The Voltes Years
by Dindo Moreno

It was 1978, December and I was doing my best to be a good boy for what I asked from Santa was what every kid wanted… A "Voltes V" Robot. I wasn't settling for anything else, I specifically wanted the huge one with all five voltes machines that could actually volt together. I waited for Christmas to come and the thoughts of playing with it… NO, inadvertently passing by my friends' house while playing with it made me salivate. Aaaah, I had visions of it and for a moment I dreamt of being Mark Gordon inside the Voltes Bomber-2 piloting, flying at speeds fast enough to leave my soul behind. Then the fateful day arrived, I saw that big box, I scurried to it and lunged at the box like it was water and I a thirsting desert wanderer but alas, as I held the box out came a 1500 piece space Lego set. Aaaaaaaaargh! (Don't get me wrong) The Lego set was great but what ever happened to my letter to Santa? At a tender age I seriously doubted the existence of this overweight Christmas icon. The season of the wise men came and still I insisted on my robot. Sure I got gifts, robots at that but there was no Voltes 5 robot in sight. Because of this I decided not to believe in Santa for his neglect of giving me my Voltes 5. I was six years old then.

Every kid in the late seventies wanted to be a member of the Voltes Team. My friends were no exception; the one with the eating disorder amongst us would always be Big Bert. Thank heavens we only had one female playmate that undoubtedly is Jamie. The youngest of us would play Little John mainly because we thought the character was a whining nuisance and for as long as the little boy could play with the bigger kids he'd play any character assigned to him. Trouble was a fight would always ensue on who was to play Steve, which wasn't a problem for me. I on the other hand would come to play wearing a blue T-shirt with an improvised whip screaming "I'm Mark and Jamie's my girl". I liked Mark, basically because he didn't whine "FATHER!" all the time and was in better terms with Jamie. At six I thought that was cool, makes me think of other "doubtful" role models of my childhood, Mark Gordon and Daffy Duck but that's another story.

This is getting nowhere, let me just say that Voltes 5 was a big influence in my childhood it taught me the concept of "Cooperation" which was a good thing. That there is no shame in crying for a lost loved one. That though in the process, one may wreak utter devastation, standing up to an intergalactic bully to protect the weak was still a noble deed. I also learned that beating up the kid who kept on shrieking "ERICKAAAAAH!" would only warrant an hour worth of standing - in - the - corner - facing - the - wall punishment, which was worth it. It was great growing up in the seventies. I could live for days on Choco-Vim and Barbecue Curls and life was simply simplistic.

It's good that GMA 7 finally decided a come-back after a twenty-year absence of this mechanical legend. The children may learn a thing or two from it. Oh yeah, about Santa you ask? I still see him sometimes… in the hearts' of kids all over yelling "Let's Volt'In"!

Dindo Moreno
Wednesday, February 03, 1999 10:10 AM

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