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[Mark]

Mark

text: Matt Alt, graphics: Robert Duban

September 2004

Updated: 10.25.04

Mark was yet another "bottom feeder" company that occupied the lowest rungs of the toy industry in 1970's Japan. Similar to Seven, and Victora, the company appears to have been dedicated exclusively to providing the world with cheap renditions of other firms' licenses. Mark sold its toys under a variety of none-too-imaginative brand names, including "Super Gokin," "Pocket Gokin," and "Silver Gokin."

Unlike Seven and Victora, which were spin-offs of Takara and Popy, respectively, Mark does not appear to have been affiliated with any single larger company. The Mark logo has thus far been sighted on the packaging of Gakken, Clover, and Takatoku toys, but the firm appears to have had the closest relationship with the latter company.

Mark's logo appears on the boxes of many of Takatoku's "Mini Gokin" toys, and Mark produced its own low-end renditions of many of Takatoku's character licenses, such as X-Bomber, Yattodetaman, and Ippatsuman. The Takatoku connection doesn't end there. In another apparent cross-over, Mark's "Battle Sigma" and "Battle X" toys appear to have been created from the same molds as used for Takatoku's "V V" boxed set of Dorvack Calibur toys. In addition, Mark's "Zectron" toys (sold as "Convertors" in the United States) are scaled-down versions of toys from Takatoku's "Beetras" series.

Mark also participated in a handful of co-productions with Clover, including several Gundam soft vinyl toys and a series of "Cho Pura Gattai" ("Super Plastic Combination") toys from the Daiojya series.

[God Mazinga box] While the vast majority of Mark's toys are unremarkable at best, there is a single exception: the "Super Gokin" God Mazinga. God Mazinga (4/15/84-9/30/84) was an ill-fated, short-lived sequel to the massively popular Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger television shows. Mark's otherwise entirely forgettable God Mazinger remains the only known diecast rendition of the character. As such, its occasional appearance in vintage shops or online auctions is enough to incite a feeding frenzy among die-hard diecast robot toy fanatics. The God Mazinger's package also features a phrase cribbed word for word from Takatoku's far more successful Macross, Orguss, and Dorvack toys: "Super real die-cast - plastic model and high technology," a boast amusingly at odds with the humble toy itself.

Stoking the passions of collectors even further, there are also rumors that Mark also produced a "Jumbo" polyethylene version of the character as well. The existence of this large-scale toy has yet to be confirmed.

In addition to Mark's various character toy outings, the company also produced a number of non-character toys as well. These include a series of transforming "Gokin Robo" toys, such as this "Walkman Robo" toy.
[image] Bryger - box
[image] Ippatsuman: Gyakutenoh - box
[image] Ippatsuman: Tokyu Zarus - box, box back
[image] Ninja Hattori Kun - box
[image] X Bomber: Big Dai X - box, box back
Yattodetaman: Daikyojin - box, box back
Battle Sigma
[image] Battle X - box, box back,
compare to Dorvack Calibur
[image] God Mazinga - box, box back
[image] Superman - box
Ippatsuman: DX Gyakutenoh - box, box back
Ippatsuman: DX Tokyu Zarus - box, box back
X Bomber: Big Dai-X wind up tricycle - box
X Bomber: X Bomber Variety Pack - box
Bryger mini vinyl - package
Ippatsuman: Gyakutenoh vinyl - package
Gundam: Gouf vinyl
(w. Clover)		 - package
Gundam vinyl ver.1
(w. Clover)		 - package
Gundam vinyl ver.2
(w. Clover)		 - package
Gundam vinyl ver.3 - package, package back
Daiojya
Daiojya: Ace Redder - box, box back
Daiojya: Aioda - box, box back
Daiojya: Cobalter
[image] Hopper Robo - box

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