One of the two latest LEGO Ideas projects to be approved for retail release is a classic Voltron: Defender of the Universe build that includes five separate lion-shaped robots that connect to form the massive, mechanical humanoid Voltron. The build is reminiscent of the original Voltron series that ran from 1984 until 1985, rather than the current series, Voltron: Legendary Defender, that airs on the Netflix streaming service today.
The Voltron build is a product of the LEGO Ideas program, which allows LEGO fans to design and submit their own builds for a community vote. Projects that receive more than 10,000 votes are greenlit for review by the LEGO Review Board. If the project is approved, the build will officially go into production and then be available for retail purchase the following year.
The Voltron LEGO build was created by Leandro Tayag, a 41-year-old software architect from Malaysia. According to an interview published on the LEGO Ideas blog, Tayag first got the idea for the Voltron build two years ago, but took a break from the project when he couldn’t make the lion heads look exactly the way he wanted. Tayag only started tinkering with the build again in March. While he enjoyed playing with LEGOs as a child, Tayag said he was only reintroduced to the building blocks by his brother in 2014.
Tayag’s Voltron build only took 22 days to break the coveted 10,000 vote barrier. After that, he became something of a minor celebrity in the Voltron fandom (which has seen a resurgence since Netflix’s revival series), and was even interviewed on the official Voltron Podcast with WEP President Bob Koplar, the Voltron rights owner. Tayag said he was on his way to LEGOLAND Malaysia, a LEGO-inspired theme park with over 70 attractions, when the build ticked over to 10,000 votes.
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The Voltron build consists of over 2,100 individual LEGO pieces. As with all approved LEGO Ideas projects, a release date and pricing for the retail product will be announced at a later date, likely in 2018.
Tayag’s Voltron project was announced alongside another LEGO Ideas winner — Jacob Sadovich’s Ship in A Bottle, The Flagship Leviathan. Sadovich’s build is much like it sounds, a large naval vessel seated inside a translucent glass bottle, all of which – boat and bottle – is made from LEGOs. Sadovich’s build consists of just under 1,400 pieces and took three weeks to build.