Referenced By / Voltron

Voltron has been referenced countless times in various media through the years, thus showing its significant impact on American or Western pop culture.

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Advertising

• Sprite referenced Voltron in a series of hip-hop-themed commercials in 1998.^note Jack Angel reprised his voice role of King Zarkon for the ad. There was also an animated character, a teenager named Jamal, who calls for the lions' help to fend of the Robeast in the commercials, and he was voiced by Jazzy Jeff. Instead of his trademark Blazing Sword, Voltron uses his "Blazing Mic". Each of the five lions were piloted by a prominent hip-hop artist or group:
  • Goodie Mob (representing Southern hip-hop) piloted the Blue Lion.
  • Mack 10 (representing West-Coast hip-hop) piloted the Yellow Lion.
  • Fat Joe (representing East-Coast hip-hop) piloted the Green Lion.
  • Common (representing Midwest hip-hop) piloted the Red Lion.
  • Afrika Bambaataa (a hip-hop legend and pioneer) rode in the Black Lion with his own pilot.
• Voltron appeared in a 2012 MetLife Super Bowl commercial with various other cartoon characters.
• In "The Second Coming" by Juelz Santana (used for Nike's "Second Coming" commercial), says "... Together we stand, divided we fall, united we form Voltron and take on all."
• Reebok made a line of shoes named "The Voltron Pack", which features 5 designs of Reebok's famous shoes each with its own action figure that can combine to make a large one.
• On a Soul of Chogokin toy poster for GoLion, the Voltron logo is put beside the GoLion logo in seeming acknowledgment of how much more popular the Voltron brand is worldwide compared to GoLion in Japan.
• There actually exists a Voltron Star Shooter film camera. And yes, they called it the Voltron Star Shooter, not the GoLion Star Shooter.

Comic Books

• In the comic book series Gold Digger, there are regular appearances by a group of Leprechaun heroes called the "Vaultron Force".^note They pilot five mechanical shoes that combine to form the giant robot "Vaultron" (it's only giant by Leprechaun scale, only being about five feet tall, overall). They are menaced by both a direct parody of Lotor and Haggar, (Oompa Loompas), and their enemies, the Pirate Ninja Leprechauns who have the "Gallion".
• In The Perry Bible Fellowship, characters who look much like the Voltron characters form a unit called "Guntron" to destroy a giant robot scorpion.^note At the end of the strip, the blue character is missing, since his contribution to Guntron was the blue bullet that destroyed the scorpion. The next bullet in the chamber is green, and now the green character wears a much more worried expression than in the first panel. The other three characters form the gun itself and are safe.
• In the comic Ursa Minors #2, General Kien Lo Mein tries to convince The Bears to hand over the rights to their magical suits in order to employ nanite transformation converting the three into a giant Mecha Bear. The Bears politely decline, saying "Look, not that we don't appreciate it, but you're preaching Voltron to the uninterested."

Literature

• In Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files novel Blood Rites, Harry Dresden refers to the merged form of a bunch of flying monkey demons as "Monkey Voltron" (on page 4).

Movies & Television

• Pink Five's Laser Sword^note coincidentally, "Laser Sword" is also what the Philippine English dub version of Voltes V called the Tenkuu Ken (Sword of Heaven) is renamed something else in the Philippine English dub of Choudenshi Bioman—the Voltron Sword. No kidding.
• In Vice Versa (starring Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage), Judge plays with a large-sized, remote-controlled Lion Voltron toy.
• Voltron was referenced in the VH1 anthology series I Love the '80s 3-D.
• In the opening scene of Hot Rod, Dave orders his food under the name "Vultron" because "It's super bad ass."
• A huge Voltron toy is shown as a Christmas present during a 1980s-era flashback on Lost.
• On X-Play's "Salute to Boss Characters in Video Games," Morgan Webb talked about Jo Slade—the fat, lesbian security guard sexual predator from Dead Rising—saying, "She's like if weight, gender, and sexual preference stereotypes formed Voltron and tried to Taser you."
  • The two X-Play hosts, Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb, said that together they form Voltron: A pathetic, one-armed, one-legged Voltron with no torso.
• In the season 3 episode of Bones titled "Boy in the Time Capsule," psychologist Dr. Sweets talks about childhood icons, and reveals to Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan that he was "very attached to Voltron."
• In Deadpool (2016), Voltron is referenced in two scenes.
  • First one is in an arcade, when Wade wins a limited edition Voltron: Defender of the Universe ring and tells Vanessa, "FYI, five mini-lion bots come together to form one super lion bot."
  • The second is towards the end of the film; Wade says "You know, for a second there, it felt like we were three mini-lion robots coming together to form one super robot."
• In Spider-Man: Far From Home, the merged Elementals that attack London are likened by Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell to be something out of Power Rangers or Voltron.

Music

• Voltron was mentioned in a song by Murphy Lee, Nelly, and P. Diddy, "Shake Ya Tailfeather" with the line "Come on, you know the 'Tics connect like Voltron."
• Voltron is referred to often by the hip-hop group, Wu-Tang Clan.
• Voltron is referenced in the song "Funky Voltron" from Edan's 2005 album "The Beauty and the Beat."
• Voltron is mentioned in the chorus of a song by the former Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy, entitled "Wizard Needs Food, Badly." The song examines the differences between the sexes by referencing popular culture of the seventies and eighties.
• In the song "This D.J." by Warren G, the second verse starts with, "Verse two, (uh-huh), now what the fuck I do? Catch the bus to Cal State, or chill with the Voltron crew."
• In the song "I Just Don't Give A FUCK" by Eminem, the second verse contains, "This is a lyrical combat, gentlemen hold your pistols/But I form like Voltron, and blast you with my shoulder missiles."
• There is a grindcore band called "Voltron" whose songs are based around the series. They have a song—"The End Of Planet Arus"—featured on the extras portion of the U.S. Vol. 3 release of Voltron.
  • There's also a ska-punk band called "Let's Form Voltron".
  • "Letters to Voltron" is a Houston band whose name might a play on "Letters to Cleo", an alternative band.
• Ska band, DHGB (Dabe & His Good Buds), make extensive reference of Voltron, most notably in their song "Giant Robots."
• Voltron is mentioned in a song by Busta Rhymes, "Everything Remains Raw". Part of the second verse says, "On and on, hey, on and on and on/You won't understand when I form Voltron".
• In Chamillionaire's "Mixtape Messiah Pt 2" on the track "Let Em Know" he states, "Got everybody staring at the car components. It look like Voltron with the door don't it?"
• In The Moldy Peaches' song "Nothing Came Out", Kimya Dawson sings, "I want you to watch cartoons with me; He-Man, Voltron, and Hong Kong Phooey."
• "Voltron" is a name of a song recorded by Flo Rida.
• Rapper Royce da 5'9" mentioned Voltron in the 2009 song "Sound Off", referring to him & his groupmates of rap supergroup Slaughterhouse, with the lyric, "We're an outfit, equivalent to Voltron..."
• Filipino band Parokya ni Edgar released a batch of parody t-shirt designs as recently as 2021, which included 1980s Super Robot anime shows such as Mazinger Z, Daimos, Voltes V, and Voltron.

Video Games

• In the Nintendo GameCube game Gotcha Force, the character Metal Hero is arguably modeled after Voltron, with a helmet resembling that of a lion or tiger, and wielding a "Blazing Sword".^note Also, the motions used by Metal Hero to perform his special attack are identical to the motions used by Voltron to summon the Blazing Sword. Voltron is also referenced by the Borg Victory King, who utilizes gatlings fired from his legs.
• The Fleet of Doom special featuring the two Voltrons can be considered a prototypical proof of concept for what would eventually become the Super Robot Wars franchise^note where Super Robots team-up against their foes or are pitted against each other. So the very existence of Super Robot Wars is kind of a reference to Fleet of Doom and other movies like it, in a sense.
  • Lion Voltron technically appears as a playable unit in the Nintendo DS game Super Robot Wars W, under its GoLion name.^note GoLion's story is slightly changed to allow interaction of the GoLion cast with the other characters included in the game (i.e., Honerva/Haggar offering her services to Dr. Hell of Mazinkaiser, King Zarkon's/Daibazaal's empire forming an alliance with the enemies of GaoGaiGar).

Web Animation

• In the 2006 Halloween cartoon of Homestar Runner, the character Strong Bad states, "We'll form into a giant robotic Halloween-Night-finding space panther!"
• In an episode of the online Machinima series Red vs. Blue, Pvt. Tucker says, "Women are like Voltron. The more you can hook up, the better it gets."
• In DEATH BATTLE!, they made an episode pitting the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers against Voltron: Defender of the Universe (Lion Force).
  • The ISMAHAWK/Ismahawk YouTube channel—creator of Nightwing: The Series—released a live-action version of the same battle, but this time it stars various YouTube stars and celebrities like Xavier Woods from the WWE and Mari Takahashi from Smosh and Smosh Games.
  • The Variant Comics channel also released their own fully CGI version of the same battle as well.

Webcomics

• Voltron was featured in the satirical web-based cartoon strip Get Your War On.
• In the webcomic Sluggy Freelance, main characters Torg and Riff are accidentally teleported to a parallel universe, where they encounter a team of superheroes similar to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, who form a Voltron-like robot named "Gofotron".

Western Animation

• In an episode of Taz-Mania, upon readying a trap for Taz, Bull Gator confirms with his partner Axle that all preparations are in order. Axle responds affirmatively and emphatically "Mega Thrusters are GO!"
• In Dexter's Laboratory, Dexter and his family form a Super Robot to stop a monster from destroying Tokyo—in order to combine vehicles, Dexter uses a key similar to the one used to initiate the combination for Voltron.
• In an episode of Sealab 2021, five mice are placed inside the empty bodies of five Sealab crewmembers, who were now robots. The mice are all wearing Lion Voltron flight suits and shout "GO, MOUSETRON!!" after they are all placed inside.^note They might also reference the Space Mice in Voltron that also have their own Voltron robot equivalent.
• Voltron's combination sequence is constantly playing on monitor screens in the TV show Butt-Ugly Martians.
• In Megas XLR (episode 18—"S-Force S.O.S"), a complete parody is done of Voltron, including similar character designs, and differing animal mechs that join together.
• In an episode of Home Movies, five kids can be seen forming Voltron in the background during the battle between the kids from the Sci-Fi Convention and the kids from the Renaissance Faire.
• In the stop-motion sketch comedy series Robot Chicken, Lion Force Voltron is referenced in the episode "You Got Robo-Served". Voltron is forced into a dance competition against a Robeast (Scorpious from the Panosh Place toyline).^note After a while, Voltron runs out of moves, therefore losing the battle and having been "served", much to the Robeast's amusement. Out of embarrassment, Voltron simply slices the Robeast in half with the Blazing Sword in retribution. Both of the songs danced to (the original "Work It Out on the Floor" and its legally necessitated replacement) contain references to the cartoon series.
  • The sketch "Voltron Force Assemble!" parodies the Vehicle Force Voltron trying to rescue a space station under attack from a Robeast (also Scorpious), but the transformation takes an incredibly long time.^note Upon finally arriving, they are far too late; the surviving commander kills himself, grieved that it wasn't the "real" Voltron, "just that stupid vehicle one".
  • The sketch "Voltron Boner" sees a "Pink Lion" (piloted by a stereotypically effeminate Paladin) combining with Voltron, forming said body part during a battle with a Robeast (yet again Scorpious).
• In an episode of The Fairly OddParents! called "Smarty Pants", Timmy Turner mentions King Zarkon's name while playing a "Crash Nebula" game.
• In the Family Guy episode "No Meals on Wheels", Joe Swanson along with other handicapped people come back to Peter Griffin's restaurant and form "Crippletron" in a manner similar to Voltron.
• During the episode "Imaginationland" of South Park, Voltron can been seen clearly in the background as one of the imaginary denizens.
• In Transformers: Animated: AllSpark Almanac II, there is a map of the Milky Way Galaxy featured. One territory is referred to as the Galran Khanganete, a reference to the Galra Empire from Beast King GoLion. Within said Khanganete are the planets Doom and Arus, which are references to Voltron instead.
• The stop-motion adult animated series Titan Maximum, created by Matthew Senreich and Tom Root (co-creator and co-head writer of Robot Chicken), is a parody of Voltron.^note Animated by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios—the same studio behind Robot Chicken—it features five pilots of the titular giant robot trying to save Saturn's moon from the evil ex-blue pilot, Gibson "Gibbs" Gibberson (voiced by Seth Green). The team consists of red pilot and leader Commander Palmer (voiced by Breckin Meyer), yellow pilot Jodi Yanarella (voiced by Rachael Leigh Cook), black pilot Sasha Caylo (voiced by Eden Espinosa), blue pilot Willie Palmer (voiced by Dan Milano), and green pilot Leon (the silent monkey janitor). Nine episodes were produced.
• In the Cartoon Network series MAD, Voltron makes numerous appearances. Some of its most notable appearances include the following:
  • There's the sketch "MAD’s Guide to Phobias", where the last phobia seen is "Voltronitis"^note described as "the fear that your leg pilot might not show up today". Voltron is seen confronting a cephalopod-like Robeast, but without the Yellow Lion, falls to the ground and is beaten easily by its enemy.
  • The ad parody "The 9-Voltron Battery" sees a demanding Voltron advertising a battery supercharged with the powers of nine robot lions, which tend to be quite destructive; using the battery causes whatever device it is in to explode.
  • The sketch "The Iron Giant Lady" features a parody of both Voltron and U.K. singer Adele, known as Voltron Adele, formed by five individual robotic Adeles.
• A recurring in-series cartoon seen in the 2012 incarnation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is "Super Robo Mecha Force Five!" which parodies Voltron, along with other mecha/super robot anime such as Mazinger Z and Voltes V. It is seen being watched by the Turtles throughout the second season.^note The team consists of blue pilot/leader Dash Coolstar Captain Dash Coolstar, green pilot Dr. Blip, pink pilot Princess, red pilot Lunk, and yellow pilot/animal sidekick Squeakums. Most notably, Dr. Blip strongly resembles Pidge/Shorty, being a short pilot wearing large spectacles. The team also has a Princess in a pink uniform, and the word "Zarkon" is mentioned at one point.
• In the 2017 DreamWorks Animation film The Boss Baby, the title character illustrates the "old being replaced with the new" line by swapping a stuffed lamb for a Voltron: Defender of the Universe toy.
• The show Rick and Morty references Voltron a couple of times.
  • At the end of the 2017 episode "Rest and Ricklaxation", Morty tells Jacqueline that she can keep the drones. Rick protests and says she can't, because they form a "little Voltron robot◊" and "They're awesome!" The drones then demonstrate Rick's claims, complete with glowing flame sword.
  • The 2021 episode "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion" features this page's image header◊ for Voltron prominently while also referencing Neon Genesis Evangelion at the same time.
• In Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022), Chip and Dale climbed atop a huge Voltron statue at the convention center they're attending in order to give Bob the Dwarf the slip.

Miscellaneous

• The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has a Voltron balloon.
• A Gizmodo computer review describes the Itronix GoBook III laptop as looking "like Voltron's underwear."
• In the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, the Visions expansion featured robotic Chimera creatures, which added their abilities interchangeably to one another. Though the deck built around the Chimera creatures was never particularly powerful, it was and is still well known as the "Voltron Deck" and the game mechanic from the Chimera as the "Voltron Mechanic."
• Voltron was mentioned in a quote by New York Giants Linebacker LaVar Arrington about the potential of the team's defense for the 2006 season: "Voltron still hasn't formed yet... I can only imagine what we will be once we get everybody out there."

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