Hello! Question about Voltron Markings.

[Gakken]

First post!
I just started collecting Macross/Chogokin/MP stuff in the last two months and I'm really jumping head first into the hobby/addiction.

I was at my parents house the weekend digging out some old transformers and found my Voltron toy. I read a few threads here about the identification markers... the odd thing is, my Voltron appears to be 75% Japanese and 25% taiwanese.

Black, Green, and Blue are GB-36s with very "frosted" looking diecast. Yellow and Red are Go Lion lead paint jobs with reflective legs and such.

My questions is, did they sell like this in America with mismatched lions? And if so what does that mean? My parents bought it in the box of course, but I forget where or what store in the 80's

Any help would be great.

[Mr. Ginrai]

Yes yours appears to be legitimate.

If all the teeth are rounded and not "sharp" like a real lion, and you have no springs or buttons where the missile firing features are supposed to be then you have a US matchbox version release.

Matchbox got production runs from the bandai Taiwan factory that were recalled for lead paint (Toei/Golion D labels) and then switched back to the bandai Japan factory (GB-36 labels) after the recall.

Most people bought the sets in the individual boxes (black lion, red/blue lions, green/yellow lions) at different times (i.e. different trips to the toy store) accounting for the "non-matching" figures in their set. Sometimes these were all Japan or all Taiwan versions. Sometimes a mix during early production.

If your parents bought a full giftset then they probably purchased it during one of the early transition periods where they were trying to exhaust the remaining Japan lions and they got packed in with the first Taiwan lions production run.

[Gakken]

Nice! Thanks for the info! I'm pretty sure we got him all at once... maybe my parents bought all the individuals all at once and that accounts for the interracial nature of the toy! haha.

Any idea why the japanese frosted so much on the legs? Is it just tarnish?

He's a really cool toy. I hear rumors that Bandai is ramping up to release new Voltron stuff, so I'll wait and see if I want to sell him or hold on to him.

[Mr. Ginrai]

It's not frosting. It's chrome wear from playing with the toy over the years. It could have happened to either version, and could still happen to the other limbs. I have several voltrons (both matchbox versions and earlier Bandai releases) and have had it happen to some very badly, some partially, and some weren't affected at all. So don't worry about that, it is normal.