Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Voltron: Starshooter 110 Camera

I'll be honest, when it comes to all things Voltron I have to rely on others (and Google) to help me out. I vaguely remember the animated television show, but I was busy watching both Transformers and GI Joe shows to care. 

When it comes to Voltron toys, I had one lion growing up. I had the Matchbox Yellow Lion, a birthday gift from a cousin I hardly knew. Needless to say when I found this Starshooter 110 camera in a large box of toys I purchased, I was confused. 1) At the time I had never seen this toy before and 2) I wasn't even sure if it was a legit toy or not. Turns out that it was a fully licensed toy made for Impulse Ltd. in 1985. I took pictures of this toy some time ago, but like a lot of my photos they were buried and forgot about in my laptop's hard drive.





All folded up this looks like a generic toy camera. Note that mine is missing the detachable lens and camera strap usually found on the toy. However like a Transformer, there is more than meets the eye. This is a real working 110 camera, but it's also the mighty Voltron!


While the camera bits make Voltron a little bulky in the center, I kinda dig his overall look. The lions that form his limbs are more detailed than I thought they would have been. Stickers replace paint apps to give each lion some color and detail.

He isn't very articulated in this mode, but how many action figures from 1985 were super articulated? His arms move a full 360 degrees. His legs do rotate thanks to the transformation, but his knees are backward hinge joints...again because of the camera transformation. He does have some heel pieces that can be folded down from behind the leg to give the bulky robot some extra stability.


Voltron does keep his iconic looking head. The entire head is concealed by two pieces of black plastic that form the top portion of the camera. His read wings are also present, but a little on the short side if you ask me.

Overall I found this to be a quirky, but fun toy. Being that mine specimen was so old and not stored in the best environment, I wasn't able to test to see if the camera portion still worked. Finding new 110 film could be a challenge too! If I was a big Voltron fan, I'm sure I'd want this odd ball piece in my collection. Somewhat recommended, depending on your tastes.



1 comment:

  1. Cool oddball toy. I didn't watch a lot of Voltron either... but I remember some of the younger kids in my neighborhood being into it.

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