spiritofcat wrote:Also, I had a bit of a look around to try to find pics of the original Voltron toys but didn't have much luck.
It seems there have been a few different versions over time.
I never had any myself, but a friend of mine had a plastic version with room for a pilot inside each lion. The red and green lions that formed the arms didn't have an elbow joint in the middle of them.
From my investigations I think it must have been the WEP version, but I can't find much info on it. Most of the info and pics I've found have been of versions with that elbow joint. The toynami and matchbox versions.
There are so many versions of Voltron it's not even funny. There are two different "original" versions released here in the US and a bunch of plastic versions that aren't as desirable like the World Events Voltron, etc. There were different scale plastic versions and versions that had motorized wheels (pull back motion). There were also metal Poppy, Chogokin Japanese verisons termed GOLION that are the most valuable. Trendmaster reissued these in metal format in 97 and there are slight differences with those as well. There are honestly so many versions and bootlegs.
If you are looking for US Matchbox originals, the figure will stand about 11" tall and will be metal. There were two figures released about the same time from Matchbox. One has chrome stickers on the bottom of each lion that state GOLION Y&K Made in Taiwan and another version that has the same chrome stickers on the bottom that say GB-36 Made in Japan. There are slight differences between the two sets but both are very nice. The Taiwan version is said to be more valuable (depending on who you talk to) than the GB-36 version because that was the version that was recalled due to lead in the paint. All recalled Taiwan Voltrons were replaced with the GB-36 versions.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml86/86070.htmlAs you can see, I love Voltron and have both versions and the metal Masterpiece Voltron set.
Mark