Headscratchers / Voltes V: Legacy

• Do the Boazanians have to create a new Beast Fighter every time or do they have multiple Beastfighters^note Beast Knights in the original anime ready to attack and just send them one at a time? They have been on a conquest long before, and conquered other planets prior to Earth, after all.
  • The former because Dokugaga was shown as the only Beast Fighter in the Boazan Star Empire when Hrothgar/Ned Armstrong showed the footage of the said insectoid Beast Fighter in action of conquering worlds singlehandedly and there were no other Beast Fighters after Dokugaga during the Earth Defense Force meeting. Not only that, Zardoz and his aides were shocked that Dokugaga was defeated by Voltes V, the robot created by Terra Erthu that they underestimated due to human technology being primitive from their point of view, and assume it will be easy to handle. Hence, the Boazanians have to create a new Beast Fighter every time in attempt to find new ways to defeat Voltes V.
  • If you watch the first episode of the original anime, Heinel states that Dokugaga was planned to be their final attack on the Earthlings. The fact that Voltes V defeated it made him realize that he had underestimated his enemy.
• If Big Bert knows the Butterfly Return Technique but can't perform it as he doesn't control the head, couldn't he and Steve switch places/vehicles even for just one battle?
  • The Voltes Team are assigned to their respective Volt Machines with roles that they have been training for. It would be like the equivalent of switching from a tank to a jet and there is not enough time to know how to properly use it.
  • On the other hand, Big Bert has faith in his older brother Steve to pull off the Butterfly Return technique after several tries and two successes (one with the pair of rocks and two with an actual sword), which it paid off well when Steve used it to have Voltes V catch Gardo's sword and disarmed him.
  • And that in the anime, the Voltes Team members never actually switched places with their vehicles at all to begin with anyway.
• Why did Judy have issues with Big Bert leaving Camp Big Falcon? Wasn't a secure enough teleportation spot already found during the covert infiltration of the Camp, therefore he isn't needed anymore? And even if it wasn't, couldn't there be time spent to there before looking for another more secure spot?
  • Because Judy is afflicted with a case of Love Makes You Dumb and Humanity Is Infectious as she's infatuated with Big Bert when spending time with him and didn't think of securing a place for teleporting Boazanians to invade Camp Big Falcon. Which unfortunately it puts her mission for Prince Zardoz, who promised her exchange for her captive sister, in jeopardy.
• Do the number of horns affect a Boazanian's ranking and not just the presence of them? Zuhl has one horn and Draco has three, while all the Boazanian royalty have two.
  • There's no clean-cut rule on how the number of horns affects a Boazanian's social standing. The important thing is if you're hornless, you're done for in Boazan.
  • It's been theorized based on known characters that the hornless are slaves, the one-horned are scientists, the two-horned are aristocrats and the three-horned are warriors.
    • Uh...in the original anime, Katherine had two horns and she was a scientist. And while Jangal had three horns, there was an episode where he used bacterial experimentation to suss out the Go brothers' true heritage. That is an interesting theory, regardless.
• How did Camp Big Falcon get a pilot suit and helmet small enough to fit for Little Jon in a short amount of time after he was added into Voltes Team due to desperation and absence of other cadets?
  • Most likely, there could be very skilled armorers and tailors among the hundreds, if not thousands, of crew members of Camp Big Falcon who could turn in a high-quality set of armor for Little Jon at the last minute.
• So how exactly was Dainegu a good idea? The combined attack of Daiga and Negg was a major problem for the team as they were distracted by Negg attacking Little Jon and Daiga attacking Camp Big Falcon, showing the advantage of having two enemies at once. Plus, Negg is a fast and agile aerial attacker while Daiga is a powerful and tanky ground unit. So basically all Dainegu did was to give Daiga a back-mounted weapon and wheels, taking away from the dual pincer attack had the two stayed separate, and took away Negg's agility and aerial ability to basically turn it into a glorified cannon. So now, they're a single bigger target, and the Laser Sword kills them both in one strike. It seems to work better in the anime, when they fused mid-battle, but here, when they were called off, combined together and then re-deployed, it seems like a big tactical blunder. Dainegu just feels too Awesome, but Impractical.
  • The original anime implied that Negg on its own wasn't that powerful, only swift; so battling a volted-in Voltes V wasn't practical. Both Negg and Daiga only gave the team trouble while they're missing the Volt Frigate. The staple attack of Dainegu was also more brutal in the anime compared to the live-action version, so the desperation of a heavily damaged Voltes V facing off a wheeled Beast Fighter in a Death Trap was more apparent. In the anime, it was conveyed properly how Daiga and Negg were weaker apart than together.
  • The original anime also had the Boazanians try out the pincer attack again in future encounters, like in the case of Namazungo and Gamenza. Throughout the series, Voltes V eventually became adept at handling more than just one Beast Fighter whenever the need arose.
• Why is Zambojil worried about Zardoz taking the throne from him when Zardoz views him like a father and has nothing but respect for him?
  • Because Zambojil is too blinded by his hatred for his cousin Hrothgar and projected it on his son Zardoz even though he already de-legitimized Hrothgar by exposing his hornless nature and claimed the throne that everyone in the court supports his claim, showing Zambojil's massive insecurities.
  • Unlike in the anime where Heinel was raised by his grandparents who were alive, Zambojil killed Hrothgar's mother for trying to stop him from taking away her grandson. It would have been so easy for Zambojil to reciprocate Zardoz looking up to him and mold him in his image as a final insult to Hrothgar. But Zambojil is a walking case of Evil Is Petty where he needlessly verbally abuse Zardoz from his childhood to adulthood and mock him every time he failed to destroy Voltes V and conquer Terra Erthu.
  • Because Zambajil is Stupid Evil. His entry under that page states " Emperor Zambajil of Planet Boazania could be the poster boy for this trope. He wants his nephew, Prince Heinel, dead because he is the true heir to the throne. Zambojil himself ascended to the throne by knocking Heinel's father out of the game through dirty means, and intends to get rid of Heinel by sending him to command an Alien Invasion against Earth. To his frustration, his nephew is actually quite competent at warfare and just won't die. His hatred for Heinel comes off as irrational since the boy has nothing but respect for his uncle, disavowed his own father and never showed any intent of taking the throne from him. Oh, and Heinel's father, who Zambajil had imprisoned and enslaved? He also happened to be the Boazanian Minister of Science and Technology, and his absence causes the strength of the Boazanian military's weaponry to heavily detoriate. Many a fanfic have also pointed out that since Zambajil has no children of his own, killing Heinel would trigger a Succession Crisis. Heinel also graduated at the top of the Boazanian Institute of Military Sciences and Warfare, is the only one competent enough to lead the Earthern Invasion, is a Master Swordsman and an excellent Humongous Mecha pilot. He would be an extremely useful ally to Zambajil, and had he given him his favour, in the series finale Heinel would have successfully thwarted the Voltes Team and killed Kenichi, thus ensuring Zambajil would be able to keep his rule. Zambajil's biggest obstacle was his own narcissism and inability to view others as equals, and as such, he receives a Karmic Death at the hands of Heinel himself. For bonus points, Zambajil makes all his cronies utter an absurdly long greeting before talking to him, which becomes a tad bit inconvenient when Gurul tells him that their planet is potentially under attack by Voltes V. Keep in mind even Heinel doesn't do this, and he's literally named after the form of address "your highness"."
  • The Headscratchers page of the original anime asks the same question, with one of the answers being that if Heinel found out that Zambajil usurped the throne through dirty means, he would have a motive to dispose of him.
• Does Camp Big Falcon place background checks on the people it allows to be cadets? How has no one realized the true intentions of Apable?
  • Private Military Contractors that hire the likes of Apable are very good at hiding their tracks; and they always hide their War for Fun and Profit motives from their clients. That's why the PMC that hired Apable decided to off him due to outliving his usefulness.
• If Bombos' only role was to scout out Voltes V's weakness and was little more than a decoy built to draw them out, then what was the point of it being equipped with weapons?
  • In fact, what was the point of making a whole new Beast Fighter just to get easily destroyed? Wouldn't smaller spy drones have sufficed?
    • Because, this "easy victory" managed to lure the Voltes Team into false sense of security and overconfidence which would certainly bite them when Namazuka is deployed on the battlefield and would give the Voltes V pilots a nasty wake up call.
    • While it is true that it seemed wasteful to build a purposely weak Beast Fighter as a skeptical Zardoz points out, in order to draw out Voltes V and take a closer look at its technology in the middle of its Volt-In sequence, a bigger target must be deployed to distract the Voltes Team who would assume it is another Beast Fighter attack to intercept and defeat it. Leaving them unaware that they were scanned by Bombos when they do the Volt-In sequence. Voltes V is only formed when there is a Beast Fighter showing up, rendering the idea of using smaller spy drones moot.
    • It's also why Bombos doesn't immediately retreat as soon as the Volt-In sequence was done so as not to make Camp Big Falcon suspicious of the Boazanians' intentions.
• So it's said that Zambojil assigned the three aides (Zandra, Zuhl and Draco) to Prince Zardoz, right? If so, why did he only assign one that's loyal to him and two others that aren't? In the original anime, I believe Zambajil had no say in Heinel's aides (apart from Zuhl). I don't know about Jangal, but Heinel likely chose Katherine as an aide as the two were Childhood Friends (according to meta commentary by Tadao Nagahama and his staff).
  • Because Zuhl is a Professional Butt-Kisser who would do anything to be in a favorable position within the Boazan Star Empire which Zambojil would give him if Zuhl does his job as The Mole in Zardoz's forces.
    • That makes sense, but why the other two? Draco was at least a skilled warrior so it made sense to include him, but what did Zandra provide other than "she offered her life to the cause"? Was Zambojil intending to use her as a Femme Fatale?
    • Just like her anime counterpart, Zandra is a skilled scientist who actively take part in developing Beast Fighters based on lifeforms that she cultivated as explained by Baron Zander when he is the Mr. Exposition about the three generals being assigned to Zardoz for his conquest of Terra Erthu. And that Zambojil was content on using Zuhl as the only mole within Zardoz's forces since no one would suspect a bumbling fool who tends to be on the receiving end by his fellow generals and Zardoz while doing his job. At least until Zandra stumbled on Zuhl's contact with the emperor from behind and report it to Zardoz.
  • On the other hand, Zambojil keeps his cronies Baron Zander and General Oslak by his side. And when Zuhl eventually bites the dust like in the anime, he would definitely send Oslak as Zuhl's replacement to continue sabotaging Zardoz.
• Why not recycle Namazuka's anti-Volt-In weapon for each following Beast Fighter? Yes, it eventually failed last time, but given what Camp Big Falcon had to resort to reverse it, surely it's worth keeping for every other Beast Fighter.
  • The Boazanians have no idea of the surprises and capabilities of Camp Big Falcon they do not see it coming, hence the infiltration attempts. They would assume that the humans might fire the Ultra Marcon again to foil the anti-ultra electromagnetic energy weapon^note The said device got overloaded and broken in the first shot but the Boazanians did not know that, which they don't want to take their chances.
  • On the other hand, it would be part of Zuhl's sabotage work as The Mole to make it look like the anti-ultra electromagnetic energy device is useless and ineffective, no longer worth making more of it when developing another Beast Fighter.
• Did anyone check for Manuel's legal records, like they did with Judy?
  • Sgt. Major Edwards and Dr. Smith took their time and effort in checking Judy for any legal records (since she somehow got a job and a house in the mainland) along with detecting her high levels of temperature of a Boazanian. For Manuel who's actually Zardoz in disguise via Biomanipulation device that transforms him from Boazanian to human that saved him from being outed by the bioscans, there's not much time to discover which ship he got shipwrecked from and Dr. Smith wanted him leave Camp Big Falcon as soon as possible when he recovered, which Zardoz took advantage to look around the base and discover the identities of Voltes V's pilots.
• Why would a defense contractor want to spy on Camp Big Falcon through Apable (prior to his elimination after being caught and arrested) in the middle of Earth's war against Boazanians?
  • Two words: Alien technology. Once the PMC gets their hands on Boazanian technology and materials, they're more than willing to sell them to governments and organizations and earn so much in the process. Remember, War for Fun and Profit is in play here.
• If Zardoz is meant to be a Master Swordsman, then how come he frequently misses Zuhl (and nearly kills Zandra) in this over the top-yet-funny scene?
  • Zardoz is blinded by rage and frustration after every scheme of destroying Voltes V had failed, and he is not thinking straight, therefore his sword skills get wild and unfocused. It's a good thing he still had enough sense to not attack Zandra after Zuhl hid behind her or else he will regret harming Zandra who would try to calm her beloved prince down from his anger.
  • And that if Zardoz kills Zuhl in his fit of rage there, then Hrothgar/Ned Armstrong would not have been captured by Zuhl under orders of Zambojil when arriving on Earth with the Boazanian rebels' ships, and that Zuhl would not go down in Boazanian history as the traitor who betrayed the prince and end up subjected to Un-person^note Of course Zardoz could do that since he is aware of Zuhl being The Mole after Zandra informed him but Zuhl at that point was pulling his weight in helping him find new ways to defeat Voltes V and didn't attempt to assassinate the prince at his chambers at all until he was ordered to do so by Zambojil. Instead, Zardoz would want Zuhl's death be reported as "dying honorably" similarly like how his anime counterpart Heinel did to Duke Zaki.
• Apart from the flowers incident, why doesn't Steve ever tell off Eva for pestering him relentlessly or disrespecting Jamie?
  • Eva can be basically described as a doggedly persistent woman who just wants to get into Steve's pants, no matter how many times he says no.
• How did Jamie survive being shot in the stomach?
  • According to Drugs.com, she may have sustained a minor gunshot wound to the abdomen, which doesn't penetrate the skin nor damage any organs.
• What slight did Amira commit against Zardoz that resulted in Judalah begging for forgiveness on her behalf?
  • It could be a simple sin of omission that Zardoz really got angry at, and that's just another addition to things that make him angry, besides all those failures at his attempts to stop Voltes V.
• How sentient are Beast Fighters? Godor is clearly just a glorified vehicle, but some of the others are autonomous and seem to have some level of artificial intelligence. Most notable is Gardo, who is actually able to speak Boazanian and actually hold conversations with his masters.
  • The level of sentience could vary from one Beast Fighter to another, depending on the circumstances.
• What happened to the 15th Beast Fighter? In Legacy, there are supposed to be 16 Beast Fighters adapted out of 41, and yet after Zunaizer, it skipped to Godor, the 16th and final Beast Fighter, in the finale.
  • Desler Bow form and Desler Shield form probably counted as two separate Beast Fighters.
    • If that's the case, then does that mean Zoldier who has Knight form and Tikbalang form also counts as two separate Beast Fighters as well? The inconsistencies of the roster of 16 Beast Fighters is very confusing to be honest.
  • OR it might be Zoldier and its Mechanical Horse Geru that's considered as two Beast Fighters instead of just one. The horse/unicorn is detailed enough to be considered a separate Beast Fighter.
    • Confirmed by Word of God himself when being asked about it.
• What happened to Baron Zander? He dies in the anime alongside Oslak but here he teleports away... and is never seen again.
  • For all we know, this can be prime Fanfic Fuel. He may be the only survivor among the old guard, who is then arrested for his crimes, or he died off-screen during the final battle.
    • Or maybe that he fled from Boazan as a wanted fugitive, seeking asylum at Campbell, as mentioned by Marquise Zaki who intended to go there before Zandra shot her for treason.
    • Would the Campbellians allow a fascist criminal who clearly hates non-Boazanians on their fields?
    • Depends how Baron Zander would swallow his pride and offer his services to help build them their own equivalent of Beast Fighters in order to be granted asylum in Campbell.
  • Director Reyes said that he was deliberately left alive as they hoped to use him for a potential Season 2 of Legacy.
• What's Zaki's connection to Campbell? In the OG anime he was a mere suckup to Zambajil as his cheif inspector and never mentioned it.
  • It is most likely an Easter Egg reference sprinkled in that implies there would be a connected universe here. Zambojil did mention Brahmin, Tau Cetis, and Gliese after all.
    • The director did say that was his plan after all.
• The Boazanians are established to have resistant skin (as shown when Steve got shot). So why didn't Zandra's skin resist Zambojil's gun?
  • Apparently, Boazanians are resistant to bullets but not to lasers as it managed to pierce through their tough skin and perished. So yeah, Zandra died to Zambojil's blaster gun to protect Zardoz and she didn't hesitate even after her deflector shields are broken when fighting off Boazanian rebels.

---