Table of Contents
Introduction
In the book and movie Ready Player One, the characters get to pick a giant mech at the end of one of the trials. For me, that became Voltron vs. Megazord. Since I chose to follow the trials for this series, I wanted to give my thoughts on the matter. I thought about which giant mechs from my childhood and reckless teenage years were most influential. And, then, I narrowed it down to those two.
Voltron
My introduction to giant mechs came by way of the Voltron Saturday morning cartoons. I know that nostalgia is often a liar, but I contend that Saturday morning cartoons were one of the glues that held our society together. Being able to sit in front of the television for a couple of hours every Saturday morning experiencing the same thing after a long week of work was incredibly healing. Plus, it gave you ideas for imaginative play with your friends for years.
I’m sure watching the show now would feel like the sour notes that The Pink Opaque hit at the end of “I Saw the TV Glow” But, at the time, it felt like a more mature cartoon than anything else other than maybe the GI Joe movie. Even Transformers felt too goofy for me at times. Voltron just gave me a way to escape into the fantasy and cheer for the team against sometimes overwhelming odds.
We loved Voltron so much that our parents planned to buy us the lion robots for Christmas. However, they got recalled due to lead paint use. While I understood, it devastated me. As you can see, part of me never truly recovered.
Megazord
I have no such illusions about the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. The first series came out when I was in high school. I watched the show, but I knew it was a campy reinvention of Voltron and treated it as such. Plus, like many young men of the time, I had a crush on Kimberly. That kept me watching. I won’t deny that the Megazord was awesome. Even if the fight choreography lacked seriousness and the plot of every episode was always the exact same, that giant robot felt just as cool as Voltron ever did.
Plus, MMPR hits different. Each of my kids went through a Power Rangers phase. Watching them enjoy the show from a much more innocent point of view grew the esteem of the show in my heart. I watched right along with them. Some of the series were actually pretty well written for what they were. So, when the Power Rangers movie came out in 2017, we rushed out to watch it.
Unfortunately, similar to some recent (and not so recent) potential franchise movies like Warcraft and Masters of the Universe, the movie ultimately flopped hard. That kept us in perpetual suspense over the Green Ranger reveal at the end of the movie. I just wish they were able to finish out that storyline. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Voltron vs. Megazord: Why Mechs Matter
People, especially boys, just like giant things. We all watched Godzilla and even became obsessed for a short time. Then, there’s our dinosaur phase. It’s just that some of us never grow out of it and continue to add new things to the pile, so to speak. For me, I fell in love with dragons and continue to find enjoyment to this day.
I already discussed some about the teamwork involved. Not all mechs are the result of five disparate parts coming together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. For me, that’s what I loved about these two particular mechs. When I built models, I tried to build some of the other types like Battletech and Gundam. But, I didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as Voltron or Megazord.
I also enjoy these particular mechs because they represent transformation. When the five smaller bots form into their eventual part and come together, I cheer. You never get over that feeling of wanting to be part of something bigger than yourself. At least, I never have.
The Verdict
Voltron vs. Megazord is actually a pretty easy choice for me ultimately. I won’t tell you which I actually chose, because I think I made it pretty obvious. But, as soon as I started thinking about this part of the challenge, I thought about both of these mechs as a possibility for my choice. The idea brought me back to those Saturday mornings and later the reboots with my kids. Because, honestly, life is pretty simple. We just complicate it.
Be good, stay safe, and have fun.
