1975 Microman Titan Series

Titan T40X - T401 Cerberus, T402 Pegasus & T403 Hercules (c.1975) & T40X Black Hercules - Microman Gum Premium (c.1976)

Package

Titan T40X were sold in small box with Styrofoam insert.  Each figure came in their own distinctively design box.

Accessories

Each Titan T40X also came with spring loaded missile launcher call Atom Cannon.  Takara also included two "5mm to Magnemo-8" connectors.

The Atom Cannons were color coordinated to each Titan. T401 came with blue launcher with white missiles, T402 came with clear green launcher and missiles and T403 came with yellow launcher with black missiles.

T401 Atom Cannon

T402 Atom Cannon

T403 Atom Cannon

Takara also included a small sticker sheet to decorate the figure.

Each Titan T40X came with very large wing pack.  The Titan wing actually made up of three separate parts join together via 5mm connection.  The wings also came in white for T401, orange for T402 and black for T403. 

 (Mail-away T40X came with white wing and white Atom Cannon.)

Takara released the first of Magnemo-8 series Microman figure call Titan in late 1975.  Magnemo was a series of toys based on magnet and metal ball system. The first toy to employ this system was Kotetsu Geeg.  The toys came in two size one with 8mm size iron ball and one with 11mm iron ball.  The series was divided into two categories based on the size of the iron ball - Magnemo-8 and Magnemo-11.  Magnemo series was an ingenious design by Takara.  The body of the figure would house a magnet core and the limbs would connect to it via round magnetic ball.  The system gave the figures amazing articulation and superb interchangeability.

Microman Titan Series used the 8mm size thus put them in Magnemo-8 category.  The Titans had magnetic ball joints, magnet block inside the body but with Microman trademarks chrome head, 5mm port and hands.  With the introduction of the Titan Series, Takara had superbly combine the two toys line - Microman and Magnemo.  The first series of the Titan was given T40X designation.  Takara also released several companion sidekick for Titan called Titan Dober and Magne Condor, both of which were also Magnemo-8 which made completely interchangeable with Titan figures.   Titan, thought a part of Microman line, was  also considered by many collectors as a part of the Magnemo line which made them also sought after by Magnemo collectors.  The Titans, especially the first two series, were also much sought after by Microman collectors since they appeared in Microman manga.

Titan Story

Titans were Microman that arrived near planet Saturn.  The magnetic field of Saturn greatly influence the evolution of Microman inside the prism.   When they emerged from the crystal prism their bodies has been "magnetically" enhanced.  They then took refuge on the largest moon of Saturn - Titan where they would later adopted the name.   Titans has no mouth and are very robotic like in look.  The reason for the lack of "humanoid mouth" is because Titan communicated by the mean of telepathy.   Since they are not terrestrial the Titans were named after various celestial objects and constellation. 

Back view of Titan T40X type.  The first Titan came with standard Microman hands and 5mm port.  T40X limbs can be replaced with other parts using the 5mm to Magnemo-8 connector.  The idea of swapping their body parts with weapon probably came from Geeg.

The first series of Titans was design based on Microman looks.  T40X had chest parts much like M10X type, big bell-bottom legs much like M12X type and decal decorated chest like M11X type.  T40X head however was much more robotic.  T40X was design without a humanoid mouth because Titan communicated using telepathy.  The mouth-less design would became hallmark of Titan look.  While the first series of Titan resembled much of Microman, these would soon change with the introduction of blocky style Titan Command in 1977.  First Titan was the same height as standard Microman figures (about 10cm tall).   The later Titans grew taller and usually average about 11-12cm in height.  Takara ended Microman Titans Series in 1978 with the released of Titan Space Knight.  In 1999, Takara released several magnemo-11 toys for new Magne Power Microman line including three new Titans call Magne Titan

Atom Cannon can be connected to the back. (This was how Titan 1 appeared in the manga).

T402 Pegasus with the wing-pack. 

T401 Cerberus

T402 Pegasus

T403 Hercules

Mail-away Microman Gum Premium Black Hercules

In 1976, Takara offered two mail-away premiums promotion in conjunction with Microman gum.  The first premium was an all black Microman M11X Preton (Takara had recently designated him as M110 Preton).  The second premium was black version of Titan T40X named Hercules.

Black T403 was send out in an envelope inside plastic bag.  The figure came with with white Titan wing-pack and white Atom Cannon (which were often missing).  As with most vintage Microman premiums, Black Hercules was very rare.  The figure also came with "H" sticker on the chest which was missing from the figure shown here.  (It's a same sticker as the one on T403).