YMMV / Voltron

Franchise-wide

• Complete Monster: See here.

Both

• Awesome Music: Whatever else you might think of the show, that central theme is remembered by millions for a reason.
• First Installment Wins: You'll hear most fans refer to Lion Force rather than Vehicle Force whenever the series is brought up.
• Gateway Series: For many people, particularly in America, Voltron was their introduction to Combining Mecha Super Robot anime.
• Woolseyism: In the Mexican Spanish dub, the Loved by good, feared by evil line in the opening of both series was translated as Amado por los justos, temido por los cobardes (Loved by the just, Feared by the cowards), which sounds arguably more epic than the English version.

Lion Voltron

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Keith and Allura's relationship: are they the Official Couple, or merely a case of Implied Love Interest? There is some Depending on the Writer at play here, as while Voltron in general seems to go for the former, GoLion on the other hand went with the latter. Yes, GoLion pretty much stated that Keith/Kogane's feelings for Allura/Fala were strictly platonic and that they were Just Friends, and that if anything the other guys in the Voltron Force were far more interested and attracted to the Princess than Keith/Kogane was (Voltron didn't exactly ignore that little aspect either, especially with Pidge). However, the original Voltron series did try to go for the former, but it can come off as the latter, especially at first. The American Voltron Animated shows like The New Dimension and especially Voltron Force, on the other hand, are clearly going for the former.
• Broken Base: Voltron vs. GoLion, which was the better show? There have been plenty who strongly preferred GoLion due to its grim Darker and Edgier dramatic style that is far easier to take it seriously compared to Voltron. Some have even hated WEP for butchering a dark and intense Mecha anime series by turning it into a Narm-filled Lighter and Softer generic Mecha Anime Macekre just for the sake of cashing in on ''Voltron's'' merchandise. Some GoLion fans often make accusations that the only reason why anyone would still like Voltron is strictly due to nostalgia. However, there are those who still openly like Voltron even being well aware of how different it was compared to the original Japanese series. Some would even go so far as to prefer Voltron and find that some of the changes were actually an improvement. Some of them would also accuse GoLion of being a fairly generic grimdark anime that relied on gory violent scenes just for the sake of cheap shock value... despite still being a giant robot anime based on a multicolored lion robot. There's also been mention of how over time Lotor became a bit more of a conflicted and rounded character in Voltron compared to how he was a one-dimensional depraved monster in the original. And of course, one of the biggest reasons why anyone would prefer Voltron over GoLion was Sven/Shirogane's fate; as noted under the Woolseyism entry below, even Japanese viewers preferred the idea of Sven getting injured and making a comeback over him getting Killed Off for Real early.
  • Conversely, some try to take a more moderate approach by stating that both versions have plenty of merits despite their differences. More specifically, they take the view that while Voltron is considered to be an iconic classic in the US, WEP should get some credit for being openly willing to acknowledge GoLion and making sure GoLion is fully released in the US (and even taking a few good-natured jabs at themselves for how they censored the show so much on their YouTube channel). Also, some may try to point out that despite how different Voltron and GoLion can be, both versions fully deliver the awesome Combining Mecha anime action for which the franchise is well known.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Lotor is so very, very much this. It doesn't help that a lot of his worst acts were edited out, or being shown as being in love with the princesses instead of being attracted to them because of their resemblance to his mother.
  • Even less helped by the purely original third season of the show, which has him become much more of a conflicted character, rather than the straight-up villain he was in the GoLion-adapted first season.
  • The computer animated version that came much later essentially turned him into a Tragic Villain, which probably would have pleased his fangirls even more... if half his face and one arm hadn't been blown off in the process, severely limiting the desire of many to fangirl him.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Sven only appeared in a handful of episodes, but nevertheless became very popular due to his hilariously corny accent and the famous Woolseyism surrounding his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Romelle does not appear much in the series, but she was immediately well-liked due to her being a Darker and Edgier Action Girl, which served to contrast Allura's naivete and purity.
• Fandom Rivalry: Fans of Voltes V vs. fans of Voltron. As Voltes V was released earlier, proponents of it will slam Voltron as a rip-off and dedicate fanfiction and videos to the characters being slaughtered or made out to be villains threatening the Voltes V team. Flamewars will spark over which giant robot would wipe the floor with the other, and whether or not the "Voltron" title plagiarized the "Volt" in Voltes (fans who point out that the original title was GoLion tend to get ignored in the shuffle). The arguments all boil down to which Five-Man Band series is the legitimate and superior title, whether or not the latter was plagiarism, and if it's possible for fans of either to enjoy both.
• Fan-Preferred Pairing: While the Canon Keith/Allura pairing has a lot of fans, an almost equal number of fans like to pair Allura with Lotor, in part because of Lotor's Draco in Leather Pants vibes, and in part of scrub off some of the more boring aspects of Allura.
  • While not as active as Keith and Lotor in this regard, fans have shipped Allura with one of the other Voltron Force pilots as well; Lance seems to be the most popular choice in that regard. Some are even willing to point how while WEP seems to be intent on making Keith and Allura the Official Couple, GoLion had Allura/Fala's love life a bit more ambiguous and supported the idea that the Princess would more likely go with one of the other pilots.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Voltron is far better known in America than GoLion is in Japan. In fact, GoLion is almost forgotten there. This is because when the show premiered in Japan, there were already tons of transforming/combining mecha shows on airwaves, while in America it was pretty much the only show of its kind (not to mention it had to compete with Super Sentai in Japan too, which America didn't get until the early 90s with Power Rangers).
  • Also, Vehicle Voltron is better remembered in both Russia and Latin America than in America because it was shown there first. In fact, in Latin America, Lion Force Voltron wasn't broadcast until a decade later, despite all the toys sold in Latin American countries from the Lion Force; the Vehicle Force didn't get any, while the bootlegged ones are based on the Japanese version instead.
• Ho Yay:
  • Let's just say that the Klance subtext didn't start with the reboot...
  • Allura and Merla, especially in "A Ghost of a Chance" where Merla calls her lovely ("You're just as lovely as they say."), laments that they could've been good friends ("Too bad you're not a bad guy, we have much more fun."), and gets pissed at Lotor for trying to take Allura away ("She's my prisoner!", "I'll do exactly as I please with Allura!").
• Memetic Mutation: AND I'LL FORM THE HEAD! The phrase is said regularly in almost every incarnation, and made the basis for a nice parody song.
• Narm: Just watch this video of some of the best moments of the show and wonder if anyone had a straight face while recording their dialogue.
• Narm Charm: Sven's Norwegian accent is completely ridiculous and out of place. He's still the show's Ensemble Dark Horse.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • In episode 2, the scene where the space explorers travel through a foggy woods and hear a lion's roar is pretty unsettling.
  • The monster trees in "Zarkon is Dying", emerging from the forest and surrounding Allura, Nanny, and the other maids. The girls' screaming doesn't help. Before the tree monsters show up, the girls hear strange sounds and noticed some birds flocking away; they decide to head back, but are too late.
• Older Than They Think: A lot of people who have watched this series assume it was the Trope Maker for Combining Mecha and actually accuse Power Rangers of ripping it off. Meanwhile, in Japan, it was already a well-worn formula going back to The '70s. On the other hand, it pretty much was the Trope Maker in the West.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The titular character doesn't show up (except in flashbacks) until the end of episode four, and getting the story to that point is agonizingly slow at times.
• Tear Jerker:
  • While Sven survives to the end of the series (unlike his GoLion counterpart Shirogane), he never had it easy. First he's attacked by Haggar and her cat. The planet he's staying on while recovering is attacked by Zarkon's forces. Sven is unable to do anything to stop the invasion and is taken as a slave afterward. Lastly he's left for dead when his captors learn he's unable to work. Things don't get much better for him even after he meets Romelle.
  Sven: The Sven you speak of is gone! He was a failure!
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!:
  • See the Voltes V bit above.
  • The anime is also accused of ripping off Future Robot Daltanious, which came 3 years earlier. Both are about lion-themed Super Robots that are Icon Of Rebellions against fascist alien empires and use Flaming Swords.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: So many kids thought Pidge was a girl at first glance. The Japanese version is worse since he actually sounds like one too, whereas his English voice at least clarifies his gender more.
  • This, of course, becomes Hilarious in Hindsight when he was Gender Flipped in the reboot series.
• Woolseyism: Sven ought to be the Woolseyism poster child.
  • To detail: in GoLion, Shirogane, the character that would become "Sven," was killed off early on so that Fala could become a pilot. However, the Japanese rather liked the character and wanted him to return, so GoLion has his twin brother show up at the end of the series, which ends up feeling a little ham-fisted and awkward. World Events Productions, on the other hand, had a "Never Say "Die"" policy at the time; to get around this, they rewrote the script: Sven was taken off-world to receive medical attention from an attack on his life. So when the time came for Shirogane's brother to show up, they just brought Sven back. Many fans, in both the US and Japan, prefer this change.

Vehicle Voltron

• Macekre: The entire nature of the conflict between the Galaxy Alliance and the Drule Empire was changed. Also, of course, being forced into the same universe as Lion Voltron.
  • The Galaxy Alliance was only in this show, and called the Terran League.
  • Pidge and Chip were not brothers in the originals, since the two shows were completely unconnected.
• Memetic Loser: In the U.S., Vehicle Voltron is treated as this. See Replacement Scrappy below. Not so much in Latin America and Russia, and in some cases like in Mexico, this is even inverted.
• Replacement Scrappy: Vehicle Voltron (at least in the US) will go down in history as the lame, horrid replacement of the original awesome Voltron, regardless of whether that reputation is deserved. Robot Chicken lampshaded this in a skit, with a character committing suicide out of despair because of Vehicle Voltron.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The reaction from American fans when the series changed from Lion Voltron to Vehicle Voltron, since they didn't know the whole story behind the production of Voltron. In Latin America, this goes the other way instead, since Vehicle Voltron came first and Lion Voltron didn't air until a decade later.

---