I'm new to collecting voltron toys. Are their any differneces in the various matchbox lion voltrons? What about the trendmaster diecast voltron sets? How are they compared to the matchbox sets?

Hi there! =]

The answer to your first question is, yes. There's many variations to the Matchbox releases. There may be more than i currently know but so far, I myself have counted 4 different variations. Whether it'd be paint variations, plastics used, made in Japan/Taiwan or the stickers, theres something special or lacking behind each model released.

Trendmasters. Theres quite a few collectors on this site who have their product.
I myself own 1 complete boxed Trendmasters Voltron reissue (made with die cast metal and plastic) which i bought at Toys R Us many years ago when they first shipped for only 24.99.
If I were to pit a Matchbox Voltron next to a Trendmasters set, you would surely see that the quality differences are great right down to the paint apps.

My Trendmaster set has suffered major paint chipping due to no type of primer base on each painted part which also resulted in dull colors when compared to the 80's vibrant and gorgeous release.

You won't see metallic finishes either on the TM version. Instead, they used soft and faded pastel pigments. I dont know or understand why.
The face on the main lion is black instead of blue like the original toy. The plastics are slightly faded in color as well and a bit more crude looking.
The quality control was lacking for sure. A cheaply made reproduction aimed to cash in on fans who were searching for a piece of nostalgia. $24.99 for a full set was a pretty good price though.

I find it nerdishly disturbing to see it sold for over 100.00 dollars today.
It doesn't make sense. Why pay 100.00 for a cheap repro when you can have an original one in decent condition. Atleast the original will hike up in value.
I mean, unless youre just trying to collect anything Voltron, then I guess you can pay whatever it is depending on how much you really want it.

This is all in my humble opinion though. Other collectors and sellers of course, may debate my criticism.

Now, the matchbox sets. If you want to buy your first Voltron set and wish it to be a matchbox american original release, i'd shop for set made entirely in Japan.
Its the best quality. GB-36 Made in Japan Voltron.

Theres multiple Taiwan made sets that are pretty good also released by Matchbox, but you can tell and feel the Japanese sets are just tighter in quality.

You can ask Moeom here as he recently purchased one himself.

Collecting Matchbox Voltrons is fun. And surprising to see different grades of quality per release. The earliest releases from Japan had more to em. The latest releases were pretty much half assed. Still licensed Voltrons, but not as good.

Hope that helps some.

thanks japanbot. That answered the questions i have about the two different lion voltron sets. I bought a lionbot set. I was disappointed in with the apparent lack of quality. Looking to buy the better matchbox japan lion voltron set.

japanbot do you know of any good sources for a nice matchbox japan voltron set. I know their is ebay. I want to know if their are any other sources.

I back JapanBot on this. When i received my GB-36 Japan Voltron from eBay, i was like: damn...this thing's dirty...best clean it up.

After a couple of hours of cleaning (I made sure to get every single little corner, etc). In the proccess though, I really came to appreciate how this "toy" was so well made. It's survived about 27 years (i have the 1981 version) and it still FULLY works and is in pretty good shape. They don't make toys like this anymore.

Overall, i was very happy. Not only did I find the Voltron I had as a kid, but I was also impressed with Japanese manufacturing. My Voltron is wonderful!

quote:

Originally posted by golion:
japanbot do you know of any good sources for a nice matchbox japan voltron set. I know their is ebay. I want to know if their are any other sources.

To be honest with you, i do all my Voltron shopping on ebay. Im resting from buying anymore right now, but I'll probably start again in a month or two.

Theres always Voltron on ebay. And some days you can be lucky than others and nab one for cheap.

What's the difference (besides the box) between the Popy Voltron III and the Matchbox GB-36 made-in-Japan Voltron III?

Well, as far as I know, the Popy release of Voltron 3 is actually well known as Golion and specifically intended to support the animated shows in Japan. Lots of ebayers like tossing that name on their matchboxes and bootlegs (which can be annoying when searching for specific sets) just to get people to look at their listings while others are sincere and unsure so they just throw the name in there just incase.

The other Japan release was mostly known as Bandai's standard "Golion" metal set (Godaikin) and featured the same sharp teeth on each lion, working weapons both on lions and external weaponry with spring loaded mechanics as the popy release did which of course, sadly, isn't present in our beloved Matchbox's release. (for safety purposes...God forbid a lion bites a kid.)

Also, the tails and mid sections of the red and green lion, are chromed in the popy toy.

The Godaikin "GOLION" box set features all of the above except the chromed tails and parts of the mid sections from the red and green lions aren't all chromed even though the box art depicts the opposite. Sometimes its really difficult to know the origin from ebayers because a lot of the times, its B.S.

It could be that some sets probably did have full chromed mid sections, but I've yet to see any like that from letigimate sources.

You gotta be careful on ebay. Some sellers will stick a Godaikin Golion in with the actual popy set (or in the popy box with styro) just to make a fast 1000.00.

Heres a few pics.

Popy Golion


Bandai Godaikin Golion. Note parts of the mid section chromed.


Matchbox Voltron III


Popy front box art


The chromed mid sections and tails present in genuine Popy Golion. Note the sharp teeth.

Yea. These are pretty expensive on eBay. It does seem like the quality is a little better. But definately not worth the hundreds of dollars. What are your thoughts on pricing vs being "worth it"?

Well, there's 2 on ebay right now. The popy one on ebay is selling for 999.00 or so, which is not a good deal considering the amount of permanent damage the toys have. If you noticed, they have extreme discoloration on all white plastic parts. Some of the paint has even worn off from extreme light rays. This is due to having the item on an unprotected window display with the sun hitting it maybe for years, or possibly even on some sort of booth outdoors without any shade.

The sun will eat the colors out of any plastic in a matter of moments. Turn greys and whites into yellows.
That set should be lowered to 500.00 if anything. It's no longer mint. Even if it hasnt been removed from its box. It's permanent damage that cannot in any way, be repaired/reversed. Its a complete turn off for many collectors who know about this stuff.

Painting over the plastic parts is out of the question when it comes to restoration. It's worse than worn chrome because atleast you can get that rechromed.

The other set (Godaikin Golion) is set at around 500.00 which if it were 100% Godaikin, I'd say it would be well worth it. But I have a few concerns about the red and green lions, because they have absolutely no chromed mid sections as far as I can see. Therefore, the bodies can be GB-36 while the heads are actually Godaikin Golions. And the weapons heavily resemble that of the bootlegs. Theres no red tip on black lion's cannon and some of the other missle launchers are not colored as I remember them to be. I could be wrong, but I only go based on what Ive actually had, touched or seen in person.

1000.00 for a good Popy mint toy is a practical price for a toy thats little over 20 years old straight from Japan without any edits or factory flaws. Its the holy grail of Voltron toys.

I have an old popy set myself but its really beat up, plastics show some yellowing on the jaws of my blue and yellow lion and lots of scraped paint on black lion. Not to mention the heavy chrome wear. :/
But, I plan to invest on repairing it some day.

If I had thousands of dollars to throw away (probably never) I'd probably buy one brand new. But definitely not the one on ebay. Hell, I wouldn't buy it at all for any price above 100.00 personally because of the horrible plastic and even paint damage that I would have no way of repairing.

I already asked the seller about the conditions and he sent me some large pics and I was like, no way, nevermind.

He lowered the price down to 800.00, then put it back up to 900.00 or more it seems and even added something funny within his description about everyone having different opinions about its condition. haha. Im assuming another seller talked him into raising it back up.

There will be someone out there who will give in to its vintage magnetism though, so as a seller, he's doing the right thing holding out for a bite. But its definitely a shady price to pay if you saw it in an actual shop. (i know that when you sell something on ebay, you have to endure the fact that they charge a fee and not to mention paypal also take a small percentage of the money that lands in its clutches for you).

Let's also consider this. About 7 years ago, I remember walking into specialty shops with vintage Matchbox Voltron in box for 500.00, and everyone thought that was a good deal. Even I did.

I don't quite understand why I was able to buy a mint in box Voltron set for no more than 120.00 on ebay recently and not to mention the other 7 or so sets in which I only paid about 79.00 to no more than 160.00. But I was having the time of my life until I actually got a hold of myself.
I own 7 really nice condition Voltron lion sets and 1 Trendmasters metal set (which sucks!), a bootleg (which im playing around with paint touch ups/experimentations) and my beat up popy set that I hope to restore.
Oh and 2 vehicle force sets.
Yeah.. I had to stop. But they were so cheap. I had to. It was a fun investment. I got to learn so much from each one and their variations.

I agree with you 100% on the eBay Popy Voltron. That's the nastiest looking $1000 item I've ever seen. But again, personally, I do NOT think that the Popy Voltron is worth $1000...or even $500 for that matter. Just for some sharp teeth, chromed midsection, and firing weapons? I'm not convinced. Maybe $300...

I also grew up with the Matchbox version and that's what I happily have now (a GB-36 Voltron). I would be happy to buy another mint-in-box for under $150 if the auction is right. I just missed one the other day. But I'll just keep looking until I can get it for cheap. I think the days of getting mint Voltrons for $120 are over though. The mint GB-36s are going for at least $150 now, aren't they?

And JapanBot...you still haven't answered my question Mint-in-box Popy for $500-$1000 VS Mint-in-box GB-36 for $150ish? For me, the extra hundreds of bucks is not worth the upgrade to Popy. Yes it is the holy grail of Voltron because it came before the Matchbox release....so maybe that jump in price is justified there....

Well, like I said before, only if i had so much money that i wouldnt know what to do with it, Id probably give in. But at this point, I find no point to it because it is so as you said. Sharp teeth, chrome mid sections, weapons and box, doesnt really cut 1000.00. But theres those die hards that make me look like a boy scout in collecting that would totally spend that dime.

Im quite happy with my GB-36 set as well and sure enough both GB-36 and Popy Golion are both very similar and have the same quality in itself. Just minus some of the features that thankfully, you can live without, and quite frankly, so can I.

So I guess for me personally, at this point, the answer to your question is no. Not worth it.

GB-36 sets in good condition have always taken the extra penny in price. Usually selling at top 160.00 loose (sometimes more when youre in a bidding war. It turns into a game of chicken) lol. But Ive been lucky.

160.00 for a taiwan make of the set however, is a little tougher to work with. I'd wait.

I totally agree...and I've been losing the bidding wars recently. I just have to keep at it and try again later. As you mentioned, there seems to be an auction for a mint-in-box Voltron every week or so...

So I asked the seller who listed his Godaikin for over 500.00 dollars about its authenticity.
Of course he said its 100% authentic because "he bought it from its original owner". That doesn't say much about its authenticity.
Had he said he bought it from the store or manufacturer, it would have been different.

Then, he told me that non of the lions have sharp teeth.

Third, he said that the mid sections aren't chromed either like their supposed to be and is made of die cast, painted grey. :P

I was also told that the release year of the set was 1984 and is the later set whereas the teeth were dulled down etc.

No problem. No purchase from me either.
I personally would never pay 500.00 for a box.
Because thats pretty much all it is. The set itself is 95% identical to a regular Matchbox gb-36 set from Japan. 95% because im assuming the Godaikin atleast have springs loaded in the missle firing mechanisms. Although he never confirmed that even after i asked.

I took the listing off my watch list. The end.

LOL. What a loser. You know what....he might get lucky and trick SOMEONE...but his listing is a joke. I took him off my watch list after examining the pictures!

As for my plight to get a new-in-box (or mint) GB-36...well...that failed again! The damn thing sold for ~$180 + shipping. These high prices are killing me! I wanna pay no more than $150 or so....

Oh well. Guess I need to get lucky another time...