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Post by Coletron on Aug 5, 2017 17:30:27 GMT -5
Three years ago, I bought this Gladiator Voltron. The eBayer I got it from claimed that he'd purchased it from a Matchbox rep who had kept it in the original shipping crate since release. And, the seller stated that he'd stored it there for over ten years. It arrived in the original shipping crate, and it was truly perfect. I didn't want to mess it up. So, I put the robots back in the crate, and stored them in my workshop. I've only removed the boxes once or twice to take some pics.
Next week, the AFA is coming to town for the "Steel City Con". Having them graded and protected by UV proof cases is something I've considered for some time. But I'm not sure. What do you guys think? Should I have them AFA graded? Is it worth it?
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Post by S_Gokin on Aug 6, 2017 12:11:00 GMT -5
hey bro
this robot is called Albegas, and its not related to Voltron by any means
the toy is really nice, but im not sure about their value tho but im sure in the US people love anything with Voltron on it
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Post by locidm on Aug 6, 2017 12:40:14 GMT -5
hey bro this robot is called Albegas, and its not related to Voltron by any means the toy is really nice, but im not sure about their value tho but im sure in the US people love anything with Voltron on it It is Albegas. But when they brought Albegas over they renamed it Voltron II. |
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Post by Coletron on Aug 6, 2017 14:35:35 GMT -5
hey bro this robot is called Albegas, and its not related to Voltron by any means the toy is really nice, but im not sure about their value tho but im sure in the US people love anything with Voltron on it Sure. I know that this is Albegas. In the USA, Voltron was meant to be a trilogy. Vehicle Voltron is known as Voltron I. Lion Force Voltron is Voltron III. And Voltron II? World Events Productions aired Voltron III 1st because they didn't get the Dairugger tapes in time for the start date. Lion Force ended rather abruptly, and all of a sudden was replaced by a "new" Voltron made of vehicles. I was really upset by this, as were all of the kids who loved Lion Force. Vehicle Voltron was not well received. Albegas (Gladiator Voltron) was going to be the final installment of the trilogy, as Voltron II. But, because Dairugger was a flop, WEP scrambled and produced another season of Lion Force as the finale. So, Gladiator Voltron (II) was left out. This gokin is an anomaly. It's unusual and rare - especially the blue Beta robot. There weren't many produced. And, most of them are broken due to the notoriously fragile blue POPY plastic. All of the sets I've seen on eBay in the last few years have been messed up. Mostly you just see the red and black gladiators sold together. If the blue is included, it's busted. What is it worth? I don't really care, because I'm not going to sell it. But, 4 years ago an AFA'd set sold for $640. Voltron prices have skyrocketed since Legendary Defender dropped. So I know it has some value. |
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Post by Coletron on Aug 6, 2017 14:38:43 GMT -5
hey bro this robot is called Albegas, and its not related to Voltron by any means the toy is really nice, but im not sure about their value tho but im sure in the US people love anything with Voltron on it It is Albegas. But when they brought Albegas over they renamed it Voltron II. But, what do you guys think of AFA grading? It will cost a couple hundred bucks. Is it worth It? |
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Post by Coletron on Aug 6, 2017 15:24:43 GMT -5
hey bro this robot is called Albegas, and its not related to Voltron by any means the toy is really nice, but im not sure about their value tho but im sure in the US people love anything with Voltron on it
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Post by locidm on Aug 6, 2017 16:37:50 GMT -5
It's your call whether it's worth it. Do you plan to sell it?
If you plan to keep it, is knowing the AFA grade going to help you appreciate it more?
If you plan to sell it, with the additional AFA cost, will you at least make enough profit to make it worthwhile?
I've never AFA anything because I don't collect vintage.
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Post by S_Gokin on Aug 6, 2017 16:55:49 GMT -5
thanks for the info guys i only knew that Albegas name was changed and its own by WEP but i didnt know the details about it lol the name changing is a funny thing, in my region it was called "the defender" and the show name was "the brave three" and i agree with locidm its up to you bro |
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Post by Coletron on Aug 6, 2017 17:00:16 GMT -5
It's your call whether it's worth it. Do you plan to sell it? If you plan to keep it, is knowing the AFA grade going to help you appreciate it more? If you plan to sell it, with the additional AFA cost, will you at least make enough profit to make it worthwhile? I've never AFA anything because I don't collect vintage. I don't plan to sell it. If I AFA it, it would be purely for protection. Often, the cellophane tears on these packages. And, the boxes are super bright. UV protection would keep them from fading. That is the big appeal. I would have peace of mind knowing that it wouldn't get messed up. |
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Post by locidm on Aug 6, 2017 17:13:15 GMT -5
If all that is important to you haven't you answered your own question? Although if it's purely for protection I wonder if there are other cheaper alternatives.
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Post by Mr. Ginrai on Aug 7, 2017 21:51:21 GMT -5
I don't think it is worth it. Not attacking those that do it but I feel like it is a huge racket and the people that grade stuff have money to blow, the people that buy the stuff even more so. I feel like they are in it for the money or for the quest for perfection/validation that they have the best piece (which as far as I know, AFA has never graded a figure 100).
You know how nice the particular piece you own is, high res pics wouldn't lie to a potential buyer either, so why do you need the self validation? (Not being mean, just trying to be straightforward).
I was somewhat forced to AFA grade a sealed vintage toy by an auctioneer that was selling high value items for me. He said he would pay the bill as he'd get a discount because they were sending in a large amount of items. Long story short, my toy graded well but it should have graded better, it didn't sell at auction and I got stuck with the full price bill. So I have a worthless toy in an expensive case that is now even more worthless. And it's a large toy as well so it weighs a TON now.
It is quite expensive to AFA grade large toys. While it will increase the value of your toy (there aren't too many AFA voltrons (any type) but they are out there), it will only really increase the value of you get an 85, 90 or 95 grade. Selling an 80 can be a push, anything less is nearly worthless even if it's a rare piece.
Also, AFA's cases are now vented but sealed. You can't ever open them. If you purely want cases for protection, I have heard that Oscar's Cases (google his site) are tremendous, can be UV resistant and are able to be made with a sliding panel. I believe you send him your measurements and he makes the case for you. There should be a lot of discussion about him on TFW2005. I had been thinking of looking into some of his cases for some high value vintage items I have, but haven't done that yet.
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Post by Coletron on Aug 7, 2017 23:02:29 GMT -5
I don't think it is worth it. Not attacking those that do it but I feel like it is a huge racket and the people that grade stuff have money to blow, the people that buy the stuff even more so. I feel like they are in it for the money or for the quest for perfection/validation that they have the best piece (which as far as I know, AFA has never graded a figure 100). You know how nice the particular piece you own is, high res pics wouldn't lie to a potential buyer either, so why do you need the self validation? (Not being mean, just trying to be straightforward). I was somewhat forced to AFA grade a sealed vintage toy by an auctioneer that was selling high value items for me. He said he would pay the bill as he'd get a discount because they were sending in a large amount of items. Long story short, my toy graded well but it should have graded better, it didn't sell at auction and I got stuck with the full price bill. So I have a worthless toy in an expensive case that is now even more worthless. And it's a large toy as well so it weighs a TON now. It is quite expensive to AFA grade large toys. While it will increase the value of your toy (there aren't too many AFA voltrons (any type) but they are out there), it will only really increase the value of you get an 85, 90 or 95 grade. Selling an 80 can be a push, anything less is nearly worthless even if it's a rare piece. Also, AFA's cases are now vented but sealed. You can't ever open them. If you purely want cases for protection, I have heard that Oscar's Cases (google his site) are tremendous, can be up resistant and are able to be made with a sliding panel. I believe you send him your measurements and he makes the case for you. There should be a lot of discussion about him on TFW2005. I had been thinking of looking into some of his cases for some high value vintage items I have, but haven't done that yet. Thank you. Your explanation is cogent. I don't think I'm going to have it done. It doesn't really add anything to the aesthetic; in fact I think it detracts. Also, It will take up more space. My home has built in book shelves with glass doors. My daughter is 2 now, and she's into everything. But when she's a little older, I think I'll display them there. |
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Post by faelon on Aug 14, 2017 22:56:19 GMT -5
hey bro this robot is called Albegas, and its not related to Voltron by any means the toy is really nice, but im not sure about their value tho but im sure in the US people love anything with Voltron on it That is a gorgeous piece. And spectacular if the story is correct and it comes directly from a Matchbox reps personal sealed stock. S_Gokin, You're both right. I don't know how familiar you are with the American Voltron/GoLion/Dairuger XV toy releases and how they relate to Voltron? WEP originally also bought Albegas, intending it to be the third season of Voltron to hit the episode number needed for daily afterschool syndication. After Lion Voltron did so well and Vehicle Voltron was received poorly they abandoned the plans for "Gladiator Voltron" and instead hired Toei to make more GoLion episodes for them. But Matchbox had the Toy License and had already imported the Popy Toys and released them as Voltron I "Vehicle Voltron (Dairuger XV) Voltron II "Gladiator Voltron" (Albegas) and Voltron III "Lion Force Voltron" (GoLion). The toy shelves were flooded with all three. The unlucky kids got the Albegas toys at Christmas with no corresponding robot show. In time those became much rarer. Especially since the Blue Gladiator is made of Popy's infamous Blue Plastic that crumbles to dust over time. Finding an intact Blue Voltron II is unbelievably rare. Finding one still in its packaging and intact? That's astonishing. Voltron II was only released in the initial wave of US Voltron toys. Subsequent waves were just Lion and Vehicle. Mainly Lion. And the packaging changed to eliminate the I, II, III designations. (They also patched in the radium laced lead paint at that time. WooHoo!) "Voltron II" has a bit of a Cult status among robot fans as the underdog "Voltron that Never Was". A lot of kids grew up with a soft spot for the character. (Largely because they got stuck with it that Christmas Morning.) |
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Post by Coletron on Aug 15, 2017 6:11:10 GMT -5
hey bro this robot is called Albegas, and its not related to Voltron by any means the toy is really nice, but im not sure about their value tho but im sure in the US people love anything with Voltron on it That is a gorgeous piece. And spectacular if the story is correct and it comes directly from a Matchbox reps personal sealed stock. S_Gokin, You're both right. I don't know how familiar you are with the American Voltron/GoLion/Dairuger XV toy releases and how they relate to Voltron? WEP originally also bought Albegas, intending it to be the third season of Voltron to hit the episode number needed for daily afterschool syndication. After Lion Voltron did so well and Vehicle Voltron was received poorly they abandoned the plans for "Gladiator Voltron" and instead hired Toei to make more GoLion episodes for them. But Matchbox had the Toy License and had already imported the Popy Toys and released them as Voltron I "Vehicle Voltron (Dairuger XV) Voltron II "Gladiator Voltron" (Albegas) and Voltron III "Lion Force Voltron" (GoLion). The toy shelves were flooded with all three. The unlucky kids got the Albegas toys at Christmas with no corresponding robot show. In time those became much rarer. Especially since the Blue Gladiator is made of Popy's infamous Blue Plastic that crumbles to dust over time. Finding an intact Blue Voltron II is unbelievably rare. Finding one still in its packaging and intact? That's astonishing. Voltron II was only released in the initial wave of US Voltron toys. Subsequent waves were just Lion and Vehicle. Mainly Lion. And the packaging changed to eliminate the I, II, III designations. (They also patched in the radium laced lead paint at that time. WooHoo!) "Voltron II" has a bit of a Cult status among robot fans as the underdog "Voltron that Never Was". A lot of kids grew up with a soft spot for the character. (Largely because they got stuck with it that Christmas Morning.) Thanks for the complement on a special piece from my collection. Great history lesson. I really appreciate it. |
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Post by S_Gokin on Aug 15, 2017 15:59:25 GMT -5
That is a gorgeous piece. And spectacular if the story is correct and it comes directly from a Matchbox reps personal sealed stock. S_Gokin, You're both right. I don't know how familiar you are with the American Voltron/GoLion/Dairuger XV toy releases and how they relate to Voltron? WEP originally also bought Albegas, intending it to be the third season of Voltron to hit the episode number needed for daily afterschool syndication. After Lion Voltron did so well and Vehicle Voltron was received poorly they abandoned the plans for "Gladiator Voltron" and instead hired Toei to make more GoLion episodes for them. But Matchbox had the Toy License and had already imported the Popy Toys and released them as Voltron I "Vehicle Voltron (Dairuger XV) Voltron II "Gladiator Voltron" (Albegas) and Voltron III "Lion Force Voltron" (GoLion). The toy shelves were flooded with all three. The unlucky kids got the Albegas toys at Christmas with no corresponding robot show. In time those became much rarer. Especially since the Blue Gladiator is made of Popy's infamous Blue Plastic that crumbles to dust over time. Finding an intact Blue Voltron II is unbelievably rare. Finding one still in its packaging and intact? That's astonishing. Voltron II was only released in the initial wave of US Voltron toys. Subsequent waves were just Lion and Vehicle. Mainly Lion. And the packaging changed to eliminate the I, II, III designations. (They also patched in the radium laced lead paint at that time. WooHoo!) "Voltron II" has a bit of a Cult status among robot fans as the underdog "Voltron that Never Was". A lot of kids grew up with a soft spot for the character. (Largely because they got stuck with it that Christmas Morning.) i do some research lol, you know when you dont see companies making your favorites robots into gokins you start to wonder whats the problem, is it the market demand ? or license issues ? i understand that Voltron success was beyond what WEP imagined so logically they wanted to milk it, however Voltron got his own charm, and im not a huge fan of Dairuger XV its just not my cup of tea even tho i tried to watch it but i couldn't complete it, but with Albegas it was good even as an adult i still enjoy it but truly thanks for the details faelon now i have the complete picture about those 3 robots |
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Post by faelon on Aug 15, 2017 23:08:31 GMT -5
That is a gorgeous piece. And spectacular if the story is correct and it comes directly from a Matchbox reps personal sealed stock. S_Gokin, You're both right. I don't know how familiar you are with the American Voltron/GoLion/Dairuger XV toy releases and how they relate to Voltron? WEP originally also bought Albegas, intending it to be the third season of Voltron to hit the episode number needed for daily afterschool syndication. After Lion Voltron did so well and Vehicle Voltron was received poorly they abandoned the plans for "Gladiator Voltron" and instead hired Toei to make more GoLion episodes for them. But Matchbox had the Toy License and had already imported the Popy Toys and released them as Voltron I "Vehicle Voltron (Dairuger XV) Voltron II "Gladiator Voltron" (Albegas) and Voltron III "Lion Force Voltron" (GoLion). The toy shelves were flooded with all three. The unlucky kids got the Albegas toys at Christmas with no corresponding robot show. In time those became much rarer. Especially since the Blue Gladiator is made of Popy's infamous Blue Plastic that crumbles to dust over time. Finding an intact Blue Voltron II is unbelievably rare. Finding one still in its packaging and intact? That's astonishing. Voltron II was only released in the initial wave of US Voltron toys. Subsequent waves were just Lion and Vehicle. Mainly Lion. And the packaging changed to eliminate the I, II, III designations. (They also patched in the radium laced lead paint at that time. WooHoo!) "Voltron II" has a bit of a Cult status among robot fans as the underdog "Voltron that Never Was". A lot of kids grew up with a soft spot for the character. (Largely because they got stuck with it that Christmas Morning.) i do some research lol, you know when you dont see companies making your favorites robots into gokins you start to wonder whats the problem, is it the market demand ? or license issues ? i understand that Voltron success was beyond what WEP imagined so logically they wanted to milk it, however Voltron got his own charm, and im not a huge fan of Dairuger XV its just not my cup of tea even tho i tried to watch it but i couldn't complete it, but with Albegas it was good even as an adult i still enjoy it but truly thanks for the details faelon now i have the complete picture about those 3 robots Yeah it actually gets a little weirder. Originally Lion Voltron was supposed to be Daltaneous. That's what WEP thought they had bought. But this was back in the 80's when TV shows were moved around via videocassette and international slow boat shipping. During a last minute late not conversation with Japan WEP was asked (by I assume the Japanese late shift warehouse manager and Janitor at Toei) which shows they wanted. They responded "The one with the Lion(s)". And through the magic of language barriers GoLion got tossed in the box instead. A few weeks later when WEP got it they realized the error, but it would take weeks to fix. So they watched what they got. And fell in love... So if you want to display ALL versions of Voltron, you can also include Daltaneous. (yes I know I'm probably spelling it wrong I never get that one right) When you ask about why your favorite robots never get made as toys, one other odd thing might come into this. I've never been able to get a straight answer on who owns Albegas these days? WEP outright owns GoLion, Dairuger XV and Bismark/Saber Rider. They never took possession of Daltaneous. But Albegas seems vague? WEP might still have some controlling interest there? I assume the rights would revert back to Toei, but they might not have because of the Toy license. WEP did exploit and make money off the Albegas license, they just never put it on screen. I'm not sure if they bought it outright the way they did the others? (And just to remind all WEP is not like Harmony Gold. They and Toei appear to have a good working relationship going back to the 80's. Both parties have profited from it. It's more akin to the Hasbro Takara partnership. If there are any rights conflicts they have been kept well out of public view.) Here's a dummy up of what the third Voltron INtro would have been with Albegas. I think it is fan made, but it gives a good idea. It's worth noting that Albegas had one feature that WEP eventually did incorporate into one of their later home grown Voltron shows. The ability to combine the robots in different ways. The sequel show Voltron Force added the ability for any Lion to be the center/head, changing up the robots powers with each combination. |
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Post by S_Gokin on Aug 16, 2017 9:18:07 GMT -5
 man its like putting quotes and sounds from Mazinger z into Combattler v  i know we are already way off topic but this is very informative discussion here is a clip from the original Albegas i remember it was so fun to watch as a kid and its still enjoyable as an adult as for who owns it, its gray area its not clear, but i guess since ET managed to do a figure, then Toei must have the upper hand ?, we all know how WEP roll lol i hope we see an SRC Albegas first then an SOC just like Daizyujin and Gaogaigar |
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Post by Coletron on Aug 16, 2017 16:23:13 GMT -5
i do some research lol, you know when you dont see companies making your favorites robots into gokins you start to wonder whats the problem, is it the market demand ? or license issues ? i understand that Voltron success was beyond what WEP imagined so logically they wanted to milk it, however Voltron got his own charm, and im not a huge fan of Dairuger XV its just not my cup of tea even tho i tried to watch it but i couldn't complete it, but with Albegas it was good even as an adult i still enjoy it but truly thanks for the details faelon now i have the complete picture about those 3 robots Yeah it actually gets a little weirder. Originally Lion Voltron was supposed to be Daltaneous. That's what WEP thought they had bought. But this was back in the 80's when TV shows were moved around via videocassette and international slow boat shipping. During a last minute late not conversation with Japan WEP was asked (by I assume the Japanese late shift warehouse manager and Janitor at Toei) which shows they wanted. They responded "The one with the Lion(s)". And through the magic of language barriers GoLion got tossed in the box instead. A few weeks later when WEP got it they realized the error, but it would take weeks to fix. So they watched what they got. And fell in love... So if you want to display ALL versions of Voltron, you can also include Daltaneous. (yes I know I'm probably spelling it wrong I never get that one right) When you ask about why your favorite robots never get made as toys, one other odd thing might come into this. I've never been able to get a straight answer on who owns Albegas these days? WEP outright owns GoLion, Dairuger XV and Bismark/Saber Rider. They never took possession of Daltaneous. But Albegas seems vague? WEP might still have some controlling interest there? I assume the rights would revert back to Toei, but they might not have because of the Toy license. WEP did exploit and make money off the Albegas license, they just never put it on screen. I'm not sure if they bought it outright the way they did the others? (And just to remind all WEP is not like Harmony Gold. They and Toei appear to have a good working relationship going back to the 80's. Both parties have profited from it. It's more akin to the Hasbro Takara partnership. If there are any rights conflicts they have been kept well out of public view.) Here's a dummy up of what the third Voltron INtro would have been with Albegas. I think it is fan made, but it gives a good idea. It's worth noting that Albegas had one feature that WEP eventually did incorporate into one of their later home grown Voltron shows. The ability to combine the robots in different ways. The sequel show Voltron Force added the ability for any Lion to be the center/head, changing up the robots powers with each combination. WEP still has some interest in Albegas. He's appeared in comics and books. Here's a picture from 2015's "Robotech Voltron" comic. In the story's finale, the Omega Comet causes time, space and dimensions to warp together. I was excited when Albegas appeared:  In the book "From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration" Gladiator Voltron is written in as canon of the show "Voltron Force".  Since we're showing Albegas some much needed love and attention, I figured I'd share a pic of my other Gladiator Voltron that I display, along with ET Albegas:  Albegas is such a unique and unusual Super Robot. He's unsung. But, he's still out there. Last weekend at the local comicon, a vendor actually had a MIB Blue Gladiator. He was asking $250. If I didn't already have two I would have bought it. Maybe some day we'll see an SOC version. Heck, I just wish I could watch the anime with English subs. I can't be the only one. |
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Post by S_Gokin on Aug 16, 2017 18:41:34 GMT -5
i want the same team who worked on Voltron to do it, i want articulation for the individuals robots and Albegas, also i want decent amount of accessories
if they will give it a limited range of articulation then i want an SRC version
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Post by faelon on Aug 17, 2017 0:46:49 GMT -5
i want the same team who worked on Voltron to do it, i want articulation for the individuals robots and Albegas, also i want decent amount of accessories if they will give it a limited range of articulation then i want an SRC version If you want accessories get yourself an ET Albegas. I think that sucker has 79 pairs of hands alone. I'm not particularly hopeful about what SOC could do for Albegas. They still tend to take a lot of queues from the old Popy DX's. And the classic Albegas was... not good. I mean it was cool, but it was also a rather fragile mess. The old Popy GoLion was a remarkably sturdy and robust figure. The Dairuger XV was surprisingly survivable for an all plastic figure (except the red plane). Albegas? I never had one, but from what I remember of a friends it was rather rickety. I keep seeing a SOC attempt at it looking something like Kotetsujin Jeeg II. The good part is if Albegas is part of the WEP properties and Bandai is now dealing with WEP it's probably on the list of readily available subjects. So maybe. And Coletron, yeah I so want to actually watch Albegas. It looks like a fun show. Without the high brow space opera of Dairuger XV or the complete depraved insanity of the original GoLion. (Rape, Canibalism, Incest, Whatever the hell Pidge is? Yeah it had it all!) |
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