CollectionDX Network
CollectionDX - Toy Reviews, Toy News, Japanese Toys and Action Figures

Voltron

Comments

19 comments posted
is it c10?

is it c10?

Wow, crazy score Dave. I am sitting here in Taichung at the hotel buffet and almost spit up my salad seeing the extra set of arm/cannons on his hips. Wtf?

As I was reading it and looking at the photo of all three, the waitress came by to get my coffee refilled and said " Golion"? and smiled. Go figure.

Your famous in Taiwan I guess.

Just when i think you cant possibly find something more off the wall, you pull something out of your hat. Well played sir.

At least he does not have a crotch arm.

joshua fraser's picture
Posted by joshua fraser on 15 May, 2009 - 23:49
When you get enough

When you get enough variations, a few mutations are bound to happen.

VF5SS's picture
Posted by VF5SS on 17 May, 2009 - 08:36
I gotta ask; what kind of

I gotta ask; what kind of Daiku Maryu are you holding? I don't recognize it. That looks really cool.

seraph2011's picture
Posted by seraph2011 on 17 May, 2009 - 18:59
is it c10? Well, I feel like

is it c10?

Well, I feel like Dave would better answer this one as he is the Jumbo guy.

But its the Daiku Jumbomachinder. Famed for its size, awesomeness and pricetag. I don't actually own one. I wish i did, but my desire for a MIMB speciman is so unrealistic, It will keep me from having one unless I sell my car. Literally. There is one on ebay right now for a BIN of 6000, but its not mint. But you can get a good look at it.

The shot was taken by Matt Alt quite a few years ago when I lived in Tokyo. We went to Forrest gang, A pretty heavy hitting vintage shop in its heyday. It has since moved and downsized, and is not anywhere near its former glory.

The Daiku was something they had sitting in a pile of toys on their desk in the office area of the shop. We played with that and a getta 3 jumbo. It was a very good day. I think somewhere Josh B has the photos documented in the Article section of the site. Many more shots of the store.

joshua fraser's picture
Posted by joshua fraser on 17 May, 2009 - 21:03
"moved and downsized"

That's a nice way of putting it, Josh! I believe they actually CLOSED last year, iirc.

Here's a question for you though, although I'm sure I know the answer already. But how do you feel about repro boxes, only for stuff you'll just never get in a vintage C10 box? I mean, I know how much you love Gaiking, but if it were the only way to get a perfect Daiku Jumbo, could you live with yourself? LOL

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 17 May, 2009 - 21:58
This is an interesting topic

This is an interesting topic for me Dave.

Repro boxes have been something that I have struggled with since my days of collecting vintage tin robots as they have been available much earlier with that subsect of robot collectors.

I am of this mindset. If I love the toy enough I will lesson my strict guidelines certainly. One example of this being my search for an Ultraman Leo zenmai. If the toy is rare enough and there is little hope of a c10 box existing, let alone a possability of me being able to afford one...I will certainly consider a lesser box. But A reproduction box is a hard pill to swallow for me.

I HAVE recently had a box restored by Anthony Restorations ( who do amazing work, with their hand painting service) , and am happy with the results. But again this is for a toy whose box is few and far between, and until I find the perfect example, I am happy with this as a stand in.
For me, the Box is part of the whole package. The box is just as exciting to me as the toy in some respects.
The Daiku Jumbo is such a massive and fragile box, that the idea one exists in the condition I want is unlikely. Even Saito san has one in a c8 box, and his collection is beyond sick in terms of condition. Even my Gaiking Popy Jumbo is not close to what I would normally consider. But in this instance you have to be realistic. I do plan to eventually have the Gaiking Jumbo box restored and then CGA cased. Lol! That would be over the top in cost though, so I have to wonder if it would be better to just look for an upgrade.

So if A seller had a mint toy with a copy box for a loose toy price, yes I would get it. But I would prefer to buy a c8 box and have it restored to its former glory. Who knows.
The Gaiking toys I don't have are the ones that break the bank. The Daiku Jumbo and the Plastic deluxe base set. Either of which I want quite badly, but know is unlikely in the condition I want. The sickness is a good filter if you think about it. It makes me go slowly.

joshua fraser's picture
Posted by joshua fraser on 17 May, 2009 - 23:19
restoration and reproduction

It's interesting to hear your views on this topic and I'm a bit surprised you are open to the idea. I thought you'd be totally against it. I tend to flip flop some myself. I have some reproduction (and even fantasy) items in my collection, but by and large I try to keep things as pure as possible. Even with posters, I generally will not even consider buying a poster that's been linen-backed or touched up in any way. (I think I get annoyed seeing linen-backing often described as though it were a positive thing, when I consider it a negative. So there's some spite involved there, too... lol) And even things that I say I'm going to get restored when I get them, I usually never do. I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. It feels sort of deceitful, in a way. In fact, I know that's a problem in the monster and tin robot hobbies, people selling things as original when they are not. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have penetrated the Japanese character toy hobby much, if at all, so far. But it could happen. And it's not necessarily done on purpose either. If someone has a repro item in their collection and they die, the person who sells off their collection after they're gone may have no idea what's original and what isn't. It can be a slippery slope.

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 18 May, 2009 - 21:41
Yeah I know what you mean

Yeah I know what you mean about the slippery slope. generally the tin community is pretty tight knit, and unless you want to ruin your chances of getting any good deals by being found out as a cheat by the community, it is in one's best interest to be honest about retouched or restored items.

Thats why I use Anthony Restorations,

http://www.anthonyrestorations.com/

They are the top in the industry and all the big name dealers and collectors use them, so its a given that if its done by them, it actually does not take as much value away from the box as you might think. There is one dealer/collector out there who will only keep his mint boxes, and the ones restored by these guys. I will be posting a side by side of the before and after at some point in the future.

Think of it this way, prices are dictated by what the community will pay. If the collective agrees a certain service does not diminish that value, then the idea of it being deceptive is mainly in the eye of the beholder. I agree with you and collect posters too, and will not buy linen backed either. I want purity when I can have it. But in cases where there is little option, I will suck it up and get the best version I can at the time.

The important part when having restoration done, is to get the best to do it, so you know when you disclose its status at time of resale, the collector community knows what to expect. It costs more, but is worth the peace of mind.
Thats not to say I will give up on my quest for deadstock boxes. ;-)

joshua fraser's picture
Posted by joshua fraser on 18 May, 2009 - 22:14
I've seen a few folks in the

I've seen a few folks in the last year pass off some repro parts and stickers on a few MIB GoLions and Dairuggers, as well as on a pair of extra fists for Grendizer and Mazinger STs, on eBay. Across three auctions from three different sellers. But most folks looking for these items know what they come with, what the stickers look like, etc.

The Big R's picture
Posted by The Big R on 19 May, 2009 - 13:22
whoa...

That does kick butt. Thanks for the anecdote and info. It's cool you got to play with it, definitely sounds like a good day.

seraph2011's picture
Posted by seraph2011 on 18 May, 2009 - 20:47
No love for this thing? Come

No love for this thing? Come on guys...there is 500 comments on every Valk variation that goes up here daily within 10 minutes, and an unknown Voltron jumbo get crickets for two days?

Lol

joshua fraser's picture
Posted by joshua fraser on 16 May, 2009 - 21:04
Alright, I'll bite... I'm

Alright, I'll bite... I'm curious, do the shoulders mounted on the hips (???) fit with the parts from your real Voltron jumbo? Like, do the ball joints work with the hip-shoulders, or is the size all whacked out? I cannot fathom any reason to mount those shoulder parts there...

Prometheum5's picture
Posted by Prometheum5 on 16 May, 2009 - 21:13
these are exactly the type

these are exactly the type of reviews i love so much on CDX... funk + classic robots !!!

can you swap the regular shoulders for the hip shoulders, for a more "accurate" Voltron jumbo?

The Big R's picture
Posted by The Big R on 17 May, 2009 - 12:54
It's too bad that the sizes

It's too bad that the sizes are off due to the bootlegging process. I was gonna suggest you get another Command Voltron III jumbo, rip off its forearms and stick them on the hip shoulders. That way, you'd have this wacked out parallel universe Voltron II with the extra pair of arms!

--
Sanjeev

Sanjeev's picture
Posted by Sanjeev on 18 May, 2009 - 12:22
I haven't tried to place the

I haven't tried to place the "hip shoulders" onto the actual shoulders since I actually don't mind the T28 arms and have no real reason to want to make it more like the original. The charm of it is that it's NOT like the original.

As for using parts from the original, I'm sure it would not work since it's slightly scaled down. I was hoping you could use wings from an original on the other one, but they were too big.

And Josh, thanks for the anecdote! It cracks me up to know that some random waitress on the other side of the world has now seen this. That's awesome that she knew who it was, too. Kinda gives me a boner actually. Nerdy chicks are like gold. I actually met a dude yesterday who told me that every time a moth or butterfly gets in the house, his wife starts singing the Mothra song. That's a keeper..! LOL

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 17 May, 2009 - 18:55
I really like the bootleg

I really like the bootleg reviews. I don't know of anywhere or anyone else who gives them the equal respect as they do to the SOCs or Yamato toys. Living in New York City, I see stuff like this all the time, and I'm always looking to pick up some 'good' bootlegs, and I like that there's someone looking out to see if they're 'good' enough.
Of course, 'good' meaning ugly, or campy, or cool for some weird reason. I got a dozen 'Gudam' MSIA IIs recently, they're great; colors all wrong, cheap flexible materials, alternate hands and guns almost fit, cost me less than $30 total, I love'em.

seraph2011's picture
Posted by seraph2011 on 17 May, 2009 - 18:55
Shoes?

I love all the shoe ads that keep popping up in these reviews. Go Go Google Ads!

RobotBastard's picture
Posted by RobotBastard on 18 May, 2009 - 17:14
Do you mean in the Ebay

Do you mean in the Ebay searches? Likely because Reebok did Voltron shoes. Not sure why the DC shoes are showing up though.

joshua fraser's picture
Posted by joshua fraser on 18 May, 2009 - 18:19
If it's got Voltron in the

If it's got Voltron in the title, it'll show up. Basically, whatever is listed next to "toy name" in our category fields becomes the Ebay search term in those links. If nothing is listed for a toy name, I think it defaults to the "robots, monsters, space toys" general category search. :)

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 18 May, 2009 - 21:45