#voltron nendoroids

[sheep-kiwi-collector]

happy birthday, sharpshooter 💙

[nomadicism]

I keep having dreams that they finally made Lotor action figures (I collect action figures and I know dreaming about that is weird but...). They sure do make a lot of Voltron-themed items I have no interest in getting, and so, so many Voltron-only figures. Why do you think they haven't made recent figures of the characters?

Hi there, thank you for the Ask!

It’s not weird, I collect figure too so I get you.

I wish they released figures for the rest of the VLD cast, but that will never happen. There are a few different reasons:

Action figures are for boys aged 7-10, and it’s a very crowded field for their attention and parents’ money

Action figures are also for all ages and genders but I assume (I don’t have anything to back this up and don’t have time to look into it) that since white men statistically make more (dollar ratio) than other genders and races, that their hobby interests are prioritized.

The Voltron IP is all about the lions and the robot, not the characters. Licensors understand this and they know that those of us who have been buying the robot figures since the 80s will continue to do so. Making Voltron toys and adult collector figures is a sure bet.

Other kinds of merch, like shirts or skate decks, are gonna stick with the robot because the robot is the recognizable face of the brand.

VLD didn’t do well with the target demographic so we’ll never see anything else from VLD. It’s popularity outside of the target demographic is irrelevant because it didn’t yield sales or anything that licensors could use for anything beyond merch and they don’t even care enough to make lion slippers.

I think the most likely way to see a Lotor figure or any other character would be for hobbyists to make them at home, or for Hong Kong bootleggers to create them (probably from custom GI Joe or nendoroid molds). There is a market for that sort of thing. You see it with Transformers.

I dated someone back in 2000 who used to fabricate GI Joe accessories at home with a plastic that was indistinguishable from the originals and sell them on eBay. So GI Joe parts aren’t that difficult to make at home, especially with the tools available today.

It’s also possible to learn vinyl toy design and fabrication at home, as well as ball-joint doll modding.

The only commercial option would be for someone to license the IP for manufacture of figures. This could be done with nendoroids. The difficulty is having the right people who know how to do all of that legal and contract stuff and then having the money to license the IP. Technically, anyone can license an IP like Voltron, it’s just a matter of having the money to do it.

[aemoglobin]

i swear to god i saw vld nendoroids at one of the anime shops at the mall some years ago but looking it up and seeing that we don’t actually have any nendos for vld, i think i was shopping in an alternate dimension for a short while. we only have funkos here. horrific thanks i hate it let me out. actually let me back in so i can buy keith nendo 

admittedly i didn’t get out much at the time but i never even heard of like. actual physical vld merch at toy stores or anything. like i think there were comics? and that was it? and like maybe a few play sets aimed at younger kids but??? i would go to t*rget occasionally and see nothing for it, even when it was still airing in the early seasons???

and all of the robot kits i see online for voltron are for the original voltron series lol 

shows that had fandom cultural impact but no marketing done for toys apparently, despite having many opportunities for toys or merch beyond t-shirts and funkos

[nigiyakapepper]

hi @reyvest! thank u for bearing with the lateness (i wanted to wait for snow but we didn't have a lot) ^^; here's your @sheithsecretsanta gift!

sheith go on a walk, but while keith admires the view, shiro admires the keith (plus a second version by a snowy patch)

[nigiyakapeppercraft]

the proposal

[okamidensetsu]

Figma Ludens, POTP Optimus Primal, Bring arts Kaine, Nendoroid Kirby Robobot, Nendoroid Guardian, Super Mini-Pla Voltron, Digivolving Spirits Alphamon, and Beast Gorira came in this past week! Quite a freaking haul...and super expensive to ship q.q

[angel-in-crisis]

not sure why I’m posting this ,¯\_(ツ)_/¯. just noticed that there aren’t really any cute Voltron figures, so I randomly decided to make my own. I just ordered these faces online and I guess I just wanted opinions. it’s my first time doing this and I wanna make sure I’m doing these characters justice. so, whatcha think?

I might update as i continue this project (some pieces won’t be here til January lol) 

[teicakes]

I MADE VOLTRON NENDOROIDS!! Considering that the normal Voltron merch isn’t even readily accessible in Canada and my need for something super cute of my kids it was basically a foray into making your own dreams happening with these boys.

I still have a Lance in the works I’m trying to improve on which I’ll post at a later time, along with a longer write-up on my whole process and materials for these little guys, with plans to make a Pidge and Hunk when I can get my hands on suitable (and not uber expensive) base parts. In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy my cross post from twitter!

[001c-100f]

[sl-ka]

I would like to do a SAN-check on Shiro

[tomeofsealing]

Finished my Custom Keith Nendoroid finally!! Had to edit his belt in after due to not having the proper colors for it. But otherwise, complete!

[sheep-kiwi-collector]

Red Paladins of Voltron :3

[naniyou]

Photoshop: Granting my wishes since 2004

[seasaltcosmos]

OFFICIAL VOLTRON NENDOROIDS WHEN

[discoursecatharsis]

Voltron had toys??? Were there even any commercials??? I hade no idea??

As far as I know, there weren’t commercials... probably why the toys failed tbh.

They were also pretty fugly ngl.

No offense to the toy makers but... wtf?

The figures of the Voltron robot and the lions look pretty dope though

They’re making Funko Pops soon too, so those might do well! (If they ever make Nendoroids, I’m sure they’d make a killing too.)

And Hot Topic’s got some non-toy merch, it’s hit or miss though. Some of the shirts are cool, and others they literally just ironed-on character heads onto a shirt.

[nigiyakapeppercraft]

making my own beach episode