Shout Out / GoLion

Beast King GoLion has made the following shout-outs to other media.

Anime & Manga

• Combattler V and Voltes V:
  • After the death of Shirogane, GoLion ends up having four male pilots and one female pilot like with Voltes V and Combattler V.
  • The sequence where the pilots sit on their respective cockpits and move towards their respective Combining Mecha units (as originated by Combattler V) is also featured in GoLion (and its U.S. localization, Voltron).
  • The combination sequence of GoLion is highly reminiscent of the V-Formation of Combattler V or the V-Together of Voltes V, complete with the presence of electricity.^note Except with GoLion, they form the feet and legs first, followed by the arms and torso, before proceeding with the head. With Combattler and Voltes, it's in reverse.
  • Voltes V had its share of formidable four-legged Beast Knights that resemble the robot lions, such as Galgo the purple Bengal tiger, Jaguard the jaguar, and Garus the wolf.
  • The maskless face of the GoLion mech, with its shadowy eyes and expressive open mouth, is similar to that of Shugoshin Godol or the final Beast Knight that Voltes V had to face in the series. They both use a sword-based Finishing Move as well.
  • The Galrans using Gladiator Games to pick the best Robeasts among their enslaved races to sic upon GoLion is reminiscent to how the Boazanians selected some of their Beast Knights in Voltes V.
• Daimos:
  • Before getting to their individual pilot seats, Kazuya and the pilots of GoLion have to cling to a zip-line pulley.
  • The lifting mechanism inside GoLion's mechanical lions resembles Kazuya's chair being raised to the cockpit of the Transer/Tranzer during Daimos's Transformation Sequence.
  • Paradoxically, Akira Kamiya (Kazuya's voice actor) also provides the voice of Prince Sincline (Prince Lotor in Voltron) or the Evil Prince character in GoLion.
  • The maskless face of the GoLion mech, with its shadowy eyes and expressive open mouth, is similar to that of the Daimos mech.
  • The caretaker Hys is highly reminiscent of Daimos's Okane. They both seemingly function as comedic relief for their otherwise bleak shows.
  • The ability of the Royal Castle to turn into a spaceship definitely takes cues from both Camp Big Falcon of Voltes V and the Daimovic Base of Daimos.
  • In the same way that Princess Fala's late father, King Raimon of Altea, guided the pilots of GoLion to discover the key to assembling the fabled mech, the soul of Kazuya Ryūzaki's late father Isamu assisted him in learning how to form Daimos as well.
• The Darker and Edgier tone of the show filled with nuclear destruction, genocide, war, slavery, murder, and a high death toll follows the lead of earlier Super Robot shows such as Zambot 3, Voltes V, and Space Runaway Ideon along with Mobile Suit Gundam, a more grounded Real Robot show.
• Kurogane looks like the kid brother of Lupin III.
• Hiroshi looks a great deal like Soldier Blue from Toward the Terra would if he had normal hair and eye coloring.

Movies & Television

• On the first episode, "Escape from Slave Castle", the shot of the Galran Ship's underside is similar to that of the shot of the Star Destroyer's underside from the prologue of Star Wars: A New Hope.
  • Planet Jarre the desert planet is a reference to Tattooine from Star Wars.
  • Sincline's sword is a lightsaber or Laser Blade with the hilt of a regular European sword.
• Kurogane looks like he made off with James Dean's leather jacket.
• Princess Fala could instead be named Princess Farrah, making her a shout-out to Farrah Fawcett of Charlie's Angels fame.
• The Toho sentai series Flaming Superman Megaloman from 1979 features a similar line-up and color designation as GoLion, with Red, Blue, and Yellow being men, Green being a boy, and Pink being a girl.

Western Animation

• Princess Fala's ability to communicate with Altean mice is reminiscent of Disney princesses like Snow White, Aurora, and Cinderella.
  • Also, unlike in Voltron but like in Disney's Cinderella, the audience can hear the mice talk in GoLion.
  • Princess Fala's grand dress bears a resemblance to Princess Aurora's from Sleeping Beauty.
• Honerva and Jaga seems like a double shout-out to the Evil Queen's old crone disguise from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Evil Stepmother's cat Lucifer from Disney's Cinderella.
  • Honerva's ability to use black magic, hurl curses or hexes, and create giant monsters is also reminiscent of Malificent from Sleeping Beauty.

Literature

• The Altean mice finding multiple ways to save the day, even to the point of helping kill Prince Sincline(!), is pretty reminiscent of the mice in the fairy tale of Cinderella or even the famous Disney film version of it.
• Princess Amue's father is the King of Heracles and her older brother is Prince Samson.
• The Goddess of the Universe punishing the arrogant GoLion who dared take her on is reminiscent of the Enchantress punishing the arrogant Prince and turning him into a beast in Beauty and the Beast.
• The show also uses a lot of Christian symbolism and Biblical Motifs, which helped make it more relatable to western audiences as Voltron.
  • This includes the use of a crucifix as part of the Altean coat of arms and GoLion's special move, being watched over by the ghost of the former Altean King, the spiritual aspects of GoLion's power, and their mentor being named "Raible" (as in The Bible).
  • Amusingly, in Voltron, "Raible" is renamed "Coran" (as in The Qur'an) instead.

Miscellaneous

• The Alteans of Planet Altea are named after Altea, a coastal town in the province of Alicante in Spain.
• Planet Gliese itself is named after Gliese 581c, an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting within the Gliese 581 system but with a mass at least 5.5 times that of the Earth.
• The twin lion coat of arms of Altean Royalty is reminiscent of the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom. They both feature four-legged animals (lions) standing on their hind legs and pawing at a colorful shield.
• The last names of the five astronauts—Kogane (gold), Shirogane (silver), Kurogane (iron), Seido (bronze), and Suzuishi (tin)—all refer to some form of metal.
• The name of Prince Sincline might be a reference to syncline, which in structural geology refers to a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline.

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