Larmina.
 * Tyrant Takes the Helm: Sky Marshal Wade's overall goal for the Alliance.
 * Unnecessarily Large Interior: The inside of the Lions' cockpits are ridiculously roomy.
 * Un Paused: Lotor gets such a moment after getting Killed Mid-Sentence, then coming Back From the Dead.
 * Villainous Crush: Carrying over from the original series, Lotor still most definitely has the hots for Allura.
 * Weapon of Choice: The Voltcoms form weapons depending on their wielder.
 * An Axe to Grind: Sven's Haggarium infection allows him to create them.
 * Dual-Wielding
 * The Archer/Energy Bow, Whip It Good: Allura
 * Drop the Hammer: Hunk
 * Epic Flail: Yellow Voltron's weapon, Dual-Wielding Variable-Length Chain Rock Wrecking Maces.
 * Fuuma Shuriken: Pidge, though smaller than the usual example.
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: Lance
 * Guns Akimbo: Lance's Voltcom, and by extension, Red Voltron's Magma Pistols.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Keith with his Voltcom blades, and the Blazing Sword of Black Voltron.
 * Cool Sword
 * Dual-Wielding
 * Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age
 * Laser Blade
 * Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Green Voltron's Boomerang Shield. As the name implies, it can also be thrown as a Deadly Disc. (Green's also been seen to use the Blazing Sword, but it seems to mainly be a back-up weapon for it.)
 * Prongs of Poseidon: Blue Voltron's Titanic Trident. Allura even calls it "Poseidon-esque" during its introduction.
 * Double Weapon
 * Simple Staff: Larmina. Turns into a Nunchaku and a spear.
 * Super Empowering: Vince doesn't get a weapon, but arguably has the strongest power, given that he enables Voltron's mode changes and lets it overcome the Haggarium Kryptonite Factor.
 * Vince also has Psychic Powers such as: Mind Over Matter (in the episode "Coran, Coran"), Technopath (in the episode "Dark Blue").
 * Hollywood Weaponized Hacking: This is pretty much his weapon, given that he's made Mecha-Mooks turn against their fellows with his power.
 * Wolverine Claws: Daniel's Voltcom. Includes grappling claw-lines, a Flechette Storm ability, and Super Speed.
 * Though he still winds up Late to the Party.
 * Whip It Good: Wade produces this.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: The Commander Kala spider robeast was last seen at the end of "Defenders of the Universe" rebuilding herself. She doesn't reappear until "I, Voltron", 18 episodes later.
 * Who Is Driving?
 * Wraparound Background: Lampshaded by Larmina and Allura in the episode "Brains" as the Voltron Force runs through a mall to escape the Baltans. Lance justifies it by saying all malls have multiples of the same stores.
 * The Worf Effect: Every encounter the titular robot has with a robeast who is a physical threat to Voltron is an example of this.
 * In the episode "Clash of the Lions", The Worf Effect is demonstrated when.
 * Xanatos Gambit/Batman Gambit: Wade's plan in episode 4, "Coran, Coran". Either his Robot would destroy the Castle of the Lion, ruining the possibility of recharging the Lions, or the Voltron Force would be killed by his trap on the Moon base. Thanks to the Cadets, both parts of the plan failed.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess: Keith's plan in episode 9, "Wanted and Unwanted". Things kept getting worse for Keith, and he remained always one move ahead of Wade, ending in putting Wade in "check" at the tip of the Blazing Sword.